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Posts: 3
| I am interested in how the knowledge base here fishes our current conditions.
Three fisherman, five days to fish and the goal is to catch a 50 inch muskie. Lake is Cass, Leach, Bemidiji. Deep, clear, large cisco population. Water temp is 51 degrees. Weather is expected to be stable from wed to wed. highs of 50s and lows of 30s. Obviously the warmer than weather has made for a late fall.
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | find staging ciscoes and fish bait piles like they are structure ... throw double dawgs, pounders, alphas and medusas and don't leave. it's a matter of time. ciscoes will tell you what depth they are so don't focus too much on depth of water you are searching ... just find the bait. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | if it were me I'd put 2 suckers out... 1 guy casting... keep boat 1/2 cast length from the weedline ... finding bait is a bit overrated most of the time...there are always fish using the weeds/weedlines this time of year.. I'd do that on Bemidji and Plant and I'd bet you get shots at 50s...I'm confident I would w/ the same game plan anyway! 
Edited by BNelson 10/27/2015 11:45 AM
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Posts: 2018
| heck if your going to cheat put 3 suckers out!  |
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Location: Contrarian Island | what's cheating? he said 3 guys |
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Location: varies | 3 fishing? 1 high (topwater, blades) , 1med (dawg/dussa). 1 low (DDD/jig.) To find what's working and go from there.
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | Where I fish the Ciscos don't "stage" at 50* water temp.
they are always out there in the deeper water until it's time to spawn, around 41-42*
However the Whitefish do gather together at about 49-50*
A lot of the time muskies stage near the shoreline just "waiting" to ambush those oily buggers..Points, Islands, deeper shorelines are where I'll throw big rubber, big blades, and big twitching jerk baits (10" Shallow Invader) Jakes.
If they aren't there, then back off a cast.
Like Sled said, if you come across huge balls of bait fish, fish the hell out of em.
Right now on Cass, I'd start just off the weed edges in about 10-15 fow.
Mr. Nelson... Live bait is cheating.....Ha. Not much work involved there. |
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Posts: 409
Location: Almond, WI | Three specific lakes are mentioned and I have experience on two of them. The two that I know, given 51 degree water and stable weather, the best bet is to cast the remaining green weeds (which guess what? hold a lot of bait right now). Gliders and big twitchbaits, rubber on the edge and slow roll a Supermodel at last light. If water was 6 degrees colder and dropping, I'd troll. This shouldn't be taken to mean any or all clear and deep lakes given those conditions. Every lake is different to a degree. |
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Posts: 2018
| Never used a sucker in my life for muskies, its not what makes muskie fishing interesting to me...If I want to fight a big fish on a sucker I'll go catch some flatheads!! 20lb flatty will drowned a 40lb muskie in a fight! ... and Mr. Nelson if I asked you to take me sucker fishing is been a long time ago .. I'm guessing what I was really interested in finding was more people "hardcore" to go fish late fall ... to each their own.
Edited by IAJustin 10/27/2015 3:00 PM
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Posts: 67
| only people who say sucker fishing isn't much work are the ones that haven't done it or aren't very good at it........ |
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Location: Contrarian Island | huh, catching big fish is what is interesting to me..and if I can do that casting and with suckers it's fun... until you have set the hook into a 50+ incher with a sucker I guess you don't know what you are missing... I don't find trolling all that fun/interesting but I bet I'd enjoy catching a big fish doing it! to each their own
Edited by BNelson 10/27/2015 3:24 PM
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Posts: 2018
| I like catching big fish on bait too like 300LB sturgeon.. 250Lb Marlin .. 80 LB Roosterfish and Wahoo.... I know exactly what i'm missing .. A non-fighting fish (muskie) with live bait halfway down its throat! |
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Posts: 2018
| yes they don't fight have you ever caught a fish on a sucker that took more than 90 seconds to get in the net? Most video's of people catching fish on suckers the fight is less than 30 seconds... I like the "hunt" ..muskies aren't "big fighting fish" - we are so overmatched with our equipment its not even fair.. 30lb muskie on 6lb mono - 8 minutes .... 30 lb rooster fish on 30lb braid .. 20 minutes... like I said those that want to catch muskies on live bait go for it, its just not for me.
