Mid September Musky Report

Fishing has been steady the past few weeks. At times it’s been great and other times it’s been dissapointing but overall steady. Even on tougher days, we’ve been able to manage a fish. These are days where we might not move a fish for 5 hours and then all the sudden you’ll have one eat a bucktail like it hasn’t had a meal in a month. It’s uncommon to not have follows in September for my boat. Usually you are seeing fish consistantly through out the day and just waiting for a feeding window to open. This makes it easy to know where to fish when the moon is doing it’s thing or another feeding window presents itself. It’s a bit of a crap shoot this year… Luckily we’ve guessed right more often than wrong.

Fish have been eating bucktails the past month. September is bucktail month for my boat. Bucktails of all sizes too, whether it be double tens like cowgirls and windowmakers or Mepp’s #5 musky killers and dreamcatchers, they all catch fish this time of year. I like bucktails that ride high in the water. I like faster baits during the day and big double blades at night or in rough water.

When fishing bucktails in September, mechanics are very important. It’s important to point the rod directly at the bait and always be ready for a sweeping hookset across your body. If you feel a weed, a bump, or your blades simply stop spinning, give the rod a quick rip or hookset. Nothing bad has ever come from a hookset when musky fishing. If you rip through a weed it could trigger a fish. If your blades stop spinning, it could be a fish bumping the bucktail with it’s mouth closed. If you rip the bait away from the fish, it will pique the fishes interest and often times induce a strike or if nothing else, get your blades spinning again.

Most of the fish are being found in somewhat shallow water. Most years we get a fantastic shallow bite in September where 4 and 5 fish days aren’t uncommon. The fish are a little more spread out this year so the big numbers days have been a little more scarce. One more tip that I tell my clients is to keep your bucktail moving fast and high in the water, but not necessarily “burned” and “bulged”. Leave a little room to increase the speed and elevation of your bait incase you see a fish following. Increasing speed is your best trigger.

Fall patterns will be here before you know it. I’ll get report up here when things change… Otherwise if you’re looking to get out, let me know. I still have a few days left this fall. Good Luck out there!