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| Just out of curiosity, most have had those days were the fish are going nuts, too bad it does not happen more often... What day last year stood out and what were the conditions? The day I remember that I seen the fish the most active was on Sunday during the full moon period of October.. Weather was still nice, as I was in a T-shirt after dark, strong south wind and a sunny day... We had follows everywhere, boated several fish and lost several fish.. Seemed like they kept short hitting bucktails and topwaters... Strong south winds and high blue bird days do not seem like the ideal conditions, but something turned them on.. How about all of you guys/gals??? |
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Posts: 8776
| never seen that
seriously
not sure what I would do |
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Posts: 1168
| Seen this a few times. Three times I am pretty sure it was a specific bait pattern that myself and boat partner stumbled into or thought ourselves into. One was bulging bucktails over deep water, another was strictly a bait color/water color combination, the third in my mind was due to a tactic of harrassing fish that were burrowed deep in milfoil....so they might have actually been in a neutral mode but we found something that irritated them into reaction strikes.
A couple of other instances I can't come up with anything that makes too much sense as to why it was going on. One was opening day of deer season 2005, the other was opening weekend of muskie season a few years back.
When fish are that active, you get to areas where you know big fish are or that look like they could hold a big girl. Take into consideration every little possible thing when those windows open up. Water temp changes, barometric pressure, water color, weeds, etc., etc. Some of those things above have replicated themselves to varying degrees but putting together all of those edges, (as Dick P would say), can produce a fish. |
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Posts: 2012
| I haven't seen them "go crazy" .. although I have had 4 days when I have boated 6 or more . For me these days happen when I develop a "pattern" where the majority of the fish are located. It might be post spawn and the first few islands out of the spawning bays are holding "most" of the fish or the thermocline is set-up and "most" of the fish are between 14-16 ft. ect.
My great days after I put all the pieces of the puzzle together, meaning I probably caught 1 or 2 fish each day leading into the "fish going crazy"
Justin |
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| 2 years in a row we've had multiple fish in the boat on 9-11.
I think it has more to do with water temp than the date, but 4 over 42 this year, and a 32, and a 40 last year.
Different lake each year, but the same chain. |
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Posts: 313
Location: On your favorite spot | Happened once last year. Tail end of 3 days of hard south winds with an approaching front. Couldn't believe the size and quantity of fish I found in one little spot that I had pounded for 3 days prior. It was simply amazing and changed my whole perspective on the game.
Saw a giant I had lost the day before, saw another that turned away at the boat, and had one eat at the boat that I screwed up on and think about everyday. All within about a half hour before dark off one little spot.
Edited by Marc J 2/16/2007 7:17 PM
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Posts: 1185
Location: Iowa | Wouldn't know...never had it happen...
Big Perc |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Magruter and I were on the water with TJ, and had a couple hours when the fish went totally goofy. We didn't boat one, but the action was unreal until after a storm moved through. |
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Posts: 350
Location: WESTERN WI | 2 times, both before a huge front rolls in, everything including muskies goes bonkers for `15-20 minutes, any else ever experience a feeding window so ridiculous?
Edited by Got Esox? 2/17/2007 12:09 AM
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Posts: 336
Location: Lino Lakes, MN | I was out on the water this past summer and it just felt like a great day. Light SW winds, cloudy, and minor fronts coming through all day. It just felt like a day when the fish should have been going crazy but they were not(moved one decent fish and that was all we saw). The day was winding down and the wind switched to strong gusts coming straight out of the north. We decided to head in and hit one last spot that was near the cabin. The next hour of fishing was insane....4 fish boated(upper 30's, 43, 40, 41), I hooked and lost 3 fish and my boat partner had 2 more pinned up. These fish all came from an area that was about 75 square yards. Just goes to show that anything can happen at any time. Wish I had been on the receiving end of a few fish but I was more than happy to be the netman and a witness to a feeding frenzy...and I learned to not set the hook like a Nancy. All we could do was laugh as we headed in for the night. |
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Posts: 1291
Location: Hayward, Wisconsin | Has happened to me a number of times...almost always weather related, i.e. front coming in or just passed. Most memorable was Eagle Lake in 1968. A buddy and I caught 6 in three hours and raised 11 other over 30 pounds (lost one about 45 pounds) in one weedy area about the size of a football field. We just kept going around the edge until it ended. The entire lake went nuts that morning, as we later heard other reports. One guy got a 42 and a 50 pounder in one spot in a half-hour and another got two twenties and lost a 45. THAT is what we all live for!
