Understanding the habits of the baitfish they feed on at this time is crucial. In North America's top musky waters, the lakes and flowages of northern Wisconsin, ciscos and whitefish are both fall staples in a musky's diet. Evenings in late fall these fish enter the shallows to spawn. Muskies follow them in to feed. Heavy populations of these baitfish provide the oily meat that really adds weight. Both Mepps Musky and Giant Killers emulate ciscos and whitefish. Try a silver blade model with a white, or black and white bucktail.
Rainbo scale blades can also be deadly this time of year. Again, stick with a white or black and white bucktail. Remaining as quiet as possible while fishing these shallows is absolutely essential; don't even use an electric trolling motor. Drift into shore and cast on the way. Sunny fall days will provide calm afternoon water, and are excellent times to fish a Musky Killer in the cabbage weeds.
It's here the muskys go to warm themselves. They also take advantage of the shadows to stalk their prey. Because of the similarity of weather conditions, this is also an excellent place to find muskys in the early summer. My perfect reel for this presentation is the Daiwa Lexa HD. Vary your retrieve. Sometimes they want it burning, other times they want it a little bit slower. There is no more exciting way to catch muskies than on topwater lures and no better time to do it than in the heat of the summer.
But there is another reason why throwing surface lures at this time of the year is so effective. You can pitch them over the thickest weeds and shallowest rock cover where big toothy critters are roaming, and never get hung up, disturb the zone or spook the fish. But there is a lesson most big toothy critter anglers need to learn and that is to slow down — way down — and not overwork their lures.
Too many anglers are under the mistaken impression that they need to wake up the neighborhood and draw attention to their lure sitting on the surface. But believe me, every muskie within yards saw and heard your lure land. About the only time I pick up the pace is when I spot a big fish suddenly pull in behind my surface lure and start stalking it. It is why summer is my favorite time of the musky season and using topwater lures are my favorite way to catch them. Once we enter the heat of the summer, I like to fish hard and fast and cover as much water as possible, as quickly as I can.
With the warmer water temperatures we see this time of year, muskies need to feed more often to make up for the changes in their metabolism. One of my new favorite combinations is a Mag 8 Colorado blade paired up with a 6 Colorado blade. The primary spots that I tend to target are shallow boulder-style rock structures that top out at feet and drop down to about 6 feet.
On the lakes that I fish, I have almost all of these locations scoped out and marked on my Humminbird, which makes it extremely easy to put my baits right on the money spot even during rough weather conditions. My second choice for summer muskies is an 8 foot cabbage edge. Most anglers will position their boat in deep water and throw up into the weeds. According to Sperry, the days immediately preceding or following a new or full moon will find muskies looking up. Although some anglers are turned off by a full moon, Sperry says those bright nights are just as good as the pitch black of a new moon.
Sperry also wants the kind of hot spells that bring high humidity. He prefers fishing from early evening through sunset, because he knows muskies will come into the skinny water to hunt then. Although Stevenson has caught muskies on topwaters at virtually every time of day, the most reliable times are an hour before sunup and the two hours after sunset. He focuses his efforts on shallow bars, flats, river mouths, rockpiles, and channel edges.
Clair, Michigan. According to Hulbert, nighttime is the right time to throw topwaters for trophy muskies on legendary Lake St. He stresses subtlety when fishing up top at night.
0コメント