Somewhere in the middle of October the weather went from pleasant to wet, and then from wet to cold and windy. This happened quickly and fish did not transition en mass. We have been finding fish all over in the lakes. Some are still tucked in thick weeds. While others are set up right on the outside weed edge… I even had one grab a sucker over 40 feet of water while I was replacing a fuse on my trolling motor…
We have been catching fish on suckers lately. Typically what I’ll do when guiding is have the client(‘s) cast in the front of the boat while I drag a sucker(‘s) 20 to 40 feet behind the boat. I’ll rig the suckers on Stealth Tackle’s quick set rig with 2 treble hooks. I’ll move the boat around .07 to .08 mph. I think anything faster than 1mph can wear the sucker out and ultimately kill them. I’ll usually weight the sucker down with 3/8 oz to 1 oz depending on the depth I’m fishing. When I see the bobber go down, I’ll clear out the other lines and circle back so there is about 25 to 30 feet of line out and set the hook hard on the fish when it’s swimming away from the boat.
We’ve also started catching some fish on one of my favorite baits in the late fall… The Double Dawg from Musky Innovations. I like to twitch this bait several times at the beginning of the retrieve and then slow roll it in the rest of the way back to the boat.
Another bait that’s been seeing some action in my boat are gliders. We’ve been tossing these over weeds and seeing a fair amount of action on them. I’ve been throwing Hot Tail gliders and Myer’s Evil glide baits the most. Remember with these baits you’ll want to switch to a steal leader. I will often times use a steal leader without a swivel. Stealth Tackle actually makes a leader like this for “walk the dog” baits. It’s something to think about…
We are entering the home stretch here for the musky season. Short days and tough conditions will be the theme for the remainder of the year. One thing on my mind… Big Fish! I’ve got a few ideas and secret weapons for this November…