As I put the trolling motor down to begin our first pass of the day, I immediately realized that my batteries were going to get tested to limit. The October post frontal bluebird was already whipping up white caps on this open, shelter-less lake, making it difficult to ride the trolling motor’s foot pedal without leaning against a boat seat. My “sea legs” would get tested to the limit on this day.
My boat partner for the day, a novice to musky fishing, would surely have his hands full trying to cast, and work lures effectively in these conditions. I reminded him right off the bat that short casts would be the rule in order to maintain any kind of lure control in this gale. However, like most greenhorns, he was more enamored with his sudden increase in casting distance provided by the aid of the wind rather than worried about how effectively his lure was actually working.
Armed with a bucktail and gale force wind, he launched his bait well beyond normal ranges. Unfortunately, the decreased reel spool diameter combined with additional line drag made his bucktail crawl instead of burst that first 10 to 20 feet of retrieve resulting in constant weed foul-ups. Strong, unpredictable gusts also stopped several of these casts in mid air instantly creating some of the most dreaded backlashes imaginable.
As a change-up lure, I quickly chose a deep diving crankbait in order to keep tabs with the deep weed edge, and provide the fish with a good alternative. Eventually, my partner worked out his backlash problems and shortened his casts enough to establish a fairly proficient procedure. Together, we were tag-teaming this area pretty good.
Our first spot of the morning was a predominant point that contained a flat with weeds and some scattered big boulders. It also had a distinct deep weed edge along the upwind side. All in all, it was a perfect looking spot, and it had produced many muskies in the past. But, what brought us to this location on this first pass of the morning was history; recent history. The night before, my partner and I had a close encounter with a trophy class musky. Inexperience was the only thing that prevented us from boating this big fish on our previous assault. A nose-to-the-bait follow from a 50 plus incher literally scared my partner half to death making him jerk the lure out of the water upon sight of the cruising killer at boatside. In all honestly, this fish tried to commit suicide, but my partner’s total lack of concentration proved that even the most active fish can still go uncaught when the angler is inept.
With that previous experience still fresh in our minds, we were both anxious to give this fish another shot. Knowing there was a big one somewhere in this area, our hopes ran high that it would still be active this morning. Little did we know that, it wouldn’t take long to find this out.
My partner was easily making two casts to my one with his high speed, run & gun, bucktail lure. Because his lure was easy-to-cast, and easy-to-crank, he was able to pepper the top of the weed flat with cast after cast. Meanwhile, I chugged along with my slow, methodical pull & rise; feeling my crankbait bump and tick every weed top along the way.
About 20 minutes into the drift, a sudden gust of wind caught my partner off guard one more time stopping his bucktail in mid air with yet another backlash. As he paid out line, I quickly adjusted the boat so as not to run over the loose line floating haplessly on the surface. As soon as I was clear of his backlashed line, I pitched a short cast somewhat parallel to the weed edge. A thick patch of milfoil interrupted the diving path of the lure after only a short rod pull. Immediately, I dropped back on the rod tip to create some slack line and shook the rod tip violently in order to shake it free. Confident that the buoyant floater backed itself out of trouble, I pulled downward again in an effort to free any “clinger” weeds. But, about half way through my exercise the rod was nearly jolted from my hands.
Instinctively, I reacted with a hard hookset upwards, but the fish responded with equal force. “Holy Balls!” I exclaimed, as the fish stripped line from a tightened down star drag. The battle was on, and it lasted for quite some time. Luckily, the fish was hooked well, as is the case with most crankbait hooked muskies, and it was safely netted before too long. As my TV crew recorded the action, I unhooked and released Wisconsin’s Vilas County Release Champion of that year – a stout 52 ½ incher. From that moment on, my friends have referred to that spot as “Holy Balls Point”.
This instance is a classic example of the value in testing spots with various lures in an effort to decipher whether it what it wants. While this particular musky was a hot bucktail “chaser” the night before, he ignored that same bait the following morning; falling for the deep diving crankbait, instead. It’s also a testament to the missed opportunities created by inexperience and the lack of basic fundamental efficiency. We’re going to deal with several of these issues inside this article.
CHASERS
The power of observation is surely a strong asset in the musky fishing world. It can greatly enhance your chances, for sure. Whenever you’re out chasing these ornery brutes try first identify whether the fish are “chasers” or less active, neutral minded. Anytime muskies are in a chase mood, high riding, fast moving lures are all that’s needed. Of course, this is when bucktails, prop style topwater lures, and other shallow running, easy-to-retrieve baits are choice lures to fish with. Chasers are not simply not as picky, and in many cases, they’ll hit a wide variety of offerings.
I further classify “chasers” as active, feeding fish. Whenever muskies are in this mood, you are apt to get plenty of action from follows and strikes, as well as many of the other signs of big fish predator activity such as surface boils, thrashing noises, and similar actions. This is obviously an exciting time to be on the water, yet it’s surprising how easy it is to go fishless during such a period when a few simple steps are not taken.
For one, I’ve always maintained that periods of high activity like this are very short in duration on any given day varying in intensity according to a number of factors such as weather, moon phase, and time of year. This is precisely why you need to maximize such an opportunity when it arises by knowing what lure to use, and how much overall time you need to devote to any one given area. Generally speaking, you’re going to find the highest probability for “chasers” early and late in the day, and the very first time you fish a spot on that given day.
