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Location: Contrarian Island | Why has this year been so bad ? My network has some good fishermen in it, all are having a bad year for fish, and big fish ... what gives? late spring? funky weather?
it's not just one area...all over... look at the big fish entries on here... way down... |
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Posts: 32901
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I don't think some anglers are adjusting to the weather pattern being light years from what we have had for the last 10 years. I'm having a great year so far. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | great year in what way? ie. do you have more over 45" per hour on water than past years..? to me it comes down to hours on water.. if you say you have 2 x as many big fish as you did last year but 2 x the hours to do it well then it's even and really no better...
Edited by BNelson 8/29/2014 9:18 AM
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Posts: 335
Location: Minnesota | I blame it on the massive amounts of baitfish in the waters I fish regularly. The fish are well fed. They are very healthy looking and don't need to go looking for food.
There are some areas that the schools of perch are absolutely massive and I don't think we have had a cisco die-off in about 6 years now.
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Posts: 1039
Location: North St. Paul, MN | Great topic.
I'm curious Steve, what adjustments have you made to the cooler summer that many other anglers are not?
I've had a good summer so far. Same amount of hours, actually a few less, but 6 more in the boat than all of last year. Still have Sept, Oct, and Nov. to go. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | This year has been a lot like last year. Don’t contact a ton of fish, but when we do they are usually bigger than “normal” years. I have always had a hard time keeping fish pinned, but this year has been even worse for me. If I could keep them pinned I would be having a good year for some big fish. Case in point for the NCMO tournament I lost a solid fish due to my split ring ripping off the bait!  How the heck does that happen!?
I don’t mind years like last year and this year. The fish are much heavier than “normal” years, and am contacting some good fish.
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Posts: 114
Location: Kingston, Ontario | I would say the frequency of the cold fronts this year has been the biggest problem. Every 2 days a front has being moving through pushing the fish deeper and slowing them down. There has been very few times where you get even 4 days of stable weather to get the fish going. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | if one more person tells me about all the fish they have lost!!! ugh!  we all lose fish, we've lost plenty this year in my boat up to 50"+ but lost fish happen every year imo.. so is your fish per hour in the net better this year Travis and for the hours do you have more over 45" in the net? or is it worse... this year sucks for most I know
i agree, too many cold fronts etc.. wacky weather
Edited by BNelson 8/29/2014 9:44 AM
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Posts: 548
Location: MN | sworrall - 8/29/2014 9:14 AM
I don't think some anglers are adjusting to the weather pattern being light years from what we have had for the last 10 years. I'm having a great year so far.
Steve are you making the adjustment to crappies? lol |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | what is the highest water temp. folks have registered this year, also water levels?
i've been primarily smb and lmb fishing and it's a better year than normal and i'd attribute that to the stable and relatively lower water temps.. fish are using structure and it's a matter of which side and which depth they are so sometimes you have to search the presentation, but finding fish is almost a no-brainer vs. other years where they headed to deeper water and main lake humps.
could it be that bait migration "differences" if the theory is true has it more concentrated therefore easier to find for muskies? |
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Posts: 202
Location: Angola, IN | I know one guide with record numbers of big fish (48"+) this year....... |
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Posts: 374
Location: Bemidji | I think sled hit the nail on the head. Water temps have been stagnant since the first week of July in the area that I fish (71-72.5). I think that many fish never made the traditional migration to shallow water. This year reminds me of 2009. Huge fish but not the numbers. I have more 50in fish per fish caught than ever (15 so far). It seems like it has been either feast or famine this year. 3-4 really good days and then 2-3 days of horrible fishing. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Brad, yes everyone loses fish and we all have stories. It's all I got as when you get out for 2-3 hour stints, and blow a big one due to short feeding windows it's all a guy has to go on. I don’t get out often anymore, but when I do I feel like I am contacting more big fish than normal. I don’t know for sure as I am not anal about keeping track of my hours fished, nor log catches anymore. Nothing wrong with doing that mind you, but I just have no interest in it. Anyway for the little time I now spend on the water I feel I am contacting larger fish much more frequently versus when I had a ton more time on the water. Maybe it’s just a matter of the lakes I fish, and that the dynamics on those lakes have changed a bit. One lake in particular it is odd to contact fish under 40” anymore whereas it was the norm to catch sub 40’s in the past there and once in a while contact one over 40”.
