Fall Muskie Discussion

[Fishing 24/7]

Osgoode....I know a few spots in and around there.....I might be hitting it next week one day after work.....I think I'll be trolling shallowraiders just off from where the weeds typically end....pretty well the whole area along where the Kemptville creek flows into the Rideau....dandy spot. On the Rideau on the opposite side from where the creek flows in, I htink there are a few bouy's out there, just troll between them in and around 15 FOW....That's what I'll be trying next week, as long as the floating weeds are totally terrible!

The floating weeds are a pain in the azz right now!!...

Here's a tip to try and keep the floating weeds from sliding down your line and onto your lure. Position your rod holder downwards so that the tip of your rod is submerged in the water....that way the rod will pick up the weeds and prevent most of them from sliding down the line!!

TMH...

SO TRUE iTS

45 - 1 houre goes by and she'S still clean!

[Relic]

For me, I like to see the action on my rod, and ya can't when yer tips are in.

Another way to solve this, troll with long leaders - 4 footers- take treble hook and cut the points off. Put the treble on a split ring and attach it to your swivel.

This way you can still see the action on your rod, and the hook catches the weeds. No matter what you do though best to check your bait often. There is nothing worse than trollin for an hour, reeling your bait in and seeing that you have a 3 foot weed dangling of the back of it

[troutnmuskiehunter]

For me, I like to see the action on my rod, and ya can't when yer tips are in.

Another way to solve this, troll with long leaders - 4 footers- take treble hook and cut the poinst off. Put the treble on a split ring and attach it to your swivel.

This way you can still see the action on your road, and the hook catches the weeds. No matter what you do though best to check your bait often. There is nothing worse than trollin for an hour, reeling your bait in and seeing that you have a 3 foot wed dangling of the back of it

Not sure bout that Relic...I can still see the action on my rod tip trolling a crank at 3.5 +MPH ....it all depends on the action of the crank and the quality of the rod.....

I've been watching my rod tip vibrate great under the water trollin a crank and when it stops vibrating, I know that weeds have slipped down and are on my lure....

But your way sounds good as well!!

[Relic]

It's not the action of the bait or the quality of the rod

It's the fact that I simply, physically can not see the rod tip, from the driver's seat, with my tip in the water without having a VERY sore neck by the end of the day

[troutnmuskiehunter]

It's not the action of the bait or the quality of the rod

It's the fact that I simply, physically can not see the rod tip, from the driver's seat, with my tip in the water without having a VERY sore neck by the end of the day

....your absolutely right Relic...sorry, I guess I'm used to fishing out of a pontoon where I'm sitting much higher...Now I know exactly what you're saying!!

[Bass Addict]

Picked up a Giant Thunderstick the size of my arm tonight ...........

Just had one of those feelings , might be lucky on the weekend



Ok forearm..........



Looks promissing

[Musky51]

Picked up a Giant Thunderstick the size of my arm tonight ...........

Just had one of those feelings , might be lucky on the weekend



Ok forearm..........



Looks promissing

I Have said " one of those feelings" a few hundred times!

Good luck out there.

As for this thread, fall musky fishing is a great time to be on the water. Unfortunatly there is no magic formula ( one lure, one speed) that will always catch muskies. Time on the water will get you the fish you are looking for and experimenting with different presentations both casting and trolling.
Personallly casting my favorites for this time of year are the magnum Musky Innovations Bulldawg ( worked slow), Weighted jerkbaits ( suicks and bobbies), trolling I like larger baits and look for baitfish out in deeper water. Look for groups of broken up baitfish not large " worms" on your sonar.
Hundreds of books on the subject , try getting out with a guide or people who have experience it will help the learning curve but there is no better way then getting on the water and trying different things. Some of my biggest muskies have been caught experimenting

[jig head]

Well, as no one seems to want to talk publicly about fall muskies I figured I'd try and start soemthing going here to hopefully help us all catch some monsters this year.

We don't need specific spots but would be nice to hear what kind of structures, speds, lures, depths, adn everythign people were doing, where sucesses are being found, etc etc.....

And I know that there will be a few people to say "go to a muskies canada meeting" but not all of us have time for that, so lets try and have a good discussion here without any headaches....an exchange of iseas.

I've been out most Saturday mornings and have been fishing a flat that has a good shelf on it. In the middle it's around 5 FOW and drops sharply down to about 25 FOW. Last week, the water temp was 58. I have been trolling around 3.5mph with some shallowraiders and jakes. I've been going up onto the flat and down the drop off.

It has seemed to be doing very well, a 44" and a 35" to show for it, without a whole lot of time on the water. I think I've been trolling with roughly 40 feet of line out, according to one line counter.

I think I'm going to stick with the same pattern this weekend so hopefuly it'll pay off and I can find a monster. I haven't gone out deep and I'm not too sure if I will, if the flat keeps paying off.

What kind of structure, depths, lures is everyone else out there using?

Again, we don't need spots, but structure ideas, depths, lures is always nice.

Anyone else not living in a clam that wants to compare notes?

I have more to add, but getting late int he lunch hour!

Cheers,

MW

Best tip I can give to catch muskie!


http://www.trophymuskiecharters.com


Anthony

[MuskieWannabe]

I definitely agree witht he time on the water idea...If there's one thing I changed this year it was that, and it's been my best year ever.

