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| My Dad & 49.5-inch Dryberry Muskie. |
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SPRING, SUMMER, OR FALL:
WHEN IN DOUBT…
TROLL!
By Bob Chochola
MUSKIE Magazine, May 2009
Midwest Outdoors, Spring 2009
It’s 6:30am and you just arrived at the public boat launch. It is already packed with impatient anglers. The parking lot is full. You are stuck in idle thirteen trailers behind the next rig to launch and you already see boats with splashing lures firing on all your favorite spots that are visible from where you sit and wait. Your partner seated next to you pushes his ball cap down over his eyes to catch a little extra shut-eye, but not before wondering out loud and with some degree of disgust in his voice if he would have been better off to have stayed home to get caught up on his neglected landscaping.
Sure the lake is crowded and the fish are ducking hooks left-and-right and will probably know every lure in your box by heart by the time you make your first cast, but unless you can afford to fly to a far-away secluded lake every weekend in order to escape peak season pressure, the options are to get out there, or go home.
What’s a muskie hunter to do?
Often overlooked in the spring and summer is the single most productive tactic used every fall by most muskie hunters that venture out after the Labor Day weekend – trolling. Sure it’s a great late season strategy and many abandon casting in September to do it, but as important as it is to cast during trolling season, it is equally important (and productive) to keep trolling in your game plan when everyone else is casting – particularly in the dog days of summer when the beds are beaten to a froth, or in the late spring after the opener when muskies begin to move from their spawning areas to points, deep weed edges, and open water.
Trolling allows you to cover a lot of areas that may not be on many anglers’ “milk run” strategies. It gives you opportunity to put lures in front of fish that may be holding tight to structure to avoid the parade of boats in the weed beds and, of course, those splashing lures. It is essentially as good, if not better, than casting when looking for suspended muskies. And when the sun is high and a bluebird sky slows things down, a trolling pass on the shady side of a rock wall, reef, or deep drop will put you in the strike zone.
A tactical change always makes sense. “When in Rome…” may work in Rome, but throwing muskies a “curve ball” by doing something completely different from everyone else is always a better idea. Troll to give them a different presentation. It’s as simple as that.
Trolling is just the right curve to throw ‘em when most anglers on the water are debating what bucktail they will throw next. Big crank baits and plastics running in the prop wash, or deep-divers banging off the rocks twenty-feet down, may just be the right switcheroo to put a nice fish in your boat. And you’d be surprised how many fish you’ll find in between crowded hot spots too. When fish move off the obvious structure to avoid a traffic jam, guess where they go? Right! They hold on not-so-obvious spots.
It’s almost a sure thing that a long rambling rocky shoreline with small patches of weeds, dead wood, occasional sandy beaches, a steep drop-off nearby moving roughly parallel to shore, and no real obvious classic muskie spot characteristics, will be overlooked by anglers all day long running and gunning from weed bed to point to reef. Likewise open water just off the crowded main lake hot spots may see a few casts, but a troll past the casters on the outside could pay with a suspended lunker – plus you’ll have an audience for the photo shoot ready and waiting.
Locate possible trolling opportunities on a map, or use your GPS and side scanning sonar. Mark them and make sure they are included in your overall strategy (game plan). You will only need one good long pass once you get bit there a few times, but until then hit several (3-5) areas to increase your odds for finding success. Hit them every day – several times. Chances are pretty good you will also pick-up big pike and walleye along the way as a bonus for your effort. Can’t beat that action!
The lures you use should be strictly determined by what is working on the specific lake, at the specific time you are there. Every lure in your box has potential. Keep in mind that there are a lot of folks out there marketing products. Do your homework before you leave home. Chances are good that certain lures are going to be “hot” at a given time and you can go from there.
When in doubt grab your confidence baits. If they worked before casting, they’ll work again on the troll. There is no magic elixir. Make your decisions based upon depth, structure, experience, and information from RELIABLE sources. The only other thing you might do when trolling is scale up. Give them a big target. A fourteen-inch crank bait is hard to toss all day, but you can drag it forever without too much trouble. Pick up the larger versions of your confidence baits for trolling-specific applications.
Speed is also very important. Everyone has a theory: some say X-miles per hour is the rule and others are advocates of speed (fast) trolling. Some keep baits in the prop wash, while others let them linger behind a couple of cast lengths. There is no right and wrong way to do it, so keep everything on the table until you hit the jackpot.
Vary your speed!
Until you know what works, you don’t know what works. The least efficient method is to get a single point of view and stick with it exclusively. Go fast and then slow. Choose every speed in between. Then try gunning it – particularly when you turn the boat around or make cuts. And do not zone-out and follow a straight line or depth contour. Locate fish on your finder and make an erratic zigzag pattern in that area keeping your baits at various depths near the strike zone. Change depths up too until something proves successful.
It’s all about covering as many bases as possible.
Time of day is the only variable that can be addressed specifically and with any degree of confidence that specifics work. Here again, however, rule of thumb is that there is no right or wrong time to troll.
Similar to casting, when trolling during the late spring through the end of summer, the absolute best time to hook up with a muskie is one hour prior to sunset until one hour after. Moon phases are also good to pay attention to. The full moon and new moon (rise and set) do stir up wildlife activity in general and have been proven muskie triggers. Be on the water during these times to increase your odds for success dramatically.
Summer is the most challenging time of year to find water without suds. The competition for spots from the opener through the first day of school can be fierce, frustrating, if not downright dangerous. Confrontations that fist fights are made of.
A good way to avoid the rush is to sleep all day and head out after dinner. Seriously! Night trolling after all the kiddies have gone to bed is an excellent way to bag a trophy.
The Bottom Line
No matter what time of year you fish, trolling is always a productive way to put big muskies in the boat. Spring and summer are good times to use this tactic as often as possible. You can remove many obstacles in between you and active fish by avoiding the crowd and explore areas that typically are not pounded by boat-after-boat of casting anglers all day long. You can run baits past fish that may be avoiding these crowds, as well. Plus you can cover a ton of water that will hold fish on small tucked-away structure many anglers blow right by on their way to the next heavy traffic hot spot. You can cover deep water areas that hold muskies traveling from one hot spot to another – pick ‘em off en route.
Don’t count out the night bite – from one hour prior to sundown until one hour after is by far the best time to catch a big muskie. But staying out through the wee hours can be very good too. Many boats head to the trailer at dusk and the night will be yours to conquer. Muskies are just starting to get wound up by sundown and trolling after dark can payoff big. Don’t be caught snoozing though – a strike while trolling can be bone-jarring. Catch a nap (and maybe a chili dog) during the high sun hours and you’ll be ready for action at night.
Avoid the “troll in the fall” mentality just because all the experts write about it in October. This will box you in and leave a very productive tool out of your plan of attack most of the fishing season. Be a myth-buster by breaking the “rules” of muskie hunting whenever you can. Don’t be trapped by tunnel vision, or you will miss a golden opportunity.
Remember: there are no rules. If a spot looks good, fish it. If you are fortunate enough to have side scanning sonar, use it. Use every tool at your disposal, yes that means the one you have in between your ears. Don’t give up just because a big crowd greets you at the launch. There’s plenty of water out there – use it wisely.
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