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Posts: 13
| I hear a lot of people say they catch a lot, or ever most of their muskies on 8s. Only one of the 30 or so fish I have caught have come on a figure eight. It is true that when I first starting fishing years ago, I would only figure 8 when I saw a fish. Now I know better. I have also been guilty of pulling before I feel the weight of the fish a couple of times. But most of the time (actually the vast majority of the time) the fish never touches the bait.
Any tricks you folks know of that really increased the percentage of fish that actually hit on a figure 8?
Thanks
TMR |
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Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | speed the bait up and try little twitches with the lure |
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| The past few years the percentage of figure 8 fish in my boat has been insane, and I am talking numbers like close to 7 out of 10 fish, 300+ fish a year and 7 out of 10 of them on the 8. It is definately a learned technique and simply becomes habit when you see a fish. Stay still, wide turns, ones that you can only accomplish with 8'6 - 9 foot rods, speed it up if the fish is ready to chow and go nuts, and when I say speed up, I mean speed up....but dont' make some crazy froth on the water with your rod. You can easily speed the lure up very quickly with making to much surface disturbance. Keep the bait in front of the fish, not below it or crazy high above it....
The best is to watch somebody who can figure 8 really good and learn...it's hard to learn the proper technique by reading. I get alot of clients in my boat in both Indiana and Minnesota who tell me they have only caught 1 or no fish on the 8, I am usually blunt and tell them that they must not be doing it correctly them....after a few minutes of teaching them and showing them, they are usually ready for the opportunity when it presents itself.
MIKE HULBERT |
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| Hulbert - 10/17/2008 9:05 PM
I am usually blunt and tell them that they must not be doing it correctly them....
MIKE HULBERT
Sure your not blunt about all things all the time? |
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Posts: 103
| There are some lakes though that fish will very rarely hit in the eight. For example, I live on a gin clear lake and have had 79 follows this year, and only 4 of the 79 fish have went into one turn of the eight. I have tried everything to get them to go into one turn but nothing works. |
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Posts: 999
| Good luck on the 8 in WI. Very very few and far between will they stay with it or even make that first turn. Feel fortunate Mike!!
MM. |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | There are some lakes it's easy to get fish on an 8 and others that are darn near impossible. Generally, the darker or dirtier the water the greater the chance to get them to make a mistake boatside and the more follows you'll never see until you get the lure to the boat. The fish don't see you as soon either like they do on clear water and I believe that makes them more apt to make a mistake. On really clear water, dark days and wind are your only friends for making the fish more careless boatside from what I've seen over the years. |
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Posts: 462
Location: Antioch, IL | fast in the straight aways and slow and a little higher in the turns. Make'em chase it then feed it to them. |
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Posts: 61
Location: Sioux Lookout On Canada | I started to think about this and I realized that when you turn your lure, you want the fish to chase it but when you bring the lure around, it is broadside for the fish to T-bone it. This worked twice for me this year. I boated my monster this way with a really long rod but, also on a topraider submerged. I made sure that the fish could follow, turn on a dime and smack it broadside. I have seen fish caught like this but, no one ever told me what they were doing. I like this question and I am pleased with everyone's responses. I agree that clear lakes are hard to catch the fish close to the boat.
Neil Michelin |
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| I am not having the success that many have on figure 8 fish with double 10's. I have caught some fish in the 8 on a double 10, but also have had some really nice fish ALMOST go....
I had three uper 40" fish this season come in hot, go through the figure 8 multiple times, flare her gills (two of the fish flared twice) and not eat the bait. As I think about those fish I wonder if when I sped up I triggered her to flare, but when I hit the turn, may have inadvertedly slowed down and caused the fish to lose interest?
I agree, you can't learn to figure 8 reading a post, but am I missing something with a double 10 in the 8? I haven't have this problem on other baits. |
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Posts: 163
Location: lake st clair michigan | i fish on a clear water lake and they hardly ever hit on an eight .....but i have had great success doing a big circle ......go high on one end and lower on the other end of the circle...... |
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Posts: 294
Location: New Jersey | It seems that i do the opposite from what i am reading, I speed up on the turns and just a steady movement on the straight away. I used to do at least one full 8 after every retreive, i have since gone to a large circle. If a fish is following, all i pretty much do is "try and take the bait away from the fish." The fish usually wins and gets the bait. I would say i boat close to half my fish on the eight.
