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| Just wondering at what water temp does the muskies stop hitting artificials weather it is soft plastics or cranks.
Thanks
Cory |
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| Got 4 this spring on a day when the water temps were 38 degrees...and people catch them through the ice every year. So I think its more of a matter of adjusting to them versus them not being willing to eat.
Slamr |
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| Anytime the water temperature drops below 32 degrees.
I don't fish for muskies through the ice, cause I'm too busy catching gills, perch, crappies, walleyes and other table species....[:p] |
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| I have found that once the water temps drop below 40 degree mark they look for slower moving baits, i will give up on trolling and use plastics (bull dawgs,tiger tubes) and work deep points or open water reefs. |
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| When your baits will not break through the slush anymore. I think you can catch muskies anywhere at anytime using the correct methods. Not saying it would be easy but its possible.[;)] |
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| If the water starts to boil I'm guessing the muskies would stop biting!!!!!!![:p]
Just kidding, as far as cold water goes my feeling on it is that if your boat will float you can find a musky that will bite.
I have caught them as late as Nov. 30th and as early as April 4th. Now remember the season here in WI ends on Nov. 30th and doesn't open until Memorial Day weekend. So how did we catch one on April 4th. Well we traveled to where it was legal to fish them! God bless.
John Stellflue
Oneida Esox Guide Service |
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| Although technically muskies are not a real cold water fish (their native range extends well into some warm water areas like Kentucky and West Virginia) they still feed in cold water conditions. I've caught a large number of fish at freeze up (water temps in the low 30's) while trolling at 3.5-4.5 MPH, and find that speed still seems to be a very good trigger. I'm pretty sure that the muskies prey (sucker, tullibee, perch, et.al.) don't swim slow if a big muskie is chasing them.
To think that a predator fish swims slower in pursuit of forage fish in cold water is not correct.
The amount of time it takes a predator to digest the prey may increase, but swimming speed to catch the prey doesn't seem to change, speed of retrive or trolling speed in cold water may not be as important as we think. Every fish could have a different speed threshold, depending on any number of different things. I generally go pretty fast even when it's cold, because the faster I go the more water I cover.
In late fall or early winter (it's pretty much froze now) I still do well trolling pretty fast. If it's warm enough to cast (not today) I've done well in classic spots, casting large jerk or Crank baits (usually Suicks or 10" Believers), but my retrieve style and speed is exactly the same as I've used all year.
Doug Johnson
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