Posted 10/2/2007 8:53 PM (#277804 - in reply to #277746) Subject: Re: musky tornado
Posts: 109
Location: Spencer, Wisconsin
Pretty cool figure eight video with a playful Lunge. The only action I got doing a figure eight was about one time around then poof gone! Maybe the speed and staying with it looks like it will yield the best chance to catch one.
Posted 10/3/2007 7:50 AM (#277838 - in reply to #277836) Subject: Re: musky tornado
Posts: 1245
Location: Madtown, WI
I agree with Mike....that fish was SOOO much in the bag. You get 9 out of 10 fish to hit that come in that hot if you do like Mike said. I would have also changed depths with speed. That fish had "high and outside" written all over it!!
Increased the speed once I saw that fish, possibly take the bait a little lower in the water column on the retrieve in (fish looked slighly lower at first) then really kicked up the speed making a wide high outside first turn....I would bet MIKES pay check that fish would have eaten on the first turn.
I actually think its not a good video showing how to do the 8 if you ask me.....good video to show you how to keep them following around in circles if you want to watch though
Don't cut the corners!!! Make them wide....if you notice when the fish finally ate...the FISH cut the corner!!! That is what they do! If you do a WIDE upswing, high and outside move...that is CLASSIC for the muskie to come from lower in the water column and cut the angle and grab the bait. Like I said, if that would have been done I would have bets Mikes pay check it would have eaten then.
Posted 10/3/2007 8:47 AM (#277851 - in reply to #277746) Subject: Re: musky tornado
Posts: 697
Location: Minnetonka
Wow... talk about committed.
Word up on the 3D figure 8... Cory illustrated that well in the article in Musky Hunter a while back. She eats in the exact same spot every time if we do it right... what Mike said.
Posted 10/3/2007 9:55 AM (#277867 - in reply to #277746) Subject: Re: musky tornado
Posts: 8863
I spent the last three years watching that very thing unfold in front of my eyes time and time again. I thought I was doing good figure 8's as they were plenty big enough (I thought) and nice and smooth. This year (thanks to Cory, Donnie Hunt, Steve Herbeck, and Brad Nelson for the figure 8 tips) I decided to try exactly what is outlined above.
We've all heard it a million times, "Changes of speed and depth, combined with making sure your 8's are as wide as possible." Following that advice put several fish in the boat for me this year that would have just gone around and around. All of them ate in exactly the same spot, right after I went deep alongside the boat, just as I came up and around the outside. Bring the bait up, *WHACK* set the hook, done.
Posted 10/3/2007 3:16 PM (#277923 - in reply to #277746) Subject: Re: musky tornado
Posts: 158
High and outside, just like I see Hamskie hook em every time we go out. It is a tremendous help to have an eight foot or longer rod for the wide circles.
Posted 10/4/2007 10:11 AM (#278024 - in reply to #277746) Subject: RE: musky tornado
Posts: 2686
Location: Hayward, WI
I have a question for you guys that know your figure 8's. How common is it for fish to turn off as soon as you push the bait deeper and make a direction change(left or right)? I fish a lot of stained water, and don't have many follows. Either I don't have many, or I'm just not seeing them I don't know. I've probably had a half dozen this year, and about 4 of those turned off as soon as I pushed the rod deeper. I don't feel like I am moving too much. I am only trying to move the rod with my arms, not bending down right away at the waist.
The other two? I missed one that nipped at the bait by doing what the guy in the 1st video did. The second followed into the start of the first turn and just disappeared. The one that dissappeared seemed hot. With about 4 feet of line out she sped up on my bucktail, pushing water. Figured the fish was mine, but followed just into the 1st turn and was gone. I keep figure 8'ing for quite some time after these fish leave, and have not had one come back.
So for you guys that get a lot of follows, is it common for the fish to turn off as soon as the bait changes directions. Feel free to tell me if you think I'm moving too much, or not being smooth enough or whatever. So many people say a high percentage of fish are caught on the 8, I feel like it would increase my catches if I figured it out. I read Corey's article by the way too.
Posted 10/4/2007 10:36 AM (#278027 - in reply to #277746) Subject: Re: musky tornado
Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana
No every fish do you have to "dive" deep. If the fish is right on it....smoke it around the wide corner......no reason to plunge it down, and for sure in stained water.
Posted 10/4/2007 11:13 AM (#278031 - in reply to #278027) Subject: Re: musky tornado
Posts: 1245
Location: Madtown, WI
I agree with Mike. I don't really dive deep....deeper is relative. If the fish is hot and I notice it right before its at the boat (as you will in the stained water)...kind of hard to go deeper in the column with out loosing the fish. This actually might be what happened with the one fish.
Like Mike said, usually at this point and increase in speed around the corner is all it takes. Also, its likely that your bucktail is maybe up to a foot under the surface anyway at the point where you spot the fish. You still have room for depth change. Increase the speed through the turn at the boat and at the outside of the turn your bait could be maybe inch or so under the water...just this slight amount of depth change makes a difference in my book, combined with speed, a WIDE turn...and you have the makings for getting hooked up.
There are lakes that are just good figure 8 lakes...then others that you rarely get fish in the 8. A muskie is a muskie...but for some reason they do act differently in regards to the 8 on some lakes....I don't fish many stained lakes so maybe someone who does can give you more examples in stained waters.
Posted 10/4/2007 1:01 PM (#278048 - in reply to #277746) Subject: Re: musky tornado
Posts: 697
Location: Minnetonka
Some good advice from the Sultans of Swoop. Mike and Cory know their stuff... check out Mike's "Eat at Your Feet" article from a while back as well.
My experience w/ prolonged fig. 8ing... In the Vermilion tourney this year, John had a fish come in hot, then back off and sit on the bottom in 6 FOW... he did 7 or 8 full figure 8s befor the fish finally engaged and slammed his bucktail. On the other hand, in a shallow water situation we usually see the fish dart away fast and therefore it seems more productive to make a quick pitch cast versus using that time to figure 8.
Last thing and I'll shut up... 9 foot rods will make your day for fig. 8ing... they CAN'T NOT eat.
musky tornado
