Spring Forward
By: Andy Hamm and Timmy Peterzen
MuskyHunter Magazine- (June/July Issue 2014)
We’ve waited all off-season, sharpening hooks, acquiring new lures and adding more possible distractions to our arsenal, but we’ve also got a few smart ideas to carry into the season ahead. It’s muskie time. It’s time to put our new tools and resolutions into action and get to work. You may be building on what you put together last spring, or perhaps you’re going to take a gamble on a new pattern this year. If the spring muskies haven’t treated you so well in years past, then maybe it’s time to take some risks to try and develop something new. If you were on a good pattern during the last spring period, then you’re trying to continue where you left off to really develop the pattern into something special. Locating your fish is paramount. If you’ve got past knowledge on muskie locations, you have a strong starting block to start your new season. If you aren’t contacting fish doing what you’ve always done, then it’s time to change things up and search, even if this means going out of your comfort zone. This is always challenging, especially early in the season. Maybe there are a few things you vowed not to do last year and you’ve learned through hard luck, tough fishing, and very few muskies that you need to make some changes. We all find our own weaknesses every year (sometimes the hard way) so hopefully we’ve got a handful of things that we’re starting to do better, right out of the gate, to up our odds of catching a fish when we get the chance. With muskie fishing popularity at an all time high, it is nice to have a few tactics and tricks to separate yourself from everybody else. This article will give you tried and proven tactics for catching spring muskies, taken from the minds of two avid anglers. Muskie fishing in the spring is a grind, and it requires hard work, trial & error and constant adjustment to put it all together. Time on the water facilitates all three. Let’s get fishing.
Shallow
We all know that locating muskies is the only way to truly develop a pattern and get bit. Sometimes the locations are very ordinary, like shallow structure relating to rocks, weeds or wood. Every year in the spring, the muskies head up to spawn around the shallow, hard bottom areas of the lake when the water is between 48 and 58 degrees. The first things I look for on my lake map are big shallow bays close to deep basins. Fish want to have access to that deep water when they are completely done spawning. For my situation in the northern region of Minnesota, I look for a multiple acre bay that has a dark muddy bottom. These vast bays have the ability to hold dozens of muskies. This past season in 2013, we had very cold and late spring. The muskies had just finished up their spawning and were still using these areas at the time of season opener. Which bay should I fish? I will go around and check with my graph and pay very close to water temperature. The larger bays that had the warmest water had muskies that were more active. Also, if the bay had a creek or small stream flowing in, that was also a plus. There are a few ways to fish these types of bays. Most people will make a pass or two through the bay and run to the next one, while this can be effective, I like to use the “Sneak Attack” method. This is a specific tactic I have used the last few season that has really paid off. I will make multiple drifts on different paths throughout the entire bay, fan casting off both sides of the boat. These fish can be extremely shallow, sometime less than 2 feet, so I will turn the trolling motor off completely and drift silently across the bay on multiple paths, using the wind to decide which way I cover the bay. If you catch yourself on a calm day, set your trolling motor to the slowest speed possible. This tactic will really dissect the bay and, when you know its holding dozens of fish, there is no reason to leave! During the spring, water temps are changing by the hour and these fish can push to different depths quickly, so each day is different. Without knowing the exact location of the muskies in these shallow bays on any given day, you may find that this “Sneak Attack” tactic can really pay off. To give you a better idea of the amount of detail and time I will put in a spot like this – I’ll usually fish the same area in early June for three hours or more. In early spring when they are stacked into these shallow bays shortly after the spawn, it is hard for me to leave fish to find fish. Even when these spring fish are just off the spawn they can be very aggressive, although it may take more coaxing beyond just the application of a fast bucktail to put one in the net. Some of my favorite early season baits are erratic style baits. Gliders that can be worked very fast (sometimes painfully fast), and walk the dog style topwaters have been very productive for me the last few seasons in June. Do not get stuck in the rut of having to throw tiny baits in early season. Although they are effective, it’s not the only way! The same goes for color selection–my situation calls for lots of whites, chartreuses, and oranges, as I am fishing dark stained muddy bottom bays. Let the fish tell you what they enjoy most in your neck of the woods!
