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| Question for all. How much of your Musky catching success to your contibute to baitfish? This is a very broad and complex topic I hope will generate a lot of opinions.
I have always and still do suscribe to the theory that if you find baitfish you will find muskies. In very general terms, I have always concentrated my time on spots based on baitfish activity. Until recently I never really took my approach much deaper to really understand why the baitfish were present and where they might move to the next day based on a number of variables.
One of partners is a walleye fisherman who fishes muskies, but lives for walleyes and he not only catches a lot of walleye, but BIG walleye. He is constantly explaining to me where he is catching walleye today, where he caught them yesterday, where he thinks they will be tomorrow and why. Further more he has it dialed into where has a very good idea of where the biggest fish will be at any particular time. He is diligent about keeping logs and tracking his success.
Now being a bit hard headed, I have told him I don't need to know everything about the why...all I know is I find the bait I find the muskies...and it has mostly been productive.
However, I am now finding that learning and understanding the "why" is BIG. Everything including wind, current, spawning cycles, bug hatches, water temp, bloom all play key roles in how and where baitfish will locate. What "baitfish" are the muskies in a partciular lake primairly feeding on...why? How and why muskies will set up based on structural elements relating to the baitfish. Where the biggest fish will set up and why. In very general terms I thought I new much of this, but realize I have only been scratching the surface.
As I apply more, I understand how much I have been missing. This has been particlulary evident when fishing lakes chocked full of bait like a cisco based lake. Finding baitfish is not a problem, but finding the concentrated pockets, like a school on an inside hook of structure may be key. The entire weedbed may have good baitfish presence but the concentrated pocket in the hook may be where the muskies are feeding. May be b/c the cisco are coralled in the hook and can't escape or scatter easily. I have found such an instance to hold big fish and not just one...Fishing the entire spot and spots like it may give a chance at a fish or two, but fishing all the wind blown hooks may give you a shot at multipe big fish.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? | |
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| This is a really good question. This is just my opinion and from my own experience, I am not an expert, far from it. Baitfish patterns are the most important thing to consider with fish in general, and in this case muskies. I get relly excited when I see baitfish stacked on the edges of weedlines and on the primary break because that is my favorite way to fish, and more importantly I know I will contact fish.
One thing to consider is the size of the lake. I find that muskies are less likely to roam on smaller bodies of water, say 1500 acres or less (small for MN waters that I fish). I call these fish "home-bodied." They stay in a pretty specific area and don't really move far based on wind and other variables. They will key in on the baitfish in that area whether it be deeper off the structure, or shallower on the structure. I think wind can defintely play a factor in this. Good wind blowing in with some clouds may push those fish shallower. Bright sunny sky and no wind will more than likely push the baitfish deeper off the structure and the muskies are sure to follow.
Muskies in larger lakes will relate more to baitfish movements and other variables like wind. Fishing the wind-blown side of a piece of structure like a reef can be dynamite. Keying in on fingers or inside turns in and around that structure on the wind blown side can be very good. I like to look for the schools of baitfish on the locater and if I see it stacked around a good piece of structure, I know there are fish there. If I don't get anything, I will be sure to comeback to that area at moonrise/moonset if possible. Look for channel areas and neckdown areas that often have a lot of wind blowing through, which creates current, to hold a lot of baitfish and feeding muskies on any size body of water.
I know I didn't even scratch the surface with this topic, but I really don't have all the answers myself. I will tell you though if you can track big schools of baitfish, you will find the muskies. Again, all this is just my opinion, nothing fact based.
Edited by Baby Mallard 10/17/2008 12:27 AM
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| does it really matter why. That is my thinking exactly. I think you can over think things too much. I know how I will move or catch muskys when the walleye fisherman are catching fish off the mid lake bar and I will catch muskys when the perch fisherman are catching perch in the weeds. They are doing the work for me. I would rather spend my time catching fish rather than driving around trying to figure out why the fish are doing what they do. Muskies live to eat. | |
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| I am one of the walleye fisherman like your buddy. I get razed a bit for being a bit too detailed when describing the pattern of fish. One thing that I can tell you though, is many times when I am doing real well on walleyes, I am in a spot where I do not get bothered by other boats. I see people on the public spots catching some fish, but they are not ussually really on the fish. Not to say I don't frequent the public spots, but many people don't have the time or take the time to adjust to movments like you are describing. I have caught some of my biggest muskies off spots while walleye fishing where I never had a musky boat come near me. Pay attention to the details and write them down. If you are diligent you will start to devlope patterns. Give it a shot, you may just find you are fishing waters at times that aren't getting beat to death. | |
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| Baby Mallard. Interesting point regarding lake size.
In regard to your point about the baitfish being pushed in shallower at certain times.
Not sure if you have experienced the same thing, but I have found that when the baitfish are in shallow for a few days I catch or have chances at some of the biggest fish. Many times there will be two or three big fish that show up in virtually the same area. This could be on the inside weedline, backside of a point, or a shallow inside of a bay where the bait has been stacked for a few days. I don't seem to find a number of big fish when I am on baitfish that are on or off deeper structre. Not to say I don't get big fish off the structure, but don't seem to find MULTIPLE agressive big fish in a tight area.
Edited by ranger6 10/17/2008 5:43 PM
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How Bait fish Paterns=More Muskies?