LOW muskies

[Scoot]

I asked the question below in the LOW forum and didn't get a reply:

I'm thinking about a trip to LOW the last weekend in Sep. Good idea or bad idea for chasing muskies? I'd imagine the water will have cleared some by then, won't it? I'll be a little early for the big fall run, but will that be a good time to chase toothy critters up there?
Scoot

[Scoot]

I'm not sure yet exactly where we'll go. Most head East out of Morson and hit Sabaskong. I might be West and North of there, but I'm really not sure yet. If the wind is really blowing I might head over to Sabaskong, if not I'll be more open waters NW of there. That way I can hit some of the walleye spots that I've wanted to hit again. My mom is coming with (I think) so I don't want to be where we can't chase walleyes in famaliar waters too. Basically, I'm going to wait and see what happens as far as where I'll be at.
Scoot

[Giant_Jackpot]

Scoot,

I will be up there the same time frame and this will be my first trip to LOW for muskie. I gotta believe it is a good time but I will be anxious to see any replies here. Where are you going to be fishing. We are going to be in the Morson area.

[RK]

Hey Scoot,
Pretty much all depends on weather, water temps and baitfish...

I guess most years the end of Sept is a little early for trolling time, but not necessarily if it cools down quick, which it may with the low water. I generally figure that when water temps get into the mid-50s it's time to start yanking Jakes around. You'll start to see schools of ciscoes staging off main lake points adjacent to open water, and the muskies will be there to meet them. Water temps can really vary between overe here and over yonder too. You might cast in one area of the lake and troll in another depending on water temps and where the bait's showing up.

You can still cast of course, as long as the weather isn't too miserable. Cast rock points facing the basins where the ciscoes are with jerkbaits, deep diving cranks (crash the rocks), big minnow baits, or slow roll a big single spin (a very underrated technique - some friends have caught a lot of big fish on LoTWS in fall on single spins ). You can go fish old weed spots too sometimes, especially if the weather's really nice. Fish kind of move up into them on warm days. Spinnerbaits are the way to go there I think. Generally in terms of casting I start thinking outer edges rather than up on top of spots but that's not a universal truth at all. You can catch 'em on topwaters sometimes...

Go check out the most recent issue of In-Fisherman. Jack Burns has an article in there on this timeframe, and he, Doug Johnson and Dick Pearson all talk about the Woods some.

Cheers,
RK

[Scoot]

Thanks for the reply RK- you're always full of good info. I really appreciate it. I think I'll take your advice and wait until the water cools down a little bit- probably in the low 50's or so. The areas that I usually fish don't have some of the deep water basin that many of the LOW areas have. Much of what I'll be stumbling around in has only 30 foot water near it. Is that a problem as far as finding ciscoes in to spawn near it? Also, I've thought about trolling or casting some of the reefs in the area that I'll be fishing- good idea or bad idea? Lastly, what depth am I looking for when the water cools? I realize there is probably no magic depth in the fall to troll or cast, but as far as getting my lure in a good depth to be near the ciscoes, what's a good depth for a starting point?
Questions, questions, questions!!! Thanks for all of the info, it's worth it's weight in gold!
Scoot

[RK]

Hey Scoot,
Lots of good Qs, so a long post coming. Get some coffee

Ciscoes are found all over LoTWs. In some of the darker Meso water areas on the Canadian side (NW Angle, Sabaskong, etc.) it's rotten with the things. In the fall you realize just how unbelievable the biomass of that lake really is. Ciscoes all over, schools of walleyes, massive schools of crappies (if you see 'Christmas trees' on your depth finder, those are crappies) and, most amazing, the lake shiners. They can black out your depth finder for 200 yards, and when you bring your Jake in, every hook has a couple 1-1/2" shiners impaled on it. Think about how many 1" shiners it takes to make a school 200 yards long and 5' thick... That's a LOT of little shiners, and there are schools like that all over the lake. Really amazing.

Anyhow... Don't worry too much about finding 'deep water.' 'Deep' is really relative to the area you're in - as you said, in lots of areas of the lake, 30' is the deepest water around, and those 'deep' basins are full of ciscoes much of the time. Just start by looking for good summer areas adjacent to those basins, then fish the sides facing the deep water areas, channels between islands, etc. Areas with some current are also great. "Facin' the Basin" is a phrase Jack Burns uses to describe the kinds of stuff he looks for, and it's a good thing to keep in mind as you're looking for spots.

As far as isolated reefs go, they can be ok to very good early fall, but for some reason they aren't much good as it gets later. You're much better off concentrating on island clusters and mainland spots. Reefs that are parts of island clusters can be another story though - one of my favorite trolling spots is a small reef off the end of an island. A reef 100 yards off an island cluster is worth a couple passes. Just 'connect the dots' (another Burns-ism) in a good area and troll around all the islands, through the channels and around the nearby reefs. I wouldn't spend much time on reefs way out in space though. (Now that I said that, you'll probably ignore the advice, cast a main lake reef in the middle of nowhere and catch the Queen ).

As far as depth goes, it's a tight to shore deal, which is why it gets kinda hairy at times Steeper shorelines (though not walls) are usually better, I think just because they concentrate the ciscoes and fish more than a more gradual slope does. If you spend most of your day in 8-14 feet of water, you're usually in business. Get out too far and you don't catch a whole lot. Just rattle baits over the fingers and boulders in that depth range and you'll get wacked. 10" Jakes are the main men for this deal, because they run at the right depth range with about 65-70 feet of line out, bounce off the rocks really well, and take the abuse (some of my Jake lips are ground down a good 1/4" or more from the rocks). Running more line than that makes it harder to steer the baits over the tips of the points where they need to be. 8" believers also work pretty well. If you have 3 guys in the boat, you can run a 10" believer right behind the boat on a shorter line and get in about the right depth range too. The guy on the inside line has to stay on his toes though - sometimes his bait will be much shallower than the outside lines and he'll have to lift his rod up high to keep from getting hung up all the time. Payoff for all the extra work is a lot of the time the inside rod catches a lot of the fish, although if the driver's on the ball it makes less difference.

Ahh, let's see. Couple other thoughts...
- Spare prop is a must.
- You'll hit rocks, so get over it
- Go buy a Frabill telescoping lure retriever. Really - GO BUY ONE. It'll pay for itself about 6 times over getting baits out of the rocks.
- Keep an eye out for floating Jakes. People break 'em off and then they float up. I picked up 5 one week a couple years ago. Free lures are cool
- I use a 4-1/2' or so single strand leader when I troll. Don't trust crimps on stranded leaders at all, personally. Keep a close eye on the snap in your leader - they get mauled by the rocks, and you have to change them a lot. Make lots of spare leaders - they get ruined fast.
- If you catch a big fish doing this, don't thank me; thank Doug Johnson. He's the one who, directly or indirectly, taught most of us how to do this, and he deserves all the credit in the world...

Cheers,
RK