Paying attention to success is the most over looked thing in muskie fishing. The reason my June is productive each year is because of my documentation. I can tell you the exact time, depth, water temp, lure, and every weather variable for each fish I have caught in the last 4 years. I have a detailed spreadsheet of data that allows me to pattern fish throughout the entire year and there is no better time to have this data than early in the season when fishing can be tough. Knowing which water temps affect fish and how it correlates with bait styles, locations, and time of year has put more fish in my boat. There 2 fish that were caught during 2013 season on the season opener and were caught within 20 minutes of each other on the same waypoint. Each time we executed the “Sneak Attack” drift over this area, we got a bite or saw a few follow. Notice the dark color of the fish–they have just finished up their spawn and have adapted their color to match the dark muddy bottom. This is not the first year that this exact waypoint has produced fish in June. Pods of early season muskies frequent this spot on the spot year after year!
Middle
When they’ve finished their yearly ritual, many of the muskies will bail out of the shallows in search of recuperation and, of course, more food! Food is always my common denominator when dealing with and locating post-spawn muskies here in the North Country. On the waters I fish in South Central Minnesota, the muskie season opens during the first weekend in June and usually finds the muskies right at the end or just beyond the spawning period. Once the fish are done with the spawn and begin to roam, this is when their location and holding areas become extraordinary. They can be roaming over expansive weed flats, outside of their shallow spawning grounds, or they can be found suspended off the structure within a few casts of our traditional breaklines and weed beds. A few seasons back, on the Muskie Opener, my friends John, Steve and I returned to a weedy bay that had been loaded with muskies the year prior. During all of the previous spring and early summer period, the expansive cabbage bed in this bay seemed to show us a fish or two every day. The water temp had recently jumped to 70 degrees, which I consider the start of big bucktail weather. We couldn’t establish a hard edge to the cabbage bed we were targeting, so our strategy was to zig-zag back and forth over the tapered edge. It didn’t take long before my burned Cowgirl was stopped with a violent thrash on the end of the cast and in a flash of scales and teeth; the season had begun with a 50-inch muskie gracing our presence. This big female was located within a large, sporadic cabbage bed adjacent to her spawning area, and as you can see from the (cover) photo, she was in very good shape after enduring the spawn earlier that year. This catch was a prime example of a muskie that wasn’t attached to an evident feature of the lake, but was still within range of her spawning habitat in the spring of the year. This pattern of “mowing the grass” over this type of muskie habitat was replicated many times with the same mentality: keep grinding. When the fish were no longer penetrated into the shallower parts of the weed bed, they started to show up on the deeper part of the weed bed where an edge had begun to develop later in the spring.
Deep
During my last muskie opener in Minnesota, my experience was slightly different. Instead of the fish being located over top of submerged vegetation, most of my encounters were with the suspended, post-spawn fish. After working several weedy structures with our boat positioned tight to the edges, casting up onto the weed edges with our lures and working them back, we had little success with a few lazy follows. It’s never easy to make a decision to modify your position if you’re seeing fish, but my buddy Dan and I made the decision to fish deeper to try to find an angry one. Another reason for our decision was our observation of where the food was located. Some of the baitfish schools were in the weeds on top of the structures we were fishing, but throughout the morning we started to notice that most of the large schools of dimpling bluegills were starting to suspend in open water, off the structure. Instead of targeting exclusively deep water, adjacent to the structure, we again used the “zig-zag” boat control to give us a mixture of target depths. During further development of this deep approach, I also found that swinging the boat out out over the secondary, deep-water features of the structure was successful. Although the muskies are pulled off the weeds and shallow structure, they’re still aware that they’ve got a deep-water flat, hump or saddle underneath them to relate to. Some of our casts using this pattern would land close to the weed edges, and others would land in the open water within 100 feet of the structure. This suspended fishing tactic paid off almost immediately with a thunderous bite on a soft plastic as we made our way around a large mid-lake point. What a way to start off the year! After releasing the muskie and a short celebration, Dan and I looked at the graph and made a note that our bite had come on a parallel cast, off the weed edge, during one of our movements away from the structure. Again, this fish wasn’t in “no man’s land” but rather in close proximity to the shallow weeds and suspending beneath one of the isolated schools of baitfish. During the next few weeks of the spring muskie period, I continued to notice that the organic zig-zagging off the tips of these mid-lake points, turns and humps started to produce more of these suspended muskies that were babysitting the schools of bluegills in the region of the lake that I was fishing. After several years of only limited success in the early muskie season, I had a talk with myself and we agreed to do things differently in the coming year. I went out of my comfort zone and took a gamble to find the fish that I had been missing.
