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Location: Contrarian Island | some days you can't buy a hit or a follow...some days they are everywhere, one outing a week or 2 ago we had follows from 25 fish, in 10 hrs with 4 or 5 other hits.. some days they are simply shut down. We put in 12 hrs on lake of the woods after a cold front and saw one 38 the last half hour.... that's just musky fishing... but on avg a guy should get action from about a fish per hour on most bodies of water..again, avg. some days it can be 10 in an hour... but if the water has some clarity say 2-3 feet or more, and there is a decent population, you should be seeing more than you are....
Edited by BNelson 5/31/2018 1:52 PM
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Posts: 8716
| We went three days on Eagle and had one lazy follow to show for it. About 11:00 am on the fourth day we had a fish come in hot, but not turn with the lure on the figure 8. It just kept going. We all turned around and watched it go. Casted at it. Nothing. Over the next two hours we raised a good two dozen fish (we lost count around 20) that all did the same thing. Fish coming out of everywhere, and all of decent size. And then around 1:00 we had one come in lazy. That was the last fish we saw that day. Sometimes you think you've got them all figured out. Other times, no so much. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | we have zero control when they bite...that is 100% for sure. |
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Posts: 14
| I love follows. Raised a tank on Black the other afternoon that my cousin got to see. It was almost a reply of my last nice catch with her last season. While out yesterday afternoon I had multiple follows but only 1 was a lunge!!! I #*#* ya not....2 big walleyes nose up on my Mepps I felt them push it before I saw them....and a huge crappie....and a couple huge smallies. It was wild! Switched to small tackle and got a meal of crappies and too many rock bass lol. Follows rock, but you could be just having a dry spell bro. I even had a loon chase! |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I would take a look at your retrieve. If you slow down your retrieve as the bait nears the boat, even slightly, following Muskies will almost always turn off and you won't see them. It is best to keep the lure moving at the same speed or slightly faster as it approaches the boat. The same goes for the figure-8. The transition into the figure-8 should be smooth and not slow down.
It is way to easy to fall into the habit of slowing down the retrieve as the lure approaches the boat, It might not sound like much, but little things like that can make a huge difference in how many fish one sees and catches.
Hope this helps |
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Posts: 1636
| One good way to at least move fish when nothing else will is to slowly swim a magnum Bulldawg at a depth you can see it. Just under the surface to 6' down. Cast it out and straight retrieve it very slow... with a few changes in your retrieve to give it a little bit more "action." Can be considered a boring way to fish by some... but, I enjoy seeing the follows as the fish give up their location when they do so. This has worked well for me fishing the first major break... which is generally about 10-18' deep... as well as open water. Have not really tried it much while fishing shallow and casting at the bank unless there is a sharp drop off near or just off the shore. |
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Posts: 1636
| ...and I mean SLOW... |
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Posts: 833
| If you identify technique issues as many have identified above, then fix those first. If you are only up to 2 fish lifetime my guess is this an area worthy of your time. We all have areas in technique where we can improve.
Longer term, consider that "nothing" can teach you something almost as well as positive feedback. If you are fishing a certain type structure (say deep edge as an example) over the course of an outing and are seeing nothing, then the fish are telling you they are not there or if they are there, their mode is very negative. This means a change is likely in order.
Unless you have a pattern dialed in from recent trips, you should be mixing up the depths/structures you are fishing. If you have a partner, one should be throwing an erratic lure and one should be throwing something straight line. Once you start getting positive feed back then fine tune what you are doing. Until you get feedback you need to be fishing different structures at a variety of depths in order to identify what the active fish are doing that day.
If you have a lot of experience on your body of water, you might know of some spots that are consistent fish haunts. If this is case a tactic you can use is to fish them three or four different ways. (Deep edge, inside edge, vertical edge, confined open water or inside out, etc.) Use appropriate presentations for each area. If you get feedback, refine from there.
Good Luck out there. |
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Posts: 753
Location: Ames, Iowa | I suggest as your bait nears the boat you look away at some good looking girls on a pontoon, a jumping carp, maybe even other boats. Look back just as you complete your J turn or start your figure 8. That's when you'll get a follow. |
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Posts: 612
| Follows seem common. Whereever I fish Conesus, Chautauqua, Canada I get them. Guess it's better than not seeing any fish at all. Sometimes they follow it in and dart away in a heartbeat. Other times they come from nowhere and take a nip at it.
Edited by NPike 6/11/2018 5:44 AM
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Posts: 1828
| Reelwise - 6/5/2018 6:14 PM
...and I mean SLOW...
You can't work a mag dawg "just under the surface to 6' down" AND slow. One or the other. |
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Posts: 101
Location: Niagara on the Lake, ON | sometimes they are just lazy or curious and follow the bait in. Rarely you can coax one to follow, turn and bite with a good figure 8. But follows arent strikes and when a muskie wants to eat, chances are you will not see it coming. |
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Posts: 5129
| Reelwise - 6/5/2018 5:55 PM
One good way to at least move fish when nothing else will is to slowly swim a magnum Bulldawg at a depth you can see it. Just under the surface to 6' down. Cast it out and straight retrieve it very slow... with a few changes in your retrieve to give it a little bit more "action." Can be considered a boring way to fish by some... but, I enjoy seeing the follows as the fish give up their location when they do so. This has worked well for me fishing the first major break... which is generally about 10-18' deep... as well as open water. Have not really tried it much while fishing shallow and casting at the bank unless there is a sharp drop off near or just off the shore. It works in shallow weeds too. |
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Posts: 753
Location: Ames, Iowa | I get the most follows on Suicks. Only thing I can figure is that the bait is slower and runs a bit deeper. Then I read that speed generally works the best. |
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Posts: 246
| ToddM - 5/30/2018 6:35 PM
^this. Muskies know how to stalk. They can and do follow at a depth they cannot be seen.
Deep follows that leave you guessing if you saw something or it was a shadow. Do an eight anyways. The ones you don't see come in and slam the bait are the best ones. No time to think. Just hold on!! |
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