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Posts: 16
| I am wondering how often everyone is catching pike while musky fishing and wondering if you catch a Northern in one spot are Musky likely to be there as well?
We fish this time of year in fall, when pike start moving up to rocks and points, some years we catch pike on every single wind blown point but come across few musky at these points. Do you guys get the same, and should I be looking at different structure if we are catching lots of pike. for us however we don't mind catching pike at all and will take any action.
Cheers |
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Posts: 572
| Speaking specifically just as to our experience on LOTW: we can usually tell when the muskies are "off" on our favorite muskie spots, because big pike will seem to have infiltrated the spot. Muskies will occasionally be mixed in. But it is often a small or medium sized muskie. In contrast, if muskies are active on the spot, it's very rare that any pike will be mixed in.
Edited by Matt DeVos 9/16/2019 9:12 PM
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Posts: 1220
| The above comment about LOTW is interesting and reminds me of certain other systems like the Madison chain where I used to fish and couldn’t afford the fall suckers you had to feed the pike before catching a musky. In Wisconsin’s north woods where I spend the summer, I find nothing bites except when everything bites including some incredible largemouth and smallies hitting my lures. My own LOTW experience is limited to just three weeklong July trips, but I caught just one serious pike up there and all musky except for that. My old Pewaukee home lake was a healthy mix in summer but I never had a pike hit a sucker in years of fall fishing right up to my old habit of backing my trailer onto the ice and waiting for it to crash through. |
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Posts: 19
| I think there is some truth to that. When the pike are on the spots or just biting good, muskies are biting less. Not always though. |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | It’s feasible to have them somewhat mixed together, especially in weeds. But rarely do packs of pike equate to good Musky fishing. Usually means the pike have slid up, the Muskies have slid off. |
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Posts: 1971
| My experience has been mixed when big pike move into prime spots on shield lakes, this past July we hammered big pike on sunken reefs, it was crazy big fat 42-45” monster pike... spots that we were sure Muskies should be on..3 days in a row hoping between 6-7 reefs nothing to show but a bunch of big pike .. by third day we were seriously considering giving up on these spots.. finally got a muskie to go on one of the reefs, only Muskie caught on these reefs all week but it was 52.5”...the big pike were there eating something, and persistence paid off... also have caught big pike and big skies on back to back cast several times on weed spots..I guess what I’m saying is a good feeding spot is just that, I wouldn’t give up on it if you’re catching big pike |
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Posts: 156
Location: Alexandria, MN | Bigger pike are definitely a different animal than "hammer handles". We, too, have caught big pike in the same areas as Muskies. This year on the shield, my partner got an upper 30's pike followed by a 45" muskie on consecutive trolling passes through the same pod of bait. Also, I think smaller pike are an important food source on some lakes for muskies. On one shield lake, if we start catching hammer handles that are looking pretty scarred up and chewed on, we will often raise or catch a muskie from the same area. If the pike look clean, it seems less likely a muskie will come from that area. |
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Posts: 8729
| Seems like it's always one or the other. |
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| from my personal opinion pike are the real boss. where i fish you will rarely find both fish at the same spot.so when i caught a pike i move away . during summer the big pike are far away from the musky that prefer warmer water ,so big pike move a lot deeper . |
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Posts: 612
| Perhaps an exception. My home lake Conesus has natural pike and stock musky's. For the most part the pike outnumber the musky but the musky tend to get considerable bigger. However on point the spots I fish one could just as easily catch either or both in the same spots. It really matters where the bait is concentrated. They both like the same drop offs, with a deep weed edge, points , etc.
As for hammer handles they stay away in shallower water for the most part and are often caught by LM bass fishermen.
Edited by NPike 9/17/2019 7:21 PM
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Posts: 16
| Yea good to hear what everyone is experiencing. Our experience is fall lotw and when pike big pike move up we dont see many musky. but lots of good action regardless. |
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