Deep basin trolling?

I’m a troller, plain and simple. I enjoy trolling for Pike but generally I’m in 12′ or less of water.

My question to the experts…………..if I wanted to set-up and deep troll the basins of Mille Lacs for Pike and Muskie what would you suggest? On the Great Lakes they use a flasher as a attractant for Salmon when trolling. (sorry forgot the name of it) Would you try something like that? I’m assuming that I would locate and follow the pods of bait fish, similar to what the Walleye guy’s do. I’m just looking for something different to do and am seeking advice.

Baits? Depth? Speed?

Finally are their guy’s on Mille Lacs doing this? Are they having any success or is it hush, hush?

I’m sure some knowlegeable Mille Lacs guys will give you some good options here but my favorite Muskie trolling baits are Jakes. I run both the 8″, the 10″ and the Squirly Jakes. The Mille Lacs guys probably use the 14″ versions. I’ve tried them with no success yet.

I’ve caught fish on the Grandmas as well however I’ve a lot of trouble with them running correctly.

I troll anywhere between 2.5-4 mph but I’m sure you could go faster. I’ve also done well trolling Bull Dawgs, even right out over 60ft of water.

Well I’m not a Millacs guy, but I do a fair ammount of trolling for muskies

As far as muskies go I like to stay on the shallower side Now when I say this what I mean is you don’t have to be banging your baits off the rocks to catch these fish, like if you were fishing for walleyes I like to vary my depth when fishing for muskies, because they’ll always come up for a bait, but they won’t go down for one

I fish everything from bucktails to topwaters, and even some cranks, but alot of guy are trolling Dawgs and 10″ jakes and in the fall 13″ grandmas.

These fish are going to be relating to the pods of bait fish, and so the’re gonna be suspended most likely. Think of the bait pods as your structure

It’s great structure, but the only problem is that it’s constantly moving So you’re gonna be spending hours and hours driving around doing what we refer to as zombie trolling

Thanks for the replies!!

I know it will be a long search and the chances to hook up are slim at best. That said I know those Muskies are in the lake someplace. I mean they didn’t catch a plane and go to Leech or anything. So, if they show up in the fall they have to be there somewhere, right?

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Thanks for the replies!!

I know it will be a long search and the chances to hook up are slim at best. That said I know those Muskies are in the lake someplace. I mean they didn’t catch a plane and go to Leech or anything. So, if they show up in the fall they have to be there somewhere, right?

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They are out there, its just going to be the needle in the haystack, with that being said, when you connect with one of those basin fish, its gonna be a tanker

I’ve done a fair amount of open water trolling, as well as a bunch of buddies. It is really no different than open water walleye trolling.
Up on LOTW, we pulled up quality pike and muskies suspended on bait fish over 70+ fow. These fish ranged from 20 +/- feet down.

Sometimes, those open water fish do require a mast/planner board system.

Brian,

Don’t some of the GreatLakes muskie chasers still use Dodgers just like when they chase the salmon? I thought I’d read that somewhere but can’t recall for certain.