manitoubass2

I'm in the area, I can help out with any questions you might have, just shoot me a pm. I'm about an 2 hours east of Kenora, but fish all over northwestern ontario.

Awesome pics! That one seagull pic is awesome!

I am not trying to piss anyone off at all, but this thread just really reminds me of this that Squid posted last week.

 

This link here

lol, I don't think so. But that means I'm that guy, haha.

I thought it was a good question and a worthy topic.

Better than just a bunch of "uhhh, I don't know" replies

One thing I started doing was what we call "bullying the fish". I've had much better releases of big fish this way, but I'd be interested in getting the thoughts from an avid musky or big pike angler.

I use a 7" med.heavy rod (I'd like to use bigger, but need to buy a new rod), heavy braid and I like the drag tight. Once I set the hook my goal is to land the fish with as little fight as possible. I try not to let the fish run at all, keeping tension as tight as possible and reeling as quick as possible . I've done this more with big walleye than Musky, so I'm not saying it's the best idea out there, but it does seem to work quite well when releasing the fish. As in much shorter recoop times and a healthier looking swim off.

Any thoughts on this? Wouldn't surprise me if I was completely wrong, but it does "seem" to work much better than "fighting the fish" and letting it run time and time again (which would drastically increase lactic acid production/build up)

Previously someone made a post about some fishing videos. In "The Underwater World of Trout" the narrator demonstrates the difference between what water looks like from our perspective and what it's like in the water. Very clear water was actually not as clear when you were inside of it. Although, these were primarily rivers, I imagine the water in a clear lake isn't as clear as one might think. The suspended particles reflect light and the visibility through the water column won't be as great as looking down into it from the outside.

 

Personally, I think finding the fish is far more important than bait color. Next would be the fishes feeding behavior - when they feed and what they are targeting. I would guess that fish are typically opportunistic feeders, so if they are in the "feeding mood" I imagine they will go after whatever requires the least amount of energy expenditure, as long as it looks like food to them. Of course, there will be seasonal variations in forage and the fish are going to take advantage of that; and is likely a learned behavior (e.g., May fly hatch).

 

As for realistic looking lures. I have my doubts they work any better than the others. Can fish actually make out those details from so far away? Especially when the bait is moving so quickly? Unlikely.

Some very good input there, thanks.

As for the last paragraph, I absolutely agree with you on realistic looking lures. This is kinda where I was going with my previous water displacement thoughts. Ultimately, I think it's more important to have a lure with a good shape and water displacement than the actual pattern on the bait. I love plain cranks for example, plain black, no eyes, no nothing, just black. Again, just a though of mine, that the fish in most cases can either see a shad shaped lure for instance, or feel the vibration that is important. It's highly unlikely that the realistic gill plate of a crank bait caught anything other than some hard earned money, lol

I still have em in my tackle boxes though, so I'm not sure what that says about me? hahahaha

So I've been hearing everyone say that muskies are fragile fish and was wondering what makes them fragile? Pike and muskies look similar almost exactly the same body structure, only difference I can see is the colours. I did some research and found out that hey aren't even related in anyway as they have different DNA and they just evolved the same. Now, are pike just as fragile? Because I never hear people say they are. So what makes a musky fragile? Once musky season opens up I'll be targeting them and pike. I just don't want to handle them incorrectly. I know how to hold them for pictures. I see allot of people "spear" throwing pike back into the water which I find ridiculous.

 

Thanks

I'm not a seasoned musky/pike vet, but I do love fishing them. But take this with a grain of salt.

I think in most cases, anglers are speaking in terms of larger musky/pike in terms of how fragile they are. Only speculation here, but if their physiology allows them to produce lactic acid, I think this plays a major part in fatiguing the fish during the struggle. This is why a fish must be handles appropriately, and held in the water and allowed to recover, otherwise, there is no gas in the tank so to speak, for them to swim off healthy.

Think of it this way. If you were in the gym lifting weights, and just lifted the heaviest weight you've ever lifted. Your now exhausted, but moments later you are presented with a situation you hadn't seen coming, like being held underwater. I'm sure you'd be in a fragile state and most likely wouldn't survive the ordeal.

I just re-read that, and realized I should never give fishing advice, nevermind anything I just rambled about there

It is a good topic and I think we could all learn a lot if the optimum choice was presented for each condition, but there are just too many variables to factor in when it comes to lure choice. Overhead conditions, previous day conditions, barometric changes, wind, water clarity, time of day, time of year, water temperature, base forage, fishing depth, lure depth, lure shape, lure action, underwater structure, retrieve speed, target species, the water's overall fishing pressure, bottom composition......

