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| so i am considering making a loon swimbait. an underwater loon swimbait. i was just curious if muskies chase loons much at all and if it would be worth making the swimbait... |
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Posts: 40
Location: Baxter, MN | I had an experience this fall that is exactly the opposite.
The loon was checking out our sucker rigs and we had a mid 40's fish come in and the loon actually chased the muskie off. They went around and under the boat twice and the muskie ran for the cover of the weeds.
I would not believe it if I would not have seen it with my own eyes. |
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Posts: 8782
| Baby loons make a nice muskie meal, as do baby ducks. I have only heard of one instance where a muskie took down an adult loon, and it was a BIG muskie. |
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Location: Brookfield, WI | Depends where you fish. Such a bait might be more successful in MN. There're a lot of loons in MN.
A lot.
Kevin |
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| here on st clair, seagulls and the occasional bluebill duck. muskies at the right moment will attack anything. |
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Location: MN | MuskyHopeful - 12/21/2010 9:40 PM
Depends where you fish. Such a bait might be more successful in MN. There're a lot of loons in MN.
A lot.
Kevin
Hey I resemble that remark! |
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| Be careful about making loon-patterned baits.........
A couple years ago there was a winternet story about the Humane Society or Audubon Society types or one of those bunches being all up in arms because one of them was in Rollie and Helen's or something and saw some of the paint patterns and got all snarly because muskie anglers were CONDITIONING muskies to eat loons because of baits painted black with white dashes.
I'll pause, while you think about how idiotic and totally backwards that mindset is. I believe my comment at the time, was that the common loons and the Humane Society loons both owed us thank you for teaching muskies NOT to eat loons.
Good luck in your endeavor. Remember, the paint scheme is to catch the angler. If it catches fish....added bonus. Mostly though, I think the fish could care less.
-Eric |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | No muskie lure out there behaves, looks, or sounds like a loon to any muskie. No worries, it's just a black and white paint pattern. |
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| i've actually seen the opposite, where adult loons chase muskies away. for some reason they don't seem to like muskies hanging out near their young/nests... |
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Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | Loons are muskie repellent. Make your bait and give it to everyone else fishing on the lake except for me  |
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Posts: 574
Location: Elk Grove Village, IL & Phillips, WI | Here's the exact opposite!! A loon eating a musky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTrQk8z5ws |
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Posts: 676
Location: Wisconsin | The Loon is one of my best sellers....probably looks more like a Crappie than a Loon really. Like was said before, it's just a black and white pattern bait. Who doesn't have those? |
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Location: oswego, il | I would like to see that swimbait. Loons are pretty big and a loon swimbait would have to weigh 10+ pounds. A baby loon swimbait would still be a big bait but with a drap brownish color.  |
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Posts: 1141
Location: NorthCentral WI | I've had loons follow up to the boat. Scared the crap out of me the first time, it looked like a big white basketball following under the water. But it's only ever happened to me on WTD baits, both topwater and sub-surface.
My question is, if there's a loon in the area you're fishing what do you do? Move spots, because muskies will shy away from adult loons OR continue to fish the spot beacuse muskies are often caught within close proximity of loons.
Edited by MartinTD 12/22/2010 10:17 AM
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Location: Land of the Musky | 30acre-Go for it. I have loon/baby loon colors in about every bait I make from 6" up to a 17" trolling bait. They sell ok and according to my customers produce lots of decent pike and musky. If you want to try your painting out on a few blanks shoot me an email. I will sell you a few of my lure blanks for cheap for you to practice on over winter.
James
Here is one of my 10" long Nokken "Baby Loon" lures:
Edited by Tackle Industries 12/22/2010 10:19 AM
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | A few times I have seen Loons chase muskies out of small shallow (close to shore) areas, but I also know that when you see loons eating bait fish there are sometimes muskies in that same area, especially near mid -lake rock bars.
I have caught a few muskies on loon colored prop baits and loon colored swim baits, but I think the action of the lure was the attraction and not the color of the lure.
I can say that most top water strikes for me has occurred with black and white colored lures as opposed to bright colored lures for the most part.
Jerome |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | sworrall - 12/22/2010 8:18 AMNo muskie lure out there behaves, looks, or sounds like a loon to any muskie. No worries, it's just a black and white paint pattern.
Agree. Musky don't see paint jobs and think, "Loon!" or "Baby Mallard!", they see shades, which attracts them. That said, I like my loon colors because the blue eyes look sweet on the black bodies and I love my paintjobs for me
Feeding muskies binging on something at the moment, like a school of shad, may see the lure patterned/painted the same as the forage and only "Feel" the difference, the difference which hopefully is a positive one and splits the school of shad and makes itself vulnerable 
Edited by Sam Ubl 12/22/2010 11:28 AM
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Sam,
Exactly. The lure footprint is so different from a Loon swimming around it's a different universe. Jerome, you need to toss topwater in black/orange, and black/yellow patterns up there some.
