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Posts: 48
| I am hoping that we have ice out before the week of June 28th when I head to the Northwest Angle.
I could use some advice if the water ends up colder than usual. Do I size down on the baits, change colors, change bait types ?
Is location more important and the baits really don't have an impact ?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - 1100 miles too far to come and not be prepared !!!!!
Thanks |
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Posts: 397
| mepps marabou's work good last year at that time small er bucktails were key. red /copper was good |
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Posts: 1023
| Tubes:) |
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Posts: 489
| Slop masters thrown as tight to shore as you can get. Lit them up on a cold year doing this. |
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Posts: 219
| A good glide bait wouldn't be a bad idea like a Manta or a Twisted Sucker. We have done well on jigs and tubes with a late ice out too...1.5 oz jig with a good trailer. The tight to shore advice is good, shallow is typically warmer as the Earth absorbs the sun...a 6" Big Game - surface twicher is a good option for that situation too. |
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Posts: 489
| When using the slop masters we were having to throw up into the reads to dig them out and that is all you can get through those. Anyone who has ever snagged a read and had to pull it out knows it's a bear. |
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Posts: 574
| As far as triggering bites in the early season, we've done best with smaller bucktails (Mepps Musky Killers, Windels Harassers) and smaller gliders like a 6" reef hawg and/or an undertaker. Also have had some luck in colder water (in both spring and fall) by coming back on fish raised earlier in the day with a jackpot (or other smaller-sized WTD topwater) at dusk.
Generally, the colder the water is, the more I like to use erratic baits where you can accentuate the pauses in between movements. |
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Posts: 1983
| Yep a suspending bait when water is still a little cold is often the ticket.. I've been smallmouth fishing up there early June on "normal" ice out years, throwing suspending jerkbaits (like the big husky jerks) - not uncommon to catch 3-4 nice muskies (38-45" range generally) a day using bass gear...something to consider if water is still in the low 60's end of June....Early June is a fun time to be up there 30-40 bass a day is common, and walleye fishing is easy (actually the walleye fishing is almost always easy -ha!). |
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Posts: 546
Location: MN | dive and rise baits, such as a suick or big daddy
Edited by mtcook16 4/14/2014 2:42 AM
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | Jdoyle
Is location more important and the baits really don't have an impact ?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated - 1100 miles too far to come and not be prepared !!!!!
Thanks
Great question and concern.
Lures require a couple of things to be productive, the ability to reach a desired depth and speed and a hook, that's about where it ends. They don't need color, they don't need eyes or a flashy paint job. Location is BY FAR the most important piece of the fish catching puzzle, no matter the spieces . No lure big or small, shiny or dull, in cold water or warm will catch a fish where there are no fish.
To illustrate this point my 2 youngest boys and I went to the Milwaukee harbor to troll for browns early this spring, water temp 35. We caught 23 trout of which 7 were caught on a "lure" that I worked on over the winter, it was a long, long winter... We then caught 7 of those 23 browns with a "rock" drilled out and some terminal tackle attached, I told you it was long winter.
To prove this wasn't just a fluke 2 weeks later a friend and I set out the new, "hot" "rock with a hook" and again they jumped all over it. We saw no preference between using a spoon, a stick bait or the rock. So I ask, stupid fish? Mislead Fishermen? Or right location?
A fishing buddy once told me a story years ago after fishing Pewaukee lake in southern Wisconsin. He said he had a muskie follow the weight of his marker buoy as he wound it in. He said he mentioned the encounter to a fellow muskie nut at the ramp and just like predicting the sun coming up tomorrow he said, "If you could only get a lure with that kind of action"...
After having a discussion over surface baits Buck Perry broke a stick off a tree branch, wrapped a couple of hooks around it, casted it out and caught a fish. Terry O'Malley after a short debate over "scent" dipped his lure in gasoline and promptly caught a fish.
Everyone of these examples and many more are examples of fish being caught on purpose because the tool being used as unconventional as they may have been were placed at the "right depth", moved at the "right speed" and were done so at the "right time", no more complicated than that.
If I was in your shoes on June 28th I'd go directly to the best spot in the area being fished and check all the depths, check all the speeds with the appropriate running "lures", ha ha and stay there until the fish become active. If you happen to catch one with a rock, don't forget the camera! Best of luck
I've tried a few different ways to upload a couple of pictures but it looks like is not gonna happen.
Edited by jerryb 4/14/2014 7:51 PM
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Posts: 2241
Location: SE, WI. | Jerry; Looks like your spoonplug is being replaced by a stone...Much more reasonable $$$, LOL
Try a pine cone Jerry. Drill a hole through a pine cone. Run wire through. Attach hook to back end, against the grain of the spines. Toss out and chug, pop cone to make the water spit..Hang on.
Great bait I found for cold water on the woods is a shallow running Hellkat. Great hang time, and looks more lifelike than a suick, OR a ROCK 
JD |
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | Pine cone, nice! Straight from the match the hatch category. I tell my customers I've gone green ha ha!
Been working on a coupe of pike/muskie size rocks, prototypes if you may. A web site should be up and running soon. 
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Posts: 331
Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin | Johnson silver minnow (Lagest one) and a white twister tail. It will catch fish and big fish!
Ed |
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