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Posts: 334
Location: Madison, WI | Starting this spring I have occasionally popped over and fished our local river. I have moved a few fish, caught a small one 27" and have seen people catch fish up to 44" this summer on jig and minnow haha. I know they are not jam packed into the river, but clearly they are there. The river is generally 3-6' deep, rocky and mud bottom and very little weeds present, even in the summer. In about a 5 miles stretch I can locate MAYBE 10 holes deeper than 6' and they are small. There is almost no variation in bottom for miles. There are plenty of shoreline logs and debris that create slack water behind them. The river varies in width from almost castable to about 3 cast lengths wides.
I have done some searching, reading and found the usual information about how to fish rivers. What I want to know is, how do muskies respond to dropping temps and shorter days in the fall in a river versus a lake?? Especially considering the lack of depth. there is a dam on each side of town with about 5 miles of river between them. any info to cut the learning curve a bit is appreciated. |
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Posts: 461
| Deep holes for the winter. Dams in the spring. |
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Posts: 162
| chasintails - 11/2/2015 12:34 PM
Deep holes for the winter. Dams in the spring.
agreed... I know a lot of people that fish rivers and have a lot of luck with suckers in the deep holes during the fall. |
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Posts: 334
Location: Madison, WI | what about if there are not any deep holes. like i said i have spent alot of time traversing the river and only found 10 "holes" that go as deep as 9 foot and the surrounding river bed is 6'. I guess any depression counts in this situation. I was wondering if they would still relate to any current breaking structure near shore or stay at the dam. Which now that i think about it the dam is the deepest spot with one of them getting down to 15" right in front of it. |
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Location: Smith Creek | If you have a dam below and above you, the best spots are probably going to be above the downstream dam and the old river channel in the bottom half of the impoundment. |
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Posts: 334
Location: Madison, WI | Thanks for the info guys. After checking stocking reports for the lake upstream above those dams i figured there had to be a population of muskies below the lake. Now i Just need to fine tune it and figure out where they hang out. The best part is that it seems zero to very little pressure from musky fisherman. |
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Posts: 300
Location: Minocqua, WI | EsoxAddiction - 11/2/2015 12:32 PM
Starting this spring I have occasionally popped over and fished our local river. I have moved a few fish, caught a small one 27" and have seen people catch fish up to 44" this summer on jig and minnow haha. I know they are not jam packed into the river, but clearly they are there. The river is generally 3-6' deep, rocky and mud bottom and very little weeds present, even in the summer. In about a 5 miles stretch I can locate MAYBE 10 holes deeper than 6' and they are small. There is almost no variation in bottom for miles. There are plenty of shoreline logs and debris that create slack water behind them. The river varies in width from almost castable to about 3 cast lengths wides.
I have done some searching, reading and found the usual information about how to fish rivers. What I want to know is, how do muskies respond to dropping temps and shorter days in the fall in a river versus a lake?? Especially considering the lack of depth. there is a dam on each side of town with about 5 miles of river between them. any info to cut the learning curve a bit is appreciated.
I fish rivers a lot, small and large. Rather than look for individual holes, I broaden the search and focus entirely on a large pool/ river section where depths will be deeper than average and the channel has formed holes and slackwater. The more cover and habitat in these pools the better. Then skip the dead stretches of water in between each targeted section to maximize on time. In these pools I tend to find muskies concentrated, usually with multiples of fish if the food is there, and they will often relate to a piece of cover or structure rather than sit in the deepest depth. This usually is a spring thru fall deal, and can be suitable for overwintering too if the ingredients are there for it.
Things to consider also:: Is the river inter-connected with any lakes or flowages.... or other rivers? Muskies can and will migrate back and forth between if no dams are present. I see this migration pattern a lot on the rivers that spill into flowages. Most of the muskies in these barrier-free river environments will spend the bulk of their fall/winter downstream in the flowages .
But then again, I've also experienced what I like to call a reverse migration: High water periods in fall due to a flowage drawdown will lead to an upstream river migration.... The fish must think it's spring again, but happens in fall.
With the information you've gathered it seems like you're on the right track. Like everyone says, look for the holes this time of year - especially if it will be an overwintering spot. Just sharing my observations and river experiences above.
Also, to add to the spring spots: Besides dams, any creek mouths, small feeder streams and inflows are good too. River muskies migrate more than you think.
Edited by AndrewR 11/2/2015 7:41 PM
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Posts: 461
| Everything is relative. A nine foot hole in a six foot river is still an increase of 33% If you have a dam that has 15 feet of depth, that should hold fish all year long. Sometimes these fish will be right in the current when feeding, don't just think current breaks when fishing rivers. |
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Posts: 196
| had an old timer once tell me, "if the rivers falling, fish are rising. If the rivers rising, fish are falling" |
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Posts: 334
Location: Madison, WI | fishing a river has really forced me to fish differently. instead of pounding the shore or looking for a weed edge im finding my self casting at certain areas and trying to bring the bait across those areas in different directions to trigger strikes. I am still trying ot figure out what they like more and if smaller size is better because ive had action on everything from small single # 8 bucktails up to mid medussas |
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Fall River Muskies