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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | I realize there are a lot of variables here, but what would you rather fish? Would you rather fish a lake with a lot of rock structure or good weeds? If a lake has both which do you prefer to fish, or which do you try first?
I know the answer is fish wherever the active fish are, but has anybody found one or the other to be more consistent or easier to fish?
This can also go for suspended fish as well. If fishing off of structure a few cast lengths, would you rather have the nearby structure be weeds or rock?
Figured we could have some interesting late winter discussion.
Tucker
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Posts: 2068
Location: Appleton,WI | i would rather fish rock because i hate cleaning weeds off my line. |
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Posts: 255
| I usually start with no wind I go weeds. If there is wind I definitely go rocks first. Not to say this always works but it is a good general rule that I follow. There are always exceptions though. |
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Location: minocqua, wi. | i like rocks ... but have learned to always keep the weeds honest |
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Posts: 8783
| Good green cabbage, about a foot below the surface, with nice pockets and some boulders? That's fun fishing. But I Primarily fish Vilas County and Eagle Lake. You can't ignore the rocks, and it's not just because you'll run over them if you aren't careful. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Rocks!
Especially the floating kind!  |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | CiscoKid - 3/11/2011 11:47 AM
Rocks!
Especially the floating kind! :o
Muskies like pumice? 
Tucker |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Weeds are my mainstay, rocks come second. Weeds produce oxygen and cover to hide and in general more attractive to fish. . . although I agree with the above statement, I hate pulling weeds off. Tell you what, when you find a spot where rocks meet weeds, then you have yourself a little honey spot!
If it's early spring, I'll look for sand/rocks as it is the primary candidate for spawning (sinking eggs get smothered in silty areas).
Edited by Sam Ubl 3/11/2011 12:10 PM
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Posts: 64
| A nice rock point with a side of cabbage..............ahhhh perfect. |
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | I'd rather fish weeds....cabbage/coontail/rushes especially. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | weeds, weeds, and more weeds...
Weeds are more consistent from the start of the season to the end imo..(the waters I fish anyway) .even late fall fish will use weeds, even dead or dying weeds. big fish love weed.
Edited by BNelson 3/11/2011 1:05 PM
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | I like weeds because i can see the them. You can always see them. If they get really sparse in one area you can pick up the speed on the trolling motor until you get to the next one. |
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | I would rather fish rocks, the subtleties and hot spots are a little more concealed and therefore not beat up as much as the weeds.
That being said, early in the year especially, weeds are more consistent producers on most lakes. While rocks may be more to my liking, not a day goes by without ventures into the slop. |
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Posts: 166
Location: Alexandria, MN | BOTH would be preferable. Any combination of rocks and green weeds with deep water nearby. Throw in a little current and you have the prefect storm. Given the choice of one or the other, weeds early in the season (June thru mid July where I fish in MN and Ontario). Come late summer, ROCKS - especially on cloudy, windy days. It has been my experience that fish could be in the weeds for any number of reasons, but if you find them on the rocks they are more likely in a feeding mode. That being said, both are worth checking at all times of the year - especially if either is holding baitfish. |
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Posts: 79
Location: West Virginia | Rocks and Fallen timber. We dont have much weeds here in WV but I sure wish we had more. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | curleytail - 3/11/2011 12:03 PM
CiscoKid - 3/11/2011 11:47 AM
Rocks!
Especially the floating kind! :o
Muskies like pumice?
Tucker
Inside joke. Taking someone new out into the abyss you here it often enough "I just hit a rock". Low and behold they are in 40'+ of water...thus a floating rock.
I guess there should have been an option for just sand/muck. As that is what I prefer in the abyss.
To answer your question on preferred structure when fishing suspended again I will say rock. Especially if it is a rock hump out in nowhere...those are good when fished away from them. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Sam Ubl - 3/11/2011 12:07 PM
Weeds are my mainstay, rocks come second. Weeds produce oxygen and cover to hide and in general more attractive to fish. . . although I agree with the above statement, I hate pulling weeds off. Tell you what, when you find a spot where rocks meet weeds, then you have yourself a little honey spot!
If it's early spring, I'll look for sand/rocks as it is the primary candidate for spawning (sinking eggs get smothered in silty areas).
I will play devil advocate to Sam's post. Sorry Sam.
Weeds only produce Oxy in the daytime. Night and early morning they go from making it to using it. Thus a good time to fish away from them!
Not to Sam's post, but some other in terms of weeds, and early on. What do you do when you don't have weeds early as is the case on a lot of lakes?
A lot of Cisco based lakes don't have too much for weeds, and rocks early in the year can be very important (solar collectors).
This question is almost like would you rather fish perch/sucker based lakes, or cisco/trout water.
Edited by CiscoKid 3/11/2011 7:59 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | away from weeds at night? I don't see that as being a good thing with lots of big fish in the heart of good weeds in the middle of the night in the net for us.... both in WI sucker based lakes and MN cisco lakes...weed related fish are where we catch the majority of our fish from start to finish in my boat...there are always fish in the weeds..always.
