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Posts: 22
| After a few years of trying to find muskies on one of my local waters I am asking for suggestions. Its a reservoir or flowage, over 3000 acres. Clear but stained water, looks like beer when looked at in a glass jar. Numerous islands,narrows,bays points. lots of rock around shoreline and visible humps etc. variety of weed growth. Huge shallow weed choked shallow bays and flats and weed beds of all sizes shapes . a few stump fields and dead heads but not as many as other flowages I have fished. I assume the bottom of this place is littered with logs and stumps. Loaded with small northern pike, no size limit and you can kill five pike a day. also Walleye,perch , bass of all kinds (SM,LM,Rock) And I would assume this place has a huge population of suckers because most waters around here do. Lots of shallow water under 20 ft but several deep areas of 40 to more than 50 feet deep. IMO the musky population here is small but huge fish are no doubt present. Musky fisherman are few on this water . walleye is what most people come here for. That and people just fishing for whatever they can catch. Over the last few years I have caught a hundred 20 inch northern pike and one 30 inch musky. I have never even seen a musky follow on this water. I am not new to musky fishing but I am no pro either. It is legal to troll here also. I believe that most of the muskies caught here are incidental catches. Big pike are also taken here every year ,My largest was a 36 incher that was released . |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | Look for cabbage closest to the old river channel. |
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Posts: 174
Location: Ontario | I would suggest waiting til October and take all the advice and experience you have and keep fishing til the snow starts falling in December. Then tell us how it went. |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | Shorelines with steep drop offs and downed timber, preferably close to channel. Almost sounds like you're describing my home water. I spent a lot of hours pounding weed related spots and tons of pike later decided to try something new and have been having success since. |
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| creek channels really have nothing to do with where muskies locate themselves throughout the year on a reservoir. the creek channel is nothing more than another drop off or irregularity in the bottom anywhere else in the lake. lets not forget that the creek channel in a reservoir is usually located in 30-60+ ft of water and runs the entire length of the lake.
sure fish relate to the creek channel but they also relate to the water in which they have the ability to swim in throughout the entire lake. if anything, completely forget about the creek channel and anything visual other than the shoreline and standing timber. go around the shoreline, inside the timber, and around the edge of the timber every time you fish the lake.
if you shoot from one spot to the next you will never develop consistent patterns on a lake that size with the amount of structure and cover present with the time you have available to spend on the water.
your best spot on any lake may not share the same characteristics or description in what you read on here or in any fishing book so you might as well start from point a and go to point b, start from point b and work your way to point a your next outing, and from time to time start in the middle and go either which way.
if you just shoot from "spot" to "spot" you will never learn the water you are fishing. i mean some of the best spots are overlooked by people because there are no bait fish present on the graph and there is nothing but a flat bottom and water over the top of it. structure and cover are NOT muskie magnets. each fish is different and every single foot of water has the potential to hold a muskie. even if the water is 80 degrees.
good luck. |
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Posts: 1168
| If there's any semblance of current in those creek channels that's the first thing to look at and pick apart. They are not just simply places that fish use to travel from one location to the next. If you have ANY current whatsoever (wind, return, natural flow because it is a reservoir) pay close attention to it.
On my home water I look for current seams that run through it all the time even though it is called by most a "lake." Technically it is not, it is a man made reservoir/lake/backwater but there is current in there that has a significant effect on the entire system. Then start mixing in wind being blown across a wide open surface area shoving water across the old creek channels and it's current and you've got some nifty little eddies that form in different areas. Toss ideal water temp characteristics compared to the expanse of the basin into that mix and you've got some dynamic little zones that can get charged up.
If you have any small trout streams in the area spend some time on them. That helps shorten the learning curve up by getting an up close and personal feel for how current reacts with different things. Trout streams are on a micro level...now apply that to larger rivers and flowages or anyplace you have water currents and it will greatly help shorten the learning curve. |
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Posts: 682
Location: Sycamore, IL | I agree with focusing on current areas pointed out above...great advice.
Some thoughts:
1. If trolling is allowed...troll. Its great way to learn/eliminate water on a larger system. Make waypoints of promising structure that you can come back to and cast at "primetimes".
2. If you are catching a bunch of small pike there are most likely not any big muskies around..get outta there!
3. Drift some big suckers this fall along the old creek channel.
4. Slow down and work an area that looks promising from every angle...twitch baits shine in laydowns and timber.
5. Fish at night.
6. Fish deeper water, then...fish even deeper.
7. Stop doing what you have been doing up until this point and do something entirely different.
8. Fish around and in areas that have a large concentration of panfish/ walleye anglers.
9. If the lake has a marina, fish it!
10. Talk to the locals:)
11. Go "walleye" fishing...
12. Hire a guide...or skip the first 11 steps and move right to 12.
Good luck and let us know how it goes. |
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| Reading your post, it begs the question, are you dealing with a presentation problem or a population problem? You present nothing that suggests anything more than a very peripheral population.
When you present an overview of "very few musky fisherman" and a ratio of "1 30" musky to 100 snaky northerns", maybe your question should be shortened to,
"WOULD YOU fish this water/". |
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Posts: 371
Location: Dixon, IL | Sounds like Bond Falls Flowage in upper Michigan! Trolling is best thing for me! Casting around island, off islands, edge of weed beds, underwater humps, and try enjoy yourself! Not to be so serious and have fun! Catch some pike on musky lure and catch musky is not bad for a day! Keep eye on followr and mark on your map then come back later! |
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| if you want to waste your time fishing for a fish or two over 30-50 ft of water fishing imaginary current in depths not good for the fish too be caught in and depths where fish rarely go then focus on the creek channel. narrow areas is what creates the current or the fact that there is water coming into the lake from a river or creek. current exists in itself and the only areas fish are going to gather around the creek channel based on current would be in narrow areas and in water less than 15 ft deep. any other time you catch a muskie off the creek channel you most likely caught it because of the sheer fact that it is a change in bottom contour. the same as if you were to catch a muskie off a fish crib in 15+ ft of water. current running through the timber is your best chance at catching a muskie as well as fishing the shoreline and the edges of the timber. |
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| I'd start with some research on posts by guides or comments on lake-link. There may be a bar that has pictures posted to let you know the population or size of fish being caught. Chat with some other friends or locals. I'm sure there will be some whopper stories at least. Then do what the one guy said, do what you haven't, like deep water. I've been stumped on flowages before, like Lake Dubay. Guides can figure the place out, but for the less than average guy like me it is a lot of work to find a legal. Good luck. |
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| Tough for muskies as you make it sound, compared to some places, this reservoir sounds like heaven. If the water is stained, follows may be difficult to detect. How many muskies are there in the reservoir? Is it stocked? The presence of largemouth bass and small pike make muskie propogation hard. Those guys hunt the shallows where fingerling muskies hang out. I would study the lake map and attack the usual muskie structures with muskie size baits. I would also use topwater lures. How is the fishing pressure? Are there a lot of bass anglers throwing spinnerbaits? Have the muskies present seen too many of these? If so, crankbaits might be the answer. Are the muskies laying deeper than you thought? What quality baits are you using? Are they good enough to fool the fish? |
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