# Summer Muskie?



## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Got a few quick questions.

With the recent rain, visibility in the water is basically zero in the water. Fish can only be seen if that are at the very top of the water. Knowing these conditions:

What color lure would you use in the day (mainly sunny)? What color during the night? 

In spring, we'd hook maybe 1 in 3 bites (we shore fish). Lately our success rate for landing a fish has been very low. Three days now, with almost a dozen fish actually on the hook, only to be lost 15-30 seconds into the fight. Any ideas what we could be doing wrong? I personally have lost two, one would have been a high high 30, low 40lb fish. Set the hook hard, kept tension on the entire time. Any tips on raising our success rate?

Yes, the weather has been hot, but the place we fish is fed by a really cold spring so the water temps aren't like the rest of the areas. Also, I take the time to really give the fish some time to revive before letting it go......


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

30-40lbs? That's a monster muskie!


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

Sharpen your hooks! I like black lure at night. Discolored water - bright colors, orange bladed bucktails, bright firetiger plugs. A 30+ pounder would probably have a nice spot over my fireplace. 
Somtime a big ski will clamp down on the bait and your hookset doesn't move it. I remember a big ol muskie, that we nicknamed "Old Sleighbells", clamped down on a Helin u-20 flatfish that my brother was tossing. Thought we had her until about 30 feet from the boat, the muskie opened her mouth and out came the flatfish. The lure then proceeded to sink as the fish had punctured the plastic lure with its teeth... The nickname - the big fish had a couple of lures dangling from her jaws. When she jumped it sounded like Santa was coming to town .


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

The water we fish in is so dark and murky. Rather hard to see anything except fish skimming the surface!

I did buy a new jointed jerkbait yesterday, fire tiger pattern. Around cast ten last night a 43" muskie just absolutely slaughtered it. I saw the fish come out of the water (this is about 11pm at night) before I felt the hit. Quick, great netting job by my buddy too. We were going to weigh her but she was bleeding a bit from the hook so I just got a quick pic and released her. 

Also went and bought some new hooks after last night. Figured for $2/5 hooks, that's about $1 per fish to replace hooks. I'm good with that! 

We've had 3 fish weighed over 30lbs this year (32 being the largest), this one would have been mid to upper 20's. I'd say close to 28ish. Once my buddy uploads the picture to Facebook I might post it.


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

Can't wait for the fish porn. Good job!


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)




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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

Most excellent fish.


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

Man burks, you got it goin on(well not exactly...yet). From shore to boot...

Can only imagine what the "real muskie fisherman are thinkin" lol. I can tell you the first thibpng theyll say is $2 for 5 hooks lol(though i agree, get sime better/sharper hooks, id say you should be spending at least $1 per hook, gamagatsus and owners theyll prob run closer to 2 bucks per musky hook, others too).

And get you a real rod and reel(not me).

And what is that grass doing on it?

Peace out. Cold spring fed shore muskie spot? WOOP WOOT!


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Best hooks I can find in the area, sorry. Bait shops here aren't the greatest, and I'm at the mercy of chain stores. Making the trip to Bass Pro Shops in two weeks and if I can't find what I want there, I'll order online.

Rod and reel, doing just fine. I don't see the need to go with some outrageous $200+ outfit when the setup I have now is doing just fine and dandy. No problem muscling them out of weeds or cover.

Grass......well.......the area we land the fish is just covered in weeds, grass, etc. It's nearly a vertical drop off so we're leaning practically in the water to get the fish unhooked. So sometimes they get a bit dirty from mud and various "crap" that is floating in the water.


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

Just cant emphasize hooks enough. You will land more skis with sharper and higher quality hooks. Gamagatsus and owners? Well you should not need to ever sharpen these. For all practical purposes you cant even sharpen a hook as sharp as these. Im sure there are other hooks that are 98% as good as them for 1/2 the price like maybe vmc, etc, but if you dont want to mess around get these (the thicker ones for skis, 2x, 3x, maybe 4x,etc).

Rod/reel combo, i was mostly joshin, but $20-$30 dicks combo is not the best ski option. Most impt is a stiff rod lol to set that hook. You will lose some sensitivity with a cheaper rod, but it is not super crutical. A med action rod is not ideal for skis. And thats what most dicks combos are.

Grass - no worries.

More than anything else i was joshin around with others, but i respect them for taking the sport so seriously. Why i sai peace out at the end.

Peace out burks, keep on keepin on.


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

Are you at a lake or river


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Thanks for the advice JamesT, I always appreciate any and all info! I'll look into those hooks for sure. I'll be getting my first RN paycheck in two weeks so money won't be QUITE the issue it is now. If they are as good as you say they are, I'm all in.

Clear Fork Reservoir, Legend killer.


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## Tatonka (Aug 23, 2007)

Congrats, that is a nice fish and sounds like you have a honey hole


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Completely blanked on the last three outings. Only one hit.

I've gone through probably 12-15 different lures and tried different retrieval speeds and style with each. No idea what is going on.

The area we fish has had a LOT of bluegill and white bass die off. You can walk along the bank and count a hundred dead fish within a small stretch. There are varying levels of decay from just bones to freshly dead. I wonder if the combination of high heat, low rain, and stagnant water has made the muskie just lethargic as can be. We see them, they are just sitting there. You can toss lures within an inch of their face and they don't move.

We haven't even seen them out swimming much. Not a good sign IMO.......


We're going to try bass fishing and going for cats for a bit. We'll revisit muskie toward the mid-September.


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

Welcome to fishing.


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Yeah, sort of has me bummed. I just hope the muskie have survived this horrible die off. We've seen no evidence of a dead muskie (bones or anything), so that is positive. The water is only 5ft deep in the deepest spots so spotting a floater or something is easy.

Oh well. Gives me a chance to finally start bass fishing. I've only caught them by accident while going for gills or crappie. Time to focus on them.


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

You know the pattern for next year and theyll be back later this year.


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

JamesT said:


> You know the pattern for next year and theyll be back later this year.


Exactly my thoughts as well. Even next year I'll be well prepared and practiced for them. 

Part of fishing I guess. We all can't land the :B every day. Actually went out for bluegill the other day and had an absolute blast.


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## Nimi_fisher5 (Jun 12, 2011)

Where are u guys doing so good on musky?? Especially from shore


"fish all day , every day"


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