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Posts: 8785
| This has puzzled me for a long time. When muskies are active, we catch them. We see them follow, they blow up on baits. When they're in between you can usually get at least one to come up and take a look, maybe catch one here and there, When they're not moving it's a crapshoot. You see them on the shallow bars, just sitting there, presumably digesting a meal, and you can hit them with a lure and they barely move. We know what they feed on and where. We know the "good spots" are and where we're likely to catch them under all sorts of conditions at different times of the year. I've seen many them just swimming along on slow days. They move on and off of spots. We know they congregate around baitfish. We know the areas that are like rest stops along the highway where there's usually a few of them parked. When they want to eat they hide somewhere and ambush something. Some feed on pelagic baitfish out in open water.
What are they up to the other 90% of the time? Do they just sit there? And where is there? Are they all over the place like we see them when they're active? |
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Posts: 504
Location: Ludington, MI | All I can tell you is there was a clear-water, low-wind day one spring and I was running an 8-foot emerging weedline casting a small Flatstick. I was seeing the pike hit the lure and I went over a no-doubt 40-plus-inch muskie just sitting on bottom. I think they just loaf and babysit bait. If they're concerned about predators, then they loaf deeper or in thicker weeds. I think it was the Backlash Podcast that used the recliner and potato chips analogy. They keep the recliner close to the chips at all times. |
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Posts: 32887
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | In the Winter I see them a lot, just cruising slowly through. They will stop and look at a tip-up bait, but very very rarely take it. All other fish in the area immediately bail out. |
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Posts: 1247
Location: Walker, MN | They eat big meals, then lay around like lions 90% of the time. Sometimes we see dozens in a day on SI...sometimes they are on the structure, and sometimes slid out sitting in 10'-30'. I think they even wander the deep basin, baby-sitting schools of baitfish...even though they aren't looking to feed just yet. I have more questions than answers too, fascinating creatures for sure. |
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Posts: 2330
Location: Chisholm, MN | The lakes I fish, I have found that they move to open water or off the breaks in a transition zone. They spend the majority of the time there. Back before technology I'd cast spots all day and not see a thing and just thought they weren't biting. Now I can find them. They just move a little ways and can still be caught, even if they are not biting very well. Not every fish in the lake is digesting a large meal or completely zoned out at the same time. There's usually one you can get to come and play. |
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Posts: 1415
Location: Brighton CO. | I would guess the color of the water and the weather drives things as far as location. (and time of year) If they are in a shallow dark lake in the heat of summer they may just sit on the bottom in the coolest water they can find or in a river behind a rock that blocks the current. In clear water they may sit down by the thermocline with one eye on the bait or dug in the some deep thick weeds. After turnover sitting on the bottom. |
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Location: PA Angler | I’ve seen a lot of Muskie during the summer go below dams that draw water from the bottom of lakes. My guess is more oxygen and colder waters. They even get funny to fish for them there as they don’t bite during the sunny day they usually turn on as the sun sets. During spring and fall they get easier to catch. Funny how they have bad feeding habits I guess. |
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Posts: 1037
| Growing up, there was a wildlife park pretty close to where we lived.
It had a musky pond.
I'd go there and just sit and watch for hours.
90% of the time, they would sit either in the deepest part of the pond and not move, or they would find where the sun was hitting the water and just sit there.
In other words, they want to be comfy and not move. Kind of like me on Sundays. |
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