I know muskies can still get cranked up to bust a lure trollin in 39 dgree water @4 or 5 MPH,but what is a normal top end for late oct-nov.trolling speeds???I`m tryin to stay under 4mph,like 3.2-3.8….but maybe I`m still goin to fast.??Do you go down to a crawl like 2.5,and 3-3.5 is goin at the top range??Hey Kingfisher troller extraordinare….what speed did you get those thorn fish last november??
DU
I hate slow… I would need a major dose of caffeine to go slower than 3.5 mph. If I can get fish to go at 4 mph+, I'm not going to go any slower. I think what you would hear from the guys that catch truly big fish in the fall is that they don't troll slower than 3-3.5 and when they are trolling that slow they are making contact with cover (rocks, wood, sand).
I`ve been trying that on hard bottom lakes.makes me feel good,plus my largest thornapple fish(47)came off rippin bottom/sand/rock stuff in late oct.
Question……….lakes that you can`t do that(weedy/soft bottom)I know that the kent county lakes have a spot or two that you can clip points,etc.but they mostly have sand,muck,and some junk weed on them,and You probably won`t come out clean,should it still work if you smash into shallow muck/weed flat/edge,and just rip on it a little harder and hope you come out of it pretty clean and get a fish`s attention?????
bottom contact important/good in the fall on a weed lake,as it is on a reservoir/river mouth lake???
Im kind of on the same page as Will on this one Dave. But there are certain lures that require slower speeds. Charter boats on St. Clair all differ on thier speeds. Don Miller says half of your summer speeds. Tom Loy says 4.6 all the time . I slowed down from 4.3 to 4.0 and hit three 50's in 2 days. I think when water cools rapidly you have to slow down for a while but once things stabilize Im back up to 4.3 on average. Last fall on Thornapple 6 muskies over 40 inches on three straight saturdays. All taken in 9 to 12 feet of water on the weed edge. All lures were 15 to 30 feet back and speeds were between 3.5 and 4.5 mph gps. I think location and lure action were more important then speed. Certain Lures run at certain speeds. My slashers run best at 4.0 to 4.5 mph. Lokes run a little faster say up to 5.5. Jakes can be pulled faster yet. Guys on Georgian Bay tell me they have to slow down in the fall to about 3.1 to 4.0 and troll deeper than they do in the summer. 6 of one half dozen of the other. One way to test for the right speed is to zig zag. One side will be going faster and the other slows down. If a fish hits on the fast side you need to be trolling faster. If they hit the rising slower side the opposite applies. I have read reports from St. Clair where guys were trolling at 5.5 mph in December with ice on parts of the lake and they went 5 for 6 with terminaters, 2.8 mph with tuff shads same results. Confused yet?? I was told to use big baits in October but caught two out 3 ,50 inchers on small baits. I think there are a lot of articles written about these things like trolling speeds and lure size that are pure B.S.. My take on trolling anywhere is use a lure that resembles the local forage,colors that show up in the water(stained) or clear. Speeds that make the lures Im running work right. For instance I cant get a fish to hit a long lure trolling in Webster. But put on a Bagley monster shad or a tuff shad and its fish on . these lures run best under 4 mph. and they look like the local forage which is mostly shad. St Clair has everything out there. I was popping fish this summer on tuff Shads at 3.0 mph and slashers at 4.3, Lokes at 4.6 . . I guess Im saying let the lure decide your speed unless you have a sudden drop in water temps. Kingfisher
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