Muskies will eat birds because they eat what moves, but loons are not on the regular menu, mostly because the feathers cause constipation and the 'farts'. |
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Posts: 56
| That's why I don't eat them anymore, either! |
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| Muskies eat baby ducks, so why not baby loons! I doubt they would eat a fully grown duck or loon! |
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| sworrall - 12/23/2010 8:25 AM
...
Muskies will eat birds because they eat what moves, but loons are not on the regular menu, mostly because the feathers cause constipation and the 'farts'.
How exactly do you KNOW this???? |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Sniffing bubbles. |
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Location: Hugo, MN | firstsixfeet - 12/24/2010 6:53 AM
sworrall - 12/23/2010 8:25 AM
...
Muskies will eat birds because they eat what moves, but loons are not on the regular menu, mostly because the feathers cause constipation and the 'farts'. How exactly do you KNOW this????
Loon always give me terrible gas. I usually opt for Trumpeter Swan much more tender meat too. |
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| sworrall - 12/23/2010 11:08 PM
Sniffing bubbles.
Good one, Steve.
What I wonder is this: When a muskie farts, do the other muskies in the area laugh? Do they vacate the area? Or do they just look at him and say "Aw, Maaan!..." And if they are anything like people, do lady musky farts peel the proverbial paint off the walls?
Hey, maybe THAT's why some days a great spot is like the dead sea, even when a day or even a few hours ago there were several fish there!
You might be on to something here Steve...
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Posts: 131
| For what its worth I've seen a juvenile loon get smashed by a muskie or muskies twice in about a 3 minute span . It was late fall tullibes were starting to group up and there were 5 loons feeding like mad . Just as I was telling my son to look over there this loon got taken down . We were about 100 yds away . It was obivous thats were we wanted to be so as we moved in, this loon comes to the top does the one wing flopping circle and pow, got nailed again never to be seen again . On the other hand, we had about 45 minutes of fantastic fishing multiple follows and 3 in the boat on that spot. I've also seen a hen wood duck get taken down also .
Edited by oddball 12/24/2010 6:07 PM
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Location: Medford, WI | Along with others, I've seen what appeared to be loons chasing muskies out of shallower, close to shore areas. Had three or four different fish following in a very small bay (not even a bay really) two or three times each within half an hour. Next time through, we get there and a loon is fleeing all over the water for about 2 minutes throughout the whole area...no surprises when we didn't see any of the fish again.
Jerome was there for that one...not quite as amazing as Crazy Loon Bay though...
-Jake Bucki |
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| MartinTD - 12/22/2010 10:16 AM
I've had loons follow up to the boat. Scared the crap out of me the first time, it looked like a big white basketball following under the water. But it's only ever happened to me on WTD baits, both topwater and sub-surface.
My question is, if there's a loon in the area you're fishing what do you do? Move spots, because muskies will shy away from adult loons OR continue to fish the spot beacuse muskies are often caught within close proximity of loons.
I had a loon follow my Weagle twice on back to back casts. I wonder what it is about the WTD style? |
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| I've had them chase lures from time to time, and I've always figured that if you see loons feeding it's a good sign that the baitfish are there. If the baitfish are there, I expect the muskies will be there as well. That said, I've never caught a muskie in those situations, though. I have noticed that my best days fishing have been when the loons, gulls, eagles, etc are active and feeding. If all the birds are just sitting there? Probably going to be a tough day.
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Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | sworrall - 12/23/2010 9:25 AM
Sam,
Exactly. The lure footprint is so different from a Loon swimming around it's a different universe. Jerome, you need to toss topwater in black/orange, and black/yellow patterns up there some.
Muskies will eat birds because they eat what moves, but loons are not on the regular menu, mostly because the feathers cause constipation and the 'farts'.
Steve, do you mean something like these colors ?? Can you tell that I throw that Weagle a little bit...... A gift from Steve Jonesi at a swap meet in Chicago..... Black,Yellow, Orange, White, all good colors but action and noise (vibration) will cause fish to react more.
