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Posts: 1455
Location: Kronenwetter, WI | I'd like to hear some approaches guys have had success with when targeting Cisco spawn. With the cold October are we looking at an early start this year? |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Maybe. |
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Posts: 315
| Everything is based on water temps....with that said its been warm all this week so nothing is changing. when the temps get to where they need to be it will be feeding time! |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Starting Thursday night (around Vermilion) for a stretch of several days the highest low is forecast to be 26, with most lows 18-20, and highs being 36-40. That should help, combined with the full moon next weekend. My guess is that the better fishing will still be in November rather than October, but who knows. I only wish I had about 3 weeks in a row off so it wouldn't matter. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Personally I think it can be a tough time to crack a fish in WI, but if you hit it right you can have a bonanza. I actually prefer the time leading up to the spawn where the ciscos are staging outside their spawning areas. The muskies are much more willing to eat in the daylight period. When the spawn hits daytime musky activity is tough to come by as they feed heavily on the ciscos at night, and thus you need to fish at night to have your best chance at tagging a late fall giant. However that is pretty tough to do when it is in the teens and 20’s for air temps.
I almost think you are better off fishing some non-cisco water in the daytime, and head to cisco water in the evening.
As far as timing this year it will not be happening in WI by the end of the month. Water temps are still way too warm. Couple weeks yet.
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| Get Tom Gelb's book! |
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Posts: 400
Location: North/Central WI | On the lakes that I fish in Northern WI, I have only seen the cisco spawn start early once in the last 10 or 12 years. This was in 2006 when the last week of October was brutally cold and water temps dipped to the high 30's. In my opinion the date typically trumps water temp. I find the spawn peaks about the same couple days every November regardless of whether the water temp is 48 or 40. I plan my vacation for the same time period every year and I seem to do fine. I completely disregard moon phase. I have found this to have no affect at all on the timing of the spawn. However, as expected I do notice an increase in big fish activity during the full or new moon periods this time of year. I'm sure other lakes could be different but I have found these basic guidelines to be true on most lakes. My findings are the result of many, many nights on the water in November with a spotlight.
Edited by NateOz 10/23/2012 9:03 AM
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | My experience has been that the act of spawning is driven by water temps. But... the fish tend to stage in anticipation of the right water temps based on photperiodism (calender). I guess if I had my choice, I'd be on the lake the week prior to the actual spawn... rather than the week OF the spawn for similar reasons as TravisK already pointed out. There is value in being on the water during the spawn to learn where the good spawning sites are. Cisco have spawning site fidelity... so they will return to the same spot year after year. So will the muskies. Once you know where those spawning sites are.... there is value in fishing them just PRIOR to when all the baitfish arrive. Good Luck. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | driving around after dark w a couple spotlights can be fun/helpful...I've done that on a few lakes in Vilas around the spawn... one time CPainter I cruised around the area on a lake where they spawn...interesting to see what is swimming around...ciscoes, suckers, eyes, and muskies! On another lake AGrimm and i cruised around shallow on some good spawning grounds and saw a few BIG whitefish mixed in w the the cisco burgers..one was 22"..oh and it had teethmarks on it... ; )
Nate does pretty good during the day around the spawn...I would follow his boat around ;o)
Edited by BNelson 10/23/2012 11:11 AM
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Posts: 462
Location: Madison Wi. Chain | Say I am trying to target muskies around areas that cisco's may be stagging. Are there predictable areas or structure that one could see on a lake map that are good starting points? Are there specific depth ranges that will hold stagging cisco's, how does weather impact how ciscos are stagging. Never targetted the cisco spawn, but very curious. BG |
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Posts: 566
Location: Elgin, IL | BNelson - 10/23/2012 11:08 AM
Nate does pretty good during the day around the spawn...I would follow his boat around ;o)
Yes......he does. |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | Each lake is different... pending the substrates and structures available for cisco spawning. My experience is that gravel is the preferred substrate over sand or boulders. Mud is a definite no. Ciscos tend to stage adjacent to vertical structures... ideally within close proximity to a spawning site. I tend to look for ledges along these steep drop-offs that provide a good ambush point for the muskie. Ledges or aprons in 10-15 feet of water are great. Current is also a plus. Feeder creeks, neck downs, areas that encounter wind driven current WITHOUT direct impact from big waves all seem enhance an areas potential. Hopefully that is enough info to get you started. Anything more than that would require me to mark up your lake maps for ya  |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | jlong - 10/24/2012 1:52 PM
Anything more than that would require me to mark up your lake maps for ya
You offering?  |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | CiscoKid - 10/24/2012 3:46 PM
jlong - 10/24/2012 1:52 PM
Anything more than that would require me to mark up your lake maps for ya
You offering? ; )
he'd probably just mark structure travis /:
... keep an eye on where the eagles are in the trees late afternoons ... then bring your spotlight as stated.
... scoop up some ciscoes, rig em and twitch em ... |
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Posts: 1058
Location: Medford, WI | Eagles????...comeonnnnn Sled...we're fishing, not bird watching! Plus, the only eagle I've ever hooked was on a jackpot and a weagle, once, almost yielded me a heron...ask G-Rome for the story on that one. Anyways, eagles don't eat ciscoes...that's like thinking that loons would be hanging around baitfish...and that's just silly talk.
-Jake |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | you planning to be here in the coming weeks jake? ... door's open and we'll leave the light on. |
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Posts: 1058
Location: Medford, WI | Was actually up there two weekends ago and slept at a boat landing a little north of you...crashed in the car. Not sure about the next few weeks. I'm headed to Vermilion tomorrow after school, then a week off, then...somewhere, but not sure yet. I'll get a hold of you if I'm headed up that weekend. May be making a late November run up there if the ice isn't on yet.
Hope all is well, Jake |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Jake, change of plans,......
Cisco's spawn in the Summer,? don't they?
And I heard that they now prefer weeds to have sex in,... Ahhh, I mean,....errr. Lay their eggs in..... |
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Posts: 91
Location: Central Wisconsin | Going to try fishing around the cisco spawn this year, first time trying it. Any tips on baits selection. White/silver/blue big rubber or cranks the best option? |
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Posts: 2753
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Follow Howie around, he'll really appreciate that!
Howie- hope you're sticking some big one's!
Have fun!
Al |
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Posts: 410
Location: Wakefield, MI | How do you know if a lake has cisco in it? I looked for creel surveys for the lake that I'm fishing but MDNR doesn't have anything. I heard from someone that it does but don't know where I can find out for sure. It's a deep lake, about 95 acres, 80 feet deep in the main part and 45 behind an island, with a large flat area, lots of sand, gravel, and some muck according to my maps.
I did some studying last night and it sounds like there will surface activity from them around where they are spawning. When we got back to the flat area, about 15 feet of water, there was a bunch of smaller fish popping at the surface. Went through it slowly once dragging suckers and casting with nothing, fished a different shoreline, then came back through it pulling the suckers at about 1.5 mph and I caught a 40" fish. |
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| Milje, might want to slow that down a bit. in my experience moving along with suckers is best at .5 to .75 tops..over that they don't have the chance to actually swim around much. Not that you can't catch them faster but i think hour success will go up if you clip along about .5 to .75.
They will live longer and be alot more lively at those speeds. try that out on your lake. |
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Posts: 410
Location: Wakefield, MI | We usually go a lot slower, my dad wanted to get back out into the deeper water and I told him to take one last run through where I saw some activity in the shallows, so he did in a hurry not expecting anything and I got one. |
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Targeting Cisco Spawn