 

My brain hurts just thinking about it

lol, so true. Maybe we can start by adding in things we've noticed about fishing in different conditions etc with different lures? At least to get some drive to the conversation.

I'm not one of those guys that isn't willing to share information on fishing either, but here is some things I've noticed or learned in my time as an angler.

On my homebody of water, wind, preferably around 15-25kmh helps with walleye activity. If you add in overcast conditions, or slight rain the fishing continues to improve. On Rainy river, clear calm days are very inactive for walleye, but seem to activate smallmouth bass and pike.

The clearer the water, the tougher the walleye bite gets. Fish move deeper and bite less often, even worse for the bigger walleye. In clear water conditions, we find fish around 25-35ft deep, usually sitting on the edges of eddies, or slack current around breaks in the shoreline were the water is deep enough.

Clear water and black jigs still work the best for me (might be a confidence thing?), but black with minnows, Gulp minnows, black worms etc all produce. When in these conditions and the bite is tough, I like a 3/8oz black jig with a 6" black/silver Yum slated worm wacky rigges and jig retrieved back to the boat, allowing me to cover water, alter presentation etc.

When the water is dirty, the bite is on heavy, especially with wind and clouds cover. The walleye are now active throughout the day, moving shallow, anywhere from 3-12ft. and oddly enough, I find them on mud bottom on the dge where the bottom converts to rock/sand. I also find them very shallow at this time on wind driven sand bars, sometimes very shallow, 1-3ft. Once again, black minnow presentations get the nod.

Whenever the water rises or drops, it takes 3 days for the bite to go back on. I don't know why, but its like clockwork. Even the bass are effected at this time. Pike, not so much.

White baits here produce naddas for walleye, but work well with pike and bass.

I have a ton more to add, but I'll get to more later...

A great topic, but I really don`t know what to add that can be counted on except to stay flexible on your lure colors and selection of lures. Although the water is generally clearer here than 20-30 years ago? I still wouldn`t call it as clear as the waters of say the Georgian Bay during the same time period.

 

Chrome and black, gold and black lures have always been a standard here, on sunny days the flash factor may have been the reason, but the dang fish also hit them on cloudy days and also after a rain when our waters tend to pick up some color pretty quickly. Given that was it the lure color or lure action? Or simply that the fish were feeding more aggressively on a particular day? Or a particular time of day?

 

I didn`t go on the water with a preconceived notion that the lure I was using was the lure that would work, or it was the right color, only that those choices had worked well in the past. I stayed flexible enough to mix up the choices if the choices weren`t working.

You bring up some good things to think about, especially about flexibility in lure choices.

The only way to tell, and this isn't a scientific method, but it takes years of fishing the same/similar spots, in varied weather patterns, water levels, times of day, time of year etc to determine why fish are taking one particular bait. I personally think water displacement is a major factor in stained water, or dirty water. But, during certain conditions, in clear water that bait might still produce strikes. Is it the water displacement now? Or has the clearing water now allowed the fish to see the bait and strike it???

There is just so many factors in play, I think maybe thats why OFC'ers aren't joining the topic?

Again, I think this topic is great, and should drive alot of discussion. We could all learn some things I'm sure.

At the end of the day, I just want fish to bite, thats the most important thing for me. But learning is important to, just to satisfy the geek in me, and possible make me a better angler in the future.

the head of the bait looks almost like XPS design, but I'm pretty sure it's not.

Also looks similar to some Xcaliber stick baits, but it isn't

I'm not sure what the hell it is??? I have a crank with the exact pattern though, came with a crappy two piece from wal mart my son got a few years ago

Great fish, I'm very envious!!!

Gotta love when they miss, then smash the second opportunity, and if you can see it, it's that much better!

Great in-put, thanks.

Glad to contribute.

I'm really looking forward to hearing some other thoughts on this subject!

Great post on a great topic! I'm sure there will be very conflicting theories/thoughts on this subject.

I will say that water clarity is going to vary from waterbody to waterbody. At home on the Rainy River, what I may call clear here, seems very dirty on other lakes we fish. On Rainy, if you can see two feet (like previously mentioned) thats about as clear as the water gets. Other days, after heavy rain/wind or rising water levels, water clarity is nil, I can't see my bait 6inches under the water. Other lakes I fish, like those around Nestor Falls for example, clear water (like in Crow lake), visibility is extremely clear, I can see me lure 40ft down on a sunny calm day.

