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| The lakes that support a 'two story' fishery, and have an abundance of ciscos usually are clear and oligitrophic. I have fished Trout lakes actually fishing for whitefish some, and found them 50' deep or more in the summer.
Do the ciscos relate to water that deep, and if so, are muskies relating to them there at all?
I have caught smallmouth vertical jigging on Rainy Lake in 50', so I am sure that gamefish will relate to a forage base that deep, but one hears very little about Muskies in that situation. |
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| Steve-A few years ago I did some laymans research on ciscoes because most of the lakes I fish have a ciscoe forage base.Ciscoes routinley migrate to the hypolimnion when water temperatures warm in the early summer and can be found in depths of 100'or more. On most inland lakes a lack of oxygen will prevent muskies from relating to them these depths. The ciscoes feed on crustecea at these depths; However they frequently move much higher in the water column to feed on plankton and insect hatches.They will do this even in very warm water temps if the deeper food sources are scarce for a variety of reasons.On bodies of water that have no or fluctuating thermoclines muskies can and do relate to ciscoes at depths much greater than most fishermen would think an most certainly will do this after the turnover on most ciscoe based lakes.In short- if sufficient oxygen is present at a given depths on ciscoe based lakes muskies will be there also -in my opinion |
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| Fishing for lake trout on inland lakes I have caught ciscoes as deep as 85 feet of water verical jigging. I have had a body catch a walleye in 75ft of water doing the same. This happen primary in the month of July. I have never caught a musky that deep, but I have found once the sun sets and the fish move up in the water column I feel muskies can move in that water. I am talking about 45 ft and less...just my humble findings spensing time on the water
Brad
Breuerguideservice.com |
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| This is something I have also been trying to determine, how deep could a muskie be? I graph LOTS of ciscos during the summer monthes 50-70ft down, but have yet to try to really give it a real good amount of time presenting baits near these deep schoools. I fish quite a bit suspended, but I have to be seeing those schools within 30ft of the surface to have much confidence. I'd like to know what might be following those deep schools. I know I could pull a bait that deep, but I also wonder about the health factors contending with bringing one up from those depths. I still have problems determining how deep a lake supports oxygen to, kinda havin to figure out all this on my own, not many people fishin for suspenders around here. Reading articles help only so much, speaking of that, Paul Klein still stop in on the boards? It's a very interesting topic to me. Later
Dan |
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| I've done a lot of trout fishing in Whitefish Bay of the LOTWs. At times the tullibees are so thick the depth finder will not read through them. I'm caught a number of northern pike (colder water fish than muskies), either jigging or downrigging in these areas, but never a muskie. Typically during the summer the theromcline sets up at about 50-60 feet in Whitefish and that's where most of the tullibees and trout are.
I'm also good friends with a former (now retired) Ontario Conservation Officer who lived in Sioux Narrows, and monitored Whitefish Bay for 30 years plus. He checked thousands of people who were down rigging for trout in the summer (50-60ft range, with the tullibees), and he never in 30+ years found anyone who had a muskie.
At least in Whitefish Bay, I don't spend much time trolling for muskies in 50-60 feet of water during the summer. This could well be different in waters which have a warmer thermocline than Whitefish. It could also be different in waters that don't have an abundent alternate food source.
It's probably a pretty complex deal, and could vary from lake to lake.
Doug Johnson
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