“It looks like the fish just aren’t moving”, my partner stated as he finished yet another unproductive retrieval. “We’ve pounded every weedbed in this lake, and haven’t even seen a follow. Let’s head in for lunch.” I was about to agree with him when I glanced at my watch, but I’ve always had this thing with trying one more spot right at high noon. I never go in on time for lunch. “Let’s try that one on the east end of the lake on our way to the lunch spot”, I suggested. Reluctantly, he agreed although you could see he was convinced it would be an exercise in futility.
As we neared the target, I noticed that the warm westerly breeze was pushing up much stronger wave action on this more open easterly basin of the lake. In fact, a noticeable white cap cropped each wave that rolled across this deeper rocky section. The high noon sun was also heating the air temps up big time, and there were very few clouds in the sky. This did not look encouraging at the time, but later on I would come to know these as prime conditions for rock oriented muskies.
I briefly entertained the idea of switching to deeper running lures for this drift, but decided instead to stick with our traditional selection – one man on a bucktail (spinner), the other on a jerkbait. Upon launching his 2nd cast, my partner asked “how deep is it out there in front of me”? “The boat is in about 22 feet of water, but you’ll be casting over rocks as shallow as four feet down,” I answered. The way I had it figured, his cast had indeed landed right over the very top of the shallowest portion of this entire rock structure. “Let’s hit this with a few casts, and we’ll head in”, I continued. “I’m getting hungry”.
I was just about to launch my next cast when I felt the boat rock and saw my partner’s rod double.. “I think I’m snagged up on those darn rocks”, he grunted. I was about to agree with him when I noticed a bouncing action on his rod tip. “That’s no snag, Jack. That’s a fish!” I exclaimed. The look on my partner’s face turned from frustration to utter amazement, as the big fish now burrowed its way laterally. Just when we thought this was going to be a deeper subsurface tug-of-war, the unseen denizen suddenly changed directions and launched itself airborne in a tarpon-like tail walk.
“Wow! It’s a big one!” He yelled. I missed the airborne exchange since I was busy preparing the boat and the landing net, but I didn’t doubt his claim. The tension on the rod and the duration of the battle told me all I needed to know.
A sudden gust of wind pushed us well off the shallow portion of the reef, and we were now drifting over deep open water as the battled waged on. I was relieved to know that there would be no shallow obstructions of any kind, nor any boat hazards to get in the way of this war with a ‘lunge. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the fish began to tire and the runs got shorter. I eventually got my first good look at the fish, and realized it was hooked solidly in the corner of the jaw. I assured my friend, “we’ve got this one. He’s hooked real good.”
As soon as the fish surfaced near boatside, I made a successful sweep of the landing net, and my first encounter with a big rock musky was history. The year was 1975, and the fish turned out to be one of the biggest taken in Wisconsin’s Vilas County that year at 50 inches and 33 pounds. Since that time, I have logged literally hundreds of rock related muskies. Yet it still amazes me how overlooked and underrated this pattern can be.
For some reason, the majority of musky hunters throughout time have always related muskies to weeds to a fault. In fact, I’d venture to say that better than 90% of musky anglers today still spend all of their time pounding weeds as their sole target for musky location. This is a huge mistake, obviously, and these folks continue to miss out on one heck of an opportunity. Plainly put, muskies like rocks a lot. The bigger the rocks, the more they like them. The bigger the fish, the more they seem to like rocks, as well.
While nearly any lake, river, or reservoir can indeed hold a rock related musky, some are notably better than others. In other cases, rock use seems to be more of a seasonal thing with the fish relating heavier to weeds, open water and other locales at other times of the year. Following are some notes on the best rock patterns I have seen over the years for muskies.
Probably the best rock musky patterns I’ve encountered occur on waters where there is a noticeable lack of weed growth. This is almost a no brainer since it is obvious that the fish have no choice but to utilize what’s available to them. Lakes like this exist all across our country, but I have personally experienced this phenomena consistently in both Wisconsin and Minnesota. Anytime you encounter a body of water that lacks weeds, but is peppered with mid lake rock reefs, you can bet your best musky rod that muskies will be all over those rocks at certain times of the year. Where they are when they are not on rocks in waters of this type is a good question for sure. They’re probably suspended over open water. However, when they’re “on the rocks”, they are usually catchable.
The key on waters like this is to try to establish what kind of rocks the fish are preferring at that given time. Since there are so many rock structures of varying sizes, depths, and make up on waters like this, it’s not uncommon to find the fish utilizing specific kinds of rocks located in certain sections of the lake at the right depth. For example, last summer I got onto a great August rock pattern on such a lake. In the course of a few days, I managed to boat several big fish including one brute at 52 inches. However, this particular had a proverbial land mine of rock reefs. They were everywhere. But, through attrition I was able to decipher that the only productive ones topped off at less than five feet, and they had to have strong wave action over top of them. This particular lake was also a large one, in excess of 20,000 acres with rocks of varying kinds throughout the entire lake proper. I eventually found that the biggest fish seemed to be concentrated on only one small section of the entire body of water near a larger open windy basin. A clear case of a specific rock pattern within a rocky environment.
