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| Message Subject: Favorite fishing structure, techniques, and lures | |||
curleytail |
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Posts: 2686 Location: Hayward, WI | Now that most of us have had plenty of time since the end of the season to reflect on previous seasons, I would like to start a little discussion about our fishing styles. To start, what type of fisherman do you tend to be? Do you run and gun; fishing as many spots and making as many casts in a day as possible? Do you tend to fish just a couple well known areas and pick them over thoroughly, often refishing the same area one or more times? Or are you somewhere in between? Secondly, when you get to a lake, what structure do you like to target? Do you get excited about a lake that has good weeds, or do you prefer rock? Shallow, deep, open water? Third, what type of lures do you most often throw to start the day? Most likely, this will depend on what "type" of fisherman you are as well as what structure and depth you most often fish. Fourth, this ties in somewhat with two and three. What is your favorite type of lake to fish? Do you like deep clear lakes with deep weeds and rock, dark water flowages where weed growth might stop at 5 feet, etc? Those are the four main categories I can think of. In each, you could add little detail, or write lots of detail. A lot of detail would be great such as how your methods change depending on water color, time of year, maybe even the state or maybe even just how you tackle some seemigly similar lakes differently. Please add as much detail as you would like, but don't feel like you have to write a novel if you don't have the time! Basically, what are your confidence patterns you like to fish as long as they are working relatively well? I'll go first. I have fished for many years for walleyes, crappies, bass, and everything else, but last season was my first year fishing for muskies. My observations are only based on one season of fishing, but I will tell you what I found out about myself last year. Most of my musky fishing was done on a flowage with pretty stained water. Every year the water turn to pea soup for a good month from late July to late August. Weeds only grew to a little over 4 feet. Every musky I caught was from about 5 feet of water or shallower either in the weeds, of at least in relation to weeds. Last year I would have classified myself between the run and gun type and the slow and methodical type, maybe even leaning towards slow and methodical. Part of this was getting stuck in a rut. I got to know a couple spots, and tended to always hit just a couple of them at prime times. In fishing for other species, I would say I lean just slightly towards the run and gun version. I believe I will gravitate closer to the run and gun as I fish for muskies longer, and feel more confident about fishing other areas. I almost always start fishing weeds if the lake has them. This goes for muskies and a lot of the other fish I fish for. I have always felt that when fish are in the weeds they are often eating. I have also found that sometimes the only day time bite I can find is in fairly heavy weeds. I will either fish the edge or right over the weeds depending on how the weeds are growing. I have caught a LOT of fish right in the thick of the weeds rather than just on the edge. When I start fishing I most often will be using a bucktail, spinnerbait, tail rotator topwater, or walk the dog topwater. A lot of this is due to fishing a lot of water 2-5 feet deep. These baits also allow me to cover a fair amount of water. For the most part, I didn't use a TON of speed in my presentations, again due to the dark water. In clear water I would be more likely to burn bucktails a little more. Topwater was effective and a lot of fun too! Later in the fall I did throw some gliders and jerkbaits like Phantoms and Suicks. In the dark water I used a fair amount of bright colors like firetiger, as well as black with contrasting orange or chartreuse. I love to fish lakes that have good weeds. I would prefer to fish a lake that has meduim water clarity with a weedline at maybe 8 feet or so. Clear enough to have good weeds, but just dirty enough so the fish aren't too spooky. I fished the dark water lake the most just because it had the best population of muskies within an hour or so of me. I know a lot of people fish rocks for muskies, but I don't fish a lot of lakes that really have good rock, so I don't have a lot of confidence in rocks yet. That's probably about it. I'll probably remember a lot more details I should have written down, but overall, that's my fishing style. Not terribly fast, weeds, medium pace lures. I think it would be interesting to hear how everyone else likes to fish. curleytail | ||
| hftb |
