Water Temps in the 80's, Suspend Musky Fishing!!!

Guys:

Especially musky guys, in the last two weeks we’ve seen water temps skyrocket almost 20 degrees!!! Every one of our musky leagues in the area have suspended league nights as a result. Local guides are cancelling and rebooking or just plain cancelling trips this year to protect these valuable fish.

If you have to fish for them… and I really don’t understand why you would, fish early in the day when the temps at the surface have diminished. Play them to the net as fast as possible, pictures in the water only and and get them back!!!

Personally, I will not fish them until water temps have dropped back to below 80*.

All right carry on!!!

Mark

Was going out later to try for em.

Went out last weekend with low 80s water and caught handful of nice upper 30s northerns. Most didn’t even take out of net, things were fiesty as all hel! Would shoot right off after dumping em back in lake.

Is it that detrimental to their health with just the surface temp being warm? I understand walleyes long-lining being dragged 100yds behind a boat, but a well fought ski quick unhook and dumped back in that bad for them?

I’ll reconsider if so.

It is bad for them, start to see a lot of floaters when the water temps get to where they are. The guides and people I know that fish for them shut it down last week.

Mr. Beads:

Small Northerns are kind of a different beast. They will survive winter kill and in those lakes like that, most that survive are small pike and perch. In fact at this time, large northern pike leave any shallow water and head for the deep or to spring areas, looking for more of the 70 degree-ish water temps.

I don’t have any scientific study to back my statement, although I think in Musky Hunter in the past year the biologist that writes for them, name escapes now, mentioned the good and the bad of fishing at this time. I’ll try to find out more, but here’s a thread to Musky Hunter and an article written by a friend for one of the local newspapers and I am very familiar with all of the peeps mentioned in the story.

https://www.muskyhunter.com/forum/showthread.php?1287-What-temp-is-to-warm-to-Musky-Fish&s=25af7ea5f82c49c58fe79636976ebd97

https://vcnewsreview.com/Content/Default/Top-Stories/Article/MUSKIE-FISHERMAN-GUIDES-USING-CAUTION-AS-WATER-TEMPERATURES-CONTINUE-TO-CLIMB/-3/1260/229073

Mark

Warm water is hard on most fish this time of season. It doesn’t hold as much oxygen either. Landing, safely handling, and quickly releasing any fish right now is crucial for its survival, including muskies.

Night time would be a better time to target one right now in my opinion. Surface temps cool off a little and the fishing is likely to also be better. Plus far less other boats.

I’ve seen plenty of dink walleye/sauger floaters on Pool 4 with surface temps well into the 80s. I can only imagine muskies are stressed in a similar way depending on how they’re caught.

We’ve really cut back on the fishing outings the last 2 weeks on the river …partially because it’s hard on the fish released and partially because it’s hard on me.

80 is my cut off. I was all pumped to go musky fishing this weekend. I got to the lake and pulled out the crappie stuff. It was not what I wanted to do but is best for the fish.

I typically start chasing bass now that temps are 80 plus. Had a decent frog bite over the weekend too!

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with the big rainstorms late last week and the cooler overnight temps in southern WI, the water dropped back into the upper 70s. the daytime temps on Saturday and Sunday were 7-8 degrees cooler than last Wednesday. still easy for it to push back up, but definitely better than it was.

Munchy

I appreciate your guys input.

Trolled with some spinners late in the evening for an hour. Got the kiddo on some nice northerns.

Took advice here and fish weren’t boatside more than 20 seconds, I got the pliers and net ready, lil one got the camera ready to rock and roll, net-unhook-pic-quickfeelofslimebcthatswhat7yroldsdo-release.

Bass…..might have to try it out here👍

Deuces wrote:

Went out last weekend with low 80s water and caught handful of nice upper 30s northerns. Most didn’t even take out of net, things were fiesty as all hel! Would shoot right off after dumping em back in lake.

Just because a fish swims off after being released does not mean it doesn’t end up as a floater a short while later

Even worse, think it was Maina who claims only 1 in 10 that die end up floating

Is all surface water created equal?

Those lakes with lots of weed growth will that top layer be well oxygenated compared to more hard bottomed lakes?

Not trying to argue, getting some good info here and curious to if it’s strictly related to oxygen content or temperature? Or most likely mix of both.

Deuces wrote:

Those lakes with lots of weed growth will that top layer be well oxygenated compared to more hard bottomed lakes?

Lots of other variables involved Beads. While weeds do provide oxygen and shade (which is in turn, cooler water and holds more oxygen), the water clarity plays a role too. Sunlight penetrates deeper in clear water and warms it quicker. Its no secret that cooler water holds oxygen better, and all fish need oxygen.

