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Posts: 78
Location: In the Weeds | The closest musky water I have is about 20 minutes from me. It is pretty small, it is under 200 acres and is fished very heavily for muskys. So whoever goes there can pretty much cover the entire lake. I have gone here 4 times for atleast 3 hours each and have yet to have a follow. I fished one day for musky and came back the next for panfish, I saw over 7 musky just swimming around in about 2 hours. My question is what your techniques are for catching fish that get extreme pressure? Only thing i've caught them on is them occasionally stealing my walleyes crappies and gills. |
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Posts: 87
Location: Wisconsin | I fish between Merrill and Brokaw on the WI river and it has been getting POUNDED with 3+ guides plus weekend crowds more and more every year, which has led to a decline for me. Only luck ive had is by going bigger or just grinding it out. Pressure sucks. |
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Posts: 150
Location: Appleton, WI | fish times when no one else is fishing, go out and try a night bite. Also you can upsize or downsize all your baits. This is the downside to fishing known musky waters is that they get hit alot by people. The plus side is that there are fish in the water to be caught. |
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Posts: 116
| I have had the best luck under those circumstances by fishing at night. |
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Posts: 1168
| Spoons |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | I've been fishing the same lake over 25 years (1200 acres) and the pressure is probably 8 to 10 times what it once was. Thanks to publications and the internet the young guns are much more knowledgeable and better equipped . I no longer fish this lake on weekends and being retired I have the option of making many short midweek trips. On weekends I hide out on small hard to access streams that have good fish and little pressure. I don't mind fishing in the back of a boat but I don't like following 10 boats |
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | jabird - 8/7/2013 3:26 PM
I have had the best luck under those circumstances by fishing at night.
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This hold pretty true to my home lake as well. I fish a large 14,000 acre lake. and it is the MOST heavily pressured lake I have EVER fished. In fact i heard something funny about a week or two ago. that the muskies in that lake aren't pressured, their HARASSED. But it makes me feel that much better about my skills when I can catch em when they are hard to catch.
I just try to watch the people around me, and do something different that their not doing. Or try to think outside the box while on the water. Every cast I take, I try to make as different as I can. Until I see a fish, then I try to replicate what was done. sometimes hard to remember though when you switch it up so much.
Edited by FAT-SKI 8/7/2013 4:15 PM
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Posts: 415
| -Fish nights
-Fish deep/open water
-Fish different from others.
I think the last one is the most important. The fish are still there and ultimately their brain is still the size of a pea (or however big it really is) so they will still make mistakes. They just won't usually make the same mistakes they have made before like hitting the same bait in the same spot that everyone else is throwing. |
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| I always did best on the slop, very shallow inside weed lines. BR |
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Location: Eau Claire,WI | Night or predawn. Go big. Find any small structure that isn't getting fished and try that. |
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Posts: 1267
Location: E. Tenn | The common theme seems to be.. Fish when and where everybody else isn't, and throwing stuff they're not.. |
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Posts: 371
Location: Dixon, IL | I know one small lake in Illinois is heavy musky fishing pressure and I see some follows but swam away. I caught few during the week on cloudy morning! Also pretty good in middle of week in October, too! |
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Posts: 833
| This is my mileage:
On pressured water your technical skills must be cleaner, especially your figure 8. Practice your transition with your confidence presentations until it is second nature. Most Figure 8 mistake are made in the first quarter turn IMO.
In terms of location, you need to roll with the punches. Pressured fish will still follow depending on where they are located. Consider that the fish might be moving on and off of structure. Or perhaps they are feeding open water forage? All puzzles you will need to invest time in solving.
Generally your windows are going to be tighter on water like this. So you need to be sharp for when the opportunity opens. Also, many days it will come down to that one neutral to semi-active fish that decides to follow. If you screw that up, that is it for your outting. Being able to routinely convert this fish will save a lot of trips. |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | Fish bass. You'll have more fun fishing for something that wants to bite and probably catch more muskies then you would have trying for them anyway.
About 75% serious here.  |
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | Muskie Treats - 8/8/2013 8:29 AM
Fish bass. You'll have more fun fishing for something that wants to bite and probably catch more muskies then you would have trying for them anyway.
About 75% serious here. ;)
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I agree with the first part, they are fun, and you can catch a lot of them like I have been recently. Bite has been so good for me that there has been no need to really pick up the musky rod yet....YET. (I think its about time now)_ That being said over a few week period caught a butt load of bass. and I mean a lot. I would say easily in the hundreds. Have only seen one musky during that whole time. and it wanted nothihng to do with the fish i was catching. |
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| Jig in deep water. Use your graph more. If the locals are giving you strange looks then you are doing something right. |
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Posts: 1405
Location: Detroit River | Guest - 8/8/2013 10:31 AM Jig in deep water. Use your graph more. If the locals are giving you strange looks then you are doing something right. X2 |
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| If you've seen them, they are there. Try going when the pressure is least. Try throwing a style of bait they don't see too much. (The guy suggesting spoons may not be wrong.) Try using live bait--a small gill perhaps, if that is what you think they are feeding on. |
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Posts: 46
Location: Plymouth, MN | BenR - 8/7/2013 5:13 PM
I always did best on the slop, very shallow inside weed lines. BR
x2
I frequent a 300 acre lake with heavy pressure. You can take a couple laps around the weedline in a night, so the fish in this lake see a huge amount of lures. I typically locate more muskies in the slop or in deeper water even during prime times.
I have also noticed that these fish seem more leary than what I see at other lakes. Follows tend to be deeper and farther away from the lure. It is rare to see one coming in hot directly behind your lure. Polarized glasses are a must and you need to widen your line of sight when looking for a follow or you'll miss it. |
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Location: North Metro, MN | Love catchin fish I know have seen it all before and doing things different than most. Try different angles in your approach like going in shallow and casting out deep since most people stay deep and cast shallow. Parallel casting, inside weed lines, secondary spots easily overlooked w/ small differences. I also like to use what they don't, smaller, bigger, crazy color or my favorite..... one of my crazy lure creations I know they haven't seen. I have also seen times when the most un- ideal looking times are when they bite. times of less pressure like mid-day, late morning, sunny & calm and even post frontal. |
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Posts: 8782
| I think the best advice is watch what everyone else is doing and then do something as different as you can possibly do, while still fishing in the water. |
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Posts: 371
Location: Dixon, IL | Muskie Treats - 8/8/2013 10:29 AM
Fish bass. You'll have more fun fishing for something that wants to bite and probably catch more muskies then you would have trying for them anyway.
About 75% serious here. ;)
Agree but use thin wire! I know its not great for bass but I don't like musky escape with lure in mouth! |
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Posts: 119
| fish different than others keeps popping up. why? maybe others are catching fish.
I say focus on seasonal and lunar peaks, like the run into the full moon in June. |
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EXTREMELY Heavily Fished Waters