sticky hooks, Rob |
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Posts: 386
| I've caught at least 1/3 of my fish this year on the 8, though prior this year I had NEVER caught a single fish that way. Not sure what the difference is, but I'd guess that after my first, I became much more confident and thus much more skilled at my technique and in not giving up too quickly. |
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Posts: 285
Location: NE Wisconsin | I live in NE WI but also fish LOW. Let me tell you, for me it is a hell of a lot easier to catch a figure 8 fish on LOW than it is in NE WI. |
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Posts: 13
| Well, water clarity may partly explain my problems. Almost all of my fish have come from the same, fairly clear lake, as my parents have a cabin there. I do keep the rod down into the water quite a bit and try to make wide turns. That is certainly easier now that I have a longer rod. I can't believe how short musky rods were years ago.
Thanks guys |
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Posts: 2024
| I was just looking at my logs and I'd say we catch 30-40% of our fish on the 8, and most of those are coming from LOTW. Some bodies of water are much more conducive to catching fish on the 8 than others. Clarity probably plays a factor, but we were out on a clear (~10') body of water last weekend and all of our fish were caught on the 8. We were slow rolling Spankys and DC-10s and the fish would follow a few feet behind the bait, but as soon as you made that first turn they went nuts and either hit or followed into the straight-away and hit on the next turn. Make sure your turns are wide since often the fish will "intercept" the bait on the turn. The fish will be on the straight-away and the bait will be ahead turning at the corner of the 8 and the fish will turn and hit the lure as if trying to cut it off as it goes back down the straight-away. The last Badfish video shows what I'm trying to describe (LOTW, Dennis Lappen segment with upper 40" fish). It might even be on Google videos. |
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| For all of you guys who are saying they are not converting their following fish on an 8 in clear water, I am just interested are you guys trying night fishing? I do really well on 8s in clear water lakes at night. I will say, that I don't do well on all clear water lakes at night, but some of them have phenomenal fishing. Wind and clouds should increase those boatside strikes on clear water lakes. I have had my best year on 8s as well, about 10 fish.
Edited by Baby Mallard 10/18/2008 2:47 PM
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Posts: 1303
Location: WI | gopackgo - 10/18/2008 7:22 AM
I've caught at least 1/3 of my fish this year on the 8, though prior this year I had NEVER caught a single fish that way. Not sure what the difference is, but I'd guess that after my first, I became much more confident and thus much more skilled at my technique and in not giving up too quickly.
This post is 100% my experience this year as well. I caught 2 on the 8, and one on L turn. I look forward to the end of the cast now to see if anything is behind it...although the 4 fish I had strike the 8 or L this year, I had seen none of them previous to the strike.
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Posts: 621
Location: Seymour, WI | One of the things that has helped me get more fish go into the 8 is to not have the bait coming in directly perpendicular to the boat. By that I mean if the lure is coming into the boat from an angle, the fish seem more likely to go into the 8. If the lure is coming in directly perpendicular to the boat it seems like a lot more fish see the boat and turn away before they get to the boat.
Speed is the best trigger for getting fish to eat in the 8.
And I dont' agree with the posts that say that fish will not figure 8 on clear water lakes, that has not been my experience at all.
Grass, |
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Posts: 371
Location: Dixon, IL | Very interesting!
I like to know about figure 8.....as deep as you can? I understand about big 8 or circle for muskies to have some room to swim around but how deep you do figure 8?
Anyone ever catch musky on figure 8 in stain water but heavy fishing pressure?
Sound like better to do figure 8 every time...never know that musky show up from under the boat! |
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| ILmuskie - 10/20/2008 1:42 PM
Anyone ever catch musky on figure 8 in stain water but heavy fishing pressure?
Absolutely! Lake that get lots of pressure I will actually keep doing my 8's longer than normal if a fish follows or "flashes" on the bait. I think alot of times people stop too early. Many times on heavily fished lake your lucky to see 2 or 3 fish a day - I have caught several fish this year that veered off the bait 5 or 6 feet from the boat, only to eat after going around at least half-dozen times on an 8.
Every year the % of the fish I catch boat side goes up. This year 19 out of 29 fish were boatside..Heck I would have had a terrible trip on LOTW this June if it wasn't for converting the 8....seven of the nine fish ate boatside. Change your depth and speed while keeping body movement to a minimum and you will put more fish in the boat. |
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Posts: 371
Location: Dixon, IL | Justin.......thanks! |
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How often do fish hit on figure 8s?