Edited by BNelson 3/11/2011 8:26 PM
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Location: Pelican Rapids, MN | Give me weeds - big green weeds all day all night long! |
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| Rocks in the early season. They hold the heat from the sun. |
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| I like lillypads... |
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Location: NorthCentral WI | BNelson - 3/11/2011 8:21 PM
away from weeds at night? I don't see that as being a good thing with lots of big fish in the heart of good weeds in the middle of the night in the net for us.... both in WI sucker based lakes and MN cisco lakes...weed related fish are where we catch the majority of our fish from start to finish in my boat...there are always fish in the weeds..always.
Interesting because I remember reading this last week. Then, over the weekend I was watching a couple episodes of outdoor logic and Steve S. said that they will fish the outside weed edges at night. He also stated like the previous poster that the weeds begin to take in oxygen at night. So, his theory was that the muskies cruise the weed edges looking for food at night but will not be laying down in thick weeds like they will during the day. Interpreate that for yourself but in short I would say, YES, weeds will still hold fish at night. From the MIDDLE of the weedbed? IDK. But if BNelson says he's caught fish there I would believe that too. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | yup, I got a 50.5 and 53 in about 5 casts one night from the "heart" of a weedbed...far from the weed edge ....and numerous other fish some over 50 not on the weed edge in the dead of night...like 11pm to 4am...fine w me if others don't fish up in the weeds at night! more for my boat... I do tend to stick to the edges at night but got my butt kicked a couple nights in a row only to find those 2 fish way up in it .... never say never with muskies right.
Edited by BNelson 3/14/2011 12:33 PM
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Posts: 1059
Location: Medford, WI | Great topic! I tend to fish weeds most of the time; but the waters I fish are mostly weed-structured; I do like shallow sand/gravel in the middle of the summer during sunny and windy days though.
As far as night fishing, I love thick weeds!!! We've done well on weed edges with curly sues; but many of our night fish come from the middle of the weeds on blades and topwaters.
With all of that said, I don't have the opportunity to fish as much rock-structured lakes liike many of those in Minn. and Canada...I do need to learn more about fishing rocks though.
-Jake |
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| BNelson - 3/14/2011 12:30 PM
yup, I got a 50.5 and 53 in about 5 casts one night from the "heart" of a weedbed...far from the weed edge ....and numerous other fish some over 50 not on the weed edge in the dead of night...like 11pm to 4am...fine w me if others don't fish up in the weeds at night! more for my boat... I do tend to stick to the edges at night but got my butt kicked a couple nights in a row only to find those 2 fish way up in it .... never say never with muskies right.
Oh yes, probably on the carp bite, right? |
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The idea that fish leave weeds because they utilize O2 at night is ridiculous.
Just as ridiculous as thinking that animals will leave the woods at night.
Or people can't be in thick vegetation after dark.
JS
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Location: Pigeon Forge TN. | Weeds any chance I get. |
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Location: Oconto Falls, WI | I didn’t claim they left the weeds at night. Just trying to make some think about weeds, and the general “they make oxygen comment”. There are always exceptions. Some weeds will also produce more, and use less, oxygen so think about that as well.
Jake, there are plenty of lakes in northern WI that have nice rock to fish!
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | If I'm on a lake with both I'll tend to fish weeds on the sunny days and rocks in the darker weather. Just the way it works for me. Sometimes it works opposite but not usually. If I had my druthers, give me rocks or open water. |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Let's look at this from another angle. The dog days of the summer may have full fish lingering over rocks with the warmer water for the sake of increasing their metabolism to digest their most recent meal. Maybe it's my imagination, but it sure seems like I get more window shoppers fishing over rocks than weeds.
In the abyss, you have fish chasing bait and in the weeds you have a lion stalking its prey.. I think to totally understand the rock bite is to understand exactly what's alluring about rocks to the musky. Maybe you can divulge the secret, Norm.
Relative to oxygen, everything has a time and place and there are times when oxygen rich areas are just what the doctor ordered, and other times it tells a different tale; where not to fish, but more so from a seasonal perspective as opposed to a photoperiod. So as not to stray from the topic at hand, maybe I'll start a new thread to get some thawing minds turning, after all, spring is nearly here!
Edited by Sam Ubl 3/15/2011 3:32 PM
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Location: Rhinelander, WI | Rocks - as a Canadian guide told my friend, "Rock fish are bigger than weed fish." |
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Location: Money, PA | No Doubt.....WEEDS |
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| FlyFish4Esox - 3/22/2011 10:56 AM
Rocks - as a Canadian guide told my friend, "Rock fish are bigger than weed fish."
Thats funny!!! Ya better be good at fishin both on most Canadian lakes - there are plenty of 54"+ fish coming out of weed bed's and the biggest Canadian fish in my boat (54") was in the back of a weed bay - LOTW for example has become so devoid of "good" weeds - you can almost call your shots when you find the "right" spots. |
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Location: God's Country......USA..... Western Wisconsin | What Sam said for sure. Where the rocks meet the weeds is magic. This happens more than most of us think. Doesn't take much rock to make a weed turn or point into a for sure hotspot. |
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Weeds or Rocks?