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Posts: 143
Location: La Crosse, WI | I'm somewhat knew to musky fishing, only been doing it for about 4 years or so. However, I've been trying to learn as much as I can in the last couple years. One thing I always read about is trying to establish a pattern for the day. However, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the concept because catching one musky on an outing is a great day for me. My question is, how do you go about establishing a pattern? Depth, lure, color? Like I've mentioned, I've read a lot of articles and understand the basics; but where do you start and what is your progression? |
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Posts: 432
Location: Eagan, MN | I'm not a huge believer in patterns. Sure there are times when a lot of fish seem to be doing the same thing in the same kinds of places, but I find that to be more the exception than the rule. When we're successful in catching a fish or two, it's tempting to convince ourselves that we cracked the code or unlocked the secret lure, spot, weather condition, timing, retrieve, etc, when in reality you might have been successful with a totally different lure on a different kind of spot at some other point during that day. When you find something that seems to be working, by all means milk it for all it's worth, but getting too hung up on patterns is self-limiting in my opinion. Find good spots, use appropriate lures on those spots, and be efficient. |
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Posts: 1168
| You can create your own patterns by simply throwing the same bait nonstop. Eventually a fish will eat it. That's called a "self fulfilling prophecy" more than it is a pattern.
Why are so many fish caught on double 10's? Is it something magical or is the explanation found in the fact that so many guys are using them? If I threw a double 10 nonstop of course I'd catch fish on them. It's a matter of percentages. If you throw a bait 90% of the time the numbers will line up where 90% of your fish will be caught on that specific bait. I simply do not use bucktails but I'll put my season catch numbers up against almost anyone if they fished the same water that I do and I'll start the season off by using traditional "fall" baits that very few guys will even have with them at the end of May and early June.
Use baits that YOU have confidence in. When you use one of those baits your attention to detail is greater, the way you work that bait is more efficient, etc. I personally have extreme confidence in various crankbaits. When I clip one of those on I'll be more diligent in the way I use them as opposed to other types of baits. That diligence increases my chances simply because I FEEL that my presentation is positive. If I don't have that the second guessing starts to creep in.
Trust your gut and understand that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to these fish. Often times thinking outside of the box means you are thinking smack dab in the wheelhouse of these fish....granted, I'll often think so far outside of the box that I'm not even in the same box factory but oddball stuff does work.
If there is any recommendation to give it's to educate yourself on some of the stuff Dick Pearson has been saying about edges and narrowing the box. You start with a body of water and start applying different "edges" to it and pretty soon that 10,000 acre body of water is pretty dang small. By THINKING and eliminating the other stuff you've created a pretty small area where you KNOW those fish will be instead of it being a guess. By KNOWING a fish is there instead of it being a guess your own confidence level goes way, way up. Once you get to that point, use that bait you have confidence in, and voila...your efficiency will go through the roof and you'll get bitten. |
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Posts: 1308
Location: WI | Troll with multiple lines or fish with 2-3 people in a boat for a week and you'll find patterns. When you're running multiple lines and switching them around and one bait is getting eaten 2-3x more often than the others, that's a great pattern. I've also had it where I used one color in the morning and switched to a different one midday and caught multiple fish in a week doing that.
That said, when I fish alone, I'm more apt to throw 1-4 proven lures in an outing. |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | One fish isn't a pattern. It's a clue to a pattern that might exist. I'd use similar lures in similar spots for a while but if it didn't show me anything I sure wouldn't stay with it. Like the other guys said, more people in the boat gives you better feedback to work with. Fishing by yourself, starting from scratch, you just need to look at the conditions and make your best guess what the fish would be doing. Then you try your guess for a while and if it doesn't work, it's on to plan B.
When you catch a couple fish doing the same thing in a short time, that's what I'd call a pattern. When that happens I keep pounding on that hard till it fails miserably and then I'll move on to the next plan. |
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Posts: 1202
Location: Money, PA | Pattern and Muskie Fishing are Oximorons... |
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Posts: 18
| Im pretty young with not nearly as much knowledge as most people on this site, but In my opinion I think the whole reason people attempt to establish a pattern is directly influenced by confidence. If you see fish on a particular structure on a specific spot almost everyone is likely to look at a map after this and try to find another area similar to that. Let's say you moved a fish on a weed flat and that's all you targeted all day, another guy on the same day could be moving fish on off shore rocks all day. It's all about confidence and where you see the right kind of fish, but that's only an opinion. |
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Posts: 18
| And also each musky is different, they will want a certain style of lure on one day and something totally different the next. Go out and fish your confidence lures and fish your favorite spots and try a couple new ones now and then too. Just have fun being on the water and be glad you don't have to work. |
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| Just a couple of thoughts here....
