9/24 Muskie Fishing Report

[NxtRecordholder]

Hey all,

Got out yesterday with my boat partner and rented a boat for the entire day. We fished from 6:30AM to 6:30PM. A SWEEEET slow moving cold front blew through yesterday, and the fish were real responsive!

Our totals for the day was 1 40+" fish sighted (not a follow as it swam by the boat, not behind one of our lures), and 3 hits. None of the hits resulted in a decent hookset and thus....no boated fish. Two of the three hits were quickies, a little too quick to do anything about. We had our opportunities on the third hit, but my partner though he was snagged in the trees and didn't set the hook properly. A half eaten Tiger Tube proved that a musky was the culprit. I had my hit on a shallow running bulldawg (again, proof came in the form of several puncture marks in the head and a couple slices out of the tail), and a boatside hit came on an orange/black bucktail.

This is certainly the most action we've seen out at Shab in one day. All action was before 4PM, when the front finally left and the wind picked up. We had action in the NMZ and deep trees, but I think because the front turned them on so much, we could have been fishing anywhere on the lake at the times we had hits and had the same results.

Another rental boat reported 4 follows/no hits, and they saw a 40+ incher boated by another angler on the lake.

Not a whole lot of boat traffic out there, but of the ones that were out there, 75% of them were chucking for 'skis.

On a side note, I'm happy to report that yesterday was the first time ever for me where the projected wind (20 - 30 mph) NEVER really materialized. Maybe for an hour the wind picked up, but by sundown it was back to being calm.

Good luck, everyone!!

[TimK]

Nxt,

Great report. Very encouraging. I'm going to try and get out Sat morn; supposed to be some foul weather Sat. Still looking to see my first one.

Thanks for all the info.

[JAB]

Darn those strikes that feel like snags! As for the bulldawg, I remember that when I bought mine over the summer there are instructions to set the hook on any "bump" or movement that just doesn't feel natural because, according to the packaging, muskies can "inhale" without plowing a bait. I never think of muskies just swallowing a bait like a bass would, but maybe that's what happened on your strike. I also have heard that the killer instinct of muskies sometimes just has them "knock" baits/prey with their head to play with them.

In fact, there was an article in some magazine I read along the way that said there was a crucial importance to use actual lake-caught suckers as opposed to shop-bought bait because the sucker from the lake will act frantically while he knows a muskie is a natural enemy. On the other hand, the author claimed that in one case a muskie must have been turned off by a store-raised sucker that just sat there while it approached, eventually bumping the sucker with his snout and then swimming off - who knows??

But as for the hook-ups, I know that in MN the day I caught my muskie it just barely nipped at the lure and caught the last trebble. We had 2 other strikes that day and they were the exact same way - all of the sudden the shadowy shape of a muskie would appear, there'd be a quick/less-than-half-hearted snap at the bait, and then she'd be gone for good. So, I think the fish's mood is more to blame that the fisherman's hook-setting abilities, in some cases at least. As was the case for my friend last week, he never set the hook - the muskie just WANTED that bait and I'm sure the force that it hit with as welll as the force at wich it rolled was more than enough to drive those hooks into the mouth.

Just my opinioin though, and isn't just SEEING those things amazing anyway?!? :)