getting the lookers to bite

[fatfinger]

i'm new-ish to muskie fishin & found a sweet place where we spotted about 6 different monsters lurkin about.we were throwin into pockets in weedbeds on the SLR & my bro got a few follws on his DCG & i had one explode at my chrome jackpot wtd-but the ski or me missed.we just couldnt turn the chase into a fight.we couldnt figure 8 because the pockets were not too big & emergent/submergent weeds wouldnt allow it.we had (& will have again) only about 20 - 25 ft of open space to work with, if that much.they were also chasin stuff in the shallows(1-2fow) plowing the water up.was thinkin of throwin some suckers out & seeing what happened.

any helpful hints or advice?is it a 'keep on trying this happens all the time' thing?thanks in advance.

[Nick Kuhn]

I like to switch away from search baits to trigger baits, which for me almost always means a dive and rise jerkbait or a glider.

[Cheers]

I too am new to Muskie fishing . Yesterday we had 11 follows and not one biter . Is this common ? Any advise ???

[HugoBox]

I'm not an expert by any means (not even close) but if you're seeing 11 fish in an outing you're already doing something right. Sometimes they don't eat, but as Nick said, changing things up is the thing to do. Also, as you learn more you'll be able to tell if they are lazy follows. Sometimes the fish are just checking things out. I'd check out Rob Kimm's book as he has a bunch of food stuff in there about types of lures and triggering fish. Also a good thing to try is to play keep away. It's a normal reaction to try to stop the lure to let them eat. Sometimes if they think their prey is getting away that's enough to trigger them.

Good luck.

[AWH]

Getting 11 follows and no biters is not uncommon at all. (Good tips by HugoBox on triggering methods.) But each day is different, as is each lake. One day might produce nothing but a bunch of follows. The next day on the same lake they may only seem to want to eat and not follow. Some lakes will consistently produce lots of follows, but getting them to eat is a challenge. Other lakes that I fish it's just as common to get one to eat as it is to get a single follow.

It's just one of the many things that makes the sport challenging and fun!

Aaron

[Nick Kuhn]

I agree it's just odd. Last year I was getting nothing but follows and boatside hits. This year I have 5 in the boat, one boatside miss, a few fish hooked only briefly, and only one that just followed. I have been using more jerkbaits, crankbaits, and smaller bucktails as opposed to big bucks and topwaters this year.

[Tim_Anderson]

I fished what sounds like a similar situation a couple of times last summer. we had emergent weeds growing up to the surface, with pockets here and there. The muskies were in there, buried up in the weeds. We were able to trigger many of them to strike out at our baits by burning and bulging them over the weedtops. Granted, we did a lot of weed picking, and we had many follows that didn't produce because we had weeds and/or picked them up on the 8. Good news is. we caught 10 fish in 2 days because the ones that came unglued on the spot t-boned our baits from underneath. My opinion, a lazy retrieve often provokes a lazy follow. Maybe really try and speed it up with blades and see what happens.

[MikeEiden]

+1 on bringing the heat. Tim explained the exact same results I've had in the past. Either speed up the entire retrieve or once you see them start cranking fast and keep the speed going into the 8.

[BrianLucky13]

If its a highly pressured lake you might wanna go back at moonrise\moonset or even sunrise\sunset.

[goblueM]

also, try some big tubes worked erratically. great lures for rivers and weed pockets

[fatfinger]

thanks guys.goin back on monday.let you know what happens.

[urban cowboy]

IMO, I would try downsizing. Burn showgirls instead of DCG's and be ready to rip into your figure 8's. Downsizing on daytime fish has been productive for me in the past. Night time is a different story.

Good luck, I hope you boat a pig.

[urban cowboy]

If you are buring downsized bucktails the key to converting fish is the last 15 feet of your retrieve. Speed up the end of your retrieve on EVERY cast. When you see them out there start snaking on your bait when you speed up, you have a chance, rip into a wide figure eight and hold on.