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| After seeing the Power Pole thread, it got me thinking. When you are muskie fishing how often is your boat in 8 FOW or less? Me personially I'd have to say 15% or less. 12 FOW is about as shallow as I get? Am I missing out on a shallow bite? |
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Posts: 717
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | Definately. I had a 48.5 come from 3 FOW last year. Half of my fish this year have come from 8' or less. I almost always start shallow (less than 12'). Then I progressively move deeper if I can't find fish. Far less water to cover, also. |
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Posts: 73
| That may depend a lot on what body of water a guy is fishing, and somewhat on the conditions at the time. We cast lures into water that's 5'-8- deep most all of the time. |
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Location: Twin Cities | We had a 47-48 basically come off shore last night and try to eat a bait. |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | Depends on the lake. You can't always say 8' or less. |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | Depends on the lake and fish you are targeting.
We had a club outing on a WI flowage at the start of the month where the majority of fish were seen and caught in less than 6 feet, but I caught the biggest fish out of 18-20' trolling and my partner caught the 3rd best one casting in 30' close to shore on a sheer rock break. So our boat averaged 25' of water when we caught 2 of the three top fish for the entire outing. There is always more than one pattern going on at the same time.
When we fish in Canada at the end of the month our average depth for the boat is probably near 40' for the best fish we catch. Having the boat in 70-100' and casting shorelines that drop straight down more often than not is a winner. Trolling near the same ripping breaks also works well. At the same time there are always a few in the shallow weed flats but there are usually the little ones, less than 40". There are ocassionally exceptions to that but only under super prime conditions, meaning don't hold your breath! Otherwise the shallower weeds are just plain a waste of time.
So are we missing the boat by not fishing shallow? No! Not in these lakes. But in other lakes, different things happen. You have to be willing to cover all the bases. |
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Posts: 264
| ya its a weird thing. one day ill find them in 15-20 feet and on another day on perhaps a different lake they come from right in the weedbed in less than 5 feet. |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | Here on LSC, quite often. Most of the month of June is spent less than 7', and then when the water gets hot, I'll fish a 17' channel....perched on the 3' flat adjacent to it. The PP keeps me in place in 3-4 mph of current coming out of the St. Clair River. LSC is a shallow lake as a rule, so the PP really shines here. |
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Posts: 103
| On one lake I fish I never go shallower than 10 feet. 95% of my time is spent in the 15-25 foot range. Now on a different body of water I rarely fish deeper than 10 feet. 95% of my fishing is in the 3-7 foot range. It all depends on the body of water and the time of year. |
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Posts: 699
Location: Hugo, MN | I think it depends on a number of circumstances and situations. A few that come to mind: 1)The Lake you're on. 1 Lake I fish I am rarely more shallow than 16 ft. but that where the best weedline is, on the break on a different lake I am rarely in more than 7ft of water. 2) Water Temperature and Thermocline 3) Where is the forage? 4) What time of year is it? I am sure there are many more but I think these are for the most part the the most important questions you can ask yourself. In general, I believe that you can find them anywhere but some spots are more prevalent than others for a variety of reasons. |
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Posts: 1916
Location: Greenfield, WI | I typically get claustrophobic when my Magnum is over less than 9'-10' of fishable water. I maybe casting into water that may 3' or less periodically, or turning around and throwing into 20' or more of water.
A few years ago, the Milwaukee Chapter of Muskies Inc. sponsored the Pewaukee Lake Study. We had 3 years or more of radio tracking telemetry data. If all of the data was placed on one lake map, we saw that at any point in time a muskie can be anywhere in the lake. There are areas which likely have a greater probability of holding fish than others. So I limit my fishing to anywhere on the body of water that is wet!
Edited by Steve Van Lieshout 8/22/2009 9:50 AM
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| Ha ha,ya my buddy starts every day by looking at the water and waving his hands over the the entire lake and saying "I know where they are,they are under the water so we pretty much have em surrounded at this point" |
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Posts: 295
Location: Southern Ontario, Detroit River and Lake StClair | Muskyhunter247 - 8/21/2009 11:49 PM
It all depends on the body of water and the time of year.
I think that pretty much covers it. All I will add is that if you not catching fish and you didn't try shallow then there's a very good chance you are missing out. If your catching fish deeper though I wouldn't leave there looking for more or larger fish that are shallow.
Good Fishin'
Tim
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