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Posts: 95
| I'm in a bit of musky slump right now. I fish a few small rivers/streams here in Eastern Ky. Here lately I'm either not seeing fish on my outings, or just getting a follow or two a day. I don't usually fish this far into the summer but up until 2 or 3 weeks ago things were on fire. I'm wondering if maybe I need change up the baits or is the super slowness to be expected this time of year. I keep my bait rotation pretty simple. Mainly fish what I've had success on. 00 AC shiners, white/black bucktails, and spinnerbaits mostly. Throw mini medusas and suzy suckers every now and then. Have tried religiously with topwaters and buzzbaits but never have I ever had any luck with them at all.
Is there certain lures out there that I'm not using that would increase my success right now? Is it to be expected to be this slow in the summer for the small rivers and streams. For those of you that hit the smaller waters...what gives? |
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Posts: 1168
| A few questions...
1a) What were water temps then? 1b) What are water temps now?
2a) What was the water level then? 2b) What is the water level now?
Your baits are probably fine but if temps climbed up sharply or water levels fluctuated those fish could've moved but chances are they aren't far away. I'll approach fishing small river muskies as conditions change very similar to how I'll approach brook trout in small streams. Water levels drop....fish deeper holes, especially those that have some type of current break either in the hole or somewhere near it that creates an eddy. Water temps increase, again look for deeper holes first and fish those and also look at shallow water with FAST current near deeper holes or current breaks.
If you've got a #*^@ you can fish below then it's a no brainer. Just camp underneath the thing and bomb away. |
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Location: Eau Claire,WI | Try early and late in the day, Before sunrise and just before sunset. Are you casting tight to shore? Have you tried jerk baits? The new HI Suick is the bait I am seeing most of my action on this year. What kinds of topwaters are you using? I would try a hog wobbler or a creeper,something that is slow... Mix up your blade color on the bucktails.If you use black/ white all the time you will never get one with an orange blade.Vary your reteive speeds too,put a little pump/pause in too,makes the hair flare a bit... |
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Posts: 173
| A few factors I can think of that might be influencing your success rate. (1) Weather has been unstable with frequent storms =rapid rises and falls in water levels. (2) When they are on a high number don't get released in KY. ( 3) Periods of clear water ups the harvest rate for the 30/30 crowd. |
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Posts: 95
| Ulbian- the water temps a few weeks ago were hovering around the mid 60s, now they are in the low 70s
Water level is still about the same, maybe dropped 3-4 inches. We did just get a ton of rain yesterday though. Water is running too swift right now to fish or canoe. Needs to come back down a bit.
Fishing Fool- we have been getting on the water around 7am and fishing till around 1.
Then heading in. Get back on the water around 4pm and fish till dark
Have not been using jerkbaits. I hate to admit it but I don't even own a suick. Will probably pick one up before the weekend. The topwaters I've used are the whopper plopper, and super zara spook. I've also been meaning to order a hawg wobbler.
Mainly casting to structure along the shore. But am casting into the open water as well. I try to work the structure from fiffereht angles, (down stream, upstream, across,)
Larryc- weather has been pretty unstable. Some days it's in the mid to upper 80s then will drop down to a high of 72 for the day. |
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Posts: 173
| Several of those 89 degree to 52 degree swings in temparature. Tornados and high straight line winds yesterday too.
I've lived here a LONG time . Long enough to doubt seeing reasonable size limits on muskies or a serious catch and release mentality by the casual anglers. |
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Posts: 41
Location: PA | KY221, I just had to respond to your initial post. I enjoyed the part where you say you don't normally fish this far into the summer. I am still waiting for the opener on Chautauqua Lake NY! I don't even know if I am in a slump yet or not, will start fishing Saturday. I hope things turn around for you...keep at it those things will hit again for you eventually. I throw a lot of dive and rise jerkbaits and swim baits ripping them as hard as I can when I can't catch a fish. You can get a lot of reaction strikes fishing chop style jerkbaits. |
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Posts: 682
Location: Sycamore, IL | If the weather has been unstable and the water is up and flowiing fast the fish are most likely going to be hugging close to structure and not chasing down prey. I would get a twitch bait that suspends or has a slow rise(Jake, Grandma, Shallow Invader, Slammer, Crane, ect...) and work as close to the structure as possible with long pauses. Focus in on a likely laydown or current break of some kind and really pick it apart and then do it again. If that doesn't work a jig and creature on the bottom of the deepest pool might get bit....Any bridges around? Good luck! |
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Location: Eau Claire,WI | One other thing,try fishing during a major moon event,moon rise,moon set. You can get into that as you much as you want,I used to doubt it but it has proven worthy to me...
Get the new HI Suick,much easier to tune and nice side to side action...
You could also try a "noisy" top water like a PaceMaker or Globe. How about a subtle topwater...Cisco kid, Topper stopper, anything with two blades...
Don't give up on proven spots,try differnet baits,different colors and times of day. You will get em some time. |
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Posts: 95
| MCFish- good luck to you this year. Jerkbaits are something I need to add to the bag. I caught 4 or 5 muskies back in march while fishing suspending jerkbaits for smallmouth.
MD75- I'm waiting until the water comes back down and the long, deep stretches that I fish become "still water" again. In this one particular stream there are about 4 different places I put in to fish different sections. One of these does have a bridge with all kinds of wood structure around it. Just looks perfect. But I've never ever caught/raised a fish there.
FF- a topwater seems like it should be productive. Maybe the ones I'm using are a little too aggressive? That whopper plopper really churns and spits the water. |
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Location: sneaking out to get on the water ;-) | Your whopper plopper can be slowed way down so that the tail prop just turns. Somedays that's the trick others speed it up and let the water fly. Don't get stuck at one speed or certain retrieve mix it up. This goes for many different lures. It's a weird season everywhere they will turn on you just gota be there when they do. |
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| Try a six inch minnow lure in a natural finnish. |
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| I live in North Eastern KY also and have fished for musky in the
creeks and small rivers like Little Sandy and the Licking for 25 years.
I actually live next to Kinniconick creek and am only minutes from
Tygarts creek and the Little Sandy River. I am not sure why but the best
bite of the spring/summer usually begins around the 2nd or 3rd week of June
and lasts until about the 2nd week of July. The top water bite can be fantastic
during this time and my favorite lure is a black spook.(Actually a small Marauder
made by Salmo, it is heavier and easier to make a pop when it turns). Other baits such as bull dawgs, minnow baits and spinner baits work well also.Fishing late and early is very important. Unless a storm is approaching I usually don't even get on the water until 2 hours before dark. Moon phase is always a factor. Don't stop now, the stream bite is getting ready to heat up!! |
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Posts: 95
| That's the streams I fish. Tygart and sandy, been meaning to try licking and kinni. Just not familiar enough with the areas to know the good put ins. Thanks for the tips. No way I'm giving up. I'm still gonna keep chucking away...just wondered why such a shutdown all of a sudden.
I live in Boyd county. Tygart and sandy are only like 20 minutes From me |
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In a slump...(small river musky)