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Message Subject: Lure Advice on Heavily Pressured Alewife Lake Giant Pike & Tiger

Muskie101

Posted 6/22/2025 7:58 AM (#1034142)
Subject: Lure Advice on Heavily Pressured Alewife Lake Giant Pike & Tiger

Posts: 206

Location: Rochester, New York

There is this heavily fished warmwater alewife lake near me that is still a very popular and productive pike and tiger muskie lake and while i did well in 2023 the last 2 years haven't been very productive so switching up tactics trolling deep was the solution but we mark tons of bait balls so big one time the depth finder thought it briefly thought it went from 37to 17 ft but still we barely catch any of the fish by the bait we mark and was hoping for some lure advice as i really want to break the 40" bench mark

sworrall

Posted 6/23/2025 11:18 AM (#1034148 - in reply to #1034142)
Subject: Re: Lure Advice on Heavily Pressured Alewife Lake Giant Pike & Tiger

Posts: 32919

Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin

What are you fishing with now that isn't producing?

Muskie101

Posted 6/23/2025 2:19 PM (#1034149 - in reply to #1034148)
Subject: Re: Lure Advice on Heavily Pressured Alewife Lake Giant Pike & Tiger

Posts: 206

Location: Rochester, New York

sworrall - 6/23/2025 12:18 PM

What are you fishing with now that isn't producing?

Not very much though it has produced some fish

Giant shad rap on downrigger lost 1
Berkley Flicker Minnow
Bandit Walleye Deep Diver
Daredevle worked on a downrigger 1 hit

Rouges Haven't Worked very well

Flicker Shad Didn't Work
Deep diver Bomber haven't

I am still trying to find a grandma 6" deep diver in the alewife color for sale but thats it

kdawg

Posted 6/23/2025 4:32 PM (#1034153 - in reply to #1034149)
Subject: Re: Lure Advice on Heavily Pressured Alewife Lake Giant Pike & Tiger

Posts: 776

Your the spinning gear guy, right? Anyway, check out some old Doug Stange In-Fisherman videos on fishing swim jigs. He usually fishes them in the mid to late fall period and it just might work out for ya. And, he recommends using spinning gear! Kdawg

pstrombe

Posted 6/23/2025 6:17 PM (#1034155 - in reply to #1034142)
Subject: Re: Lure Advice on Heavily Pressured Alewife Lake Giant Pike & Tiger

Posts: 213

Occasionally I will have a guest that doesn't use bait casting gear so I have an 8' Okuma surf rod on board that will handle up to a 4 oz bait. I'm not sure how tolerant muskies are when it comes to down riggers and would be interested to know what other think. We spend a day or town trolling lakers in Canada during our spring and fall trips. In all those years we have only caught one northern behind a down rigger ball and the lake is full of them. Considering the pressured waters I would consider Super Shad Rap 2 oz of lead 3 ft ahead of the lure should give you about 12' at 3.2 mph. Another option are swimin dawgs. We throw them all the time and count them down to typically 15' before starting the retrieve. You can also troll them but once again you'll need some lead ahead of the bait. We generally troll over the top of the bait. Do the alwives move up in the water column towards evening. Time of day my be an important consideration
Good Luck

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