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| I also prefer fishing shallow, darker water lakes because you can always find fish in less than 6 ft. of water. I also enjoy casting at targets (stumps, fallen trees, etc.), and these are normally found in fairly shallow water. I've always enjoyed fishing around lily pads for fish are always present. My preferred lure is a weedless spinnerbait with no trailer hook followed by some sort of topwater lure, usually a TopRaider or Topper Stopper . I've never enjoyed fishing open water as I always seem to want to have a visual target to cast to. Just a habit, I guess. Generally I'm run and gun, although there are times when I really like to work an area. One time, after fishing a 70 square foot area for over a 1/2 hour a muskie busted my twitch bait. I believed there was a fish there and just couldn't move on. To this day I wonder if I just aggravated him to death to where he finally wanted to kill it. Edited by hftb 12/25/2006 3:49 PM | |||
| suick48 |
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Posts: 20 | i like fishing rivers/flowages with lightly stained water and lots of stumps and weeds .i like to cast topwater, bucktails (bulge and normal retrieve) and jerkbaits right on the weed edges and through the stumps. i dont move too much i like to drift with the wind along shore lines or weed beds in the middle of lakes and use trolling motor as little as i need to. but if i have the chance to fish ill fish anywhere. i just feel more confident in the type of situation i said. | ||
| suick48 |
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Posts: 20 | double Edited by suick48 12/25/2006 4:10 PM | ||
| muskie_man1 |
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Posts: 222 Location: Hartland, WI | Open water/steep breaklines Clear Water Bulldawgs/Countdowns JJ | ||
| jerryb |
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Posts: 688 Location: Northern IL | Structure: By the ONE who coined the term, Mr. Buck Perry: "The bottom of the lake with some unusual features that distinguish it from the surrounding bottom area". Is this the kind of "structure" you are referring too or something else.... weeds... rocks... that's not structure. They MAY be breaks on structure but they are not structure by them selves. Rocks are only rocks unless they are on A migratory route, weeds are only weeds unless..... they are on good productive structure ect. The complete fishermen fishes the shallows, the deep water, and ALL of the in-between, and dose so checking all speeds in order to arrive at the "school" of fish, muskies do school! Jerry Borst Spoonplugger/Instructor The "guide" (with all the patches and stickers on his boat) says "cast at that stump over there, it's a good spot" but he has no idea why. | ||
| curleytail |
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Posts: 2686 Location: Hayward, WI | jerryb - 12/25/2006 10:45 PM Structure: By the ONE who coined the term, Mr. Buck Perry: "The bottom of the lake with some unusual features that distinguish it from the surrounding bottom area". Jerry, I understand what you are saying, but by your definition, aren't weeds, wood, rock, etc. ALL structure since they are "unusual features" on the bottom that distinguish that part of the bottom of the lake from the other parts of the lake. A weed bed would be different from the sand, mud, or rock that bordered the weeds. Rock is different from the areas that don't have rock... Are you saying that structure can ONLY be a depth change? Anyway, maybe the term "cover" would work better for rocks and weeds, but I think most of us knew what I was getting at. If not let me know what weeds and rock ARE. I also realize that all of us know that some days we need to run and gun, some days stay put and fish slow, and we will fish a stained lake if that's where we stand the best chance of putting fish in the boat, or will do the same if clear water is the ticket. However, I think most of us have favorite lake types and techniques we like the most, or feel like we are the best at doing. Or we might just have a favorite way to fish even if it isn't always the most productive (the excitement of topwater perhaps). I'm looking for your favorites. Do you look at a map of a lake with stained water and lots of shallow weeds and say, "Yes, looks like this will be a great topwater bite over the weeds!" Or do you look at a lake with a secci disk reading of 18 feet that's loaded with ciscos and say, "Oh boy, better get those open water trolling rods out!" Thanks for the replies so far guys! Just what I was looking for! I am hoping to get quite a few people to chime in. Doesn't have to be extremely detailed. Just fun to see how everyone prefers to fish. curleytail | ||
| kdawg |
