Musky Structure

[roma0301]

Mr. Dahlberg:

I was thinking with all you know about fishing for muskies maybe you can help me. In the last three years I have caught 5-8 muskies each year. I make it to the lake to fish for muskies 30-35 times a year. I would like to increase my catch rate from 5-8 to 10-15+. I emailed a guide that I met last year to get his thoughts on this subject and this was his response: "Learning how to run spots effectively is THE most single thing to putting more fish in the boat. Leaning exactly where and how the structure is underwater is something that must be understood." I usually position the boat 20-30 yards off the structure and fish it in both directions. Sometimes I will move up close and cast on top of the structure but I have not had good luck with that. I try fish around the moon phases and peak times, and it sometimes makes a difference. I was wondering what is the best way to work structure effectively for muskies? Also does the weather affect how you work structure?

Thank you for your time

Matt

[TonyS]

Weather,wind and moon phases all affect how you fish for muskies in general. You need to cast from different angles. Use different approaches to them.
Even when you fish structure. Your best tool is get some sort of fish finder/gps and focus on the underwater structure as well as the structure you can see.

I hope this helps,im not a pro by any means.

[Collin]

Sacrificing a beer to the Musky gods never hurts either haha. But if you drop the can/bottle into the water, you might as well just pack up and head home.
C
P.S. They don't like Bud Light.

[roma0301]

With my Hummingbird Locator with a lakemaster chip I don't have a problem finding structure. Your guys best thoughts are cast at different angles and dump beer in the lake. Thanks, but I will drink that beer and keep casting. I was looking for specific ideas NOT "Use different approaches to them".

[flyfishing1]

One thing I do when I fish for any kind of ambush predator is fish the shady side of cover/structure first. Those fish don't want to be seen and it is easier to hide in a shadow. I've been doing this for a while now it holds true most of the time.
Of coarse switching up lure style and presentation till you find what they will hit. In spring most fish including musky are into a little smaller natural lures. Summer is a good time to get your topwaters out. Fall is big lure time and goes into live bait when it gets colder. Not to say any of these methods will not catch fish at different times of year but there are reasons for the selection that I don't think I have enough room to type.
Also try the whole water colomn top to bottom. Fish can be suspending over or just off cover/structure if that is where the food is. If the water is still cold they could be holding over a dark bottom in the sun or in weeds that will heat up the water quickly. Are fish moving to or from spawing areas? There really are so many variables I doubt I could even remember them all but I hope this helps.

[TonyS]

flyfishing1 wrote:
> One thing I do when I fish for any kind of ambush predator is fish the
> shady side of cover/structure first. Those fish don't want to be seen and
> it is easier to hide in a shadow. I've been doing this for a while now it
> holds true most of the time.
I agree with you very much on fishing the shady parts. Normally the waters a few degrees cooler than in the sunny side,a few degrees is big to a musky.

[dahlberg]

Hi Roma
It's hard for me to determine what to tell you since I can't observe you in action.
I suspect it's not as much a how you are working a structure as it is how you are working your lures or perhaps the structure you are choosing to fish.
First define the structure. Where does it begin, and where does it end. Second where is the best cover on the structure.
Third, there are few if any fixed rules, the fish are where they are, not where you wish them to be.
The key is having an efficient and non-superstitious approach, plus keeping careful mental track of what's going on around you.
Develop, and rely on your instincts. I have been catching muskies since I was 9 years old. I caught a dozen that year. In the early seventies while working 72 hours per week and only fishing on weekends I averaged 1.75 legal fish per day.
My best day ever was 18 legals. Why am I telling you that? Because even with 50+ years and thousands of fish under my belt I cannot think of one absolute guideline when it comes to muskies, other than the fish are where the fish are where the fish are where the fish are...
They are always in the very good place to find dinner, and often it's more effective to visually find the buffet before you start winging lures. On some bodies of water you might find muskies sunning on top of a rock pile or on sand in the middle of July. In other places they might be tucked in tight under a bed of weeds.
As an angler the challenge and fun is developing your mechanical, strategic and tactical skills in such a way you can fish with confidence anywhere you go.
In most bodies of water, the prime lies hold the most and biggest fish. BUt, just because they see a lure does not mean they are going to bite it, especially in hard fished water.
As a guide I learned early on that you have to check everything and became pretty good at instinctively knowing where
they "had to be". Over the years it's become very clear to me that if you can toss them something they've not seen and make it react as though it is afraid of being eaten it is likely to get eaten. I've also learned that if rigged properly and presented in the right way that regardless of time of year there is simply no substitute for good live bait. About 10-12 years back, beginning the week after opener and ending sometime in October I experimented with live bait and saltwater rigging methods.
I fished a total of 13 times, many of them half days, and boated 48 muskies, a half dozen of which were over 50" and none were under 40" and all out of water that's heavily fished.
Learning to catch muskies or any other species consistently is not like learning a song off a piece of sheet music. It's more like jamming to a chord progression being played by the Orchestra of Nature! You gotta listen closely, know your chops and get in the groove!
Cast farther, reel faster, and get up earlier!
best
L

