# New to catching musky.



## Nimi_fisher5 (Jun 12, 2011)

Sorry for my number of posts but just trying to prepare the most I possibly can to try and get my second musky when I finally get to fish some decent musky waters down at my cottage on pleasant hill. I was wondering what are the hot lures / colors this year? And if trolling was producing more fish or casting. I'll try both. Last year I got my musky on a shallow diving crank bait. My friend got a surprise pike on a hot n tot. Any advice will be well taken. I am a beginner and love learning new techniques and tips. I already have a good rod reel and line and fish finder and motor and location. But what am I missing ? 
L


**Fish all day, every day**


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## MadMac (May 2, 2005)

I'm not familiar with that lake so my only advise would be to go by what you see on your sonar. Find the big marks and run your baits a foot or two above them. Vary your speed, lures, colors, and depths until something works and develop a pattern from there. I don't cast much but if I did this time of year I would target deep weed edges.


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## Whitemw (Aug 15, 2011)

Chaos tackle medussa has been lights out ... Super shad raps too silver shiner n blue gill colors for me


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## Bulldawg (Dec 3, 2007)

Pleasant Hill doesnt have a huge population of muskies that I know of , yes there are some in there . But you have better chances going somewhere else like Clear Fork which is not far from there . Madmac gave some great advise if you do decide to try it , but your odds will greatly increase going somewhere else .Good Luck .


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## Nimi_fisher5 (Jun 12, 2011)

Here's a storm lure. That looks a lot like the 10" jake. Muskywolverine 


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## BassSlayerChris (Aug 9, 2010)

Not to be a jerk or sound mean but I hope your planning for fall not now cause its way to warm to be pulling musky out right now. If you insist however get a nice one of those hotdog style nets and never take the fish out of the water. Have someone take a pic of it as you unhook it from the net then go right I rehabbing it. 


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## MuskieWolverine (May 16, 2012)

Thanks. That looks very similar to a jake..should work.


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## Nimi_fisher5 (Jun 12, 2011)

Ok. Sounds good. I think now my tackle should be pretty decent for this weekend. 


**Fish all day, every day**


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## backlashed (Mar 19, 2011)

BassSlayerChris said:


> If I was to specifically target muskie the first tool I'd get is a BIG rubber coated net. One muskie hunter referred to it as his aquarium. The nets have long handles so that one end can go under the gunwale and keep both your hands free, allowing you to concentrate on the fish.


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## Nimi_fisher5 (Jun 12, 2011)

Thanks! I actually just bought won the other day. Because we just got a new 17 foot boat and we needed a net for all fishin. But you might as well get a big one for the rare occasions like when I musky fish


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

Nimi_fisher5 said:


> Ok. Sounds good. I think now my tackle should be pretty decent for this weekend.
> 
> 
> **Fish all day, every day**


After all the talk lately on the board I am surprised your going muskie fishing this weekend.


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## Nimi_fisher5 (Jun 12, 2011)

Why??


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## Ogf's best (Feb 16, 2012)

Flat out kills most after you think you released it , and it swims away. I dont know if any Muskie club guys that fish for them this time of the year. The last meeting at the lake.....NO ONE showed up with a boat or rod. Catch the fish you plan on keeping to eat this time of the year. The toss back muskies are better off left alone this time off the year. Besides they are thin and tired this time of the year. Its a free world do want you want.....but understand the info you want will be hard to get. The absolute best muskie fishing people dont fish in this warm water condition. So I doubt you will get much help, however, I would guide you in the right direction during the spring or fall.


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## BigDaddy300 (Nov 1, 2004)

I bet you that there are some die hard musky guys from this site, that most people respect and look up to, that are still fishing!


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## Nimi_fisher5 (Jun 12, 2011)

Well. I'm driving down there for the weekend and I only go there in the summer. So it's now or never. Many people have given me great advice about musky fishin this week on this forum and all of them are still fishing ? 


**Fish all day, every day**


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

BigDaddy300 said:


> I bet you that there are some die hard musky guys from this site, that most people respect and look up to, that are still fishing!


*(Comment removed)


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## Ogf's best (Feb 16, 2012)

Good luck conservationist. Wait....thats me....trophy protecter....not a trophy undertaker......your legal have at it....explain it to your children later in life why the big muskies are gone.....Thanks for the freedom of speech ogf!


300......die hard guys are out there......yup.....guys who make muskies die hard....


grease and release the saugeyes...just sayin.......