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Posts: 785 | Curly tail, sounds like you were fishing on the Holcombe flowage. As far as my favorites, I personally concentrate on edges of structure that are adjacent to the open lake basin. When I start off on a new lake, I look for the absolute biggest and best feeding areas because with muskies at the top of the food chain, thats where they will be. Does'nt matter if it's weed beds, stump fields, or rock bars or reefs. As far as lure choice, I tend to base that more on water temperature. Warmer water-faster moving baits, like bucktails but topwaters are my favorites under low-light conditions. In colder water, a glider like the manta or a slow steady retrieve of the shallow invader are my favs. as well. Kdawg | ||
| curleytail |
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Posts: 2686 Location: Hayward, WI | Kdawg, pretty close. I fished there a couple times last summer, but spent most of my time on Lake Wissota. As far as lake description they are pretty close though! I plan on spending more time on Holcombe next year. curleytail | ||
| Pointerpride102 |
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Posts: 16632 Location: The desert | I guess I would tend to be a river fisherman...seeing as how its the only spots I know to fish for musky. I target moving water and dams. Bottoms tend to be rocky, and slippery....hence why I have fallen in to near freazing water in the spring! I dont think I can top the 2006 spring fishing.....Mono and swollen tonsels with a side of hypothermia! Looking forward to Spring 2007 so I can get back out and try falling in again! | ||
| musky-skunk |
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Posts: 785 | Wow, having to pick my fav conditions would be tough becouse I like so many of them. I used to be a dark water fisherman looking for shore huggers which is a style I liked due to my bass fishing roots. These days I would have to say I like fishing the thickest clumps of cabbage in the 8'-10' range in bays that are open to vaste open water. I really like those weed beds that go for miles and you can sit in one spot for an hour and still not cover everything. I normally fish 3 people in the boat and that type of fishing gives everyone first cast becouse we all cast out different sides of the boat, in this situation I really like drifting with the wind working gliders and soft plastics in an attempt to pick apart everyting and stick a big girl. I equally like fishing clear water lakes that are real irregular offering lots of points, humps, and especially saddles. I target cabbage growing off of rocky structure and burn spinnerbaits and bucktails so fast That I'm tired in and hours time. This would be a real run and gun approach looking to hit as many muskies as I can, the above style fishing I feel youd pass up more fish than you'd catch by fishing fast. Also I really like a real slight breeze and suppy dark skies for both situations (if I could choose that is), but in the sun I'd prefer the above methodical approach. Finally to clarify structure is technically considered to be topographical features such as contours that creat points, saddles, breaklines, humps, flats etc. while cover would be weeds, rocks, downed trees and the likes. To be honest though who really cares, its all good musky fishing stuff no matter what you call it. | ||
| Kingfisher |
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Posts: 1106 Location: Muskegon Michigan | I have no favorite tactic or place to fish Muskies. I have fished from Lake St. Clair trolling with Planer boards and multiple rods to little 100 acre puddles tossing 205 crane baits with bass tackle. Its all good. Now my favorite time to be on the water is first light when I have an entire lake to myself. These are the times that I can enjoy the complete package that is Musky fishing . Fog laying on the surface of the lake ,the Loons calling . To me theres nothing more fun than casting twitch baits or top water for Muskies. When we fish a lake for the first time we always troll around the entire lake if thats possible or we troll a section and map out the drop off contour lines on the G.P.S. This gives us an understanding of the lakes layout and many places to start casting. The lakes themselves dictate the tactics and I enjoy all the tactics. I fished a lake in August where I would have loved to throw Little Claws all day but the lake required us to toss Black Bucktails and Spinnerbaits up into the slop to get bit. Many of my Musky fishing friends tell me that I would do real well in tournements because I have the ability to adapt and do what it takes to boat fish. I m not interested in tournements because its not relaxing to fish fast and furious to me. I love hearing a drag scream when Im trolling and love the ka-chunk!! when old slimey bertha whacks one while casting. I would say I am an adaptive fisherman who enjoys it all. Catching is better than fishing in my book. I love fishing new remote lakes that have little to no pressure or being on the water on my local lakes when the locals are all in thier beds. When the first Personal watercraft hits the lake Im gone. Kingfisher | ||
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