Tricks To Finding And Catching Muskies Off Deep Hard Bottom Areas.
The shoreline rock wall was no more than 10 feet from my rod tip as I gingerly let out line for the first trolling pass of this frigid morning. Stripping the line off in two-foot increments, from the reel to the first guide, enabled me to quickly duplicate what had already worked on the previous day. At thirty strips, or 60 feet, I engaged the reel and waited to feel the tell-taled rod tip rhythm of my straight model DepthRaider.
It didn't take long for my musky rod to vibrate tenaciously to the crankbait's strong wobble, nor did it take long for it to begin ticking some occasional high rocks along the irregular rocky ledge. With both hands gripped firmly at the reel seat, I intently watched the rod tip bounce as the DepthRaider's diving lip careened off various sized rocks. As the lure cleared the "high spot", its standard wobble/rhythm returned, and I habitually ripped the rod forward in order to clear any debris that might have collected on the diving lip, and hopefully trigger a strike from any "follower".
A tiny mist of ice crystals and snow dust exploded off the rod as I performed the violent "rip", reminding us both that it was indeed "icy cold" out. This sudden rip action created some momentary slack line, as well as a brief rise in the lure. And then, it all happened in a flash ---- the line became taut, the lure resumed its wobble, and BOOM, a solid strike occurred!
The fish immediately moved up and outward crossing right overtop Tom's line. As Tom realized what was happening he began to "speed reel"; his lure so it would be out of the way for the ensuing battle, when BAM! Now he had one on, as well. Tom continued to turn the boat out over open water as we both locked up in battle. His fish was close and smaller, and in short order, a 37 incher was in the net. Mine wasn't nearly as cooperative. Tom unhooked, measured and released his 'lunge while I continued to fight a still unidentified musky. Finally, after a few more deep-sounding runs, the brute appeared for the first time. Several head thrashes later, the fat 46 incher was being held for a few quick photos, before joining its compadre'.
By the day's end, Tom and I had added four more muskies to our first ever muskies/music TV production of Musky Thrashin' Video. This is just one example of the exciting possibilities that can exist when you troll and cast hard bottom breaks for late fall muskies. Inside this article, we'll take a look at the nitty gritty of this dynamite fall method.
ROCKY HIDEOUTS
Fall muskies really have an affinity for rocks, boulders, and hard bottom in general. Why this is, for sure, I don't know, but they most certainly do. While weeds, wood, and even silty bottoms can hold their share of fall muskies, nothing is as consistent as hard bottom, once the water gets cold.
This strong gravitation towards hard bottom has an awful lot to do with the season itself. As water temperatures drop, and weeds begin to die, adjacent hard bottom appears to be a natural progression. Anytime you can find a hard bottom extension that's near a recently productive weedbed, you're sure to have a good mid to late fall musky hotspot. However, like nearly all fall areas, they will have a certain time-frame when they produce best. In this case, deep hard bottom adjacent to a recently productive weedbed nearly always produces best in mid to late October. Any earlier than this, and muskies are more apt to be up in the weeds still. As you move later into the fall, and into the month of November, hard bottom near quicker breaks with no weedgrowth nearby might be better.
Some deep hard bottom areas have no shallow cover nor shallow pattern adjacent to them. More often, these are transitional spots such as a necked-down deep narrows at the mouth of a shallow bay with a maze of various weedy structures. This is precisely the kind of spot that Tom and I were fishing in the opening story. Anytime you find a necked-down narrows area with hard bottom and a fairly quick break from the shore, it's worth a trolling pass or a cast or two. When this narrows has a nearby bay with weeds, it could be dynamite. I love to fish these spots with both a casting and trolling presentation. I'll generally cast the "lead points" on both sides of the narrows, and troll the longer stretches in between.
