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| I vote no. I have seen them do some extremely coordinated things at high speeds to nail baits. Have seen many fish do extremely coordinated things to catch healthy live forage of many types. I just don't think they miss our pitiful, weakly swimming, presentations. |
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| Any fish that has grown big enough to eat a muskie bait would never miss such an easy meal. But I do believe that sometimes it will hit with it's mouth closed. Heard a seminar about bass doing this to schools of shad in the south, and then going back and picking off the fish they stunned one at a time.
Robert Jonas
[email protected] |
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| Well, I have to score Chunky as another no based on his answer. |
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| I would say Yes they can miss a bait. I have had a upper forty inch fish jump right over a Hog Wobbler from the side.
I have also had a lower 30" muskie come out of the water verticle on a Slammer Thunderhead, two feet to the side of the bait. |
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| I too will have to say yes. The other day I had two big hits on a Jackpot which was the 6th time fish have completely missed the same bait. The fish did fall victim to my follow up bait on thursday....[:p] |
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| I have had my share of retarded and dislexic muskies. They go left when they should go right. Batting topwaters or ramming jerkbaits with what seems like a closed mouth. Stupid fish!!! I am not about to try to figure them out. I will just keep fishing for them and enjoy it.
dislexics of the world untie!!!!! (get it?)[:0] |
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| YES, muskies can and do miss baits. The recent study on strike behavior demonstrates a success rate of 73-84% on strikes. Also, while some muskies are pretty accurate on their hits, I've had my share of hits on spinnerbaits blades, or the nose of a jerk or crankbait.
Also, the issue of closed-mouth strikes came up. Muskies do this. Not sure why, but perhaps for some fish, this is the way they hit - in other cases it could be just curiosity. IF you are using a thin body crankbait like a Jake, Granny or Slammer, and nail fish under the chin with a hook from the outside... this is likely the result of a closed mouth strike. The fish has hit the top of the bait, causing it to roll, and swinging that hook up and under. I have had some solid hits on baits in open water, and brought them in after to not find a mark on them. This can only be the result of a closed mouth strike. I've actually seen this happen twice while casting. In one case, it was a quick and deliberate strike action, while in the other, it looked more like a curious poke at the bait. In the case of the aggressive fish, he popped a B-Flat jerkbait and took the hook under the chin. The second fish did not get hooked initially, but after the "bump", hit the Fooler jerkbait, after I twitched it several times.
Steve Wickens |
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| I should have qualified my first statement to cover straight line retrieves only. Obviously with erratic jerkbaits you can jerk on a fish that has already committed at full speed.
So let me concede that fish can and do miss those.
But now just consider straight line retrieve baits, do you think they ever actually miss those? I mean it would seem like they would have to live in incredibly target rich environment if they missed crankbaits or bucktails and still were able to live well and prosper. |
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| The strike success rates I quoted were from using live bait, that was essentially stationary in an enclosed tank environment. Strikes were monitored via video camera. Some fish were sensory deprived (vision or lateral line). In some cases, deprived fish were more accurate that non-deprived fish. The study also looked at strike distances and angles of attack.
Steve Wickens |
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| I am sure some muskies miss baits and some more then others. Now there is some times where the fish will ether nose hit or tail hit your lure. You can actualy feep the tap but no pull like weeds of fish.
Now the thing that really bothers me is the fish I miss while trolling. So many times when trolling some 4 MPH + you get a rip for some 2 to 3 seconds then nothing. I mean when you have a Believer or Jake at the other end how does that fish not get hooked? I keep asking my friends and clients to jump in the water and as I troll by them at 4 MPH to try and grab the lure without getting hooked but I have not found anyone to take my offer as of yet.
Now are these fish hitting the leader? Or is it that all these fish get hooked so close to the edge on their mouths they get off in 2 seconds?
I wish I knew as I am sure I have had over a dozen of those hit and misses already this year.[:sun:] |
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| I have had Muskies miss a bucktail. Not often, but I have had it happen where the stupid fish just plain MISSES. Seems impossible, but seems to happen, none the less!! |
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| Yes, they absolutely miss baits. Sometimes badly. Sometimes I think it's amazing they don't starve to death. If you think they don't miss, fish a Jackpot for a while...
I once had a biologist tell me his feeling was that they fed succesfully about 10%-15% of the time, and the rest were clean misses where the prey escaped.
No question that they are pretty efficient predators, but they do miss.
Cheers,
RK |
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| I saw a lot of "cruise missiles" this season. You know.... you are intently watching your lure at mid retrieve and a musky suddenly streaks past at the speed of lightning or comes up as fast as it goes down... yet never touches the bait or disturbs the surface. If you didn't happen to be looking at just the right moment you'd never know it happened. I often think these fish that miss like that are in "ambush mode" and launch their attack from a greater distance. If they CHASE... they usually get what they want if your lure is not too erratic (that is my Jackpot/Jerkbait clause).