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## MadMac (May 2, 2005)

Well, I guess we're all stupid in Chapter 19 because most of the people I know are fishing. As long as the temps aren't much over 80 at the surface and you get the fish in the net quickly and keep them submerged they are fine. I haven't had one fish that I was worried about this year. No need to take a pic unless it's a special fish. Just a week ago there were 35 people signed up to fish the Combined Tournament and 13 of them were from Chapter 23. They are the ones that have their meetings at the lake so you must be referring to them. *(comments removed)

That being said, if you play them out and bring them in the boat they WILL die.


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## firstflight111 (May 22, 2008)

make sure you ice them down real good its hot out ..


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## jonnythfisherteen2 (Mar 5, 2011)

*(Comments removed)
I've never caught a muskellenge, but I do know that a exhausted fish will die. keep that in mind when choosing the gear.


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## KaGee (Sep 8, 2006)

It's good to see the passion you all have about the Musky fishery.

If the loss of a few fish is going to kill a fishery, there's not much of one to begin with. 
Until the DNR says otherwise, the targeting of Musky is legal with no limited seasons. If you disagree, redirect your passion towards getting regulations changed, and changing the minds of other fisherman. When passion turns personal here in the forum, that's where we draw the line. Agree to disagree and move on.


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## BassSlayerChris (Aug 9, 2010)

How are you supposed to make it a limited season huh? What are you going to make illegal?? All the fisherman has to say is he is bass fishing and hes fine. There's no way they can stop it. 


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## MuskieWolverine (May 16, 2012)

BassSlayer:

They have a limited season in Minnesota and a few other northern states. If you hook up with a muskie while bass fishing, you better darned well put it back in the lake. If they see you out trolling for muskie (which is pretty obvious to spot), you will get nailed. 

I'm for protecting fisheries, but I also fish this time of year. Carefully. The way I see it, these are stocked lakes in Ohio.


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## Tatonka (Aug 23, 2007)

Ogf's best said:


> Flat out kills most after you think you released it , and it swims away. I dont know if any Muskie club guys that fish for them this time of the year. The last meeting at the lake.....NO ONE showed up with a boat or rod. Catch the fish you plan on keeping to eat this time of the year. The toss back muskies are better off left alone this time off the year. Besides they are thin and tired this time of the year. Its a free world do want you want.....but understand the info you want will be hard to get. The absolute best muskie fishing people dont fish in this warm water condition. So I doubt you will get much help, however, I would guide you in the right direction during the spring or fall.



What are you talking about? I know a few muskie club guys that are still fishing for them and releasing them right from the side of the boat


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## MadMac (May 2, 2005)

KaGee said:


> It's good to see the passion you all have about the Musky fishery.
> 
> If the loss of a few fish is going to kill a fishery, there's not much of one to begin with.
> Until the DNR says otherwise, the targeting of Musky is legal with no limited seasons. If you disagree, redirect your passion towards getting regulations changed, and changing the minds of other fisherman. When passion turns personal here in the forum, that's where we draw the line. Agree to disagree and move on.


Sorry about that KaGee. I try to stay out of that but got ticked off. The young man was just asking for some advice and the thread gets hijacked by a couple guys that evidently think they have a right to order people not to fish. That's bad for membership. People get tired of this a quit posting.


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## firstflight111 (May 22, 2008)

MadMac said:


> Sorry about that KaGee. I try to stay out of that but got ticked off. The young man was just asking for some advice and the thread gets hijacked by a couple guys that evidently think they have a right to order people not to fish. That's bad for membership. People get tired of this a quit posting.


hey they eat like a walleye ..just saying


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## backlashed (Mar 19, 2011)

MadMac said:


> Sorry about that KaGee. I try to stay out of that but got ticked off. The young man was just asking for some advice and the thread gets hijacked by a couple guys that evidently think they have a right to order people not to fish. That's bad for membership. People get tired of this a quit posting.


You're right. It's not necessarily the message but how it gets delivered.


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

In numerous threads there has been reasons on why you should not fish for muskies over 80 degrees, the only reason I am hearing that says its ok is "guys in a club does it so its ok.". That is pretty lame.


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## Tatonka (Aug 23, 2007)

Legend killer said:


> In numerous threads there has been reasons on why you should not fish for muskies over 80 degrees, the only reason I am hearing that says its ok is "guys in a club does it so its ok.". That is pretty lame.