Attention Span
When the start of the muskie season arrives, it can be easy for me to get distracted. I’ve usually got a few new lures and probably a couple ideas rattling around in my head that I intend to use to catch more muskies. Before I get to implement those new tools and ideas, however, I make sure that my old faithful, tried and true methods of contacting muskies and aren’t still the answer to catching fish. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel if the fish are being predictable during the spring. I start with a classic run of about five spots, and then let the variables dictate my next move. Usually, if I haven’t caught a fish in those five spots, my attention span is tested and I have to make a decision to move to where the muskies are. Usually I’ll go back and run the same five spots again, deeper or shallower than the last time. Sometimes I may not have any data on which to base my next decision, so taking a chance at a shallower or deeper pass is all I have. ‘I know the muskies aren’t where I’m casting, or I would have caught one.’ is a common thought that runs through my head. When I finally do have the success at locating the next muskie, it’s up to me to make a mental note so that I can continue on my way to locating more. The important part for me is that I’m keeping one variable the same in my entire search throughout the water column and that is my presentation. In certain situations, I don’t change the lure color or size until I am done making the search through the entire muskie area. Paying attention to when you have success is key. It will turn a one or two fish day into something really special! It has taken me a few years to really dial in these early season styles of fishing. One of the hardest things is trust. Being able to trust in what you are trying to accomplish is the most important. When others are running all over the lake fishing dozens of spots, I am in my few select bays and really taking my time to dissect them. This spring, give some of these proven shallow ideas a try. Remember the shallow spring checklist:
· Remember what worked last year (but don’t be married to those ideas)
· Identify your muskie zones (map your spots and note the location of baitfish)
· “Sneak Attack” (silent, strategic, multiple drifts)
· Lures (let the fish tell you size, color and action)
· Documentation (pay attention–write down what is working and under what conditions)
Close The Deal
Locating the muskies and getting them to bite are all for not if you can’t close the deal. This is when your preseason preparation can make a huge difference. For us, muskie fishing is all about winning the small battles. Sharp hooks, long casts, good figure-8’s, proper boat control, and awareness of conditions are just a few of the main things accomplished on each and every muskie trip. You are going to have ups and downs each time you are out fishing and the difference between average and top-notch muskie fishermen is their ability to adapt and accept. When things go wrong and you lose a fish or two, the simple self-talk and moving on to the next opportunity is key. Confidence and muskie fishing go hand in hand. You are going to lose fish during the fight and being able to move forward and not get down on your self is important. Pay attention to why that specific fish bit your lure. Was it action, time of day, water temperature spike, moon phase, lure color or size? Or was it simply the fact that you have found a mother lode of muskies!? The process of narrowing down the pertinent variables goes back to your documentation–recording what is happening at the time of high fish activity and your encounters/catches. This will allow you to duplicate your patterns not only for that day, but also down the road when you are faced with similar situations and are wondering which variable to adjust.
When the next fish is hot on your lure or thrashing on the end of your line, don’t forget to breathe, trust your instincts and above all, enjoy the brief moment that you’re hooked up.
