"LeMay" said:
I was thinking suspended fish. Thats mostly the ones I hook into. 16 th of water and nothing around them. I just can't figer out why the muskie is their. Unless the fish is moveing from from one feed place to another or water temp. I cant seen to find any thermo climes the lake is shallow.
I'm not sure if we're ready to tackle this yet in our discussion yet. Why? My answer might not jibe with Buck's teachings since it is a muskie trait.
Ok, I know Buck doesn't mention a whole lot on suspended fish. I also know that early in the year Muskies are supposed to be higher in the water column, so run your bait higher. Now, what I don't know is do they still eat way up high in the heat of the summer? I have not had a great deal of success trolling in mid summer, or fall for that matter, nor have I had any sucess working a deep diver, whether casting or trolling in mid summer. And this question is not directed toward open water st. clair in july, because I know they run there lure fairly high there. I am talking about small stained inland waters. Is is still worth riping a lure just under the surface after the whole post spawn bite? Is there a certain type of structure to look for after all the cabbage weeds disapear, and all you have is sloppy milfoil etc. weeds? Will fish move into this shallow water junk, that looks kind of brownish in the middle of summer? Is there more of a pronounced movment of fish at night when the temps start to sore?
Yes this is about ten questions in one lol, but none I have completely figured out.
Great questions about suspended fish…
What has been learned through this reading should allow you to connect the dots on suspended fish. The teachings wculd lead you to belive that fish go from break to break on their migration from deep to shallow or shallow to deep with their belly stuck to the bottom. However, experience and common sense will show this is not the case. Knowing the structure and the migration route can give you a BIG clue on suspended fish and how deep you need to present your lures. Fishing too deep is probably the most common mistake, particularly when trolling for suspended fish. I've seen good fishing for suspended fish completely shut down by a couple boats trolling an area too deep.
From what I read in the book, the fish will typically suspend off of the breaks at the same depth as the breaks. It would make sense then to start with the shallow break and troll the breakline structure and then from there, when you hit a bend or turn, rather than try to follow it, just troll off the structure at the same depth and over the migration route and you should find the fish, if not, try the next break just a bit deeper and so on until you find the fish. Apply the same stratedgy to casting. Start out with a high running lure and cast out to the suspended area, then a little deeper presentation and so on until you find the fish.
why is it than trolling baits to deep will actually shut off a bite? Do they sense something unnatural is going on?
One more…I remember a couple years back when Gabe and I fished the Ice up challenge in November and the muskies were right on the surface.
Does this happen more than people might think that late in the year? And, what would posses a muskie to do this, when all the books you read including buck perry's states that cold water fish hold tight to steep breaks? Its all so confusing!!
I think that some muskie's only use structure in the spring for sponing. After that they move out to deeper water and suspend. They stay in the top 10 ft of water all summer. Feeding on small schools of fish. They do this becuse of to much boat traffic and fishing. I think these are bigger and older fish. What do you think.
LeMay OUT
"Abomb" said:
why is it than trolling baits to deep will actually shut off a bite? Do they sense something unnatural is going on?
One more…I remember a couple years back when Gabe and I fished the Ice up challenge in November and the muskies were right on the surface.
Does this happen more than people might think that late in the year? And, what would posses a muskie to do this, when all the books you read including buck perry's states that cold water fish hold tight to steep breaks? Its all so confusing!!
It is entirely possible to hit fish with your line when trolling too deep. This would include muskies and also any suspended bait they are keying on.
"Right on the surface" is relative. Isn't it possible that those fish had moved off the structure they were holding on and were suspended at the level of the break they were relating to? I wouldn't be so quick to call a fish that ate a lure 5-6' down over 12-15 feet suspended. Is there any way to know for sure that fish didn't come off a break on the bottom to eat that lure? Think back to where those fish were caught and tell me if you think they might have been relating to a couple of the best migration routes on the lake.
"LeMay" said:
I think that some muskie's only use structure in the spring for sponing. After that they move out to deeper water and suspend. They stay in the top 10 ft of water all summer. Feeding on small schools of fish. They do this becuse of to much boat traffic and fishing. I think these are bigger and older fish. What do you think.LeMay OUT
I think it wouldn't make sense for a fish that loves structure to do this. Even in the middle of St Clair or Georgian Bay the fish are still related to structure and breaks. Fishing pressure and boat traffic might change their habits (when they move) but they are still going to utilize structure and breaks. In fact, I think it is just the opposite… the biggest fish will use the best structure.
Yes, you are correct as far as the migration route. By looking at the map, the fish were right where they wer supposed to be. But still, higher in the water column than I would expect. On a sharp break, fish do not always follow the the bottom contour of it, sometimes what your saying is they will suspend off of the top portion or shelf? Or rather where they have no reason to go shallower and they stay at that depth even a ways out into the main basin? Or, since we are only talking about 12-14 feet of water, the fish were just aggressive enought to come up a few feet and smack the lure?
Here's a graphic that we used a while back. I added a dotted line of how I would expect some of the fish to leave shallow water. They don't follow the migration route on the bottom but they still leave the shallow water and suspend over their deep water sanctuary. In dark water this could be fish that are 4-5 feet down and in very clear water they could be 20 feet down.
"><url url="[Permission to view this media is denied]<url url="[Permission to view this media is denied]
"><link_text text="[Permission to view this media is denied] … dedch5.jpg">[Permission to view this media is denied]
” alt=”
"><link_text text="[Permission to view this media is denied] … dedch5.jpg">[Permission to view this media is denied]
” />
I guess you could look at a school of baitfish as structure, that is if you wanted to take a shortcut. If you find a school of baitfish on your depth finder, you could probably find muskies in that area and say the fish are suspended fish. But that wouldn't necessarily be accurate. Originally they were in their deep water sanctuary, then up to the different breaks along their migration route and at sometime along this migration, they could follow baitfish or wonder off their breaks and become suspended, but probably not permanently. To just find fish suspended all year long might be a challenge due to the changing needs of baitfish. You would also miss ALL the fish inbetween the suspended area and the migration route they took. I would think the key is to fish the entire migration route each time you go out and then once you see a pattern, it will stay pretty close to constant until something changes it. Just keep in mind the speed and depth controls you will need to adapt to certain weather changes.
The diagram provided by Will shows why we get Muskies in 60 feet of water on Murray 40 back with a jointed Slasher. The baits are running about 6 to 7 feet down. Starting shallow is always best working your way deeper. Even over deep water we get wide with planer baords and run shallow baits and watch the electronics. I enter deep fish as icons and hit them later with deeper running cranks. This has worked well on Murray,Hudson and Thornapple. Also on several deeper Upper peninsula lakes we fish. Mike and Michelle
52
20