This is where the famous "rock wall" terminology developed. Canadian bound fall anglers have had some exceptional results trolling both crankbaits and jerkbaits along these steeper rocky shoreline ledges, or "walls", as many of us call them. Interestingly, the best walls are almost never really deep ones. I can't ever recall hammerin' wolf-packs of muskies along rock walls with max. depths in the 35 foot plus range. More often than not, rock walls with shallower max. depths are better producers. I've had my best luck on those in the 15 to 22 foot zone.
When muskies are apt to use these rock walls most is up for debate, but decades of results have proven to me that mid October is prime time. This appears to coincide with migrations of muskies out of shallower nearby weed bays. Trolling and casting these spots during this time frame virtually guarantees that new, and different fish will be moving in and out of adjacent bays, and along these rock walls.
Weather is an underestimated factor in the success of rock wall angling. Cold snaps seem to trigger more migration, and thus more movement along rock walls. Warm, "Indian Summer" weather decreases any migratory activity, and temporarily holds the fish in nearby weed patterns. It seems like the colder it gets, the better it gets along these rock walls. My most memorable rock wall experiences were nearly always associated with cold weather, snow, and a good chop. In fact, "a good chop" brings up one more noteworthy point. Natural current, created by strong winds and wave action, can really turn on these fish in necked-down rock wall areas. Find a neck-down narrows that has been exposed to strong winds for a few days, and it might contain a bunch of ornery hombres!
Steep breaking banks with a cliff-like drop into real deep water are yet another potential fall hard bottom hotspot, but timing on these locales is critical, and nearly always --- it happens real late. In most cases, the month of November is the time frame for steep breaking banks with real deep water. I've always theorized this is because the real deep water is the eventual "winter home ranges" of these fish; kinda like their final destination.
Some may argue that muskies like these kind of spots real late more so because fall spawning baitfish species, such as ciscoes and whitefish, use these same spots for propagation. I guess my only rebuttal here is that muskies seem to use this type of structure during the month of November no matter what kind of baitfish species exists in a lake. So these spots obviously draw in more than just ciscoes. Perhaps they are sucker wintering spots, as well.
While we're on the subject of suckers, I wanted to expose one of my long time theories on "why" suckers are so effective during the cold water periods of spring and fall. It is my opinion that, even though muskies definitely do love and prefer suckers, they do NOT get to utilize suckers as a primary forage throughout the entire summer period. Once a lake stratifies, suckers, being cold water fish, live below the thermocline. In fact, those marks that many of us see on our sonar units below the thermocline in mid summer are probably schools of suckers.
However, once the annual fall turnover occurs, muskies once again have access to all depth ranges and suckers come into prey more often. Hence, a feeding frenzy takes place as muskies regularly intercept schools of suckers cruising along these same hard bottom areas. The sudden availability of suckers makes them highly sought after, and of course, the musky, being the ultimate opportunist, takes full advantage.
One more hard bottom spot worth mentioning is the mid lake hump, bar, or reef. This would include both large and small mid lake rocky outcroppings, as well as sand and gravel bars. While I've taken plenty of muskies off such areas, they are nearly always better in the spring, summer, and early fall. This is not always the case, but it sure holds true a vast majority of the time. Why this is for sure, I don't know, but I do have some possible speculations.
Mid lake humps, bars, and reefs are more apt to have suspended forage around them during warmer months, and they are more apt to be a setup spot; sort of a summer "home range" area. As the fall progresses, fish of all species begin a migratory nature, and these spots eventually loose their punch. The smaller they are, the more ineffective they become as the water gets cold. The more isolated they are, the less productive they end up being.
Humps, bars, and reefs that remain productive on a consistent basis usually have some association to another drawing agent. This drawing agent can come in several forms, but usually its a combination of baitfish, deep water, and a pronounced shoreline point. This shoreline point usually has a large bar extending off it, as well. The combination here, makes the hump a possible holding area.