The key plan for “chasers” is to use a lure that is highly attractive to muskies, yet easy-to-fish physically, and efficient to cast and work at high speeds. This enables the angler to put this lure in front of as many “chasers” as possible during the presumed short, active period. As I’ve stated many times in the past, I still feel this is where a lot of musky hunters fall short. They take too long to recognize the sudden change in the fish’s attitude, and then rarely change their present gameplan in order to take advantage of more opportunities.
For example, casting a jerkbait over hot, active muskies is one such mistake. Unless the jerkbait can be fished real fast, it is arguably a waste of time and energy to fish in this case. The jerkbait will undoubtedly catch a few fish, but it is still going to require more energy to fish, and may also trigger more missed strikes from overly active muskies. The same level of success can often be had by casting a straight retrieve, no-frills lure such as a bucktail over these same fish. Provide an easy target, and cover as much water as you can at the same time. In some instances, a lipless crankbait might also be the choice bait, but it could also be a prop style topwater lure. They key here is to simply keep the lure free of weeds and other trash, and to work it through as many spots as possible in a short duration of time. Rarely is it more complicated than that, and generally your success rate will be much higher simply because you presented it to more fish.
LEARN HOW TO CAST!
Basic cast-for-cast efficiency is another underrated and highly overlooked factor as a simple reason for higher success rates. In other words, if you can’t cast efficiently – I’m talking about flawless casting without backlashes – it’s a good bet that your success rate will suffer. If you compound that with constant weed foul-ups, blades not spinning on a bucktail, leader wraps around your hooks, etc., your odds of success go way down; no matter how active the fish are. I can sight dozens of experiences over my past guiding career, and outings on a more recent basis with friends, where I still see the true value of such a simple formula. It’s almost a sure bet that the guy who struggles with his casting efficiency along with his lure presentation proficiency will end up with fewer fish at the end of the day; no matter what the species of fish he’s after.
This is why it is vitally important to master the simple art of baitcasting. If you are a beginning musky angler, my best advice would be to stick with one outfit (reel) and learn it well. Practice good form, just like a golf swing, and perfect it. If you’re an avid, yet somewhat unsuccessful musky hunter, I’d be willing to bet that you struggle with the basics of casting and lure presentation. Breaking bad habits is often a lot tougher for folks in this boat since they already think they know something. But, the plain truth is – improving your casting form and lure presentation with the simple lures might be all that’s needed to make you a better angler. More bluntly, if you’re plagued with backlashes, you’re wasting lots of time and missing out.
RECOGNIZING THE DIFFERENCE
Of course, finding these moments when “chasers” are the target is certainly less common. More often, we’re dealing with less active muskies that do not respond to our lures in a chasing manner at all. This is the condition we’re faced with more often; particularly when after mid day muskies. Increased boat traffic, fishing pressure, and the mood of the musky at that time all play a part in this. The key, in this instance, is to recognize a lack of chasing, and then changing to a more appropriate lure presentation accordingly.
A completely different set of rules comes into play when after muskies in this mood. For one, you simply have to slow down. Not only do you have to slow down your lure presentation, but also the amount of water you cover. Instead of “cherry picking” spots with a run & gun bucktail casting approach, you’ll need to pick one or two key areas, and fish them like a surgeon with lures that require more effort and technique.
That’s why it’s important to be able to decipher the difference between chasers and the latter because it identifies what lures will be most effective, and how you approach fishing a spot, and the lures you choose to fish with. In addition, you need to realize that you do NOT have to cast certain hard-to-fish technique style lures when fish are in a chasing mood. But, when they’re not chasing, you also need to be able to recognize this and change your approach and lure choices accordingly.
As we all know, fishing trips can start out one way, and end up heading in an entirely different direction. This can occur on any given day, or throughout the week. You might start out a typical August trip with mid 80 degree air temps, a warm southerly breeze and a consistent evening topwater bite, only to have a cold front dip air temps into the 40's with a bone chilling northeaster. The evening topwater bite suddenly becomes non-existent, but through hard work and patient presentation, you might find that jerkin’ minnow baits inside thick weed clumps at mid day provides the only action.
This is precisely what happened to my friend and part time freelance cameraman, Tim Semman and I last summer on a week long trip to Ontario. We started out the trip on a high note with lots of topwater action and multiple musky catches during our first two days of the trip. Short sleeves and sunscreen were the attire. But, much to our dismay, an arctic blast at mid week had us donning every ounce of clothing we had along. Our surface lure pattern instantly went sour, but eventually we uncovered a semi-productive alternative – twitchin’ minnow baits tight to thick weed cover. Sticking with the high speed, topwater presentation quickly lost out to a slow methodical one. Recognizing the change and adapting was the answer. While we didn’t have the trip of dreams, we did manage to boat enough fish to make the trip respectable including one several filming episodes.
All in all, basic casting and presentation efficiency combined with good on-the-water observation is often the key to success on any trip. In my opinion, many of us try to make the sport of musky fishing much more complicated than it has to be. Knowledge of the water is certainly an important factor that I didn’t spend much time on inside this article, but it surely has equal merit. However, spending countless hours on the water as a guide taught me one of the most important lessons of all. You take a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink! Translated into musky lingo, a good guide can put you over top big fish, but you still gotta catch ‘em. Never take the basics of casting and lure presentation for granted.