The studies conclude it has a lot to do with blood chemistry apart from just blood oxygen levels. Lactic acid, blood glucose and serum potassium levels rise sharply, as they would in humans during a fight-or-flight response or episode of heavy exertion. Apparently musky are particularly sensitive to this and it can cause delayed mortality, with these levels peaking an hour or two after the catch. This would suggest that a musky swimming away may not necessarily indicate a good prognosis.

All this talk about 80 degrees being the magic number, but 79 degrees being a-ok is pretty silly. I’ve been hearing it a lot. The mortality rates start to rise sharply when the water is 75 degrees, per these studies, and continue to rise with each degree.

It is like most things in life, there is a gray area. Do all skis die if caught at 80 and all live if it is 79.9…..no. Will it hurt if the casual person fishes for them when the water is warmer than 80, probably not. Will it affect the population if a guide is out there every day when the water is this warm, it might to even probable. It still isn’t illegal to be out there. IMO if you can’t get out often and you have a chance to take your kid out go for it.

while the “take your kid out” perspective is one I fully understand (my son is 8 years old), I also think it’s a straw man argument. taking your kids fishing doesn’t have to be for muskies – bass and bluegills are fine alternatives for any of us. i find that kids can easily understand the idea of caring for the healthy release of muskies and pursue other species until the water is cooler.

and yes, one single casual fisherman might not have a big impact on the fishery. however, when all of us casual fisherman think “it’s no big deal if I go because I’m just one person” it will absolutely have a negative effect. just give ’em a break for a few weeks when it’s this hot out.

Temps finally came back down, been a rough 3 weeks thats for sure. Glad I can get back to chasing them.

I went out this weekend and it was still 83 on Saturday. Buy I did catch some eyes instead.

I only saw one day above 80 this year on the bodies of water I fish. All of 73 on Saturday.

It was 80+ for several weeks around the end of June until the middle of July where I fish in and around the metro. Not only did I avoid muskie fishing, but I mostly avoided fishing completely when it was sweltering hot out there. It has since dropped back into the mid 70’s.

72.6 on Leech yesterday. Fish were darting off after release.

77 closer to St Cloud on Monday. Water got up to 82 on key musky lakes within an hour’s drive.

Whether we all agree on the details or not it’s good to see these types of discussions. Now there’s talk about potentially detrimental practices like pulling fish out of 25’+ water, keeping fish out of water too long especially in winter when fins and eyes freeze, holding bass and crappies by the jaw horizontally, etc.. Progress starts with conversations like these.

Has anyone been catching any muskies? I haven’t seen a photo of one other than the tankers Andy posted from Mille Lacs a couple weeks ago.

gim wrote:

Has anyone been catching any muskies?

I only caught one little one so far this season. Its been a grind this year no doubt. Was even up at vermilion for a long weekend and just got beat down by that lake. We have been fishing it for a 4-5 years now and have never had that tough of fishing. We moved 4 fish total and only boated one high 30s fish. With august finally around and water temps slowly dropping the bite will get much better. this is my best time of year.

Youbetcha wrote:

I only caught one little one so far this season. Its been a grind this year no doubt. Was even up at vermilion for a long weekend and just got beat down by that lake. We have been fishing it for a 4-5 years now and have never had that tough of fishing. We moved 4 fish total and only boated one high 30s fish. With august finally around and water temps slowly dropping the bite will get much better. this is my best time of year.

I have been out three times, none in the past month. I have boated two, one small 25 incher and a 41 inch tiger muskie. I had 2 other ones one that both got off boat side, they appeared to be mid 30’s. September is usually the best month for me when the water cools down into the 60’s and upper 50’s. I don’t fish a whole lot past mid October (hunting season).

gim wrote:

I have been out three times, none in the past month. I have boated two, one small 25 incher and a 41 inch tiger muskie. I had 2 other ones one that both got off boat side, they appeared to be mid 30’s. September is usually the best month for me when the water cools down into the 60’s and upper 50’s. I don’t fish a whole lot past mid October (hunting season).

Yeah that Tiger you caught was a nice fish. Once we start to get into more of a cooling period even from mid 70s to low 70s burning bucktails really starts to heat up for me usually. Its a strong pattern. I just cant get over how much pressure there is this year. With getting into more bow hunting this year mid September will really be tough for me to get out fishing.

Well things seems to be doing better now. It might have been the moon phase but we got one low 40s last night and lost another. water temps were around 75 degrees. I think the fishing is hopefully turning around now for us anyway.

Youbetcha wrote:

Well things seems to be doing better now. It might have been the moon phase but we got one low 40s last night and lost another. water temps were around 75 degrees. I think the fishing is hopefully turning around now for us anyway.

Thanks Carter, I’m going to try it in the morning for a few hours. There’s a chance of rain so hopefully its at least cloudy out and not bright sun.