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Posts: 305
Location: Illinois | I have had much better success in late fall than I have in early spring/ When I say early I mean water temps in the low to mid 40's. I fish in Illinois where there is no closed season so as soon as the ice goes out I am on the water. I have not had succes real early in the season and was wondering if I should be trying the late fall tactics that I use when the water temps are in the low to mid 40's. I have thrown glidebaits and trolled early but I don't have near the success that I would in the fall. My question is is musky location influenced more by water temp or season/ spawn/ angle of the sun. I sure would like to put a few fish in the boat the first couple of weeks after ice out but I usually don't start seeing fish until there is a somewhat prolonged warm up after the ice goes out. |
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Posts: 58
| I too fish Illinois both early and late, the only thing I can tell you is to down size and to look for warmer water early in the season. ie northwest shores or North shallow bays.
That's what has worked for us {my son and I} early season. Matt has also trolled smaller cranks in what will become a weed flats.
Your guess as good as mine. Ice should go soon. 52deg. on saterday
RonP
Madd Dogg Lures Inc.
http://my.core.com/~caveman {Temp Site} |
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Posts: 391
| I have found in small Il lakes fish will stay deeper until an extened warming trend occurs. Hit the deeper points outside of spawning areas, and deeper structure(In Il cribs, pine trees, concrete piles). Similar to fall the fish will be around prey which will be in these same areas off the main break, suspendos.
I also observed this with the dnr and helping to check there nets. the week before i went along three nets had 27 muskies in them with air temps in the 50 range. When I went no muskies were in the nets and air temps were in the mid 30's to low 40's, but the nets did hae lots of big walleyes in them.
kly |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Definitely fish deeper! I don't fish Il., but I would think the northern WI fish wouldn't be that much different. I have seen bigger fish fishing the deeper water in spring than I have fishing shallow water. I like to fish at least 15-20 feet, depending on the lake, and run slow moving cranks that suspend. Twitch, Twitch, pause, BAM!!! |
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Posts: 20248
Location: oswego, il | Downsize just a bit compared to late fall(when I say downsize just don't use giant baits, normal sized musky lures 6-8" are ok) and use suckers just like you would in the fall but use 10-14"ers and fish late fall spots. The fish have not moved up yet when the water is that cold. |
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Posts: 305
Location: Illinois | Thanks. It sounds like during those first couple weeks that the depth/location hasn't changed much but maybe my presentation needs tweaking.It won't be too long now! |
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Posts: 1310
Location: Washington, PA | It could be differant, but. I do a lot of early season fishing, and I tend to find fish shallow. Also, I don't down size much. We were out last Friday, catching fish in shallow water on bull dawgs. Just my 2 cents. Water temps were under 40. Also, these were river fish, so take it for what it's worth. |
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Posts: 391
| oh yeah
6" slammer deep divers are my favorite for this. Good point, I like to down size as well but don't know if it matters or not? anyone ever personally experience this?
kly |
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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | I tend to fish outside of spawning areas in a little deeper water. I contact quite a few fish on cranks as mentioned above. Even as the spawn starts the fish can be hanging out suspended just outside of the spawning area, especially on pressured lakes. I am torn between downsizing and normal sized baits. I have moved and caught fish on both. I think you need to let the fish tell you what they want. |
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Late Fall Tactics = Early Season Tactics?