Edited by IAJustin 10/27/2015 4:12 PM
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Posts: 3
| Fishing muskie in 40 degree temps is not easy. Fish are just not active much. It is cold and boring. I believe Tom Gelb row trolled 22 days without a fish in Oct/Nov before catching his largest. I have a hard time getting motivated after 2 days in without a fish.
The thing about sucker fishing is you dont cover much water. Its no guarantee of anything but a slow boring expensive day. If your confident in location that is one thing if not its a needle in the haystack. I have only sucker fished a handful of times in my life. That is enough to know that its not very efficient. Cheating. Is that the tournament mentality? So are tree stands, hunting rifles, outboard motors, f150 pick up trucks, 6:1 level wind reels, fish finders, trolling motors, etc etc. Tell me about rowing out to your favorite bar with 20' of anchor line out so you can find it and then throwing double 10s with a 5' steel rod and a 1:1 action reel in 40 degree temps all day. Fish the way you enjoy it and dont brow beat others for doing it how they enjoy it. |
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Posts: 20230
Location: oswego, il | How about fighting Rooster Cogburn, Marlin Perkins or Chief Wahoo?
Edited by ToddM 10/27/2015 4:49 PM
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | I don't know if you need suckers when it's 51. If you were fishing intelligent WI fish it would help, but for the stupid MN, IA and ON fish they really aren't necessary. Those things will eat license plates.
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Posts: 20230
Location: oswego, il | Flambeauski - 10/27/2015 4:47 PM
I don't know if you need suckers when it's 51. If you were fishing intelligent WI fish it would help, but for the stupid MN, IA and ON fish they really aren't necessary. Those things will eat license plates.
Any preference on a state? |
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Posts: 1516
| What size hook do you use with a license plate? |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI | How about making a DLP (double license plate) ? I wonder if Moore's carries a clevis that would work.
Time for Shimano to come out with a big brother to the Tranx... |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | Grouse Hunting > Sucker Fishing ... |
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Posts: 1660
Location: central Wisconsin | Which rod and reel setup works best for throwing license plates? |
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Location: Contrarian Island | Justin, so you use live bait for saltwater fish but think live bait for muskies is somehow cheating? huh, interesting!
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Posts: 32892
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/videos/10.23.2015/8237/Andy.Myers.L...
A minute 15 seconds, so in answer to your question...yes. A good fight for not a huge fish, and I personally like fishing suckers for muskies. We've fished them for four days in the last two Octobers and have a 51.5, a 53.5, a couple 46s, and a 43, a 40, and over 20 pike from 36 to 43.
We did catch a couple big pike casting.
We were primarily in deep water with the sucker weighted and down deep, 1 sucker down and two anglers casting.. It's really cool watching the fish shadow the sucker on the sonar. Add a Water Wolf camera, and:
http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/videos/10.10.2015/8213/Water.Wolf.U...
This is like the ice jigging purists saying tip-ups are cheating. Pshaw...
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Posts: 20230
Location: oswego, il | Would you recommend motorcycle plates in the spring? Indiana uses a single license plate can you throw doubles there?
I guess your not a real man if you sucker fish. Anybody know where I can buy an angora dickey?
Edited by ToddM 10/27/2015 7:16 PM
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Posts: 32892
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | A guy can hardly have a serious argument anymore... |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI | ToddM - 10/27/2015 7:12 PM
I guess your not a real man if you sucker fish.
It's not so bad Todd. Just put a blade on your quick strike rig and then you are using a "lure". |
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Posts: 1516
| A serious argument like is using a sucker to catch Muskie in the fall cheating or do fish caught when your with guide count? Those serious issues? |
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Posts: 32892
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Pretty much, yeah. |
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Posts: 1249
Location: Walker, MN | I usually start by casting typical structure to see if fish show up there. If they don't I fish a little deeper on spots with good basin egress. When I'm convinced that the fish are not on or very near structure, then I troll. From what I have seen, there is no one silver bullet at any time of the year. |
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Posts: 20230
Location: oswego, il | Are there any non chlorinated pools around? I see a need for a sucker pool demo! Bring your angora buffs!
Edited by ToddM 10/27/2015 7:58 PM
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