Muskie regards,
Larry Ramsell
www.larryramsell.com |
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Posts: 1462
Location: Davenport, IA | How about between 35 and 40 follow without catching one? A lot of them were the same fish...but there was probably 10 different fish. They would only follow gliders...but it was any glider. |
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| I've had short windows and even a full day here and there where fish were really turned on!!!!!..one very memorable window a few years ago in northern WI on a small lake CPainter and I moved something like 25 fish in a 3 hour window...many of them hit or blew up on our baits, and they were hitting mainly tail propped topwaters up shallow...I think we ended up boating 4, lost a few and had many other blow ups and follows....if he wasn't so love sick at the time he could have boated a few more right Cory!!! ..for a few hours it was nuts...I've had other brief flurries where they just turned on and were coming in or hitting on seemingly every few casts...if only it would happen more often!!  |
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Posts: 65
| I have had the pleasure of these days, 1 each of the last 2 years that really stick out because there was NO weather change or anything real special going on that we humans were aware of...
2005, mid August, water had begun cooling, had a cloudless blue sky but a pretty big SW wind. Our expectations were not very high, but hit the best spot on the lake first thing and there were at least 8+ different fish on a spot about the size of your truck and boat trailer. And they were chomping. We found fish on about every spot we pulled up to that day, not all reckless but they were up and playing. We returned to that best spot 2 other times and caught a fish during the day too! Our lasts casts that day at dark finally burned out (or whatever) that hot spot and there was nobody home.
Then, last October on the same lake that always has a great fall bite, we had dead calm wind but a nice overcast. 18 hits on about any lure you wanted to throw + the quick-strike off the back, and about a dozen other follows. I think we had 6 hits on the sucker rod alone, including one poor bastard that got nailed and re-used 3 times!!! On the best spot that day my buddy running the boat had different fish up on 4 consecutive casts- lost one, follow, caught, then follow. We caught 3 more fish from that spot later on.
MAN do those days make up some great memories!!!
Edited by Duke 2/18/2007 8:31 PM
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Posts: 129
Location: Milwaukee Wi | I have seen the craze before during a storm front and calm nights with a full moon and thunder storms i have fished them all!!!!!! |
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| It usually happens around incoming fronts, baitfish activity, or insect hatches, and it is the absolute best time to musky fish. I had it happen in IN last year with a musky following on every cast from all directions and just going wild on the surface for about 45 minutes. Earlier in the year the same thing happened in IL with muskies chasing shad on the surface and even earlier in the year in KY with muskies chasing carp shallow. It happens later in the year in WI and MN with muskies chasing spawning ciscos. I have also seen muskies totally shut down and then just turn on for some reason when the sun comes out, just the opposite of what you would generally think |
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Posts: 199
Location: Nebraska | Two years ago one evening it was getting late in the afternoon and I caught a 44", went to another spot and six casts later caught a 36", went to another spot and seven casts later caught a 37". Three boated fish on a total of 13 casts, less than 1/2 hour total counting CPR. Three distinct spots within 1/4 mile of each other.
The idiot in me decided "it's getting dark, had a good day, better go in."  |
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Posts: 723
| This fall we had 2 crazy days. one was on a sunday, I believe it was the first weekend of october, and the next was a week later on a wednesday. The first was a 13 fish day with Im thinking about 15-20 lost that day (bad hook-ups trolling) and the 2nd day was a 15 fish day with maybe 7-8 fish lost. They were two completely different days as far as weather goes.
The first was a cold start to the morning, sun came out, but we had southerly winds blowing for the past 3-4 days and it was supposed to warm up drastically that day. well, we didnt' do too much that morning, a couple in the 34-40 range, but by mid-afternoon, the sky was a little hazy, but for the most part crystal blue and it was now in T-shirt weather. The fish were almost so predictable after we got them pegged, that we were calling shots..... talk about a rush!
The 2nd day started out drizzling in the morning, on and off sprinkles but relatively calm, at most throughout the whole day we had a 5mph chop out of the west. Dark and gloomy all day. This day the fish bit from sun up to sun down, well, that is if the sun were shining, but, it wasn't a feeding window at all, they just bit every hour. We did notice a pattern that seemed to get them to go though. My lips are sealed btw.
I think the thing that really set the fish off on the 2nd day was Jomusky calling us from work and saying he'd bring the beer if he could hop in the boat, He was getting done with work early. That day will forever go down in the memory bank as a dream. Never would I have ever imagined topping our best prior to that of a 7 fish day, but to do it twice in a matter of 2 weeks was pricless.