By: Andy Hamm and Timmy Peterzen
MuskyHunter Magazine- (June/July Issue 2014)
We’ve waited all off-season, sharpening hooks, acquiring new lures and adding more possible distractions to our arsenal, but we’ve also got a few smart ideas to carry into the season ahead. It’s muskie time. It’s time to put our new tools and resolutions into action and get to work. You may be building on what you put together last spring, or perhaps you’re going to take a gamble on a new pattern this year. If the spring muskies haven’t treated you so well in years past, then maybe it’s time to take some risks to try and develop something new. If you were on a good pattern during the last spring period, then you’re trying to continue where you left off to really develop the pattern into something special. Locating your fish is paramount. If you’ve got past knowledge on muskie locations, you have a strong starting block to start your new season. If you aren’t contacting fish doing what you’ve always done, then it’s time to change things up and search, even if this means going out of your comfort zone. This is always challenging, especially early in the season. Maybe there are a few things you vowed not to do last year and you’ve learned through hard luck, tough fishing, and very few muskies that you need to make some changes. We all find our own weaknesses every year (sometimes the hard way) so hopefully we’ve got a handful of things that we’re starting to do better, right out of the gate, to up our odds of catching a fish when we get the chance. With muskie fishing popularity at an all time high, it is nice to have a few tactics and tricks to separate yourself from everybody else. This article will give you tried and proven tactics for catching spring muskies, taken from the minds of two avid anglers. Muskie fishing in the spring is a grind, and it requires hard work, trial & error and constant adjustment to put it all together. Time on the water facilitates all three. Let’s get fishing.
Shallow
We all know that locating muskies is the only way to truly develop a pattern and get bit. Sometimes the locations are very ordinary, like shallow structure relating to rocks, weeds or wood. Every year in the spring, the muskies head up to spawn around the shallow, hard bottom areas of the lake when the water is between 48 and 58 degrees. The first things I look for on my lake map are big shallow bays close to deep basins. Fish want to have access to that deep water when they are completely done spawning. For my situation in the northern region of Minnesota, I look for a multiple acre bay that has a dark muddy bottom. These vast bays have the ability to hold dozens of muskies. This past season in 2013, we had very cold and late spring. The muskies had just finished up their spawning and were still using these areas at the time of season opener. Which bay should I fish? I will go around and check with my graph and pay very close to water temperature. The larger bays that had the warmest water had muskies that were more active. Also, if the bay had a creek or small stream flowing in, that was also a plus. There are a few ways to fish these types of bays. Most people will make a pass or two through the bay and run to the next one, while this can be effective, I like to use the “Sneak Attack” method. This is a specific tactic I have used the last few season that has really paid off. I will make multiple drifts on different paths throughout the entire bay, fan casting off both sides of the boat. These fish can be extremely shallow, sometime less than 2 feet, so I will turn the trolling motor off completely and drift silently across the bay on multiple paths, using the wind to decide which way I cover the bay. If you catch yourself on a calm day, set your trolling motor to the slowest speed possible. This tactic will really dissect the bay and, when you know its holding dozens of fish, there is no reason to leave! During the spring, water temps are changing by the hour and these fish can push to different depths quickly, so each day is different. Without knowing the exact location of the muskies in these shallow bays on any given day, you may find that this “Sneak Attack” tactic can really pay off. To give you a better idea of the amount of detail and time I will put in a spot like this – I’ll usually fish the same area in early June for three hours or more. In early spring when they are stacked into these shallow bays shortly after the spawn, it is hard for me to leave fish to find fish. Even when these spring fish are just off the spawn they can be very aggressive, although it may take more coaxing beyond just the application of a fast bucktail to put one in the net. Some of my favorite early season baits are erratic style baits. Gliders that can be worked very fast (sometimes painfully fast), and walk the dog style topwaters have been very productive for me the last few seasons in June. Do not get stuck in the rut of having to throw tiny baits in early season. Although they are effective, it’s not the only way! The same goes for color selection–my situation calls for lots of whites, chartreuses, and oranges, as I am fishing dark stained muddy bottom bays. Let the fish tell you what they enjoy most in your neck of the woods!