Lots of guys still having respectable years. I agree with Steve in the adjusting to the weather. I think those that got relaxed in throwing the big blades and rubber are perhaps struggling the most, but I could be wrong.
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Posts: 108
| If I don't count LOTW my biggest fish of the year is still from WI in May!!!! For the guys who only get out a few hours here and there the MN bite has been tough!! Very short windows again due to various weather and water conditions. The guys I know that are putting up decent numbers are on the water for 10 hrs a day and are hitting the feeding windows to knock out a fish or two. I have not been on the water yet this season where the fish just bit all day long and you could string a pattern together to pound out 5 or more fish. Good news is September is a few days away and that will make things more consistent.
Good topic!
Brett Waldera |
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Posts: 40
| I agree w/ brmusky. The BOW I call home is very low density and packed full of baitfish. It wasn't always this way, but I'm pretty confident the crazy floods we've experienced over the last 5 or 6 years have had a huge impact on the tiger #s and didn't effect their primary baitfish hardly at all, if any.
What has helped me is reading over recent fish shocking surveys and seeing what baitfish I feel the tigers primarily target are showing up the most, then finding areas where those baitfish are most often found. Seems simple, but it's a bit tougher than it sounds, since I haven't been able to spot these fish (suckers) by eye very often and it's pretty difficult to differentiate specific baitfish (suckers from bass, gills and crappie) with electronics. Some of the traditional structure that used to produce fish and be my A spots have basically turned into dead musky water and big bass havens the last couple of years.
That said, I've changed my game plan and am using baits that target deeper fish that I think are most often in a neutral to negative mood. Like BR said, I just feel these fish have all the forage they need and very little competition for it. Don't get me wrong, I'm still fishing shallow an awful lot, but I'm fishing much lower in shallow water than I have in the past, as I feel the primary baitfish really hugs the bottom on this lake. Finding baits that are the best tools to trigger fish in these spots has been a bit of a chore, but slow rolling Pearson's Grinders throughout the thick stuff has been one of my best producers.
Bucktails still catch some fish, but it seems like I'm wasting my time unless conditions are prime. Moon, weather, & very little boat pressure are keys. Also, mixing it up with bucktails by changing speeds, adding jerks, changing directions has helped IMO. The trolling bite has changed in basically the same way, too. I still keep track of water temps in the various areas of the water column, but I catch more fish targeting fish lower than usual and it seems targeting specific water temps at certain times of the year has taken a back seat. This lake has basically done a 180 from the patterns that worked the best in the past.
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Posts: 32901
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I am still fishing mid June patterns on the water near me. Downsized the presentations from last couple years for Pike and Muskies, and upsizing for pannies and bass, and I'm fishing shallower/more cover/more wood/more shallow rock (depending on the water fished) than I have in late summer in years. I think the Fall of 2014 may be our best Fall in a decade.
This pattern is one I saw quite a bit when I was guiding full time years ago. Water temps not getting past the 70's surface, and down 5' in the high 60's. All the species of fish I like to target are on a WAY different pattern than I have seen during the hotter Summers of the last few years. Surface temps after one cool night can be 69 to 70 or less on many of the lakes I am fishing.
The LM Bass fishing has been crazy good if you like chasing them on the 'shallower' edges, meaning I'm not fishing the big girls on the deep sandgrass/sand edges like last year. To an angler who likes to pitch creatures, that is indicative of where the muskies may be as well.
Any place you find Vallisneria Americana on the sand/marl flats relatively shallow, where that meets another good edge has been amazing this year for all species I target. I found Muskies (in surprising numbers) on Vermilion last week with the Aqua-Vu in 5' snugged down on the bottom in that stuff, mixed in with big crappies, gills, and bass. I DID have to adjust where I normally fish big crappies this Summer, and a huge adjustment was necessary to avoid catching nothing but tiny crappies and gills. It's been very, very good fishing, too.
