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Posts: 143
Location: La Crosse, WI | After reading the thread on fish conditioning, I thought I would start this post. I know that there isn't a right answer to this question but I thought it would be fun to see everyone's responses. I know other fish will follow lures but not nearly to the extreme that muskies do and it seems strange for a fish to "waste" energy following a lure. So what is everyone's theory on this topic. And yes I know it has been discussed at length in the past but I couldn't find any good threads when I did a search. |
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Posts: 2015
| Many top of the food chain fish follow, Marlin will follow a teaser for 1/2 a mile sometimes. There are times when a fish follows with not much intention on eating - IMO. Almost as if they are saying to the object in "their territory" I could kill you if I wanted to, but I don't want or need to eat right now?...they follow because they are programmed to respond to something moving - " predators", - if you think converting muskies that follow is difficult try tricking a big Pacific roosterfish!.
Edited by IAJustin 4/10/2012 12:02 PM
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Location: minocqua, wi. | do suspendos follow?
and as a follow-up question, how do you keep count? |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I think it depends on the individual fish. I think some Muskies follow because they simply want to see what that thing-a-ma-jig is. Some are hungry and may be thinking about eating it. I think some follow because they want it out of their "space" and want to make sure it keeps going. And I think some, maybe many, just want to give fishermen a rush and tick them off because they won't bite. Sometimes I don't think Muskies like fishermen. Fisherwomen maybe, but not fishermen. Face it, how many fishermen ever shower before they go fishing? Those fish probably think we stink!  |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | I think it's because they know the lure is fake, and they want YOU to know they know it...
TB |
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Location: Smith Creek | They prefer not to lead or get out of the way. |
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Posts: 8781
| The simple answer is that you've got their attention, but whatever you are throwing or doing with it isn't enough to get them to eat it. If they really wanted to eat it, they'd have done it already. I also think they are often just trying to chase it away. |
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| I always thought it was because Im the Messiah |
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Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | I believe that the follow is a few different things. Could mean get out of my area... could mean that they are trying to better image what they are chasing before making that decision to eat... could be that they are chasing to strictly eat.
But the thing that bothers me about followers, especially when we are burning lures at high speeds. The fish is exerting a lot of energy, if it was not going to bite or at least try to, then why? When we see a follow coming in towards the boat we all do little things (depending on lure selection) to get them to bite. For example speeding up at the boat or the best example is the figure 8. If I were a fish, why would I exert so much energy to not get some lunch. They are not going to do that...IMO. however, that being said I do believe that there are little things that we all do that would turn the fish off from eating, messing up on the 8 and they lose interest, or anything that would make them lose interest and not bite. At that point the fish just swims away and we call it a follow.
Your right... there is no correct answer to this question as non of us can actually go find a musky and ask her... I believe it is a predatory instinct to follow the lure, whether to eat, chase it away or simply get upset enough to bite it. Either way, there not doing it for no reason... every follow has a reason. We just don't know and will probably never know what the specific reason is for the specific situation that we are in.
Unless a new reality TV show comes out called the musky whisperer... then maybe |
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Posts: 720
| I always say I just ran out of water. |
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Posts: 100
| I think a good point was made above about followers on burned bucktails. Maybe burning bucktails, or high speed trolling can be such a successful technique because a musky usually won't waste energy following a high speed presentation. It will either bite or let it pass. If it is following a bait travelling at a high speed than it probably just ate, and will not be enticed to eat, as it just wants to get the invader out of its territory. Whereas a bait moving at a slower speed will be easier to follow and may be worth eating.
For those of you who burn bucktails I wonder if followers are as frequent. And if so how likely are they to bite.
Just like when trolling sometimes a fish will follow a bait for a long time and will only strike if triggered, I would like to see if anyone has some evidence of whether muskies will follow baits that are trolled at a high speed for extended periods of time. |
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Posts: 86
Location: colorado | Good topic. I know of no predator that will not chase something moving or running away from it. Many Dogs that will not retrieve can not help themselves when a ball bounces away from them and just have to chase it. I feel that it's a trigger response. Now maybe we have not triggered a strike but we have triggered a chase. Everything chases my lures.Pan fish,Bass, Walleye. Trout, They may only give chase for a few feet before returning back to there ambush spot but they do chase. |
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Posts: 97
Location: Pickering, ON | Just like when trolling sometimes a fish will follow a bait for a long time and will only strike if triggered, I would like to see if anyone has some evidence of whether muskies will follow baits that are trolled at a high speed for extended periods of time.
Yup, they will. You have to remember - what's 'high speed' to us is a joke to a musky. You'd be lucky to move a lure (casting or trolling) at even 1/5th of the speed a musky or it's prey can move. |
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Posts: 432
Location: Eagan, MN | cocathntr - 4/10/2012 2:45 PM
Good topic. I know of no predator that will not chase something moving or running away from it. Many Dogs that will not retrieve can not help themselves when a ball bounces away from them and just have to chase it. I feel that it's a trigger response. Now maybe we have not triggered a strike but we have triggered a chase. Everything chases my lures.Pan fish,Bass, Walleye. Trout, They may only give chase for a few feet before returning back to there ambush spot but they do chase.
I agree. I believe there is something about our lures that is actually more attractive than a live, healthy baitfish. I sure wouldn't want the time between caught fish to be equal to the life expectancy of a bullhead or perch. If a muskies brain was a computer program, you could probably write the whole thing in just a few lines of code. Apply a strong enough stimulus, trigger a programmed response. A muskies tiny brain doesn't have the disk space to make it any more complicated than that. |
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Posts: 8781
| Maybe they just don't have anything better to do. |
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| Apex Predator=Less instinctual Fear=More curiosity.......That, and all the stuff you guys said! |
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Location: Minnesota. | Certainly not a definite answer to the OP's question (is there one??) but I fly fish for the buggers - a lot - and if they're going to eat at all there's not much hesitation and I really can't say I've experienced many real follows with flies both topwaters (Dahlberg Divers) or streamers..
I had one follow in a bit longer than usual on Vermilion once, in a good breeze and waves but even he "nipped" at the offering w/o really grabbing it. Oh for a trailer hook!
Seems with flies they eat or they don't. (OK no smart-arse remarks needed there...*g*)
In short, - beats me!!
Jeremy. |
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Location: Kronenwetter, WI | Flambeauski - 4/10/2012 12:25 PM
They prefer not to lead or get out of the way.
Thats funny stuff right there |
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| i believe cocathnyr is correct. It is a basic instinct for a predator to follow possible prey. Cat and a laser pointer, for instance. A muskie usually follows directly behind the possible target so its approach has less chance of being detected by the prey.
Don't sell a musky short, It seems to be a calculating fish. There may be more going on in that bony noggin that is commonly believed. |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | http://www2.jogjabelajar.org/modul/how/b/brain/brain.htm
Not so much, really.
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Posts: 360
| Had a fish follow hard on a glider Saturday then just swim off. It actually bated the lure 2 times with its nose never opening its mouth then just backed off and swam away. Thought twas Gona bite for sure when i sped the bait up. It was like he was just playing with me. |
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Posts: 35
| I've seen an aggressive fish go around about 3 times on the 8, turn and swim about 10 feet away from the boat. It decides to turn around and head straight for the boat, stops about 3 feet away and sticks its whole head out of the water. That was a headscratcher. |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | I think that's the musky equivalent of sticking its tongue out at you nate_r21...
TB |
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