Like I said, I couldn't put any two similarities between the two days together due to such drastically different conditions. but the fish were hammering. We just happened to be there on the right days....... |
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Posts: 434
Location: searchin for 50 | Had a couple of days like that but few and far between. I've learned yuo've got to enjoy those types of days because they don't happen that often. One I recall vividly was a 12 fish day with a bonus honest to GOD 15 lb walleye It's on display at Captain Hooks in Lake Tomahawk . Anyways It was an October day in 2002. Overcast with snow showers off and on with the wind out of N.W.. The temps were about 33or 34degrees I don't remember how many follows we had we quit counting after 45. It was just one of those days. All of our fish were caught on raiders or cisco kids along rocky shorelines . Will post pics later. I have to find them.
Edited by Raider150 2/19/2007 11:49 AM
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Posts: 434
Location: searchin for 50 | pics I Found them 
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 fgdfgxzfzxfxcvgnhgjm.JPG (113KB - 92 downloads)
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Posts: 5874
| The first Sab Bay outing. I think it was Wednesday. It was about 2 or 3 PM, a front was coming through, we were on a major moon phase, and the fish went nuts for about an hour. Several were caught off the island in about 15 minutes, we had action from several fish once we got going, and DaveJ and Theedz were running and gunning between about three spots. They had action and caught several from a bunch of fish. Others reported action in that same time frame that day as well. That was wild!
Edited by Shep 2/22/2007 2:25 PM
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | was on the water with nelson and jonesi during a moonrise and saw a line of boats with flashes from cameras going all the way down the line, ours included.
another time when a major front with all the humidity and feeling you could imagine happening at the same time as the moonrise which was amazing ...
and finally a water-warming situation on a river on an opening weekend where it was beyond nuts ... this one was quite a few years back and the numbers were sick ... just no biggies
the other one was the night of dreams as it's been described ... only this one night the dream came true with me and BigMo ... crazy, stupid site we saw that night ...
hope for some more of those this year
Edited by jonnysled 2/22/2007 2:28 PM
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Posts: 382
| Raider,
Now thats a walleye! How long was that beauty? |
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Posts: 434
Location: searchin for 50 | 32 1/2"Long by21" girth |
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| That's a nicer eye for sure...WOW! |
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | I agree with Larry: "almost always weather related" and I'll add "stable" weather conditions. The fish can be moving for a day or days and if the weather remains constant we have seen where they remain very active in the same area for even weeks at a time.
The "moon" thing is WAY over rated, the only thing the moon dose is bring out more fishermen, ha,ha.
Right now it's the browns, it's like fishin from a barrel, 50-100 fish days every day!
If you get a good pike lake,, it can be nuts! Best days are in the summer, cold blooded= more activity. 63 fish/1 day (2 rods)
Bass: 69, 16"-22" (2 guys) 11/2days, Same day a contest weighed in only 3 fish over 18", should of entered that one
Walleyes: 43 over all, 26 in 26 casts. (1 guy)
The "moon" thing is WAY over rated, the only thing the moon dose is bring out more fishermen. oh I already said that, You guys just love that moon thing....
We have had some good muskie days as well, 20+ muskies from a couple different places (not from webster or St Clair, too easy) The kids and I did well on Kinkaid, 96 in 3 weekends. (2 rods)
Jerry Borst
Spoonplugger/Instructor |
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| My two brothers, Myself, and our guide were out on January 2 or 3 of this year in Indiana and ended up with 18 in the boat and like 8 or 10 short stirkes and 2 lost boatside. The best part was that it was my middle brothers first time muskie fishing and he had 8 total and the biggest of the day a fat 41 1/2". My llittle brother and I went out the next day and took a good friend who has been muskie fishing few times with us but never had any luck and he ended up with his first muskie and we had 8 total for the day and 2 or 3 more lost. I think my middle brother is spoiled forever after his first day ending with 8 muskies. Those are the type of days that you never forget. |
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| Vilas county, right before a storm. Milfoil lake. The lighting was perfect for seeing the weed edges. 45 minutes, 12 strikes on everything from bucktails to Suicks to topwaters. Total fish landed-0. Every hooked fish ran right into the milfoil, but it was the craziest 45 minutes that I ever spent on the water. |
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Posts: 256
Location: Janesville | That day raider 150 is talking about was the week after the full moon and the fish were going nuts of the 12 muskys we boated we lost over that. The fish were hitting on fugure 8s and the faster you moved the bait the more fish you seen and caught. Water tenp were cold 35 degrees.It was a great day to fish in the fall. That walleye wieght was 15pounds 4 ozs and was wieghted when we returned to Wisconsin. The mount is in Captian hooks in lake tomahawk Wisconsin and was done by Fittante I hade a 360 degree mount done and is alsome looking. 32.5 inches 21 inch girth
Edited by magnum 2/23/2007 10:02 AM
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Posts: 23
| these posts are great, all of which a rookie can dream of! don |
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