Chas Martin
08-30-2010, 12:43 PM
Even with summer winding down we have still seen lots of boat traffic and angling pressure over the past few weekends. This translates into excellent night time fishing for all species. Lately I have not only been catching muskies but also large walleye and smallmouth bass on the same spots, one after another. I believe a lot of fish are conditioned this time of year to feed primarily during low light periods. GPS navigation tools, although not completely necessary, are a great help when fishing a variety of structures at night, especially on larger bodies of water. I have been concentrating my efforts on water 6 to 14 feet deep with mostly weed structure. I have also taken some fish that I feel fall into the category of “structurally suspended.” Going “deep” when the shallow bite turns off has been a great tactic all season, spring through fall, and it works for catching muskies at all hours of the day. I am still seeing strong feeding windows occurring and now it is getting more consistent toward the end of the day and into the evening. Bucktails, spinners and bull dawgs are working well.
Over the weekend I fished the Wisconsin Muskie Tour’s Fall Classic tournament on the Eagle River Chain. Water temps are in the 72-74 degree range. On Saturday we boated 30 and 29 inch muskies and unfortunately had two larger fish get off, one of which was suspended out over open water. There were only 16 muskies caught on Saturday and three teams doubled-up. Sunday the wind died down and the fishing was tough. I think there may have been a small window in the early hours to boat a fish but then things really slowed down. I caught a small northern on a key spot and that was it! …..which is why I decided to head out for some night fishing last night. All the factors were there for a good night bite and it resulted in a beautiful 40 inch muskie and a nice 17 inch smallmouth bass.
Good luck and fish hard,
Chas Martin
http://www.muskymastery.com
Over the weekend I fished the Wisconsin Muskie Tour’s Fall Classic tournament on the Eagle River Chain. Water temps are in the 72-74 degree range. On Saturday we boated 30 and 29 inch muskies and unfortunately had two larger fish get off, one of which was suspended out over open water. There were only 16 muskies caught on Saturday and three teams doubled-up. Sunday the wind died down and the fishing was tough. I think there may have been a small window in the early hours to boat a fish but then things really slowed down. I caught a small northern on a key spot and that was it! …..which is why I decided to head out for some night fishing last night. All the factors were there for a good night bite and it resulted in a beautiful 40 inch muskie and a nice 17 inch smallmouth bass.
Good luck and fish hard,
Chas Martin
http://www.muskymastery.com