muskie question

[Flambeau dreamer]

was fishing on the tff last year in early August, and had a fish attack a "top raider" type bait. the wild thing about this was how I was working it.
Long fast/aggressive jerks all the way to boat-side. Usually, I was really attempting to free weeds from the hooks.... with little to no success.
Anyone ever have a fish hit something moving like that?
fyi: it was a very large fish, and the fight lasted maybe a second before she was gone.
I guess if nothing else, I found something to entertain myself with next year on those hot summer days.

80 days left til muskie opener
chris

[The Frog caster]

Ditto to the erratic bait presentation. Seems just when you think you know all the " do's and don'ts" and other practical fishing lore, the rules change. Watching the moon, wind direction, time of day, presentation etc. etc. are all good tips. However ......... those rules only go so far. Your weird strike came when you least expected it, correct ??? Doesn't it seem lots of big fish are caught on the cast that was meant to land elsewhere ???? Most of my action comes when I'm not making that perfect cast. Deer hunting is the same, the deer seem to go by when I'm dozing on the stand, or smoking a cigar ....... go figure. If you got the water to boil with that large fish, just keep doing what your doing. Someday you'll hook him and reel him to your boat, radical bait presentation or not !!!!

Regards, The Frog caster

[Musky Mauler]

A tightly kept secret about catching muskies is that you want to have your tongue firmly planted in your left cheek. If your toungue is in your right cheek, a small-mouth is more apt to jump onto your lure. And, it you don't have your tongue in either cheek, a slimy northern will foul your lure.

Also, most muskies will be over on the left side of the boat. Don't waste a lot of time casting over on the right side. This wisdom has been handed down from generations of musky fishermen who have plied the waters of the north woods for many decades. Hey, would one musky fisherman lie to another about such things?

[Nick Kanauz]

My son-in-law has a theory about Musky fishing. Since he catches most of his around 9AM, it isn't necessary to get up at the crack of dawn to catch a Musky, get up around 7:30, have a leisurely breakfast, a pot of coffee, get dressed...slowly...more coffee for the travel mug, motor out to your favorite bar, and be ready...cause the Musky's don't eat until 9AM! Can't argue with his logic...seems to work in his favor! Also...in my case...can cast for hours and not get a boil, or see any, somebody motors by and asks if they're moving today, I say no, look down and sure enough, one is chasing my lure in...dooop! Asleep at the reel! 8)

[Orrsfishing]

That same type of thing will happen alot at that time of the season. You did so many things right without even knowing and sometimes that is the beauty of musky fishing.
You moved the bait fast, paused it and made it "work" .. Muskies are alot like a bass, just bigger and toothier. They will hit something just because it is in their zone. Muskies seem to love anything that moves... stops..moves .. stops.. ect. You made that bait make a ton of noise and got the attention of either a nearby feeding fish or a fish who was just in that pissed off mood and wanted to kill something. During that July and August time of the year, when it is really nice and hot, those fish are as fast as they can get and as hungry as they can get. You can not move a bait fast enough to escape them when they want it. The problem is that the heat is very hard on them especially when they battle you for what they think is food. You will catch me out there in the mornings or evenings at that time of the season working BIG, loud, erratic baits.
You were in the right place (weedy... lots of food finding cover from predators and heat), you retrieved at the right speed and you were crazy about it, not to mention that fish probably had seen that same type of bait 1000 times that season but very few times the way you were working it.
That is also part of the reason you will get action, with a cast that goes someplace completely "wrong"... They have been beaten to a pulp where everyone else throws... You are showing them something just a little different.
It just can not get here soon enough!!
Bobby

[Andy Huffmaster]

I'm not going to claim to know the answer to this event, but I have an interesting theory that everyone can ponder while we wait for the opener. I spend the vast majority of my time fishing the thick coontail and cabbage beds of Iron and Vilas county, I lost track quite a while ago of how many fish I have seen follow all kinds of lures covered in weeds some so bad you couldn't even see the lure. Most of these fish don't strike or attempt to strike but the ones that do are big. For a long time I thought this was just a curiosity thing (how many clumps of weeds do Muskies see swimming?), but that didn't answer the question for the ones that would strike at the bait. For what its worth here's what I came up with. With the majority of the strikers being large fish I think the added size to your bait from all the weeds hanging off it may be the trigger. Big fish would rather eat one big meal than several small ones, especially if it's an easy one. With the number of fish being caught on pounders and 2 pound bulldawgs, along with stories you here about people catching Muskies on other 30" plus fish, I think big Muskies eat more big fish than we probably think.(Have you seen the size of some of these redhorse swimming around?) My other theory is the weeds are mistaken for another Musky with a small fish in its mouth and another Musky comes in and tries to steal it. As far as the action of the bait goes. I remember reading several years ago in an article of I think Musky Hunter that the writer was using the ripping technique of a prop style topwater as a throwback technique or when he saw a fish surface near the boat. I never had any luck when I tried it but there is a time and a place for everything. I've had success ripping other lures through the water as hard as I can to trigger reaction strikes like I'm sure many of you have, maybe we just don't try it enough with surface lures. Perhaps the most important thing to learn from events like this is never give up on any cast and always figure eight no matter what you have hanging off your bait! Good Luck to everyone on the upcoming season!!

Andy