However, rocks can and do produce musky action on weedy waters, as well. The opening story was such a case. This particular lake is shaped like a big hour glass. The western portion of the hour glass is a shallower, weedier ecosystem, while the eastern hour glass is a rocky one. Quite often, the weed patterns are the best and most consistent musky patterns around, but sometimes the eastern rocky end produces when the weeds fail.
What I have noticed quite often on weedy waters that have a few rock humps is this — the weeds might hold the majority of the muskies, but the rock humps hold a few big ones. The weeds get all the fishing pressure, and the rocks get virtually none. This scenario can provide a unique opportunity since it actually isolates both the big fish and the pressure. One can confidently fish high pressured waters in situations like this and expect to find the masses pounded the weeds, while the lone rock hump or two in the middle of the lake goes untouched with the exception of a walleye fisherman now and then. And, that walleye fisherman, by the way, is usually the guy who stumbles on to the catch of a lifetime.
Weather seems to have a bearing on the productivity of rocks for muskies, too. My near thirty years of experience with rocky muskies suggests that both wind and sun are allies. I’ve nearly always had my best results with rock muskies in a good chop. In fact, the rougher the chop the better in some cases. This is where an extra long shaft trolling motor combined with high thrust is your best friend. Without it, you simply can’t fish rock muskies in some of the best conditions.
Dead flat calm conditions are rarely big producers on rocks. Wind and wave action appear to attract muskies as well as the forage to the rocks themselves. The current and water action boiling around shallow rocks, in particular, seems to be a winner. Take the wind and wave action out of the equation and you loose the current. Baitfish scatter outside the rocks more over the open water. This, in turn, scatters the predators such as muskies. Even when muskies are sighted on shallow rocks during these conditions, it’s a good bet that they are not very active. The lack of wave action seems to kill their aggression. However, a sudden change in these calm conditions with an approaching front triggering stronger wind can suddenly fire up these sleeping lions.
I’ve also noticed bright sunny light conditions seem to be far more productive with rock oriented muskies than dark overcast. I’ve never been able to figure out exactly why, but I have noticed this to be true. It’s not that I haven’t taken a few nice muskies off rocks on dark overcast or after dark. It’s just that I have done even better on sunny days. I theorize that the sun and its solar effects stimulates something in the lower end of the food chain on rocks that, in turn, fires up the whole system. I have also seen this to be true with big walleyes, so I am convinced there is some correlation here. When the water is coffee stained, this bright sunny condition seems to be an even more critical factor. For some odd reason, sun light seems to draw muskies and big walleyes up on rocks. Wind and the subsequent wave action then makes them more active.
Lure choices for rocky muskies, in my opinion, is a simple one. If the water is relatively shallow, less than 10 feet, a bucktail spinner is my first choice. Oddly enough, willow shaped blades seem to be particularly good on rock muskies. This is another strange phenomena that I can not explain the “why”, but can only report that it seems to be true more often than not. Perhaps it’s because the willow bladed lure tends to run a bit deeper, but I’m not sure that is the answer. Quite often, we as fishermen stumble upon things that work and never really find out why they do. This is one such case. Willow bladed bucktail spinners are clear winners on rocks.
When rocks top out in that five feet range or less, topwater lures can be really productive, too. In particular, both tail rotators and walk-the-dawg dancers seem to be exceptional. Both of these baits can be worked with speed, and this seems to be a asset. Some of the biggest muskies ever taken on TopRaiders have come off such a pattern. Bombing long casts over shallow rock reefs and winding the daylights out of them.
Time of day is sometimes a factor in topwater productivity, but not always. While many wait for the change of light conditions in the early evening to try their luck with a surface lure, some of the biggest fish have come during mid day on top. Wind and wave action is another misnomer. Many mistakenly avoid topwater when there’s a noticeable chop on the water’s surface. Experienced rock reefers now know that this is a prime condition for big fish on prop baits. In fact, they (the muskies) have a tendency to strike more than follow in such conditions when a topwater lure is thrown at them instead of a subsurface lure.
Rock patterns for muskies seem to really vary in productivity with seasons, too. All in all, I’d recommend summer and the fringes of summer (late spring/early fall) as the best for rocky muskies. One could argue that some of the biggest muskies are taken early in the spring off rocks by walleye anglers, and I certainly wouldn’t disagree. I have also had some superb fall outings casting rock humps with jerkbaits and crankbaits on bright sunny October afternoons. But July and August are certainly the most predictable.
Lakes that have a predominance of rock are super summer lakes for musky action, generally speaking. When nearby waters are weed choked, these rocky lakes seem to be the savior. There’s no place I’d rather be during a prime weather condition in July or August than on one of my favorite rocky musky lakes casting a bucktail or a topwater plug.
Isolated rock humps on waters with an abundance of weeds really seem to turn on in mid August, too. I’ve seen this situation time and time again. The weeds are productive all the while they are in the growth stage as the summer rolls along. However, once they peak out and choke areas, big fish can be hard to pluck out of them. A nearby rock hump might be just the ticket to end your frustration with weed slopped lures.
All in all, the rock pattern for muskies is a varied one and it continues to be overlooked by the masses. Yes, there are a few musky hunters now tapping into this pattern in a big way, but many still fail to realize its potential. Furthermore, rocks are generally the overlooked spot on waters with weeds. Don’t you make that mistake on your musky ventures. Check out the rocks no matter where you fish, no matter what time of the year. Never underestimate the potential of rocks for muskies.
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