Have you ever caught a decent size muskie in less than two feet of water on your favorite walleye rod? That is becoming quite common on many of our night fishing adventures. They can definitely make the water around them boil as they thrash & roll in there efforts to free themselves.
Tom Meyer pictured with a fat & healthy 42″ female muskie.
Night fishing is by far the most consistent bite I’ve had going lately. On an average night, we will land two to four muskies, lose two or three more and catch anywhere from one to seven walleyes. Our best night so far this year was six muskies between three people. The pictures from that night are stuck on an SD card. For what-ever reason, I can’t down load off of an SD card, only MMC cards. Considering that we rarely spend more than three hours fishing after dark, those numbers don’t seem to bad.
Catching a musky is no longer considered a fluke or incidental catch. We full expect to catch several on each one of our excursions.
This muskie went 37 inches.
Saturday night I spent a few hours with Tom Meyer & his son Cody. Tom was the person who I learned most of what I know today about night fishing. The knowledge & experience gained from those night wading trips we shared years ago have proved to be invaluable and have accounted for many of my best fishing experiences.
On this night, I had a hit on my first cast but lost that fish within seconds. On my second cast, I hooked into a 37 incher. Shortly after, Tom hooked up with the best one that we have pictures of this year. A very chunky & healthy 42″ female. This beautiful fish was quickly released unharmed after a couple quick pictures & measurement.
A short while later I hooked up with a nice walleye that went right around 21 inches. We have been catching an unusual number of walleyes in the low 20’s this year. Most of our walleyes run right around 17″ mark with about one out of every six or seven going over the 20″ mark. I have not landed a “pig” walleye this spring yet but I always feel like it could happen any cast now.
I’ve stopped measuring many of the smaller muskies for a couple of reasons. My hands get cold being out of the gloves, it takes longer to get the fish back in the water & it’s hard to measure a musky when you’re fishing by yourself and while standing in a foot of water. So if you don’t see a measurement with the photo, that’s why. If your wondering why Tom doesn’t just take the photo for me, it’s because in many cases, he’s 50 or more yards down stream and it’s to big of a pain to come back for a fish that won’t stretch the tape to the upper 30’s or more. In those cases, I put my camera on the tri-pod, then set the timer for 10 seconds. Next I get a grip on the fish with one hand, push the shoot button and hold the fish up. I never remove the lure from there mouth until after all the photo’s are taken. I shove the rod under my arm pit and allow the fish to swim around while I get the camera ready. That took some practice at first but now it seems to work pretty well.
My best baits are still #8 Husky Jerks & F-11 Rapalas or similar type stick baits. Most of our fish hit in less than 10′ of water but it is not uncommon to get hit in less than two feet or more than 15′ of water. It may be hard for some people to believe, but we have caught both muskies & walleyes near the surface in 15′ of water at night and we have of course caught them near the bottom in that deep of water.
You just never know where there going to be. Not only on any given night but at different times of the same night.
A couple more photo’s from this past Saturday & Sunday night.
great looking fish!!
Wading for muskies…who would have known!!!
Very cool report. Keep em coming!
Nice fish
That 42 is a fatty. 
Great looking muskies Joel.
Joel, are these fish relating to an eddy, devoid of most current, or do they stay close to an edge on the seam?
Another cool toothie report
Nice fish Joel. Looks like fun.
Those are some nice surprises at the end of the line.
The muskies are definitely more prevalent in low current areas. Current seams are always good for both walleyes & muskies but with water flows low lately, we just don’t have any distinct current seems right now.
We do catch a few muskies in the stronger current areas to though.
Way more fun than snagging a High Fin Sucker!
Bet that is fun on light gear. Nice work Joel. Are there any species you aren’t good at?
Yup. Largemouth Bass. I definitely suck at catching those things. It might help if I actually tried to catch one once in awile.
Bass fishing is like fighting with your younger smaller brother… Just not worth the time or effort. I am getting after some cats this weekend. 20lbs of prespawn egg gorged nasty ornery bad attitude on a short line in 4 feet of water.
Nice Job Joel. Hope that bite continues for you.
Why on earth would you try to catch a grass carp?
Great read and report once again Joel
That has got to be a blast
Way to put the
on ’em. 
No doubt you can catch them LM Bass,just need to look in the right spots. 
Joel is good at catching and fishing,unlike some people
,who fish and don’t catch,besides a good topwater bite( 
) is damn hard,if not impossible to come by,in the walleye world. 
Joel,smallies are moving in down here.Caught a couple on a scouting trip(bank running),i am going out right now,i’ll try to get photos(never tried to load on the web)for proof,some people need proof because a man’s word isn’t good enough.
Great Report Joel
I’m glad to see somone is getting into some skis
Joel !! That is a SWEET Report !!!
I love the night muskie fishing pix !!!