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Location: Brainerd, MN 56401 | I've had several loons chase pounders. They seem to like sherbert more than anything else. |
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Posts: 906
Location: Warroad, Mn | I've had lots of Loons follow muskie baits (they really like top water), but in 45 years of fishing muskies on the LOTWs I've never seen a muskie or a Loon for that matter chase one or the other out of an area. I would bet that Loons and even baby Loons are about .0001% (or less) of a muskie's diet. However, a black and white contrast lure seems to work well. The Loon stuff is to fool fisherman not the fish. Doug Johnson
Edited by dougj 12/26/2010 6:44 PM
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| This last fall I watched a full grown loon get crushed by a mid 50 range fish. There were 3 of us in the boat and we all got to watch it at the same time. The loon was up near the edge of the reed bed and I casted toward the loon causing it to dive and then literally a second later up came a giant musky with the loon t-boned launching into the air about 30ft from the boat. The loon managed to get away but it was still one of the coolest things I have ever seen Muskie fishing! |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Mike, now that's an image that if were painted, I'd look at every day! |
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| Sam Ubl - 12/30/2010 9:05 AM
Mike, now that's an image that if were painted, I'd look at every day!
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Posts: 3868
| I've watched loons swimming underwater around my boat and you would have thought they were some sort of small, angry freshwater dolphins. At the time I was fishing in nowhereland waynorthlake and drifting close to an island that turned out to have a loon nest on the edge. The adults took turns charging my boat, swimming underwater the whole time. I backed off and they eventually popped up and began close patrols of the island edge, giving me ugly and mean looks. |
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| marine_1 - 12/23/2010 11:09 PM
firstsixfeet - 12/24/2010 6:53 AM
sworrall - 12/23/2010 8:25 AM
...
Muskies will eat birds because they eat what moves, but loons are not on the regular menu, mostly because the feathers cause constipation and the 'farts'. How exactly do you KNOW this????
Loon always give me terrible gas. I usually opt for Trumpeter Swan much more tender meat too.
You are correct. I prefer bald eagle over loon any day of the week. If I can't get eagle, I will settle for a blue heron. |
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| I witnessed the unbelievable! I was waiting for the loon pair to swim around the bay so I could take pictures of them. As I was watching, I saw the loons slowly floating, the front loon looked back and directly behind it the other loon was up on its tail with its wings spread and yodeling and in a half second it went directly down. The other loon took off on its belly across the lake yelping/loon calling. It was hysterical and never looked back. I waited for 20 minutes and prayed the loon would pop up. It never did. The rest of the week the single loon seemed to be looking for its mate. This was a very traumatizing event for me to witness. |
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Location: Hugo, MN | You guys are all NUTS! Everyone knows that Muskies eat Walleye not Loons!!! |
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Location: northern indiana | They also eat other things if swimming while nude after dark!!! =) |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | All muskies swim nude.
Where the heck did this one come from? |
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| Muskys may or may not eat loons on a regular basis but I bet they eat them more than FIreTiger colored fish or fish with two #10 blades on their heads. Don't over think color patterns! |
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| "The rest of the week the single loon seemed to be looking for its mate. This was a very traumatizing event for me to witness."
I once was lucky enough to see an eagle pick off two baby loons in two days in front of my place. The parents searched for those babys for days, hooting and crying. One parent sawm ahead and called, the other swam behind and searched under water. It was really sad. |
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Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | I saw a full grown Loon go under last week on a well known rock reef and NEVER came up......... My 2 boat sluts heard the ruckus, but didn't think it was a loon....... My eyes don't lie ! I know that a loon got Hammered by something really BIG !
Jerome |
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| My brother, sister in law, and mother saw a musky take a full grown loon right in front of the camp last summer. Lake Nipeeing, South Shore, North Bay, Ontario. Wouldn't have believed it if I had heard fishermen telling stories. My brother told me the loon came up thrashing twice before it dissapeared. Fish will try and eat almost anything that will fit in their mouths. I would say this is a rare occurence, but it does happen.
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| I was just in Canada fishing last week (Pigeon Lake - Kawarthas) and noted something for the first time in 35 years of fishing around muskies. I had a pair of loons on the water near my boat as I was trolling. 1 was the mother and the other was a pretty much grown adolescent. Neither of these birds looked edible due to size, but the mother was wailing a call the whole time and minutes later something big hit my lure and it was gone - braid didn't stop the teeth of a big musky. I'm convinced the loon was warning of the musky in the water. We go by loons all the time and normally they are quiet unless they are calling their baby or spouse after a long dive. Anyone else ever see this? I've seen the same with squirrels in my yard when a cat is prowling around or a red tailed hawk is circling. |
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| Loons mate for life like a lot of critters including muskies, Canadian geese, etc. |
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Location: Chisholm, MN | Wha???? Weren't you using a leader? |
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| Kirby Budrow - 9/7/2013 8:52 PM
Wha???? Weren't you using a leader?
He was using white and black Spectron, which is Loon colored. |
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Location: Smith Creek | Muskies mate for life?
I know eagles do, that's why they get bald.
HAHAHAHAHA!
Seriously, I'm pretty sure muskies are quite promiscuous. |
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Posts: 171
| sworrall - 12/23/2010 8:25 AM
Muskies will eat birds because they eat what moves.