For colors of baits/lures, I think it's so complicated, it's actually worked itself back into simplicity, lol. My favorite color for walleye, bass and pike are all black, for any type of water clarity/weather/time of day. I know the silhouette thing gets beat to death, but I'm not even sure it;s really true? But black out performs any other lure for me, and by a large margin. It works for me, that's all I really need to know, although the fish freak in me wants to know why, hahaha.

Another thing is the action of a bait, more specifically crank baits. I know in my experience, some of the sheild lakes we need to fish wide or hard wobbling cranks at times. But in my homebody of water, I've had way more success fishing cranks with a snap swivel to dull the action (which with some anglers is a huge no no).

It's all a complicated puzzle I'm sure we would all love to solve... But if we did, would it even really matter??? I'm pretty sure I'd grow bored of fishing one bait, with one method, all the time. It's what we don't know, in my opinion, makes fishing one of the best hobbies/sports in the world.

lol, thats pretty cool Limey!!!

Some weird stuff happened for me yesterday casting for a pike with a rapala x-rap, snagged a lure, and it was the exact same lure I had on! lol

Some weird stuff going on here, but good on you for helping the lady out with a new camera!!!

Bottom bouncers and Macks wally popswork good at that depth or even deeper, I use them at anywhere between 40-80ft for walleye. Need a heavy bottom bouncer though, at least 1oz, but preferably larger.

You can always jig as well, either vertical or cast/retrieve.

But as already mentioned, your gonna be keeping some of these fish unless you have experience fizzing

Thats an absolute bucket!!!!

Congrats on a true beauty!!!

You gotta hate days like that. But it happens, and anytime in the boat is better than nothing.

Nice perch, looks very healthy!!!

Awesome work!

Wow! Great fish!!!! I'm very envious

Geez, we all feel soooo bad for you that you have to go soooo far from home to catch your limit of walleye. LOLO you guys both live in fish heaven.

It's a hard life

good work bud, keep those upgrades coming!

I'm tryin', hahaha.

I know I'll have a walleye this week for sure.

New pike is posted up now

good work mamitou... action is action

That it is my friend!

Went out again today and had a nice surprise, some kids came down with their grandpa to play with my kids while we shore fished. One kid got in a few pics with me and my nice pike today, he said he wanted a pic cause he had never seen a fish that big! lol. Shortly after he grabbed a rod and started fishing, and within minutes caught his first ever SM bass!!!

Always good to see the local kids getting "hooked"!

lil' smallie in the rain

The "gator", lol, biggest so far this season

Todays catch, tonights supper!

Thanks Limey!!!! Hope you had a good lunch.

I went out again last night and did really well again. Walleyes were a lil' bigger, around 17", big enough to keep some for supper last night!

Caught a few more nice pike as well.

But boy are those lil' walleye feeding hard, I actually had to try to shake bites off, lol.

All in all it was a great season opener. Now time to wait for those females to go on the feedbag, just in time for the Emo Walleye Classic!!!

Well, we had a great evening of fishing!

Fish were everwhere, unfortunately we couldn't get into any walleye of decent size. We musta caught at least 50 that were 12".

Caught some more nice bass as well, and a few 25-30" pike, but had camera issues??? We took pics, got home and tried to look at them, and no pictures??? Kinda a bummer, but oh well.

Just getting geared up and ready for some more fishing action. Walleye, pike and bass all being targeted today!

Hopefully I can get some good pics this time

Awesome stuff!

 

cant believe i'm working until Tuesday.....oh well...Lac Seul on Wednesdy for me.

 

Gotta figure a time i can come down there this year,

Thanks!

Whenever you can make it, I'm down for fishing!!!

Got all geared up and ready for walleye opener this morning, and all the kids got up at 530am and wanted to come. Not a bad idea, but this means no boat for the morning fish, oh well, we'll be in the boat this afternoon.

Weather is crap, 30kmh wind gusts, about 10 above and raining, in other words, great fishing weather!

Well, with the kids coming with we were limited to spots to fish, but we did manage some action.

Got about 15 fish all together, some nice bass, some very small walleye and some very small pike.

Here is a few pics from morning, and I'll update with pics of this afternoon later

First cast, nice lil' smallie

Another decent smallie shortly after

Hyyyuge walleye! They were all like this, little 12"ers

Too small to even make a fillet

Nicest bass of the day and an upgrade for the Fishy Niners!

Another healthy bass, nice full bellies on these fish

Time for some coffee and pancakes, then out we go on the boat! Hopefully with some decent walleye this time