|
|
Posts: 2361
| Fishing at about dusk, water conditions good, water temp mid 60's, clear with slight bloom, intermittent soft rains in pm with one downburst.
Go back to try a fish spotted earlier, nothing huge, just on the evening route of known fish.
Had raised it on a pull bait earlier, tried it at this time with a glider, specifically a blitzen shad, which had recently been on the menu for a couple.
Make "the right cast", fish comes out, looking slightly blond in the dark water. Keeping pace with the bait-but not accelerating with the bursts imparted to the bait, but comes back to it each time. Comes all the way to the boat as it did earlier, when it would not go with a figure 8 or come back to it. This fish stayed with the bait on a couple figure eights and then pulled off and watched. Decided to try something else and paused the bait, fish started repositioning and swimming AROUND the bait as it hung. Interesting. Let the bait go into a slow sink, fish dispappeared. Brought the bait back up fish is still there and gets close to the bait almost and possibly, actually nuzzling the bait, and opening mouth, with the bait near the side of the mouth. Started dorking the bait around and the fish stayed with it and did the nuzzling, mouth opening thing 2 or 3 more times. Probably an interaction of 3-5 minutes total. Not having another bait ready that I felt would have been of some interest, I kept the bait in front of the fish until the fish finally didn't show after a drop and rise. Strange deal. I have seen a few dopey fish in the winter before, but never saw this type of behaviour. Much like a fish eyeing a sucker story. The fish looked full by the way, bulged out, 35.237 inches would be my rough estimate.
That nuzzling and mouth opening of a hanging bait was new to me.
The other deal, something I am a little more familiar with, angler failure. Fishing a bank, note ONE stickup, just one. Make the throw. Good throw, angler screw up on the retrieve though and manage to hang the hooks on the wood by zigging the bait when it should have been zagged. Throw of course was a little too long and "slightly" out of control. As I electric up to unsnag, not wanting to risk tearing it off, knowing there was some other cover nearbye and not wanting to disturb anything, anyway, as I ease up to it looking down I can see a fish eyeballing the bait intently from inside 2 feet, and the fish holds there until I am close enough to spear it and then swims away. I suppose I should have tried to rip the bait free, but due to water conditions I was already pretty close and headed in on top when I could see the fish, and position of bait made a rip unlikely to succeed.
Oh why, oh why do we let those casts get out of control? This fish looked like the all too uncommon, KY 40"er by the way. Never saw it again, as is usual on a stick. Dang!
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 1245
Location: Madtown, WI | Very nice!!
I have had several fish do exactly as you stated in the first story...mainly on suicks and triple D's. I have had them push the bait, mouth it...almost to suck on it....goofy fish I tell ya...just plain goofy!!!
Never had one eye balling me like that thought!!! LOL!
Cory
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | Beats the heck out of not seeing anything!
You didn't describe how exciting it was, I'll bet you had a blast outside of the frustration of not hooking up. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | And people wonder why we do this.......
I've never seen a crappie, walleye or bass do that, have you? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 30
Location: England | That's a great story. Do you think she would have taken a livebait? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2361
| UK Mick, I don't know if she would have sucked down a live bait or not. This was a natural pattern bait, and recalling the scene again, it seems like each time she did the nuzzling, mouth opening deal the fish had her left side of her jaw up on the right side of the bait? Blind, or just trying to get the tactile extra message she needed to eat it? I just don't know. But stayed there and often times bait was just basically hanging with very little movement.
Lobi, I guess I am getting jaded, but I just view any fish pulled off his roost without a strike as a lost opportunity. But it was interesting. If I could have just glanced the bait off the stickup instead of cramming it, then I think it would have been exciting, that one was aquiver!
|
|
| |
|
| Had a 36 on LOTW do the same (paragraph 1) and more for 1/2 or so of casting between two anglers in a mini bay and mult baits 'till finally my partner simply burried his rod and figured eighted his bucktail relentlessly on a follow and finally pulled it (the ski) straight up into the boat after a voracious strike! It followed up thirty or more times, swiped at the bait, circled it , mouthed it, flared, jumped out of the water, struck and missed, swirled, nosed it, etc. Nuttiest #*^@ fish we've ever seen!! |
|
| |
|
| we had 3 fish follow on a glo dog on the same cast 1st fish 45" 2nd 40" 3rd 38" all were doing the nuzzling thing 3rd fish split i changed lures 3 times while my partner kept the around with the dog. i went to a glide a crank and a jerk bait. we could not figure out what to do this lasted about five minutes with both of us making enough noise to wake the dead. we were fishing in the hoosier muskie classic in may on tippy we never caught those fish but ended up getting 4th in the classic. my partner caught a 40 and a 31.5 on the last day to put us in the position  |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | I wonder if a little scent "juice" on the stationary lure might have been enough to put the fish over the edge. I sure would have tried it at that point. I always keep a small bottle of "Dr Juice" in my box. A few drops and you wouldn't believe the oil slick the lure puts off. Would have been a good way to prove they have an effect if it was used and the lure got eaten. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2361
| That would have been interesting and I had wd40 at my feet, but I was reluctant to pull the bait out of the drink and was busy watching the show. Whether it was really interested in eating or not? The fish never accelerated at any time, which kind of said to me that it was a little on the dull side of active.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 663
| I work at Guide's Choice Pro Shop in Eagle River, Wi. Some of you may be familiar with the 16,300 gal. aquarium we have on the premises and watched us "hand feed" the muskies using forceps. The behavior you describe is not uncommon and I regularly have muskies come to the bait, flare gills, nudge the bait, etc. and then turn off. I can't explain it other than to say sometimes they're interested but just not enough to commit. Now that's with live chubs or suckers so imagine a musky nudging a hard piece of plastic or wood. Who knows if that fish would have hit if 5 minutes later he had a little more incentive. |
|
| |
|
| Talk about wierd things, was out about a month ago and came up to an outside weed edge. Was casting when something caught my eye. It was about a 35" musky with the tip of its snout out of the water. That dang thing actually appeared to be looking right at me. I looked over at my buddy and said check this out. He moved up to the front of the boat and the fish swam off slow..... never seen anything like that before. |
|
| |
|
Location: Contrarian Island | I had the same incident a few times of a musky coming up and "tasting" the bait on the pause...and I had the same thing happen as the last post..I was on Monona and looked ahead of the boat and there was an upper 30" musky with it's head / snout out looking right at me!!!!!
weird stuff!
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 32912
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | My tank muskie used to do that pretty regularly with the minnows in the aquarium. She'd just slide up to a shiner that was not paying attention and 'bump' it. Always seemd to wake the shiner up fast. Had to put her in my pond, she got too big for my tank. |
|
| |