This IS your answer to whether or not a Muskie will eat something or not. |
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| I troll tandem spinners and usually the muskies just grab the hook side of this and not the whole darn thing. |
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| My question is whether the loons can be used while musky fishing to let me know where there are big muskies? Anybody seen a loon alarm call when a big musky is nearby? jumping shad are a good signal something is going after them, so are loons able to be a similar watchdog for big musky?
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| jamxii - 9/17/2013 8:54 PM
My question is whether the loons can be used while musky fishing to let me know where there are big muskies? Anybody seen a loon alarm call when a big musky is nearby? jumping shad are a good signal something is going after them, so are loons able to be a similar watchdog for big musky?
I would say that depends on what the loons are doing. If they are feeding you know there is bait nearby. If there is bait, the muskies probably aren't far away. I've never learned the different loon calls, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out that they do sound some sort of warning when there predators in the area. |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | Big Pike love baby ducks
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| Pikeducken?? |
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Location: Tennessee | That guys getting a two course dinner! pike fillet and duck |
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Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | This is classic muskie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhSqtbu_24M
Ranger- You get mean ugly looks from women too!
Have fun!
Al |
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| Guest - 7/24/2011 5:55 PM
I witnessed the unbelievable! I was waiting for the loon pair to swim around the bay so I could take pictures of them. As I was watching, I saw the loons slowly floating, the front loon looked back and directly behind it the other loon was up on its tail with its wings spread and yodeling and in a half second it went directly down. The other loon took off on its belly across the lake yelping/loon calling. It was hysterical and never looked back. I waited for 20 minutes and prayed the loon would pop up. It never did. The rest of the week the single loon seemed to be looking for its mate. This was a very traumatizing event for me to witness.
Poor bird. |
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| As a wood bait builder for bass, saltwater stripers and muskie I can confirm, from my experiences, that color only matters from a visibility standpoint. The 3 best striper bait colors for Salt Water are solid Black, Yellow or White for night, cloudy water and clear water conditions. No fancy paint jobs, scales, eyes, etc... required.
I've caught smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and striped bass on prototype plugs that were in a natural wood color & never painted. Shape, size and action are what counts 95% of the time "in my opinion". However, muskies caught on my plugs, 2 of them, were painted..... I've only been muskie fishing for a 4 years. |
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Posts: 4
| My original question which no one has answered is have you ever noticed a loon giving an alarm call when a big muskie is in the immediate vicinity? I had a loon going crazy just before I had a monster size hit from a very big fish - likely a muskie. Heading to Pigeon Lake, Ontario tomorrow for the week. Will advise if I see this again.
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| M-A - 12/22/2010 6:50 AM
Be careful about making loon-patterned baits.........<br /><br />A couple years ago there was a winternet story about the Humane Society or Audubon Society types or one of those bunches being all up in arms because one of them was in Rollie and Helen's or something and saw some of the paint patterns and got all snarly because muskie anglers were CONDITIONING muskies to eat loons because of baits painted black with white dashes.
I would LOVE to make the mosquito the state bird, just so long as we could still swat them. |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | jamxii - 6/19/2014 9:34 PM
My original question which no one has answered is have you ever noticed a loon giving an alarm call when a big muskie is in the immediate vicinity? I had a loon going crazy just before I had a monster size hit from a very big fish - likely a muskie. Heading to Pigeon Lake, Ontario tomorrow for the week. Will advise if I see this again.
What you're probably hearing is a loon going crazy because an eagle is looming overhead somewhere. Next time you hear this, start looking around and I'll bet you'll see an eagle in the air. Loons let out warnings and get very loud when eagles are above. |
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Posts: 140
Location: Northern Illinois | Saw a show by Larry Dahlberg where they were trying to figure out a musky
bite pattern that was related to the local flock of duck movements. He was fishing
w/a guy that had evidence the big muskies were feeding on the ducks. ( IE. bird
feathers in the musky poop when they would get one in the boat) Can't remember
where they were fishing, but the muskies where targeting the diving ducks. I think
it's a safe bet that muskies will chew on anything they can catch. |
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Posts: 122
| Never seen a muskie chase a real loon, but once I watched a mama loon chase a muskie away from her babies.
I HAVE seen a HUGE follow on a handmade lure that that was made to look and swim like a loon. Willy's Musky Lure shop on Facebook sells some pretty water fowl like lures of anyone is THAT curious lol |
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| I was at a flea market and spotted a mink stole with 4 minks sewn together. I plan to separate them, connect the head of the mink to a large jitterbug with a trailer hook. We got 10 muskies at pigeon lake, 2 in the 40s. Marginal week. Glad to see some in the upper 20s but have not seen a teen length musky in years up there which is not good. |
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