|
|
| Have been doing good catching pure breds all year, but have yet to hook into any tigers this year. Last year, caught twice as many tigers to purebred. Was wondering if any pro's have any advice on location of tigers during fall in rivers. And what has been a good lure/presentation. I kinda miss catching a few of those every year. |
|
| |
|
| Like before (although not a pro), I will respond to this because there just isn't that much around about Tigers. As I've mentioned before, my area is Tigers-only and have learned a few things over the last six years (no expert, but I'm learning). Fall is the best time to catch numbers and I think big ones, too. Going to the larger lures (8 or 10 " Believers, etc) fished adjacent to the edge of the weedbeds or first drop-offs (this is the same location in my lake) is the way to go. We are allowed to troll here in Maryland and I have found this is the best way to cover a lot of water quickly. I position my boat at around 20' deep and troll a rod on each side of my boat with one rod fishing straight down into the propwash. I flatline AND use planers (to avoid spooking the fish) this time of the year. This gives me a lure directly behind the boat in the propwash, one lure at the weed edge 10-15', and on the deep side, 20-30 ft. Obvioulsly, if you cannot troll casting both to these areas and across them horizontally should also work. The first fish I ever caught was in the fall in around 35 ft. of water on an 8" Believer (Perch) attached to a planer board. The lure was at 15-20' deep at the time.
Note: I've noticed over the last couple of years that I quite often catch a fish at the end of the day while trolling much slower. I attribute it to this: My lake is electric only. At the end of the day, my batteries are going, forcing me to troll slower. As a result, my lures aren't as deep and are traveling much slower. These hook-ups are usually in 10-15' of water. The other day, I was out fishing and hooked into a huge log (I thought). As I tried to get my lure loose, all of a sudde, this "log" started stripping line off my reel at will. No head shaking, nothing by movement away from my boat. Since the only other fish in the lake are minnows, bass and bream, this had to be a huge Tiger. At the time, it WAS at the end of the day, I was trolling very slowly (batteries were dying) and the 10" Believers were fairly shallow. Lost the fish when my wife's line and my line tangled up - thus giving the fish slack and he got off. Bummer!!!! However, what a thrill. My largest fish so far in my lake is around 20lbs. (I CPR all my fish). This fish was different - a real honker.
Anyway give this a try and let me know how you do - I can use good Tiger information for my site. Hope this helps - Tom
|
|
| |
|
| Ok fellows.....how long do you think these "east coast" musky might live? The last time they were put in this 1 lake 20 minutes from the house here was in '84....as to whether there were any tigers in the last drop I'm not sure but they were stocked off + on. Any thoughts?[:sun:] |
|
| |
|
| Sponge, there is a 60+ lb. muskie mounted at Dunroven's (SP?) Resort on the Chippewa Flowage. From the jaw bone which was removed by the taxidermist and aged, the fish was 31 years old. Of course that was a laid back Wisconsin muskie, not a hyper east coast muskie with an attitude that would tend to burn out in six months!LOL! |
|
| |
|
| "East Coast" Tigers live 10-12 yrs (average) according to fisheries reports I have read. "Naturals" up to 30 yrs. That's why there is a size difference. Tigers grow faster initially, but do not get as big due to the shorter life span. In the area in which I live (25 miles north of Wash. DC) there are lakes with naturals. The largerst I've heard of was about 27 lbs. from Burke Lake (stocked with them for over 30 years). The largest Tigers are in the 30 lb. range. Perhaps the naturals do not have a long life span here due to the 85-90 water temps in the summer. |
|
| |
|
| muksiekid-
Water temps up here in Wisconsin weren't much different than down there then. Highest I saw was 82 in Madison but the average was 77-81 depending on if we had recent rain or not.
Good Luck and Be Safe,
Scott |
|
| |
