Sunday and Memorial Day

[gfishes]

Fished Sunday evening and morning/evening yesterday. Raised one fish on Sunday and another on Monday. Neither fish hit the bait, just came up for a sniff. Not sure if they were not hungry or my presentation wasn't correct. The only good part was that both fish were in spots that I have always suspected hold fish however, have never seen any action. My usual spots were vacant of fish. I suppose I don't know enough about patterns in river muskies yet.

[Red Childress]

3 of us chased muskies on Friday and only had 1 follow as well. We hardly saw any fish activity of any kind except for a couple of suckers surfacing.

[gfishes]

The smallmouth were all but asleep as well. No fish eating during the evening hatches either. Not sure what was going on this weekend. Rising temps and falling water.

[Red Childress]

We had stable water and an incredible Caddis hatch coming off but no surface takers that I could see. Maybe getting them on the way up.........

[gfishes]

Red, do you find the fish hold year round in the same spots? At the Columbus Muskie show I saw through a river guides presentation and that was his theory was. I don't know if my sample size is great enough to form any conclusions yet.

[Red Childress]

In small to medium sized rivers they move around a lot. The research is there to back it up too. Funny story, I had kinda figured out these fish were moving quite a bit but I did not realize just how many of them were moving. Around the time the research article (in which West Virginia rivers were surveyed only), I was in the process of finishing up a little project trying to decide just how far some of my previously caught fish were traveling. So, after looking at hundreds of musky pics, I could see they were traveling several miles and in a short time period as well. (I could only compare fish pics that had the same side in the frame.). The West Virginia study also figured out the main reason why.......sucker migration.

Note: Only for small to medium sized rivers were used in the study. (Most of us know they travel like crazy in larger systems.)

I will try to dig up the article now.

[Red Childress]

I can’t find the article but here is another interesting conclusion:

4 years ago I caught the same 47.5 in 2 different places that were 3.5 miles apart and it only took her 3 days to do it. This very instance kinda backs up the Lake Kinkaid study which was conducted by Chad Cain and the Illinois DNR (which I will try to dig up).

Stay tuned.

[Red Childress]

I can’t find that one either!

Here is the gist of the research: Cain’s research conclusion was that muskies will move immediately after being caught. Deeply caught ones move shallower and vice versa. Most traveled at least 1 mile after release. They followed these fish around with radiotelemetry and when they stopped traveling, the crew would shut down the boat and sneak up and try to catch it. After the first cast, some of the fish moved to the other side of the lake.....and move shallow or deep depending on where they were last caught.

Note: Just to clarify.....At no time did I say ALL muskies moved immediately or that all muskies moved. I think the article said “most” or “many”.

Another facet of the study dealt with trolling motor/electronics noise spooking fish away. IIRC, this was also proven to happen.....the pinging of the graph and the spinning of the trolling motor did have negative effects on the fish.

That’s it. Tired of typing.

[Red Childress]

One more thing....in the Lake Kinkaid study, the term used to describe the change in the fish’s behavior after being caught was called CONDITIONING. Also used to describe the relationship of being caught/released and the graph/trolling motor noise. IIRC, the movement away from the boat as the graph/trolling motor noise got closer fell into the CONDITIONING category too.

Hope that makes sense.:)

[ttabaleulb]

Cool stuff Red. Pretty crazy how far some of those fish move in such a short time. No wonder it feels like fish seem to completely vanish from one day to another sometimes.

I got out Tuesday and a little on Wednesday. The fishing sucked. It was so hot and humid, saw some surface temps up to 82!!! I've never seen temps that high so early in the year. Didn't move a single fish. According to sonar, the baitfish were already in their Summer (usually late June thru August) patterns holding in open water. There are no weeds in the usual spots and there were A LOT of dead fish on surface. It seemed to be mainly panfish. I'm wondering if the usual Holiday weekend crowds had something to do with that or if there is another factor contributing to that issue. Anyhow, probably gonna be a while before I get another chance to chase some Muskies.

Headin to beach in Delaware next weekend. Probably gonna take a flyrod with me just in case something interesting is in those waters while we are there. Good luck everyone.


Jay