Posts: 425
| After the spawn, the muskies move out to the main basins around the schools of bait fish (mostly). But those main basins are usually 20 to 30 feet. I have a great musky lake near me that I fish all summer, but I wanted to start early this year in May and early June. This lakes main basin is around 50-60 feet, not 20-30. Are they still out there, were will they be?? Any help!! Thanks!! |
Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | It really depends on the make-up of the lake you are fishing. If the lake has ciscos, whitefish, trout, shad, or smelt it is almost gauranteed you'll have muskies out suspended in that deep basin. If it is mostly perch/sucker type forage it really is dependant on the individual lake. On some sucker based lakes you will find a lot of suspended muskies. On others it is very hard to contact suspended muskies, but there will be some out there.
As Tom mentioned look for some baitfish out there. If you see a good amount of baitfish in the basin throughout the year, regardless of what they may be (with the exception of little minnows), it is a good bet you will have a fishable population of muskies. Don't only look for the baitfish on the graph, but watch for dimpling/flipping baitfish on the surface as well as birds (seagulls and loons) that may always be out in the basin.
To target the fish out in the basin is as simple as just spending time out there. Once you have established that there is a good population of feed in the basin just start covering water. Not sure where you fish so that may mean covering water by casting, or by trolling. The smaller the basin the quicker you may be able to figure it out. If you strike out one, two, three times don't get discouraged. Some lakes you may cracl the first time out, but others it may take some time to figure out. Early in the year stay in the top 10' with your baits, and progressively work deeper as the summer rolls on. It is also much easier to figure the water out with more than one angler in the boat as you can try different presentations and rules options out much quicker. If you have more than just you in the boat have one throwing a crankbait of some sort, and one throwing some sort of rubber. If you have three in the boat have two people in the top 10-15' of water, and have the third running much deeper with a countdown crank, rubber (I prefer a Big Joe for running deep), or even some weight forward spinners.
I could go on forever in approaches but will stop here. Feel free to ask specific questions and I'll answer those.
The most important thing to keep in mind attacking deep water is having the confidence to fish out there! It can be tough, but it can also be very rewarding. |
