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Posts: 294
| What is everyones favorite bait/presentation for a post front? And does it matter if a storm was included in that front?
Getting out this weekend and it looks to be nice and warm all week and then cool off in a hurry the night before we leave and stay that way through the weekend. Just trying to get an idea to the best approach. Thanks for any help in advance.
Edited by tr7 7/15/2008 11:50 AM
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Posts: 294
| Does no one fish in these situations? |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | i use a 7 iron and a miller lite |
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Posts: 294
| Very nice! Judging by the quietness I think that may be my best option. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I have done really well on the back side of a strong cold front, north wind and bluebird skies. Last year we had an evening boating two and moving 11 on just those conditions. As Steve Van Lieshout says, best time to go is when you can! |
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Posts: 897
| You can catch fish during post-frontal conditions. Absolutely. My experience has been that they move deeper, and, for whatever reason, bite more during the middle of the day in post-frontal conditions. Then again, my post-frontal success consists of a bunch of dinks, so what do I know:) Maybe bringing the golf clubs wouldn't be such a bad idea... |
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Posts: 294
| Any fish is better than no fish. We'll see how much change occurs. Hopefully there is not as much as they are predicting! |
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Posts: 313
Location: On your favorite spot | My best post-frontal luck has been during the first few hours of daylight in the morning. |
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Posts: 294
| Any presentations better suited than others. I have heard slowing it down with a jig/plastic or a swim bait, but do topwaters work in a situation like this? |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Shallower weed flats have always been my rhym and reasoning for post-frontal fish. When a storm moves in, I believe musky use the dimmed light conditions to their advantage by camoflauging their sillohuette a bit. As the weather moves in, baitfish hiding in the weeds often become disoriented by the big blanket of rain, wind, thunder and lightening, thus increasing their vulnarability. As the lightening flashes and the sky grows dim, I can imagine a musky to be similar to a lion who uses tall grass to stalk its prey, only the musky slinks through the weeds, holding tight to the bottom before making an attack on the less fortunate victim. I also believe muskies inherently know that when the storm passes, hunting prey will not be so easy it was during the storm. The old saying, “No one passes on a free meal”, can be slightly altered, “No musky turns down an easy meal”. Or do they?
Why the story? Think about it. . . You have probably heard that while unsafe to fish under stormy conditions, these are also some of the best opportunities for landing a solid musky - because their getting their feed bag on. We already know that deep suspendos move shallow after feeding deep as the warmer shallow water increases their metobolic rate and allows them to digest their food faster. . . I think that's why you often find a lot of lazy follows up shallow in the heat of the summer - maybe their still digesting and not quite hungry yet. Anyways, I personally think that fish that eat shallow, digest shallow for the same reason as the basin dwellers who move in after the kill.
So is there a rhym & reason to catching fish in post-frontal conditions? I would lean towards the shallow flats and shallow sides of the breaks to make contact with anyone who might be home and hopefully has already digested their last meal and searching for their next one.
Edited by Sam Ubl 4/28/2009 10:04 AM
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Posts: 95
| I like to try a variety of tactics but usually start by picking apart a couple weed beds that I think should be holding fish at the time (due to wind, bait-fish location etc...). By best overall presentation has been to make contact with the cover, be in the cover but at the same time not get hung up or snagged. The jointed crankbait has by far outproduced any lure in my boat when faced with tough, post-frontal fishing conditions. I generally first start shallow and try to cast every square inch of the particular weed-structure I am fishing, concentrating on pockets and irregularities. The most important thing to do is make contact with the cover - with those first couple rips forward, I want that crankbait to dive right into the weeds. Then release the line tension and let the bouncy of the lure work to your advantage as the lure backs itself right out of the snag. A few quick jerks of the rod should clear any debris that may still be hanging on the diving lip. If I do not find success working the shallow flats, I will start to work the same area, only this time parallel and with a deep-diver. I have found more success in tough conditions by taking time to work a spot over very thoroughly rather than run-and-gun style fishing. If I still do not find success I might try changing up colors. Another well known technique is to down-size your presentation, especially if you find you are getting lazy follows. And as already mentioned, try to take advantage of key feeding times such as SR, SS, MR and MS.
Chas Martin
Musky Mastery Guide Service
www.muskymastery.com
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | Cold front conditions is not the thing I like to think about, but something we all have to deal with at some point or another.
What seems to work best for me is to downsize the lure, slow down the retrieve, and then get right into the cover after them. I have found that Muskies often don't actively feed after a front, but that does not mean they won't bite. If one can get in their face or disturb them a little, they might snap at it and you could get hooks. This is when making your lure dart around and change direction suddenly can really help. I concentrate on making contact with cabbage, rocks, timber or whatever the cover is. Sometimes even digging up a little sand can help. Lure direction changes can also aid in triggering negative mood fish. I often sweep the rod back and forth half-way through the retrieve to give the lure a small, but sudden flashing and darting motion.
My lure of choice when dealing with cold fronts is a small sized CJs spinner bait. They are little heavier than other similar sized spinner baits and can take the beating of being ground through cabbage or smacked against rocks.
You may only get one or two strikes all day in post frontal conditions so keep the hooks sharp and set the hook hard.
Just a few thoughts on what works in my boat.
Good luck. |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | I have had the best luck slowing down... Jigs, jerks, and slow willow leaf spinners. |
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Posts: 1168
| I do the exact opposite of what alot of people are posting. My tactics become incredibly aggressive in order to get a fish to attack because it is annoyed. Big baits, ripped hard...very hard, right in their face, just tormenting the crap out of them. Jerkbaits pounded into weeds, rocks, sand stirring things up making them as uncomfortable as I possibly can.
Think of it this way. You notice a fly in your house, it goes in front of you and leaves the room. Easier to ignore. Another fly comes in and gets stuck in a lampshade and buzzes around nonstop. You want to kill that stupid thing and you can't ignore it. It's a pain. Same thing applies.
I prefer fishing in post frontal conditions and if given a choice it's what I would want to deal with as it feeds into my need to think outside of the box and I've got a better fish per hour percentage in conditions like that than when weather is "good." They will bite in this stuff and you can catch them. Many people just need to stop reading magazines and posts on internet sites saying it is impossible. If you've done that you've already got a couple of strikes against you before you hit the water. |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | What you're doing is somewhat similar to what I do in that we both get the bait in their face and try to tick them off. I think the main thing is is try annoy the fish by invading their space and trigger strikes with some sort of unusual action. Making contact with something such as weeds or rocks does help invoke strikes.
One thing is for sure, if all a person does is throw the lure out and reel it straight back in, you usually won't catch much in post frontal conditions. It is almost always best to add some sort of extra action and/or get into the fish's face at those times.
Muskie season is coming.  |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Why do you opt for the Boo Tail in post frontal conditions?
Everyone has a favorite or go-to lure, but what makes that lure your best option after a storm? |
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Posts: 139
| For me, I usually target the same pre frontal spots that held fish and then go with a little bit of a deeper presentation (farther down drop offs, into the weeds, etc.). Although I haven't had great luck post-frontal, I have found working slower to locate fish, then speeding back up to generate strikes. |
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Posts: 33
Location: NE Ohio | I just fished in Ohio in post frontal conditions- I fished sllloooowwwww with sinking jerks- I raised two fish.... and one dolphin jumped at the lure as I raised it out of the water. |
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Location: Chicago, IL | might want to try hitting the thick weeds and grinding the fish out
the pearson grinder works great for this type of fishing
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Posts: 2753
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | It seems the girls always tell you what's best! "I have had the best luck slowing down..." Sounds about right to me.
Have fun!
Al |
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Post Frontal Muskies