How shallow?

[Scoot]

I'm curious to hear how shallow you fellas chase muskies in? When people say "I saw fish up shallow", how shallow are you talking? What's the shallowest water that you tend to chase 'em in? Just curious...

[goblueM]

well i was seeing them in less than a foot last week, though they weren't terribly active

for me I guess 6 feet or less might be considered shallow

[RK]

Scoot -

You know how shallow I'll fish sometimes

Seriously - it doesn't take much water to cover a 50-incher's back, and sometimes that's about all they need. Seems to happen more on some lakes than others, but 2-3 feet of water isn't out of the ordinary. Certain conditions can make it more likely - low light, wind, fronts - but some are shallow all the time I think.

No such thing as too shallow.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[cjac]

Quote:

No such thing as too shallow.

Correction: Yesterday the wind made 1-2 feet deep water and the bottom saddle of the waves too shallow! That was a bit tough....

Muskies really do suck......

[JRedig]

Caught my first in about 6 inches of water, I usually check out the skinny stuff, if for no other reason to know I need to look elsewhere. I'm always amazed how they seem to "come from no where" when you're up shallow.

[50inchpig]

fish can go REALLY shallow, especially on the milfoil lakes and that sand between the shorline and inside edge. lots of fish will be way up inside the line that runs along the end of the docks, almost to the the shorline, and our lakes are very low right now!

fun time to fish for them and usually not to hard to tell if they are going to be shallow or not.

[HugoBox]

Quote:

No such thing as too shallow.

Correction: Yesterday the wind made 1-2 feet deep water and the bottom saddle of the waves too shallow! That was a bit tough....

Muskies really do suck......

Chris -

You're right on - they especially sucked yesterday - I headed to the trailer not after I bumped into you at Redig's other hot spot.

The only musky I saw yesterday was chasing my daughter's bluegill in about 18 inches of water off the dock at the in-laws. Every try figure 8-ing with a Snoopy rod??

-erik

[DHanson]

1-3 feet can be good when you pattern them.

[setterguy]

The 4 biggest fish of my life (52,50,48,47) have all come in less than 4 feet of water.

I read an article recently (wish I could remember the source) that said the Leech lake strain which all our MN lakes are stocked with have a tendency to prefer shallow water....don't know the research behind this or if there was even a study but it is interesting.

I was talking to a bass pro once when I fished for them, and he told me that 60% of bass will spend their whole life in 6' of water or less. Again I don't know if its true but I would think some other warm water predator fish would be the same way.

[Meat-Run]

Setterguy,

you are correct about how shallow fish live there lives. I personally have caught and fish for muskies in sand less then 2ft deep. My buddy and I fished the Frank Schnieder Tourney about 3-4 years ago and my buddy ended up getting the largest fish of the event in less than 1ft of water/sand....54inches and you can tell the fish spent most of the summer or life in sand because he was pale white like the sand he lived in....crazy!!! I actually think they were targeting the meganzers that lived near these rushes and had babys because we would through top water baits on the sand beach behind the rushes and they would charge at the baits like Orca the whale toward seals. NO [PoorWordUsage]!!!!

mr

[10,000 Casts]

I can generally put my fishing into 3 zones.

6"-8ft= shallow

8-14ft= has already been hit 3 times today by the time I got there

14ft+= deeper stuff

when I say we saw fish up shallow I am talking about less than 8ft.

Every lake is different for me. Water Clarity is a big factor, Wind, time of day, time of year ect. To start this year all the fish we saw were in under 6 fow. Now on the same lake they are coming out of the deeper water 14ft +.

One thing that I think is under fished are 1-2fow at night on full moons. Alot of times on Leech, watch the wind and if it has been the same direction for 2 days, after it calms down the fish will be up in 2-4fow right off of shore and they are in feeding mode, when that happens, it doesn't matter what the weather is, they are there to eat. I think that was how we did so well on topwaters at Night for the last 2 years, Leech is not a night lake but it has it's moments.

Then again, I can't count how many I've seen up in a fow with high bright sunny skys, getting them to eat is another story.

[Meat-Run]

oh, one more point that i have to make is that the only time we got them to commit was on a very over cast day or even raining and with very LONG cast because they see/feel you coming from a mile away, not easy to fish but very rewarding to say the least because no one will believe you until you show them the pictures and your basically beached with both moters up.

mr

[porterhouse]

I caught this muskie in 2Ft water in 2000. They do move shallow. Just ask Bass anglers.

[img:center]

Brian

[PostFrontal]

If there is water covering it, you can fish it. Check out the northshore sand on Mille Lacs sometime. Out here tossing the lure up to shore, and bringing it out is a consistent producer.

[ranger20]

The 4 biggest fish of my life (52,50,48,47) have all come in less than 4 feet of water.

agreed have got a few huge fish on millacs in 1.5 feet of water i think this time of year thats where a guy should

[setterguy]

Should what Ranger? The suspense is killing me!

[Muskiefool]

She came out of no more than 1 foot of water on a shallow water rocks feeding frenzy, in the rain, shallow, shallow.