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Posts: 247
Location: Uxbridge Ontario | I have always been what I will call, a deep water muskie fisherman. By deep water, mean 8-20 feet. I have never caught a muskie much outside this this depth range other than incidental while flipping for bass.
I find that a lot of articles seem to focus on shallow sitting muskie on or near the shore on rock/ week combo structures right tight to shore. My question is, how do you typically fish these area? I read how glide baits and double 10s are often the lures of choice, but do muskie spook off when you drop a 10" bait on their head like a bass will? I have always wondered if I were to land a huge splash, would I just kill the spot or would it potentially trigger a strike? Are you throwing short finesse light cast in to make no noise? Do you throw it as tight to the bank as possible, or horizontal to the bank?
I will be fishing an area with extremely deep trenched areas where close to shore structure is a key element of the areas and would like to have a little better game plan and presentation option at my disposal. I have fished this area several times, but I have never done as good on what I will call amazing looking spot as I have on mid-lake reefs saddle areas. I just cant help but think that I am missing something or not presenting a pattern for success. |
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Posts: 426
Location: Perryville, MO | You'll likely get some helpful information from far better sticks than me, but I fish alot of shallow water and I never worry about "spooking" muskies with my bait. Boat position might spook them, but not lures. As the top predator, muskies aren't too concerned about a 10" bait splashing down out of no where the way bass are.
Both bucktails and glides will work, as will just about everything else in your box. I like spinnerbaits in shallow water, but come to think of it I like spinnerbaits on deep weed edges too and just about everywhere else minus covering the abyss. Cranks often work well in shallow water where you can knock them against structure. Some guys will throw big rubber up shallow, but I tend to reserve dawgs and the like for working deep breaklines.
Anyway, you'll get some more insight from guys with more experience, what I can offer is that you have really very little concern of "spooking" shallow water fish with lures. The splash just gives them reason to check out the possibility of a meal close by from my experience. |
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Posts: 200
Location: Minnesota | I'm far from an expert, but I've had muskies explode on topwaters the instant they hit the water. I've even had one that I'm pretty sure came up out of the water to try to hit my Jackpot before it even landed!
I don't think you don't have to worry about spooking them. |
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Posts: 582
| i like to wing crankbaits close to shore. When they hit i give them a tug (3x) before reeling in. kind of that wounded fish action. Its easy to do and you don't get snagged like you can with bucktails. |
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Posts: 323
| jackson - 8/15/2011 3:09 PM
i like to wing crankbaits close to shore. When they hit i give them a tug (3x) before reeling in. kind of that wounded fish action. Its easy to do and you don't get snagged like you can with bucktails.
how do you get less snags in shallow water with a crankbait over a bucktail? |
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Posts: 216
Location: Belleville, WI | MuskyLureFreak - 8/15/2011 4:43 PM jackson - 8/15/2011 3:09 PM i like to wing crankbaits close to shore. When they hit i give them a tug (3x) before reeling in. kind of that wounded fish action. Its easy to do and you don't get snagged like you can with bucktails. how do you get less snags in shallow water with a crankbait over a bucktail? The lip shields the hooks.
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Posts: 323
| lardonastick - 8/15/2011 6:07 PM
MuskyLureFreak - 8/15/2011 4:43 PM jackson - 8/15/2011 3:09 PM i like to wing crankbaits close to shore. When they hit i give them a tug (3x) before reeling in. kind of that wounded fish action. Its easy to do and you don't get snagged like you can with bucktails. how do you get less snags in shallow water with a crankbait over a bucktail? The lip shields the hooks.
your joking right? |
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| No he's not joking. Try a Shallow Invader. If it sticks on a rock (which it probably won't due to the lip) give it line and it will float right off it and be free itself from
the snag.
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Posts: 323
| Der Vasservolf - 8/15/2011 6:47 PM
No he's not joking. Try a Shallow Invader. If it sticks on a rock (which it probably won't due to the lip) give it line and it will float right off it and be free itself from
the snag.
i have about 10 of them. in fact a firetiger shallow invader was the first musky lure i ever bought. i understand bouncing off rocks and timber that's just common sense but what about weeds? |
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Posts: 1316
Location: Lebanon,Mo | Plus the advantage of a crankbait floating and the bucktail not... |
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Posts: 247
Location: Uxbridge Ontario | Thanks for the info.