Walleyes like the stuff too. Used to be a great pattern on Pelican when mid column water temps were high 60's to low 70's all Summer. It's worked for me so far. |
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Posts: 61
| 75*-78* water on central MN lake I've fished. It's been terrible, but I haven't adjusted much from last years patterns also. Only been able to fish 3-4 hours at a crack. Out of 5-6 guys I've talked to on the water they're not doing much better than myself.
St.clair is a different animal in my eyes. Us "normal" musky folk will never see the 10-20+ fish days the guides all post up about.
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Location: Contrarian Island | LSC doesn't count |
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Posts: 576
Location: Elk Grove Village, IL & Phillips, WI | Ditto on the bigger, heavier than usual fish this year. Also still fishing June patterns and still paying off! |
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | I am with Steve on the LM bass bite. I always seem to find it and have extremely great success year in and year out. But this year is just a little different then previous years. The bass where I fish are absolutely on fire right now. Hard to give up a bite like that when you are catching on almost every cast.
That being said My musky season has been flat out awful. No fish/ lost fish. I don;'t even think I had a follow on blades until two weeks ago.
I plan to stay on the bass until the bite dies. Then I'll go hardcore again |
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Posts: 750
Location: Minneapolis, MN | Not to be ignorant, clearly I am, as this is only my 2nd year musky fishing, and 3rd year fishing regularly, can someone describe a June pattern? I assume it means smaller baits? |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Been seeing and hearing much of the same. I'm still learning new waters yet and been fishing bass and pike a lot too.
Trying Beers this weekend with the old man. It's nice being on true musky water again. |
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Posts: 221
| I swear last year we'd at least get 2-5 follows a day, and this year we have been lucky to get one during a 10+ hour day. The fish we have pulled in have been really fat and healthy, so I think there is something to that "too much baitfish" reasoning. I also haven't messed around with the night bite this year, which has been good to me in the past. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | on avg I think the night bite has been worse....look how few night pics we are seeing ... |
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Posts: 158
| I am surprised this hear this season has been tough for so many. It's not the first I've heard about it, I am just surprised because I am having my most consistent year I've ever had. I may be close to last year's total number of fish caught. I have made some major adjustments due to AIS on our local pond. Basically, I'm working deeper and slower than ever before and by my standard, doing very well. Best of luck to everyone this fall, hopefully it gets epic.
TB |
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Posts: 441
| I agree with Kevin Cochran,
A couple of good days, mixed with a few bad days.
I think you have to be out there everyday, to take advantage of the very short windows. I'm not seeing the numbers of fish. I've been seeing a couple of fish, on average, a day.
Last year, totally sucked for me. Low numbers and total size.
This year has been my best for numbers, and size.
It didn't start to pick up for me until late July. This month has been good. |
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Posts: 20231
Location: oswego, il | Depends on where you are from. For me, I am 1 fish shy of tying my best year ever. I should surpass that by this weekend. Living south and a mild summer gives fibs a long season to work with. Most of these fish I have caught at a time when I can't fish down here. People are finding hot bites and doing very well in the flatland.
Edited by ToddM 8/29/2014 12:17 PM
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Posts: 374
Location: Bemidji | Night bite? What night bite. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | ToddM, from your post I would assume you have more hours in this season from the sheer fact you have been able to fish more in IL??? So...again, how is your fish per hour? as that is what matters really...simply putting more hours in to catch more doesn't tell the story....I think the temp ranges in IL have been where WI/MN 'usually' are for the season so that explains a bit about why IL is having a good bite imo
Edited by BNelson 8/29/2014 12:25 PM
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Posts: 999
| Steve, just wondering why do you foresee this fall being the best in a decade? I hope your right because last fall was terrible, the sucker bite was very very slow in our neck of the woods in Vilas. Nothing like other years. |
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