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| I've had the oportunity this year to be on the water fishing just about every day since the first of May. I started out early with walleyes, and now am primarilly looking for muskies.
I cast crankbaits in the shallows every chance I can even for walleyes. It's my overall favorite presentation. And now that I'm using surface baits a lot for muskies, I've noticed something.
Here at the west end of Lake Superior where the St Louis River empies into it, we have a lot of different types of fish eating birds. Seagulls, Turns, and Commerants, not to mention Eagles and a few other birds of prey that take fish when ever they can.
I've seen all of these birds swoop down on my shallow running crank baits and surface lures, but never has a bird picked one up. They seem to look at it and just fly away. So, if our crank baits are supposed to immitate some type of baitfish or other food a fish might eat, how come the birds won't take them, but the fish will? |
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| Terry,
This is more for some of the other guys on the board (they know who they are), but why do we care! Muskies eat surface baits and that is all we need to know to catch them. [:bigsmile:]
More serious to your question. From what I understand about most of those types of birds, they have very good eyesight. My suspicion would be that they can visually tell that the thing is not food. Same reason a seagull will swoop down on a french fry in a McDonald's parking lot faster than a fisherman swatting a horse fly, yet they don't swoop down to grab a rusty bolt laying there as well. Just my thoughts, I could be wrong!
[;)] |
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| Ever look into the eye of a bait...they just give you a blank stare back...which is why I recently invented the "Roving Eye Bait" line of surface lures! When a predator is spotted, a tiny device w/in the baits eye triggers a rolling wild eyed movement designed to fool even the most wary creature!!! Just kidding...kinda...actually Joel is correct--their eye sight is VERY keen + at a pretty good distance too. 2 yrs. ago I did hook a young Laughing Gull in the foot on a local lake here that swooped down on a shad Storm Thunderstick while rockfishing; had them come close but first time I ever nailed one,+ they put on quite an arial display too I might add. We got him unhooked ok + hopefully he learned a lesson! One thing they can't tell the difference between is a piece of Wonderbread + a piece of Alka Seltzer...never did it personally but know a few who have in the past....[:0] [:sun:] |
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| Maybe ocean-habitating seagulls are different from freshwater, but here in Oregon I've had gulls and terns take trolled coho flies while the flies were in the air between wave tops. This is off the mouth of the Columbia. These streamer flies (about 4-5 inches long) usually have painted eyes and a lot of flashy mylar strips and are meant to imitate anchovies (tho God knows what the salmon think they are -- maybe candlefish, which they eat a lot of and which are aptly named, with big banjo eyes--really goofy looking). I let the seagulls go but wring the terns' necks (locally referred to as "twist and release")-- they eat an estimated 2 million salmon smolt a year in the Columbia estuary because they can crash-dive like a pelican, while a gull makes a mess of it. It's kinda like using a topwater for muskies: sometimes you can see the water hump up over the backs of the coho as they chase the flies (we troll at just under 5mph) and then CRASH. Because they're hooked so close to the surface, the fish are usually airbone instantly and they stay up near the top while they race around in a half-circle. Flyrods, of course, with a 12-pd tippet -- and plenty still break off. Smoking palms! But once the salmon enter fresh water they don't want much of anything except sex and the flyrods are put away for another year. Save me an esox, hear![:praise:] |
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Sponger, Any progress on this lure?? I am headed for the Cave, and was wondering if you could send me a prototype.  |
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Posts: 285
| My favorite lure imitates a small chunk of wood (9 inches).
I think the mosdt important thing is how the lure moves around.
IMHO muskies strike at the movement more than what the lure looks like.
Size matters, but not too much if the thing is within the reaction strike range, or if a muskie is enticed by a particular motion as in a figure 8.
Semper Fi,
Papa Joe |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | I hooked a gull casting spoons off a pier for salmon. The gull swooped at the spoon, figured out it was not food and veered off. Unfortunatly for the gull it cut under my line so the line went across its back and brought my spoon straight up to it and into its wing with a treble. I fought it bravely for a while, the crowd had a few good laughs, and then the mighty gull shook the hook. Like muskies.. the thrill is in the battle. This lucky gull lived to fight another day. |
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| As a matter of fact Stever, I have added a voice box to the bait; this is activated by a reeling action, and mimics the moanful pleas of a wounded baitfish begging for mercy; this pitiful cry sounds much like a person screaming for help under water, and the bubbley muted notes are heart rending. This bait is not for the faint hearted, but is a for sure fish catcher! ask for yours at the desk of the Discomfort Inn... |
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