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| A few days ago I saw a true sign of spring. Forget robins, when loons return to the lake I live on, I know spring is really coming. Now, most of the lake was still covered by ice but on the other side, where the channel runs, there was a loon. They need a fairly lengthy stretch of open water to take off so when they show up, I know full ice out is not far behind.
That prompted a question, since loons feed on some of the same prey species that muskies do, do you pay attention to where they are feeding? Right in front of my house they often are cruising/feeding right on where I know the break line is. But, sometimes I see them over deeper spots in the lake and a couple times have caught crappies by marking that spot and fishing there. Have also caught a couple muskies on spots where I saw loons fishing a little while before. Now, those spots, like an area between cribs are spots I fish anyway but the timing was related to having seen a loon fishing there.
Not sure if there is validity the idea of observing where loons are feeding or not? |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | I know they harass my suckers in the fall non-stop.
I usually stay away from them as much as I can. |
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Posts: 2308
Location: SE, WI. | Birds of prey always signal bait/Fish. Yes, try to stay away from them. They seem to like to chase in blade baits ;(. Remember fishing a musky tournament W/The Mrs....I hear her say....there’s one, ended up being a loon following;) Was fishing Gills in Madison last week. Once we found the gills, it was one after another. 2 big loons were working next to our boat. Had a loon fighting with a big gill or Crappie on the surface for about 5 minutes. Wonder if She ever choked it down:) JD |
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| Oh, I stay clear of them but I do watch and see where they are feeding. I had one chasing a glider a year ago, it had been a couple hundred yards away last I saw, next thing I know it is ten feet behind the Phantom. Saw one in the river that leaves the lake I live on a couple days ago and it too was trying to eat a crappie that appeared way too big to swallow. Have seen that a couple times and wonder if they ever get it down or give up. |
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Posts: 309
| I treat them like marker buoys. If they are feeding there's usually something there worth checking out, especially if it looks like open water. I too avoid fishing around them, because I have seen a few chase lures (got one on video, they are crazy fast) and they get really loud. |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Here is a pic of a loon chasing my sucker.
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 Loon.jpg (312KB - 446 downloads)
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Posts: 1269
Location: Walker, MN | Black and white fish finders. |
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| 14ledo81 - 4/29/2019 8:08 AM
Here is a pic of a loon chasing my sucker.
Great picture ledo, had no idea they would go that deep. |
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Posts: 1828
| I think loons use fishermen as fish finders as much as or more than we use them. |
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Posts: 170
Location: Alexandria, MN | Quite a few years back, my buddy and I were fishing in the Longville, MN area. Mid October, beautiful day, but about 4 hours without a follow. We worked our way into a nice calm bay, when a juvenile loon chased my Bulldawg in and proceeded to hang out around the boat. Since fishing sucked at the time, I stopped the trolling motor and began to chuck the bait out and burn it back to the boat as fast as I could. The young loon would follow every time - about 8-10 feet behind the lure, then surface next to the boat and sit there looking at me - like a lab waiting for me to throw the bait out again so he could chase, though he never came close to grabbing the lure. Finally, after doing this at least a dozen times, I got about 7 or 8 cranks into the next "burn" retrieve when a 42" muskie decided to scare the crap outta me and absolutely smash the bait ! About knocked the rod out of my hands, but I landed it. Needless to say, I tried the new "technique" for the next couple hours. Never saw another follow - from a fish or a loon - the rest of the day.
Edited by phselect 4/30/2019 12:14 PM
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | 5-6 years ago fishing a very small shallow bay near deep water there were 2 Loons "hanging out" … About the 5th cast the loons start to squawk like crazy....
I'm thinking,.. what the heck is going on ?
then all of a sudden one of them goes under and the next thing I know I see 2, nice sized Muskies being chased right past my boat by one of the Loons.....
Pretty cool stuff. |
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| its like a soccer ball rolling after your bait. |
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Posts: 221
| I had one chasing my sucker that ended up getting completely wrapped up in my line last fall. That was quite the experience. |
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