Lastly, I wanted to point out one particular weirdo hard bottom spot that has produced some superb fall musky catches, and it is the most overlooked of them all. I call this tiny, inconspicuous hard bottom area the proverbial "needle in a haystack" spot. It involves finding small hard bottom spots inside and around a heavily weeded area. Usually these areas are quite small, no more than a cast length or two, and they contain no obvious change in depth. Their only giveaway is a "bald spot" inside a weedbed.
The easiest of these "needle in a haystack" hard bottom spots to find is when they're near a rock shore or rock island. A watchful scout will eventually find a few of these spots, and occasionally unveil a true "needle in the haystack". These spots don't always produce, but once in awhile, they're real gems. I've seen, not only numbers of muskies come off spots like this, but some real hawgs, as well. A few years back, field editor Tom Gelb and I took a 52 incher off one bottom bouncing a hot perch, straight model DepthRaider; I'll never forget this particular fish nor this strange October day, because the winds were in excess of 40 mph! Incidentally, this entire piece of hard bottom was not more than a few cast lengths long, surrounded by depths that were exactly the same as the nearby weedbed. The only giveaway was a large flat rock surface on the nearby island.
These "needle in a haystack" hard bottom spots are nearly always best in early October, but I've also taken a few nice fish from them a bit later. As soon as surrounding weeds really start to decay, they normally loose their zip. But, boy can they produce, when they're on.
SUDDEN IMPACT
Several lures will take hard bottom muskies in the fall, but day in and day out, I've never found anything that works quite as well as a floating/diving, straight model, deep diving plastic crankbait. Of course, in my case this means the original straight model DepthRaider, a lure I specifically designed for this style of fishing.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this kind of fishing is just plain abusive to any lure. The lure you choose, not only has to have a high attraction value to the muskies, but --- just as importantly --- it has to be able to stand up to the constant collision with boulders, jagged rocks, and other hard bottom debris. Yes, I like some of you, have taken many muskies off rock areas on wooden jerkbaits and crankbaits, but you know how fast this tactic destroys such lures. Within a few days, hard core bottom bouncing with a wooden plug destroys the beautiful finish on your favorite wood lures, and in some cases completely alters the buoyancy and action of the plug. That's why I like plastic for this style of fishing.
I'm particularly fond of a straight model floater for bottom bouncing, over the more popular jointed versions, for a number of reasons. In general, the straight model floater is much more buoyant. It contains more hollow surface area, so comparatively, it floats up faster. This additional buoyancy helps the straight model crankbait back itself out of snagups easier. Any release in line tension enables the straight model floater to back itself out.
A buoyant, straight model floating crankbait with a large diving lip also runs thru the water with a pronounced "tail up, lip down" angle. This angle-of-travel protects the hooks from fouling on bottom debris, and let's the diving lip take all the punishment. Obviously, the diving lip, in this instance, must be made of either metal or a high-impact plastic. When speaking of the DepthRaider specifically, the frontal lip configuration was purposely designed with an exaggerated blunt tip so that it could better absorb this impact, and reduce wedging in between individual rock crevices.
Why straight over jointed? The answer is simple --- less snagups. When a jointed lure backs out of a snag, it has a natural tendency to cock its tail section to one side or the other. This tail cocking motion occasionally fouls the tail hooks on a snag (wood, weeds, bottom debris, etc.). In addition, the jointed lure is simply less buoyant overall, so it will not back itself out of a snag nearly as well as a buoyant straight model will.
On the other hand, countdowns, suspenders, and any other version of a sinking model crankbait can work very well for clean hard bottom spots in casting situations, but they make poor trolling lures. This is because they do not have the innate ability to back out of snags, and they travel in a more horizontal fashion, which exposes the hooks to more snag ups. However, the countdown style, sinking crankbait definitely has its place in fall musky fishing. If you're not allowed to troll your favorite waters in the fall, and muskies consistently work hard bottom in depths greater than 10 feet by mid October, countdown style sinkers are your best bet. Expect to get snagged up once in awhile, but the potential results are well worth the minimal aggravation.