Paying attention to success is the most over looked thing in muskie fishing. The reason my June is productive each year is because of my documentation. I can tell you the exact time, depth, water temp, lure, and every weather variable for each fish I have caught in the last 4 years. I have a detailed spreadsheet of data that allows me to pattern fish throughout the entire year and there is no better time to have this data than early in the season when fishing can be tough. Knowing which water temps affect fish and how it correlates with bait styles, locations, and time of year has put more fish in my boat. There 2 fish that were caught during 2013 season on the season opener and were caught within 20 minutes of each other on the same waypoint. Each time we executed the “Sneak Attack” drift over this area, we got a bite or saw a few follow. Notice the dark color of the fish–they have just finished up their spawn and have adapted their color to match the dark muddy bottom. This is not the first year that this exact waypoint has produced fish in June. Pods of early season muskies frequent this spot on the spot year after year!
Middle
When they’ve finished their yearly ritual, many of the muskies will bail out of the shallows in search of recuperation and, of course, more food! Food is always my common denominator when dealing with and locating post-spawn muskies here in the North Country. On the waters I fish in South Central Minnesota, the muskie season opens during the first weekend in June and usually finds the muskies right at the end or just beyond the spawning period. Once the fish are done with the spawn and begin to roam, this is when their location and holding areas become extraordinary. They can be roaming over expansive weed flats, outside of their shallow spawning grounds, or they can be found suspended off the structure within a few casts of our traditional breaklines and weed beds. A few seasons back, on the Muskie Opener, my friends John, Steve and I returned to a weedy bay that had been loaded with muskies the year prior. During all of the previous spring and early summer period, the expansive cabbage bed in this bay seemed to show us a fish or two every day. The water temp had recently jumped to 70 degrees, which I consider the start of big bucktail weather. We couldn’t establish a hard edge to the cabbage bed we were targeting, so our strategy was to zig-zag back and forth over the tapered edge. It didn’t take long before my burned Cowgirl was stopped with a violent thrash on the end of the cast and in a flash of scales and teeth; the season had begun with a 50-inch muskie gracing our presence. This big female was located within a large, sporadic cabbage bed adjacent to her spawning area, and as you can see from the (cover) photo, she was in very good shape after enduring the spawn earlier that year. This catch was a prime example of a muskie that wasn’t attached to an evident feature of the lake, but was still within range of her spawning habitat in the spring of the year. This pattern of “mowing the grass” over this type of muskie habitat was replicated many times with the same mentality: keep grinding. When the fish were no longer penetrated into the shallower parts of the weed bed, they started to show up on the deeper part of the weed bed where an edge had begun to develop later in the spring.
Deep
During my last muskie opener in Minnesota, my experience was slightly different. Instead of the fish being located over top of submerged vegetation, most of my encounters were with the suspended, post-spawn fish. After working several weedy structures with our boat positioned tight to the edges, casting up onto the weed edges with our lures and working them back, we had little success with a few lazy follows. It’s never easy to make a decision to modify your position if you’re seeing fish, but my buddy Dan and I made the decision to fish deeper to try to find an angry one. Another reason for our decision was our observation of where the food was located. Some of the baitfish schools were in the weeds on top of the structures we were fishing, but throughout the morning we started to notice that most of the large schools of dimpling bluegills were starting to suspend in open water, off the structure. Instead of targeting exclusively deep water, adjacent to the structure, we again used the “zig-zag” boat control to give us a mixture of target depths. During further development of this deep approach, I also found that swinging the boat out out over the secondary, deep-water features of the structure was successful. Although the muskies are pulled off the weeds and shallow structure, they’re still aware that they’ve got a deep-water flat, hump or saddle underneath them to relate to. Some of our casts using this pattern would land close to the weed edges, and others would land in the open water within 100 feet of the structure. This suspended fishing tactic paid off almost immediately with a thunderous bite on a soft plastic as we made our way around a large mid-lake point. What a way to start off the year! After releasing the muskie and a short celebration, Dan and I looked at the graph and made a note that our bite had come on a parallel cast, off the weed edge, during one of our movements away from the structure. Again, this fish wasn’t in “no man’s land” but rather in close proximity to the shallow weeds and suspending beneath one of the isolated schools of baitfish. During the next few weeks of the spring muskie period, I continued to notice that the organic zig-zagging off the tips of these mid-lake points, turns and humps started to produce more of these suspended muskies that were babysitting the schools of bluegills in the region of the lake that I was fishing. After several years of only limited success in the early muskie season, I had a talk with myself and we agreed to do things differently in the coming year. I went out of my comfort zone and took a gamble to find the fish that I had been missing.