Opinionated reasons, any hard data and numbers out there ?
My opinion is people that don't know how to handle muskie in warm water is the #1 killer but that is also when the water is at 65 degrees
So my opinion is probably wrong just like 95% of all opinions are wrong or not totally right
But when people scream in my face about what i can and can't do I usually go towards the opposite and find out for myself


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## imalt (Apr 17, 2008)

I think that this biggest problem with this arguement is that there really isn't enough scientific research on the warm water mortality rates of musky. There are opinions by some well respected people in the musky community that the rate of delayed mortality is much higher in warm water but they are still opinions. The biggest danger in the warm water is trolling the musky up from deeper water. I think that is where the most stress is caused on the fish. I do agree with legend killer about just because everyone else is doing it makes it okay. But everyone fishing right now is not doing anything illegal and it is up to that person to decide. Plus this arguement has taken over a few threads now and seems like a waste of time at this point. No one is changing anybody's views on the topic at this point.


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## Tatonka (Aug 23, 2007)

imalt said:


> I think that this biggest problem with this arguement is that there really isn't enough scientific research on the warm water mortality rates of musky. There are opinions by some well respected people in the musky community that the rate of delayed mortality is much higher in warm water but they are still opinions. The biggest danger in the warm water is trolling the musky up from deeper water. I think that is where the most stress is caused on the fish. I do agree with legend killer about just because everyone else is doing it makes it okay. But everyone fishing right now is not doing anything illegal and it is up to that person to decide. Plus this arguement has taken over a few threads now and seems like a waste of time at this point. No one is changing anybody's views on the topic at this point.


And that is YOUR opinion that it isn't changing anyone's mind
Some people may change their habits over threads like these but they always get locked as soon as 2 people disagree or are exchanging ideas


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## imalt (Apr 17, 2008)

I agree with you Tatonka. And I like the discussions. But lately alot of threads are getting locked lately because of one person coming on and calling someone a name. I actually like to read all the different opinions and just hope everyone can share their opinion without getting the thread closed by violating a rule.


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## KaGee (Sep 8, 2006)

Seldom does a thread get locked because of one person. Just sayin!

And as for changing hearts and minds, you catch more bees with honey than vinegar.

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## Mason52 (Aug 21, 2009)

I love these hot water threads. It's like listening to Democrats and Republicans talk. I don't like to see any fish die but, I will tell you that I have been told that delayed mortality has been factored into the stocking program, I'm just saying.

And to Nimi_fisher5 I'll say that when I first started musky fishing I got on some web sites and was trying to get info on how to fish for them, it was July then also. Man did I get blasted about the hot water. After reading all the posts I thought to myself heck I haven't even seen a musky yet so I don't think they have to much to fear from me fishing for them.


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## Tatonka (Aug 23, 2007)

KaGee said:


> Seldom does a thread get locked because of one person. Just sayin!
> 
> And as for changing hearts and minds, you catch more bees with honey than vinegar.
> 
> Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


i agree 100% with the part in red


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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

imalt said:


> *I think that this biggest problem with this arguement is that there really isn't enough scientific research on the warm water mortality rates of musky.* There are opinions by some well respected people in the musky community that the rate of delayed mortality is much higher in warm water but they are still opinions. The biggest danger in the warm water is trolling the musky up from deeper water. I think that is where the most stress is caused on the fish. I do agree with legend killer about just because everyone else is doing it makes it okay. But everyone fishing right now is not doing anything illegal and it is up to that person to decide. Plus this arguement has taken over a few threads now and seems like a waste of time at this point. No one is changing anybody's views on the topic at this point.


There is some significant research from Project Noble Beast. However, that study took place in Canada and the warmest water temp recorded for that study was 78 farenheit. I wish they would do a similar study on a southern resevoir such as Webster in IN, Alum in OH, or even Cave Run in KY. That could be monumentally revealing!

Here's as link to the results of the study in Canada.

http://fishlab.nres.uiuc.edu/Documents/Landsman_et_al_Muskellunge.pdf


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Tatonka said:


> And that is YOUR opinion that it isn't changing anyone's mind
> Some people may change their habits over threads like these but they always get locked as soon as 2 people disagree or are exchanging ideas


After reading all the threads i will think twice about chaseing muskies in the heat,But if someone does decide to I wont call them un-ethical or unsportsman like because of it.


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## Nimi_fisher5 (Jun 12, 2011)

Just wanted everyone to know that the surface temp of the water I was fishing was actually 71 degrees. And I ended up catching a baby pike. About 23 incher. I also hooked another pike that looked to be about 30 inches on a spinner bait that jumped and spit the hook. I had one musky fallow my buck tail all the way in but wouldn't hit. I also caught about a 3 pound bass. I fished from 6am to 1:30 


**Fish all day, every day**


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