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I'm not a real trolling pro but I did have some success last year w/ Crusty and Geo. My best fishing bud this year Life is Fun and I have trolled some too. We like to cast better and the last fish each of us got (see pics) were casting. That said, I believe 2-3 mph is a good speed when going against current when the cold water period hits. I look at my lure to see it wobbling pretty quickly and that is the speed I maintain. I also hold the rod a lot and pump it which varies the speed.
Depth is another thing. We caught fish when trolling in about 12-20 feet of water near deep water whenever possible. Our best spots are eddys where the current comes around a point or two rivers meet, or there is a rock wall type of thing, etc. When the water was above 50 degrees we found them in the 13-15 foot range suspended. (we always mark fish but don't get may takers...what else is new) When the water is in the mid to low 40's we found fish in the 18-20 depth and found ourselves on the next depth shelf in about 25 feet of water.
Interestingly, our last two fish were caught casting as I said in about 4-8 feet of water. This was near a 30 foot shelf however.
I wish I knew somebody who really knew how to trigger strikes while trolling better than I've been able to do. If we could get 1/3 of the ones we mark to bite!!! Wow, that would be great!
Incidently, we use mostly body baits both soft and hard. Last year BIG Believers, and Grandmas.
Now that you have all your Grama / sister / brother / cousin / neighbor /girlfriend / friend of a friend etc etc Birthday's out of the way .........now you will have a better chance of getting a Muskie if you actually spend some time on the water targeting them....
Bass Addict wrote:I'm not a Musky Pro either .......... But !!!
Now that you have all your Grama / sister / brother / cousin / neighbor /girlfriend / friend of a friend etc etc Birthday's out of the way .........now you will have a better chance of getting a Muskie if you actually spend some time on the water targeting them....
MOUAHAHAHAHHAH!
rule #1 friends and family 1st....
fishing second........
when i can mix that up im one happy man.
now back to the topic this is a seriouse thread for once!
Here's the best advice I can give, worked for me....Buy a bigger boat so the wife feels comfortable in it an can relax on the bow with a magazine and read while you have 2 rods in the water, one for her and one for you, and fish like mad! Works great in August on a nice Saturday!
I'm no help to you here Kevin.....the months of Nov and Dec have always been a right off for me in the stretch of the Ottawa I fish....my records show it gets way tougher to contact fish at this time of year than during the best time for me being mid Sept to late Oct....
But what I know really?...I haven't muskie fished once this year...and likely won't considering my past history at this time of year...
I know what I look for when I'm in Wendover.......Musky Matt so I can do whatever he does!
Was reading the Muskies Canada website and one of the studies mentioned 14.6 "rod hours" for every muskie over 30" or 36" or something very close to that.
Mentioned that to my buddy who has gone almost two years without a sizable hook up and we joked we should be in for a 10 or 12 fish day pretty soon.
Just from recent posts I'm starting to think time of day this time of year plays a bigger role then I would have thought, but I'm like most of the other post, not in a position to give advice or even pretend to know what works other than getting out there for 20 to 30 hours a month trolling like a mad man and even that feels like a waste 90% of the time, with no fish in the boat.
Just got to know, your in the right spot, got the right gear, doing the right things that get you (or other people...lol) big fish.
Out on the Lower Ottawa yesterday and got a nice fat 45 incher.
The bait is really starting to ball up nicely and seem to be relating 20 to 40 feet of water, suspended about 15 to 20 feet down near much deeper water. Found some bait fish as deep at 40 feet.
Tried an area last week which held bait fish but was sheltered and shallower. There had been a few reports of muskies caught but they all seemed to be small.
Yesterday, trolled at about 2.5 to 3 mph and caught the fish running the lure near the bottom or underneath the bait ball. Experience in the past with walleye is that they sit below a bait ball and rise up to feed. Tried to imitate a walleye with a walleye coloured Ernie and that's what it hit.
Thanks for the real update Kanatian. I was beginning to wonder what kind of fishing site this was. Sharing info helps all of us succeed and since we put the fish back carefully...
Fishing 24/7 wrote:Great info guys. every things helps .more things to try when your out of idea.
all the musky we caught were shallow . so its hard to go deeper.
ill try the 15 - 30 FOW a litle more.
all i hear is that its been hard recently for musky.
guys putting in 40 + houres without a bit thats rough.
hope for the best.
best tips are to keep your lure clean. and put the houres in!
And don't forget the salties. I have them safely in my deposit box ready for sunday my good friend!!!! Those other ones looked like they were ready to fall in the water, im surprised mine didint go right in the river when we hooked into that 60 inch...BRANCH, imagine a 48 inch musky. hehehe salties for the win
BigC wrote:I know what I look for when I'm in Wendover.......Musky Matt so I can do whatever he does!
Was reading the Muskies Canada website and one of the studies mentioned 14.6 "rod hours" for every muskie over 30" or 36" or something very close to that.
Mentioned that to my buddy who has gone almost two years without a sizable hook up and we joked we should be in for a 10 or 12 fish day pretty soon.
Just from recent posts I'm starting to think time of day this time of year plays a bigger role then I would have thought, but I'm like most of the other post, not in a position to give advice or even pretend to know what works other than getting out there for 20 to 30 hours a month trolling like a mad man and even that feels like a waste 90% of the time, with no fish in the boat.
Just got to know, your in the right spot, got the right gear, doing the right things that get you (or other people...lol) big fish.
BigC
....it's been a tough past couple weeks for me too. Certainly not what I expected to have water temps like this in late Nov. It will drop soon enough and then those long cold trolls can start and hopefully hook into Mrs. Piggy.......Maybe even tomorrow