Attention Span
When the start of the muskie season arrives, it can be easy for me to get distracted. I’ve usually got a few new lures and probably a couple ideas rattling around in my head that I intend to use to catch more muskies. Before I get to implement those new tools and ideas, however, I make sure that my old faithful, tried and true methods of contacting muskies and aren’t still the answer to catching fish. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel if the fish are being predictable during the spring. I start with a classic run of about five spots, and then let the variables dictate my next move. Usually, if I haven’t caught a fish in those five spots, my attention span is tested and I have to make a decision to move to where the muskies are. Usually I’ll go back and run the same five spots again, deeper or shallower than the last time. Sometimes I may not have any data on which to base my next decision, so taking a chance at a shallower or deeper pass is all I have. ‘I know the muskies aren’t where I’m casting, or I would have caught one.’ is a common thought that runs through my head. When I finally do have the success at locating the next muskie, it’s up to me to make a mental note so that I can continue on my way to locating more. The important part for me is that I’m keeping one variable the same in my entire search throughout the water column and that is my presentation. In certain situations, I don’t change the lure color or size until I am done making the search through the entire muskie area. Paying attention to when you have success is key. It will turn a one or two fish day into something really special! It has taken me a few years to really dial in these early season styles of fishing. One of the hardest things is trust. Being able to trust in what you are trying to accomplish is the most important. When others are running all over the lake fishing dozens of spots, I am in my few select bays and really taking my time to dissect them. This spring, give some of these proven shallow ideas a try. Remember the shallow spring checklist:
· Remember what worked last year (but don’t be married to those ideas)
· Identify your muskie zones (map your spots and note the location of baitfish)
· “Sneak Attack” (silent, strategic, multiple drifts)
· Lures (let the fish tell you size, color and action)
· Documentation (pay attention–write down what is working and under what conditions)
Close The Deal
Locating the muskies and getting them to bite are all for not if you can’t close the deal. This is when your preseason preparation can make a huge difference. For us, muskie fishing is all about winning the small battles. Sharp hooks, long casts, good figure-8’s, proper boat control, and awareness of conditions are just a few of the main things accomplished on each and every muskie trip. You are going to have ups and downs each time you are out fishing and the difference between average and top-notch muskie fishermen is their ability to adapt and accept. When things go wrong and you lose a fish or two, the simple self-talk and moving on to the next opportunity is key. Confidence and muskie fishing go hand in hand. You are going to lose fish during the fight and being able to move forward and not get down on your self is important. Pay attention to why that specific fish bit your lure. Was it action, time of day, water temperature spike, moon phase, lure color or size? Or was it simply the fact that you have found a mother lode of muskies!? The process of narrowing down the pertinent variables goes back to your documentation–recording what is happening at the time of high fish activity and your encounters/catches. This will allow you to duplicate your patterns not only for that day, but also down the road when you are faced with similar situations and are wondering which variable to adjust.
When the next fish is hot on your lure or thrashing on the end of your line, don’t forget to breathe, trust your instincts and above all, enjoy the brief moment that you’re hooked up.