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Posts: 18
Location: Kenora, Ont | Action has been really good on Lake of the Woods, but the bite doesn't seem to be (unlike the Musky Inc. reports). The last two weeks, 0 fish in the boat. I have had countless follows but no strikes. I had ten follows befor 10:00 a.m. last Sunday... no takers. The weekend before, I had a 50+ follow on five diffrent occasions throughout the day. Arrgh.
Any tips on getting these toothy critter's to bite would be great. Any thought's on tactics, weather conditions, timing or a hot bait that seems to be producing hook-ups on Lake of the Woods would be much appreciated. The frustration is mounting. I have a four day weekend coming up and plan on spending every second I can on the water.
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Posts: 240
| I have encountered this as well. Lots of follows, few bites. Have not spent a lot of time Muskie fishing as walleye tourney's keeping me to busy. What seems to be working for me though is fishing from 9 to 11am and 6-9Pm That's when the fish seem more aggressive and willing to eat. I also find that cowgirls in silver blades/black tails and shallow invaders in dark colors seems to be the ticket.
Cory | |
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Posts: 133
Location: Lake Tomahawk, Musky Central, USA | They are trained to do that, it's their sense of humor I think. On my lake last year, ALL SEASON..we saw the same 2 50-54" fish in 2 different spots EVERY DAY...EVERY BAIT..once we threw each of the baits we had out there at the time, 18 between the 2 of us..and every now and then they'd come around lookin but never take. We've tried everything..all I can gather out of last years experience is that these fish were messin with us then going back and telling all their friends about it. One night though, on the loon top-raider, my friend had the smaller one (still a 50 for sure) explode next to the boat, probably put a couple gallons of water in the boat+us. Never got a hook in er. What did we do different? To this day we still don't know. I'm a strong believer of trying what works for you and I think everyone out there knows what they need to try, all it takes is doing it. Everything you will be told by others will most likely be something you'd figure out sooner or later on your own...the one thing I've never tried was what I saw the one dude in that crazy video earlier this year doing...slashing the bucktail back and forth for almost 2 minutes was it??? Rod tip splashin, bait violently jerked back and forth a couple feet, and BOOM about 2 minutes later she took it...pretty wild if you ask me, and something I might try.
I've done it all except for that, I think. I've switched directions of my figure 8's...gone deep, broke surface, combined the 2, gone ballistic with the bait (kinda like that video i was talking about), switched the figure 8 direction every other time around, circled, made some other crazy shapes, went straight up and down, done em with my reel almost submerged, charged the fish...you name it I've tried it....
After all of that I sat back and thought about what I was doing and kind of laughed...I said to friend "hahah I'm being stupid, this fish is going to eat when it's hungry just like I learned when I was 5"...we had a good laugh about it but all the different tactics we did try was well worth it. We got a kick out of it and really had some fun, but all in all...the fish you aren't getting on the 8's are going to hit when they want to. I'm a firm believer of this. Another thing that really plays a major role in getting fish to strike on the 8's is whether or not they get spooked. I get really pissed off when the guy fishing with me is like "OMG THATS HUGE" just goin nuts...I'm pretty sure regardless of how hungry that fish is, it's not going to hit in that situation. I've had several fish in my years fishing, run right into the boat and the trolling motor...I figured those ones were really hungry, but after hittin the boat I never saw them again.
Hope this helps, it's all I'm trying to do. I really think as time has gone on with musky fishing that a lottttttt of people are really starting to over-think what they are doing. It's just fishing ya know? That attitude has let to a lot of posts being deleted without explanation so I've come up with my own conclusion to that but hey...I'm just trying to help out my fellow musky fishermen when I think it's the right time to do so, when the right question is asked. When it comes to a lot of other questions I see on here, I simply wont partake as I'm not a guide and I know that's what guides get paid to do.
Edited by Andy 8/12/2008 2:22 PM
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Posts: 170
| Heck...on Eagle, that is THEE norm! I'd say well over 75% (closer to 90%) of the fish eat at boatside. Speed is what has worked well for me...once you have one coming in and have her attention, there is nothing that is "too" fast!!! Bury the rod and hit high gear...as fast as you can, then swing the rod up on the turn, then back down on the next turn. | |
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| I think Jim is right about speed working. I about wore out my wrists and elbows up there recently reeling so fast. Of course I was using a reel that's not really meant for burning lures. I caught most of my fish on Yellow or Brown/Orange spinnerbaits reeled in about as fast as I could. I only had one fish hit on the figure 8, a 34 incher, as the rest bit away from the boat. I got my first 50 incher too. I cast out my lure and began reeling it in when I noticed the fish pop up behind my bait. I said "got one coming " to my brother as I sped up the bait and the fish nailed it. I think my brother said he was actually reaching for the net as soon as he saw me speed up the bait. That can be a great trigger. We really didn't have too many follows while we were there. I'd say we caught or had hooks into 75-80% of the fish we contacted. The conditions can change overnight though, and we seemed to be there at just the right time. Good luck. | |
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Posts: 1237
Location: South Portsmouth, KY | Speed Speed and speed. When i am bringing the bait in like a bucktail i just assume there is a follow every cast and i speed it up as fast as i can get it and turn the direction of the lure back and forth at the same time. This really helped a couple weeks ago in canada. | |
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Turning follows into strikes