Shore Fishing Musky (Big) – Mayflies=Musky Success – Sneaky Mapping Tips
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Mayfly Hatch = Trolling Craziness!
It's funny – when you say the words "mayfly hatch" walleye and bass guys run for the hills, but if you're a musky stick, you should be salivating....
This time of year, open water trolling can be the ticket on many northern musky lakes, and the bug hatch is literally the PEAK of this bite.
....why though?
These hatches attract musky candy (cisco, whitefish, perch, etc.) to somewhat predictable locations in the basin.
That's right – you can literally use these hatches to narrow down your search in the vast open water areas. Seems like hard-to-soft bottom transitions create "edges" of bugs, which in turn creates an edge of baitfish for 'skies to prey on.
Guys who have already keyed in on this are WAY ahead of the game.
What do you think, Charlie???
Some have even started mapping the hard/soft bottoms of the basin areas of their favorite lakes with programs like AutoChart Live.
Here's a little peek at what that looks like:
We might talk about this more at a later date....
Open Water Mistakes
Since we're already talkin' trolling and open water fishing, thought we'd share a few of the top mistakes we see guys make in open water.
These tips might be a little early for some of you depending on where you're fishin', but we'd rather be too early than too late with the fish catchin' tips!
DON'T MAKE THESE MISTAKES....
1. Don't fish too deep in the water column. Most of the 'skies will be within 15 feet of the surface. Some might be just below the surface, so don't be afraid to run your baits super high.
2. Low light windows are money... Don't sleep in late OR call 'er quits too early – 9:15 to 10:15 (first dark) can be killer, especially on tullibee lakes when plankton/bait rises toward the surface.
3. Don't use short 12-inch casting leaders when trolling open water – use longer 4-foot leaders that catch weeds ahead of the baits, keepin' em running clean as long as possible.
Josh was Buzzzzin'
Musky Insider co-founder Josh Borovsky recently took the podium to talk MUSKIES with the AnglingBuzz crew.
We're always itchin' for good musky shows this time of year with most of the good ones comin' out in January, so this one's definitely worth a watch if you're stuck inside this week.
There were some solid musky reports:
– Luke Ronnestrand on Vermilion (watch)
– Ryan McMahon in the Metro (watch)
– Doug Wegner on Green Bay (watch)
– Jeff Andersen on Leech Lake (watch)
...and some great tips. Including a killer topwater segment from Lee Tauchen. Lots of good info and a few great shots like this:
Happy Accidents....
There's been a LOT of big muskies caught this year already, but we couldn't help but notice how many biggun's bass/walleye guys have cashed in on.
Earlier this month, we featured this jumbo jet from the St. Lawrence River:
...but that's only scratchin' the surface.
How about this MONSTER trolled up by Korey Nati on Lake Erie? Korey left the 14" Jakes at home and got 'er done on a silver & blue Bayrat. 😂
Bass angler Joel Willert didn't need double 10's to get this 55" Minnesota leviathan topside. She was more than willing to chomp a 3-inch swimbait rollin' on the bottom...
Surprised Jake Caughey took the time to fight this 52" spottail during a walleye tournament. Said he busted off another one pitchin' a swimbait, too.
These pics are probably tough to see for musky guys. Just goes to show you – sometimes fishing isn't fair....😂
Walkin' on the Moon
Most muskies are usually caught in boats or kayaks. Very few guys actually TARGET muskies fishing from shore.
Well....
This big girl didn't care that Austin Gates was chunkin' from land!
Cool story on this fish, too. Austin raised her on the figure-8 earlier that morning, then came back 12 hours later and got her to chomp on a moon phase!
That's 52 reasons to pay attention to the moon next time you're chasing 'skies! Guessing most of you are already....
QUICK HITTERS:
– PMTT: Eagle River, WI this weekend (link)
– Musky Handling 101 with Pete Maina (video)
– Tiger musky catch vid with Sobi (video)
– New Evinrude engines (link)
– First cast musky with TIghtlineTV (video)
THIS WEEK'S MONSTER MUSKIES:
Parenting done right! Now THIS is how you make memories your kiddos won't soon forget. Donnie Manz and his son Corbin trolled up this 54.5" x 25" on a 12" Mattlock. The trollin' bite's starting to heat up!
Check out this hefty sea serpent that chomped Andrew Ching's small bucktail. She measured 55 1/8” long with a 24” girth. Now that's a BLIMP if we've seen one!
How about this big ole potbelly Wisconsin hawg from Andy Toth? One of two fish in the boat over 50 inches in one day. You'll have to check out his page to see the other monster... ;)
Not the biggest musky you'll see us share, but this shot was too awesome to pass up. Soren B. caught this really nice musky fishin' a Metro lake in Minnesota. What a great memory for a young fish-head!
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