Musky fishing is an efficiency game, more good casts (troll) in good areas = better sucess. Have a plan. I like to something like the following
1. Eliminate 90% of the water before you start.
2. Fish, shallow, deep, inside, outside of remaing 10%, did you contact fish?the
3. If yes, try to replicate that on similar features in other parts of the system.
4. If no, try secondary spots or lure changes.
5. Reapeat.
The more frequently you do this the more likely a "pattern" will emerge, that evolves as time passes. One of the reasons guides are generally on patterns is a function of time on the water. |
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Posts: 697
Location: Minnetonka | Pay attention to all of your variables when you catch your one fish for the day. Then use the same variables to catch your second fish and so on. Or just count on getting lucky...
Muskies have behavioral patterns and, therefore, can be patterned by anglers.
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Posts: 2086
| Hammskie is on the money and why IMO its important to keep a log (location,date, water temp, lure, moon, etc) - Success builds success - variables will change hourly,daily, yearly.. but you can take past experience and give yourself a head start. Putting the pieces together is one of the "fun" things about muskie fishing. |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Here's an example... Winds were out of the West blowin hard for a week straight. The lake being fished is a long lake that stretches West to East, so the wind has been whipping down the length of the lake consistently for days. There are a few points jutting out along the shore, so each point has a lee side for a little ways before the waves start kicking up again. It's mid-May and the fish are looking for warmer water. Starting at the tip of each point extending out into the lake, a foam line/"chum" line starts and it appears like a seem defined by bubbles. There was a mayfly hatch recently. You pass over the chum line and your graph lights up with what looks like a cloud of bait starting from the surface going down 10'. With your polorized glasses on, you look a little closer into the water and you see mayfly skins by the thousands...
You fish the chum line with crank bait and notice several perch follow it up. You ask yourself, "Why are the perch here?" and it clicks, their feeding on the mayfly skins along this wind/current seam or chum line. You keep throwing and bingo, musky follows you up. It's weird because there's no structure below you, it's just an 18' deep flat - even the Hotspots Map says so.. So why are the musky there?
Suddenly the puzzle is put together! The wind is pushing the mayfly skins into the West shore of the point jutting out into the lake. The constant waves are sliding these skins along the shoreline until they slide around the point and fall into line or the chum line/current seam. The perch are feeding on the mayfly skins and thus, the musky must be feeding on the perch.
The forecast is calling for this wind to continue for a couple more days...
You have now found yourself a potential pattern targetting the current seams/chum lines on the lee sides of wind blown points that may last for a couple more days until the wind gives in and the chum line seperates and sinks to the bottom. Fish it while you can because it may not last long.
Edited by Sam Ubl 5/11/2012 11:50 AM
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Posts: 2389
Location: Chisholm, MN | A pattern to me is more general. For a month or two (summer) I would probably throw a few baits that have a similar color or running depth that is specific to the lake. If the weather changes, my pattern may change to another depth. I basically think that a pattern is generally lake, time of year, and specific weather for that day or week. Match up the presentation for those conditions and you got yourself a pattern. (if you are catching fish) |
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Posts: 720
| To me Kirby hits it square on the chin.
Patterns are more of generalization within a season. Spring pattern, Summer and Fall. Over days and even weeks patterns shift. Where the muskies are located and what the are eating won't change over night. On a given body of water. The trick to establishing a pattern is when you fish different lakes. Than you are going need to adjust the where and way you fish that particulare body of water. I think that is what most folks are referring to when you hear them say "trying to establish a pattern". |
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Posts: 97
Location: Milwaukee, WI | In my opinion, patterns have a lot more to do with where the fish are rather than what lures are working.
Find the fish first. It is an awesome feeling when you are on a good pattern (and it certainly doesn't happen every day) and you can expect to see fish at every spot you pull up on. |
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Posts: 540
Location: Leech Lake, Walker MN | Listen to the guys that are responding to you question they have years on the water
No replacement for that
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Posts: 906
Location: Warroad, Mn | I alway thought that patterns restrict your thinking! There's more than one way to catch a muskie! Doug Johnson |
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Posts: 100
| I also have nowhere near the experience as most on this board. However I can say with confidence that patterns can only be established when you catch multiple fish in a day and are easier to recognize with multiple anglers in the boat. When you catch one fish on one lure it may be a fluke. When you catch multiple fish on the same lure you can start to figure out a color and type of lure that the fish want, which should give you an idea of what type of forage that the fish are targeting. If you pay attention to where you catch the fish than you can start to figure out what structure the fish are relating to. If you are fishing with a partner you should be running different baits until you have established a pattern.
As far as seasonal patterns go I think those are more like gameplans. You need to have an idea of what lures you are going to use and what structure you will fish, along with where that structure is, before you hit he water. You cannot establish a pattern until you get out on the water, as you have no evidence until you catch fish.
Having said that, patterning fish is an approach that is meant to get you numbers. That is probably why you hear TV hosts talking about patterns. It is hard to make a 30 minute show around one fish. People who are searching for size instead of numbers may not pattern the fish as the true giants, by virtue of the fact that they have survived to reach such a large size, may not feed according to patterns, or may not relate to the same structure as other fish in the same body of water. |
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