I've done more trolling this year on account of bringing out a lot of friends who don't fish all too often so it's been much easier to simply troll around rather than have them try and cast muskie baits.

What has really paid off for me was once I catch a fish, I try to mimic the type of location/structuere/speed over again. Prime example, I was out with a buddy early in the season and he pulled up a 47", I then tried similar structure and bam fish after fish, roughly 10 or 12 off a single piece of structure that was the sdame as that original day. I then looked on the maps and found a second totally different shelf that held some of the same characteristics, and honestly, within 5 minutes of getting there, netted one around 38", I think it was.

I think that's been the best thing I've found. From doing that all summer, I have about 3 or 4 spots that are my go to spots, so now when I hit the water, it'll take me about 6 or 7 hours to really hit 2 of the top ones, and if I'm out longer without any action I'll try the third and forth.

So pay attention where and how you catch the muskies and then look at your maps to see if any other similar structure may exist that looks similar to that original spot.

Good luck out there this weekend...I htink it'll be a busy one on the water!!!

[fordson]

Here are my "closely gaurded Secrets" for this year.

I really like to Cast for them...one thing is that the motor I have is 2 cycle and burns up the gas if I try trolling. When they hit the lure you really get a cool feeling.

Since I've boated 4 over 40" this year I'd say it has worked.

As far as baits...I haven't read much about Bucktails in these posts. I caught 1 on a 2 ounce Spinnerbait on the Mad. a 47 on a topwater woodchopper on the ottawa (July) and the last two on a double bladed bucktail. (I have a few of these) I like the Shallow invader too right now. I can slow it down.

The topwater has been put away.

Finally, I fish an area of the river that I don't see mentioned on this site.
I have talked about it a couple times in previous posts though. The 54" probably got that way because she was in an area that few musky guys are around. In fact I've never seen anyone else fish this spot. Some guys may go by there but are out much deeper where I'm right around the dock (see my pic in the gallery detectives)

Best of Luck to you all and me too. Remember to take the camera and get a good picture to share with the rest of us! CPR!

I'll be on the Rideau this weekend now that the ski guys are probably gone. I'm thinking the weeds are dying off too so that should help.

There's one area I saw 3 Musky a few years ago. They followed my Yozuri stickbait. I'm hoping they hit the Invader or the bucktail this weekend.

If you the an Old Sea Nymph fishing machine out there come by and say hello! 17 footer with a merc 50 and an Autopilot trolling motor on the front.

[silverthorn]

I fish the St.Clair river near Windsor,Ont.

Trolling in about 12 ft of water near the weed beds, hammering about 5 to 7 a day... Nothing under 44" !!! Area is loaded with monsters!!

[img][img]http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/ll41 ... r08198.jpg[/img][/img]

[troutnmuskiehunter]

I fish the St.Clair river near Windsor,Ont.

Trolling in about 12 ft of water near the weed beds, hammering about 5 to 7 a day... Nothing under 44" !!! Area is loaded with monsters!!

[img][img]http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/ll41 ... r08198.jpg[/img][/img]

You planning on eating that there fish

[Bass Addict]

You planning on eating that there fish

Get real TMH............

There lawn ornaments for Halloween

[silverthorn]

Naw!!!!

When my buddy was removing the " swamp Donkey" the damn fish did a back flip in the boat, lodging one of the treble hooks in my leg...beside my knee actually, so needless to say, from grabbing a hold of the fish by the head and gills trying to hold it still while attached to my leg the fish died. It took about 20 minutes to get the right bolt cutters and cut the hooks from the bait and then remove it from my leg...not a pleasurable experience let me assure you. So seeing as the fish was already dead, I decided to take it home and show my kids.

[Terry_F]

muskymatt has a good point there

people are making a living of musky guiding...

if a pro like muskymatt comes along and tell's us WHAT to use and WHEN and WHERE to use it.... whats fun in that???

youl go fishing with exactly what he said and fail then be even more pee pee off...

like he said TRY TRY TRY .... we were giving good pointers BUT created our own style and success TRUCK.... dosent mean thats going to happen this week end!

keeping HIGH hopes and POSITIVE thought is the key!

a guy like TROPHYMUSKY or musky matt thats been fishing 15 years have lots of tricks up there sleeve...

i for one cant wait to find tricks of my own!

sharing details is one thing but putting it into practice is another!

good luck to all of you guys that are on the hunt.. and cant wait to hook into my FIRST musky myself!

I so agree with this answer and MM comments.
I'm learning to fish walleye this year, but the same principle applies.
Tell me where to do some research, give me a few basic ideas ie for walleye - trolling rods, planer boards, line counters etc.
Suggest a few basic colours and techniques, bottom bouncing, trolling etc.

The fun for me is in learning my own tricks and tips, I'll share what I learn with anyone I fish with, I'll tell you where I found some great info.

But which lure, what depth, exact location and all published on an open forum - I don't think so.

If anyone really was interested, join us for the OWRL sesions, secrets freely given away there, but you need to be there.

Thing I agree with most STAY POSATIVE, don't give up.
Fishing is not only about catching fish.