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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | I'm not sure if it is proper to post this twice but I had already put it on the General discussion board but then thought it maybe should have been here so I'm going to copy/past the same thing here. Help...
Had a Great but Horrible day yesterday. We hooked 5 muskies and had them all up close enough to the boat to see them. Only landed one that went 43 1/2 ". The first fish was about noon while we were trolling to where we wanted to be and un-related to the rest of this story. All fish were easily over 40, no dinks. All my hooks are hand filed to sticky sharp. Fish got good hard hooksets. Sure was frustrating to say the least. We were trolling wood body baits, maybe they had teeth sunk into the wood but no hooks.?. who knows, I guess thats Muskie fishing. Enough of my crying, here is what I wanted to ask...
Has anyone noticed which way they are trolling vs the wind? Here is what happened.. We were trolling East about 3.8-4mph WITH the wind (strong wind) and with the waves. When we hooked into the first ski I punched the button on my gps to mark the spot. We trolled a little further and decided to hit the same area again. Now after swinging around we go over basically the same area into the wing trolling west..Nothing. No surprise afterall this is Muskie we are talking about. Now we swing around for another pass trolling with the wind (east)again and get another one. West into the wind, again nothing. East with the wind..Bam, a third ski from the same exact area (sorta). We were about ready to hop overboard and try catching them with our hands after 3 in a row managed to spit the lures back at us and swim off laughing. Fourth pass east with the wind did not produce but the fith pass put the 43 1/2 incher in the boat. 5 passes going with the wind, 4 fish. 5 passes into the wind, No fish. We are only talking about a 1/4 of a mile strech here and all fish close to eachother, we marked all hits on GPS. Side note, barometer was low and dropping, rain was on its way, 4 fish hooked in just over one hour then nothing (feeding window slammed shut??).
This might sound crazy but is it possible that the same fish hit more than once?
Did trolling with the wind have anything to do with the hits?
Were they lying in structure that only allowed them to see the baits trolling that direction?
Trying to learn from this. So far I've learned to controll my cuss words because I had my 9 yr old in the boat with me.
What do you guys think?
Edited by lobi 6/26/2004 8:46 AM
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Posts: 96
Location: Eden Prairie, Mn. |
LOBI -
When fish are in current they will always face upstream/into the current, in this case heavy waves.
Prey fish will be moved by the current from the wave action into the predator fish, which usually be staged at or
near some structure that will break the current/wave or even a thick weed bed in your case, Rock hump, point etc.
This will give the predator fish time to see/feel a prey fish(baits) approaching and to attack. When going into the wind, waves (current) the baits, prey fish are coming from behind, leaving little to no chance for a predator to prepare for a strike.
River fishing is a prime case to see this most pronounced. River guys will have a catch rate of nearly all fish caught
running baits with the current, either casting or trolling.
Musky fishing in high wind and waves I will always slip drift with the waves and wind slowed by the TM or drift sock.
Casting into the wind or quartering into the wind. Troll with the wind as much as possible.
Mother
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Posts: 132
Location: Kawarthas, Ontario | Mother hit the nail on the head... the current pushes baitfish forward. Muskie generally face into the current to feed. (Although not always.) So, yes, typically you'll do better trolling with the wind than against it. I've also noticed that weedlines that run parallel with the flow of the wind are less likely to produce active fish than ones where the wind is coming in at a right angle.
Regards,
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Posts: 9
Location: Anprior Ontario, Canada | Have had the same experience several times. Current definetly plays a part in this however Ive seen this on flat calm days aswell where we took four fish in half an hour trolling. All fish were caught in a small area and always heading the same direction. Ive even had fish blow up on a bait but miss, turn the boat around for another pass from opposite direction - nothing. Hit it again from same direction as first pass and catch it. The fish sometimes are set up in such a way they will only hit a bait coming from one direction ie. their strike zone. |
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| The wind quesiton has been answered.....BUT, I would set your drag right and let the fish fight the rod.....DON'T set the hook while trolling!!!!
Donnie  |
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