Cool topic... thought I'd bring it back to the top. |
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| I have had fish get the leader on a jig and not the bait many times. Thos leads to kinked up leaders lol. I think this is because of the falling action. Also have had a fish slam it's mouth closed at the boat a lay there and shake it's head with no bucktail in it's mouth at all. That was a weird sight I'll tell you that. Had one come from the bottom and miss a tandem spinnerbait once. Stopped the bait a shook it violently. The fish appeared to hear this as the blades clanked together and turned and chased it down. Really ate it big time then. Some do miss the lure that's for sure. Sometimes they just bite where the hooks ain't.[:sun:] |
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| I have had them miss the bait, hit the bait with their mouth closed, push the bait with their mouth closed, hit it with their body, you name it. No computer gps on these fish. |
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| I don't think there's any doubt that musky miss the baits. As to why, everyones guess is as good as mine. I have caught a musky (and other fish) that was blind in 1 eye from having been got caught before. I've released some fish that I wonder if they'll be blind in an eye that got a hook in it. Just my .02 worth.[:sun:] |
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| I do believe fish miss baits on occasion as I've read where they are not 100% on actual prey and reckon that would apply to artificials too. Have also heard that fish have taste buds on the outside of their lips and will often "bump" something they are not sure of to see if it tastes like food. Don't know if it's true or not but it could seem to explain some of those bumps where we never get a hook into them. |
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| I vote YES for different reasons. Sometimes they miss the bait, sometimes they simply miss the hooks.
I had a nice fish grab a Pacemaker from behind and watched my line moving 3 feet to the side as the fish turned with the lure. I set the hook like a mad man and came up empty.....had the lure, missed the hooks.
Had another nice fish try to eat an Undertaker. She came from behind me and tried to eat the lure face first as it came right at her. Unfortunately, the leader made it impossible for her to even get the lure in her mouth. Another missed hooking.
But like everybody else, I've had fish miss lures at boatside by 3 feet. Mouth wide open, coming from below and off to the side, and miss it clean. SWorrall and I watched in amazement as a fish came up after my glider 10 feet from the boat, opened her big mouth and chomped down about 2 feet behind the lure, then sat there and shook her head like she ate it.
I believe that every predator on earth that has to survive by eating moving targets will miss at some time.
Beav |
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| I would say yes. I've seen them miss jackpots alot. I have also seen them miss suckers too! I was out with my husband(Yes,I do fish with him)and a buddy of his and a musky rolled on my rig, jumped over to my husbands and missed twice then hit mine again and missed. It then turned to his buddy's and was finally landed. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen. |
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| After reconsidering this for over a year, I still don't think they miss a straight retrieve. Alot of the things that you all are talking about are NOT misses but instead unusual behaviours. I believe that smart muskies exhibit approach avoidance behaviour toward baits and sometimes this is interpreted as a miss. I also believe that boat shy muskies turn off the bait at the last minute because they see the boat and this may be interpreted as a miss. I also believe that musky have a behaviour I categorize as a blow-bye, where they come from behind and do a veer without ever hitting the bait and having no intent whatsoever to hit the bait. I don't know if this is a bluff, a territorial thing, a rejection or some other behaviour, but I believe that this occurs on a fairly regular basis with them and is often interpreted as a miss. I also feel this can be controlled somewhat by bait selection. Jason Long's fish that came up and went back sound like blow-byes to me. I usually see them in a more horizontal plane than that but it sure sounds like what I perceive as I watch them. |
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| OH YES THEY DO. I CANT TELL YOU HOW MANY 50 INCH FISH, MISSED MY LURES. OH MY GOD, TONS. I SHOULD HAVE TONS OF 50 INCH FISH IF THEY WOULDNT HAVE MISSED MY BAITS.
HAPPY HUNTING
DUCK |
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| I feel very strongly they do miss. feeding behavior is markedly different than strike response, so it is even more likely the fish may miss during a strike response 'attack'. |
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| I've had a fish attack my line just above my jerk bait as if timing the jerk pattern of my pulls!! or maybe the fish just missed it, but I'd like to think they are smarter than that.
Musk. |
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| Yes, I have seen quite a few fish miss baits.
I have seen a fish miss a bucktail on a "L" turn. I have also seen fish in ultra clear water darting at phantoms with open mouths and missing by a long shot. While trolling on my short rods I have seen fish come up flash and show the white of their mouths without a hookup. Just like a baseball player can miss a pop up a musky can miss a bait.
-Phil |
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| Feeding behaviour is different from a strike response??:???:>)
Yeah, sure Sworrall, post that one as a new subject. Cmon!![;)] It's about winter time up there anyway...
I repeat that fish do not miss bucktails or baits on straight retrieves under water when they are eating. God would shortly run out of muskies if they couldn't perform such a simple task, and God just wouldn't let that happen.[:bigsmile:] |
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| How effectively a muskie or any fish for that matter strikes a bait depends on there activity level at the time. Do they miss em,, of course,, do they strike them and not get it all,,, of course.
There are some days,, (last week), where I had 8 or 9 fish strike the bait squarely and I landed all but one. [:praise:]
Today I had 7 fish hit the offering and only landed 2 [:((]
One of those just had to be a 50" [:halo:] |
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