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Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | I'm watching Shark Week. They are trolling a rubber seal on the surface at about 5 mph. They have an underwater camera off the back of the boat. Very cool. The Great Whites come screaming up from below but turn off many more times than they strike. When they strike, they launch themselves out of the water. South African sharks are known for aerial displays, but the seal bait works so well that even bigger California Great Whites launched themselves, too. Now they are off to Australia to see if it will work.
Makes you wonder how many times muskies come screaming up at a bait only to turn off. Obviously, we do see follows, well I rarely do, but I know others do. I bet this happens a lot. Could it be possible muskies almost strike at baits well away from the boat much more than fishermen realize? These shark dudes seemed really surprised at how many follows they were getting after they started using the camera set up.
If there was a topwater that could run at trolling speed, would muskies hit it? I'd like to see a camera rigged just under the water get footage of muskies attacking.
This was a really cool show. "Air Jaws II, Even Higher"
Kevin
Ooohhh, Shiny. |
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Posts: 32959
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I think so, yes sir. Muskies often make a move and back off, especially on topwater. I'm working on a project right now to get some footage of exactly what you are describing, we'll see how this works.... |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | I have had muskies hit my planer boards before. The giant HR jitterbug style and the HoosireHandmade jitterbug style topwater troll really well at speeds that you would normally troll crankbaits. Not caught one yet but I will. Another bait i want to really slow troll at night is the "da rat" from www.H2otackle.com This bait gets creamed and I need to try it at night. |
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Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | I would like to see that, Steve. Obviously, this Discovery Channel footage was pretty dramatic because of the Great Whites, but I bet muskies (and pike) burst after a bait and veer away quickly more often than fishermen think.
Afterall, like Great Whites, they are top of the food chain ambush predators.
Kevin
Early morning Salmon. |
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Posts: 5874
| Next show season, stop by the Drifter Tackle booth, and watch the video. The4y're trolling Believers with spoons trailing, and have video of muskies following, striking, missing, coming back for more, and then eating baits. Pretty cool to watch.
My theory is you have way more fish investigating, following, striking and missing, and escorting trolled baits, than actually hit them. ANd the baits don't need to be away from the boat. I've caught fish on my down rods with just the leader out, maybe 4 feet. That would put that lure almost next to the kicker prop on that side of the boat! |
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Posts: 129
| We troll topwaters every year. It works awesome. We have one person troll twitch a jackpot and the other a prop bait. The jackpot gets hit most of the time. I had one follow a topwater for minutes. It was pretty neat. Also,dont be afraid to troll them over deep water. Weve caught fish over 25-30 feet of water. |
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| I troll Phantoms once in a while.I never got one yet but they sway side to side
pretty nice.
I saw that shark episode and thought the same thing you did about muskie.Would be cool to mount a mini-cam on the line some how.
Those sharks peeld-off at the very last second,strange. ???? |
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| Guys,
I am the biggest fan of trolling in the world - That said - I have tried trolling topwaters from many companies on one of the undisputed best numbers lakes in the Good Ol' USA
No Such Luck - No Hits - No Nada
Anyway - I continue to think / believe that this approach should work at times when other techniques do not produce.
Hope is a great thing in Musky fishing!!!!!
If you have to know my name well then I have to >>>>>>>> |
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Trolling Topwaters