[nate_r21]

Great info Larry! I've got a couple follow up questions from your post and what I heard from you at the musky road rules back in January. I'm just starting to understand these muskies little by little over the last 3 seasons!

Good tip on finding the buffet, other experienced anglers have mentioned that as well to find the best structure hold the most bait.

You talk about fishing pressured lakes. One of the three lakes that I fish on a regular basis gets hit hard. I got three fish out of there last year, which I thought was good since it is tough to even see fish sometimes. For example, multiple trips last summer to this lake produced no follows fishing with a knowledgeable angler. Stable weather, mid/late summer. They weren't shallow on the structure or off the edge. Mostly fishing evening/night. I could go to another lake, farther away, and I would see a handful of fish in that time and have a shot at catching one. So what would you say to do when fish are tough to come by on a lake like this. Yeah I know drive to the other lake but with the price of gas going up it might not be so easy. You also mentioned at the road rules, which might help, that you use 4 triggering spots in your retrieve that helps your odds. Could you possibly explain? I never got a chance to ask you at the road rules.

You also mention using live bait all summer. I love sucker fishing but always heard that suckers die in the warm water in the summer so I don't use them until mid Oct usually. How did the suckers do for you and do you have any tips for keeping them lively this time of year? Maybe smaller 10" suckers do better?

Thanks,

Nate

[box]

Even weighing in on this after Larry has said his piece is stupid because any time I catch myself thinking that I'm "figuring muskies out" I am quickly reminded by a tough outing that I don't know much yet. With that said, I've found that on heavily fished waters, the water around prime structure can often be good. You asked about specific suggestions - I would say that if you fish a lake with a decent population 30-35 times a year and get 5-8 fish there is room to increase your catch rate. Have you ever gone to your main structure and positioned the boat off the edge and tossed to the deep side, cranked up the outboard and trolled around it 5-10 times, increasing your speed a 1 per hour each pass - while also changing baits? I don't know "what works" and I try to absorb general techniques that I'd read about or seen on shows but I can say that some of the best multiple fish days I've experienced are also days that I got out of a rut and tried something different. The best examply would be a classic satined lake near my home that turns ugle green lake in the year. This is "not a night lake" - everyone knows it so no one fishes it at night (apparently all the fish have decided that years and years of instincts don't apply to them) - everyone also knows that the only place to catch fish on this lake is to pound shallow weed flats becuase that's where the bait is. I'm not sure what caused me to do so but two summers ago I chose this non-night dirty lake over a known "good night lake" that HAD been producing. Instead of heading to the known structure spots I trolled open water between main lake structure scanning the graph for baitfish, dropping waypoints anywhere I saw bunches of fish with big hooks mixed in. I didn't wet a line until I was fairly confident that I had locate the buffet Larry speaks of above. I then worked back and forth through it, fast and slow - high and low - blades and cranks. Ended up with 6 or 8 fish in 3 nights. The point isn't to make myself feel smart or look good but more to the point that doing the same thing that hasn't produced well will continue to not produce well - sort of like the definition of insanity.

Sorry for rambling but because muskies are a low density fish relative to panfish or bass, I often think that fishing our memories can often put us into a rut instead of reacting to what is happening on that day on that body of water.

The only other observation I'd offer is that too often I don't try anything new until the regular stuff has proven ineffective - kind of not fair to only try a new bait, spot, or presentation when everything else fails. I'd challenge you to try a new bait or approach when you are seeing fish. If the measure of success is follows and strikes perhaps your success would go from 5 follows and 2 strikes to 10 follows and 5 strikes by offering a different bait at a different speed.

My final thought would be that while visually appealing I don't get two excited about follows. One way to look at it would be to consider follows as a chance to catch fish, I almost look at it like "they made it all the way to the boat without eating - I failed to give them the trigger to eat."

Sorry for rambling but you asked...