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | Crane Baits twitched several times, cranked a couple reel turns, twitched again. Work out to the weed edge that way. Frequent pauses and hold on to your hat. Keep your rod tip high till out of the weeds.
Edited by rpieske 8/17/2011 8:12 PM
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Posts: 324
Location: Waukee, IA | I fish a lot of water that is less than 5' deep, mostly rock reefs and shorelines and glide/twitch baits are excellent choices, as are more subtle surface baits. I don't like to get TOO noisy when up shallow as I don't think the fish "need" to have that attraction. Quieter prop baits or WTD baits like the jackpot and weagle have been very good to me.
I also slow down quite a bit with the presentation to help with the enticing...especially on the twitch baits like mantas, turmoil x, and warlocks.  |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | Suicks are great in shallow water. Start out with a few hard twitches to make the lure walk back and forth almost in place on the surface. Wait, do it again, wait and then start working it back under water. Suicks are great for depth control. |
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Posts: 910
Location: South-Central VA | I mainly fish small rivers here in Central PA. Obviously, most of the fish are set up in big eddys. When I fish them, I cast as close to the bank as possible, usually 3-5'. About 1/2 of my fish come right off the bank (within 5' of the bank) and the other half from the middle of the eddy somewhere. I like to throw crankbaits 90% of the time. In shallow water, I either build them to run 1-2' deep or build them with a big, square lip so that they deflect better off of cover.
jeremy |
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| Start with floating lures or spinnerbaits--until you get some practice with precision casting. After you build up confidence, you can switch over to bucktails. Synchronizing is an absolute must with bucktails in shallow water.
Brian
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Posts: 247
Location: Uxbridge Ontario | Brian - 8/18/2011 1:40 AM
Start with floating lures or spinnerbaits--until you get some practice with precision casting. After you build up confidence, you can switch over to bucktails. Synchronizing is an absolute must with bucktails in shallow water.
Brian
Synchronizing? I am assuming you mean picking your spots and threading the needle so to speak, through the weed clumps.
I have no problems with accuracy. I'm a bit of a season bass tourny fisherman... although my passion is muskies.
Great info so far guys.
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Posts: 1146
| HomeTime - 8/19/2011 6:49 AM
Synchronizing? I am assuming you mean picking your spots and threading the needle so to speak, through the weed clumps.
Pretty sure he is just referring to the blades spinning as soon as the lure hits the water. Which I would agree, is especially important in shallow water. |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I fish shallow most of the time. My best shallow bait, by far, is a small skirted CJs spinner bait. We have put dozens of Muskies in the net with them. They are only $10.49 and can take a beating. They are also very affective for Northerns and large Bass. We have also caught Walleyes in the 28-30 inch class with them. It usually helps to add a plastic grub for a trailer. Here is a link:
http://www.thornebros.com/muskie/baits/spinnerbaits/spinnerbaits_cj...
Edited by Herb_b 8/19/2011 9:33 AM
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Posts: 1245
Location: Madtown, WI | Both of the 50 inch plus fish I hooked in Wi were both sitting in less than 1 foot of water on a gin clear body of water... both times it was prime conditions... both times they came out on topraiders, and then follow up cast got them to eat a double 10. baits actually seemed to have landed right on them as they popped right up behind them.... so it didn't seem to spook them up shallow. Have had similar results on canadian shield water as well.
good luck.
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| Waiting out a terrible t-storm on shores of georgian bay right now. I never fish much along shorelines, but have experienced the same things the guys have said already when fishing other types of spots, right on the crowns/high spots of shoals etc. If a fish is in there the first turn of the handle and they're all over it, no matter what type of lure it is. I think a fish along a shoreline is accustomed to stuff falling into the water and their first reaction is to charge over and get it. Good luck. |
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