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| I've always wondered why musky fisherman believe it is best to fish clear water on dark, overcast days. My records show I do the best on bright, bluebird days when fishing those gin clear lakes.
Am I doing something "wrong"??
jlong | |
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| I believe it is because pike/muskies can move shallower under the darker conditions, under the cover of clouds. They hunt more aggressively when the conditions are what they are. I must say I have done equally, if not better on bright, hot days in clear water | |
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| Jason,
You had better be careful or you will give everything away about your fishing. Your comments on where your strikes came almost outlined your presentation areas for fishing as Jason Smith outlined his with his first two pulls comment. Between what you let slip here and the satellite transmitter we secretly implanted into your boat last spring we are going to have it all soon!!!!
Look for the "Sponge Bob Wisconsin Fishing Techniques" booklet for sale in your area next spring. It will read like something VERY familiar... | |
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| Bluebird with wind and waves we have even had action on topwater but flat calm no. I still like overcast days, I do think it spreads out the bite compared to a bluebird day. | |
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| I have also done better fishing gin on brighter days. This has been fishing open water in the earlier part of the season though. I think the warming of the surface waters create hatches and higher metabolism rates for fish in al parts of the lake at that time of year.
As a side note I do much better in darker, cloudier, stormy, windy conditions on the darkest water. Go figure. | |
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| My experience has been that the bright days, with a good chop are better than the dark days with the same, or less chop. A bright, sunny day with glass calm water on the clear lakes is hard to get excited about though. | |
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| Dark days on clear lakes have always confused the heck out of me, all the stuff I read these are supposed to be classic days for clear waters, right? It was'nt till I noticed that usually these days coincide with postfrontal conditions when I was able to put something together.
I still much rather have sunny windy conditions on clear waters though, but still go out on flat calm days as they are not number days but big fish days, and only during certain periods of the day.
Kevin
Cass Lake, MN
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| Most of my success on "dark" days has been on "dark" water. I'm guessing this is because I fish shallower in "dark" water and perhaps "dark" conditions offer a shallow water opportunity??? Could it be that I have been fishing too deep on clear water under "dark" conditions??
Any general tips on how to fish clear, weedless water under "dark" conditions would be greatly appreciated.
jlong | |
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| My best days on Gin waters has also been on bright blue bird days. Also with very little wind! [:praise:] TR | |
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| Our best days (#'s) have always come on dark over cast summer days with a good dark algae bloom going,, [:bigsmile:]
jlong,
Are you fishing to deep? How deep are you fishing? I would doubt that you are, but regardless, all depths and speeds must be checked. The following is from a certain guy,, a few of us look up to,,, a little,,, [;)]
"Much too often when a fisherman goes on the water looking for fish, he forgets completely the pure basics. He may know them, but when it comes to interpreting the situation, or presenting lures to catch the fish, you would think he had never heard the words, "structure," "Water color," "breaks," "breaklines," "daily or seasonal movements," "weather conditions," "depth and speed control," etc. All you have to do is to note the area he works, and the type of presentation he is making. If everyone else is casting the shallow shoreline features, you can bet he’ll be doing the same thing.
We can’t put words in a fish’s mouth and state he will be at any specific depth. Nor can we say any given depth is better than another. However, we can say the best depth at a particular time is where the fish are. "Where the fish are" and our ability to find them will be determined by our ability to map and interpret the situation at the time." Buck Perry
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| On clear water, my records show I did the best with numbers on what would be called 'partly sunny' fairly windy days, and caught BIG fish, but low numbers, on second day after the cold front sunny days. I feel watching the barometer, solunar periods, and boat control will get you into the fish whether on clear, semi-turbid, or dirty water. The 'trick' is to be where the fish are when the window opens.
If the fish lives in clear water she will have absolutley no concept of what the dark water fish are doing, anyhow. Go to the food, and you will find the fish. Hit the window of opportunity, and you will catch them!
If one follows the generally accepted doctrine and 'they say' rules, one is likely to miss some really good fishing. | |
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| I would have to agree here with Steve,
I fish clear water exclusively, and have found that no matter what the conditions are, you can find fish. To be honest, I have found that bright days with just a little wind...enough to skew the surface with ripples has been great!! I have found these conditions to reflect a suttle change in weather of some sort, since a front of some sort is "somewhat" close or moving through the area.
The light penetration is higher, which I feel allows the fish to see objects further away. The slight wind will help to "mix" the surface water a little with some sort of current in all directions, which, if a fish identifies something and shows any sort of interest in it, will come to take a look. I feel that the sense of smell is reduced due to constant mixing of water in the upper portion of the water column (maybe to 3 feet down or so max..deeper with more waves), and I also would feel that the ability of the fish to feel vibration at close range is harder to detect as well. So...visual cues (I feel) are more important, regardless of conditions.
Will I use darker baits on bright days? Sometimes, but I prefer more natural colored baits, and use brighter baits on dark days...bright baits are easier to see in darker conditions.
My best days for dark conditions....flat water. Agin, could be considered front moving in, or through...
Steve | |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | Seems to me that the sunny, bluebird days seem to cater to the basin related suspendo pattern... and the dark, windy days seem to cater to shallower more traditional STRUCTURE fishing???? Is this how the old "dark days are for clear water" wive's tale originated???
Obviously there are no rules in regard to muskie fishing... but is this a general rule of thumb for most who are consistently contacting fish on super clear, weedless lakes???
Although... I do recall boating a few nice fish on relatively shallow structure under bright, calm conditions.... which contradicts even my own paradigms.
Is there any method to this madness??? Ha ha. | |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Probably not. IMHO, There are just lots of good guesses, and those end up fitting into a pattern. Those end up fitting to a technique, and that eventually puts fish in the boat. The trick is figuring out the huge number of patterns out there, and not just sticking to one or two you find that work. Break the rules, do what's 'wrong', take a chance. Or two.  | |
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Why Dark Days for Clear Water?