Prime Conditions for MUSKIE?!

'Bait hit it pretty well. High sun and no wind is bad. Not useless, just not good. You want a bit of surface chop, and the clouds are good. And like he said, changes are key. Any change-change in wind (speed, direction), change in clouds, change in pressure, change in water colors (seams and boundaries) and that sort of thing. They do like long stable trends, like several days of consistent weather, but then they do like the sudden changes. Though they don't like changes every day. Does that make sense? They like it when the wind shifts from E to W or when a front comes through. They don't like a day of sun, then a day of rain, then a day of sun, then a day of clouds. And it's not that they don't "like" it I guess, it's just that it disrupts their patterns and keeps them kinda up in the air. Typically, during the summer a cold snap will shut them down, while a cold front will spur them on in the fall.

QUOTE(esoxfly @ Jul 1 2009, 11:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>'Bait hit it pretty well. High sun and no wind is bad. Not useless, just not good. You want a bit of surface chop, and the clouds are good. And like he said, changes are key. Any change-change in wind (speed, direction), change in clouds, change in pressure, change in water colors (seams and boundaries) and that sort of thing. They do like long stable trends, like several days of consistent weather, but then they do like the sudden changes. Though they don't like changes every day. Does that make sense? They like it when the wind shifts from E to W or when a front comes through. They don't like a day of sun, then a day of rain, then a day of sun, then a day of clouds. And it's not that they don't "like" it I guess, it's just that it disrupts their patterns and keeps them kinda up in the air. Typically, during the summer a cold snap will shut them down, while a cold front will spur them on in the fall.

Yea, i get it. Sort of a complicated fish, but ohh well. The more the challenge, the more the reward if ur lucky enough to land one.

QUOTE(esoxfly @ Jul 1 2009, 11:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>'Bait hit it pretty well. High sun and no wind is bad. Not useless, just not good. You want a bit of surface chop, and the clouds are good. And like he said, changes are key. Any change-change in wind (speed, direction), change in clouds, change in pressure, change in water colors (seams and boundaries) and that sort of thing. They do like long stable trends, like several days of consistent weather, but then they do like the sudden changes. Though they don't like changes every day. Does that make sense? They like it when the wind shifts from E to W or when a front comes through. They don't like a day of sun, then a day of rain, then a day of sun, then a day of clouds. And it's not that they don't "like" it I guess, it's just that it disrupts their patterns and keeps them kinda up in the air. Typically, during the summer a cold snap will shut them down, while a cold front will spur them on in the fall.

definatley not useless. I always look at it like you might get one chance at a good fish. getting a 2nd chance usually doesnt happen.

QUOTE(gimmeteeth @ Jul 2 2009, 05:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What SpinnerBait and Esox said often tends to hold true, but I've found it hard to generalize. There are so many factors in play, including the water temperature, time of year, and just plain being in the right place at the right time using a bait and presentation they go for.

I had my best musky action ever last Monday, which was sunny, hot, and nearly calm, with such a light east wind there were hardly any waves on the W end of Anchor Bay. Caught my personal best on a sunny, breezy "blue bird" post-cold front day at the beginning of last October running a lure at 2.2 mph almost dead against the wind using an electric motor after running out of gas.

Toothy critters can be bloody unpredictable and that's part of the challenge and fun of hunting 'em. ><{{{{{{{{*>

I agree it's hard to generalize, and that it's best to go fish whenever you can, as fish don't have alarm clocks or weather reports and that sort of thing. But I still maintain that given the choice, I'd fish a cloudy, choppy day before I fished a sunny, calm day. Though given the opportunity, I'd fish both days!

And as I highlighted above, a cold front in the fall will often get the girls going, putting the feed bag on.

QUOTE(troller11 @ Jul 2 2009, 03:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>QUOTE(HardCoreMuskieMan @ Jul 2 2009, 02:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Prime time is whenever you can go. Although I dont fish muskies too much anymore, I can tell you this: When it comes to muskie fishin...there arent any rules!

i agree with hardcore,but that goes for any fishing


I disagree. Take salmon for instance. They will be where the bait is. When the cold water is onshore, like after a good NW blow on lake Michigan, the salmon will be on the beach. If the cold water is off shore, that is where they will be. Early season the spoon program works well. Late season the plugs come into their own. Since the West shore of Lake Michigan has gotten considerably cleaner, lead core out produces downriggers by a big margin. Slide divers generally will produce way more fish than a traditional dipsy diver. These arent rules, just fishing facts. Bass fishing the day after a cold front..they will be deep and generally fishing is tuff. What I am saying is most fish are at the mercy of their environment and they respond accordingly. If you know your fish, you can tell where they should be. Most of the time. But not muskies. They often end up in places they shouldnt be and bite at times when you think they wont. That has been my experience after fishing for them for about 30 years. Most of that experience has been casting for them. I hardly ever troll muskies with boards anymore because you cant stop the boat and it is like dragging a big log in. However, I know boards will out produce other trolling methods. I just dont like it any more. Trolling without boards is more fun because you can stop the boat after a strike. But casting is the best. Furthermore, I believe Lake St. Clair muskies are the most sluggish muskies I have ever encountered. Another reason why I spend 7 months wading for steelhead in rivers and the rest of the season I downrig for steelhead and salmon.
I guess my rant about muskies should have been another thread. Sorry about that.

Jim

QUOTE(troller11 @ Jul 2 2009, 05:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>i hear ya on salmon but it doesnt always take a offshore wind to bring them in ive caught salmon out of what is the expected temp range if the bait is there. once august hits water temp irrlevent the fish can be anywhere as they start staging for spawn. but i still say there are no rules ive trolled jplugs and hoochies in april before and taken fish when most run body baits so there are no rules just guidelines.

It is the onshore winds that bring the salmon in close. Last August the salmon were on the beach for weeks! The last week of August after several days of offshore winds there were a lot of fish down 100 on the shelf at Manistee. I do agree August/September fish can be anywhere. I love fishing them in the shallows! We fish Frankfort and Manistee. I like Frankfort better because you dont have to run anywhere with deep water close in. We fished the Onekama Shakedown this spring, end of May. We got 5th place and cashed $700.00 and 3rd palce in the 333 our 3 biggest for the 2 day tourney was 49.7 pounds that netted us another $500.00 in tackle. We went 14 for 18 on day 1 and 10 for 14 on day 2. What sucked was the tourney fishing hours were 7-1 PM.