THE SYSTEM
My system for trolling deep hard bottom is simple, but calculated. I do not subscribe to the "mindless, no brainer" trolling concept. There is a definite science to the entire system, as simple as it really is. I use one rod, 7 to 7 1/2 feet long, a large spooled baitcaster, preferably with an anti-reverse on/off switch like the Quantum 1420MG, and 50 lb. saltwater grade Stren High Impact mono.
The rod action and length is the perfect blend of power for hook sets, plus rod bending absorption for rock collisions and fish fighting. Choosing a reel with an anti-reverse on/off switch helps you react quicker to snag ups and big time power strikes. Imagine, for example, the typical musky reel that most anglers use today on a typical trolling pass (minus the anti-reverse switch). If you've got your drag set light to give line on a sudden snagup, it's also set too light for a fish strike. Set that drag correctly, which is actually too tight, and you'll drive the lure hopelessly into the snag, and probably break it off.
An anti-reverse switch enables you to have the drag set tight for a hookset on a musky, yet it provides that quick response option of immediate line release on a snag up. I leave the anti-reverse switch in the "off" position whenever I bottom bounce. My thumb is planted firmly on the reel's spool to prevent line slippage, and my rod is held high. Total concentration is placed on the rod tip, watching its every move, telegraphing what's taking place below. As soon as the lure starts ticking, watch it carefully. If it snags up, immediately "dip" the rod toward the lure in order to create some momentary slack line. This split second reaction lets the lure back up and out of the rock crevice. Follow this up with a quick rip forward, as soon as the slack line is taken up from boat movement, and you'll bounce and weave your lure through 90% of the snags. If there's a musky nearby, this additional lure action usually triggers a strike.
The line selection is also an interesting one. The key here is durability. You want a line that can withstand constant scraping and collision with abrasive rocks. Small diameter, premium casting lines are not the way to go here. You want something tough. That's why I use a saltwater grade line like High Impact.
Line length is perhaps the most critical element outside of lure choice. While most anglers might just simply cast the lure out and begin a trolling pass, I prefer to measure out my line. This enables me to duplicate that number if a score is made. This can be done by counting the level wind passes, having an actual line counter style reel, or by simply stripping the line out in two to three foot lengths. What ever works for you is fine. I also like to mark the line with a permanent magic marker at key intervals. This makes duplication that much quicker and easier.
The whole science of line length in the crankbait game is in understanding the basic concept. The more line you have out, the deeper the lure is going to run. The key is to have just enough line out so you can barely reach that desired depth. This reduces the overall amount of snagups and puts your lure in front of the fish quicker. This, in fact, brings up a final point. Whenever you're trolling a rock wall, you'll generally find that the shortest line (that ticks bottom) takes the most fish. If you're getting consistently outfished by your partner, it could be that you have too much line out. Let out just enough line to tick bottom. You'll get snagged up a lot less, and usually catch more fish.
SUMMARY
Catching muskies from deep hard bottom areas in the fall on crankbaits can be very exciting, and the rewards numerous. Not only do you have the potential of catching both numbers and big fish, but you also learn more about an entirely different spectrum of your favorite waters. So much of a musky hunter's efforts normally get focused on that zone of 1 - 12 feet. It's a weedline or shallower game for most of us.
Exploring the 12 foot plus zone is a whole new ball game. Your knowledge of bottom configurations and content take on a brand new prospective. You rediscover your favorite spots all over again, and learn deeper nuances that might answer some of your shallow water questions as well as open new deep water doors.
>Suddenly, you're learning the whereabouts of gravel fingers, a pile of rocks, a snaggy boulder, and an isolated deep log; all of which very few other anglers know exist. As you learn these secrets, you have a lure down there providing you with this info as it ticks along the bottom, searching for a set of jaw.! Before long, you'll have an extra sense of urgency every time you feel that lure tick that one particular big rock, because you know --- it just might have a "hard bottom horse" hunkered next to it!