muskies in the prop wash

[delmuts]

i had heard of this before, but last year had it happen to us. we were casting a shore ( using the elec. trolling motor) when i heard water splash behind the out board. i looked and there was a 40+ muskie slowly swimming along with its' nose against the prop. is this common? some times i have my uncle with us and about all he does is troll. (due to age casting is hard on him.)would it be worth having him troll a lure right behind the motor? how close; what type? thanks

[Corey Bechtold]

Give him a little reverse action, reeeebrrrrrr.brrrr. Sorry, Adam Sandler bit. Yes this does happen. This fish must have been seasoned to follow your boat looking for some wounded baitfish for a meal. Typically there are a lot of gamefish that will follow in the propwash looking for an easy meal. A good tactic to try is run one line directly in the prop wash when trolling. This gives a real erratic action to your crankbait that drives fish nuts. Don't limit this to only Muskies though. It works fro Walleyes and Pike as well.

Good Luck,

Corey Bechtold

[RK]

Hiya,

Yeah - they do all sorts of odd stuff. Had a fish on LoTWs follow the trolling motor all over a bay; had another turn away from a figure-8 and smack the TM prop; had one grab the weight on a marker buoy as I was winding it up; another one hit a downrigger ball once (can't imagine what that must have felt like... ) Really is amazing how they can be so hard to catch when you see them do dumb things like that.

Running a line in the prop wash when trolling can work extremely well.

Well - let me back up a second.

Most of the time when I've caught fish on short lines, it isn't exactly *IN* the prop wash, it's either right next to it or just underneath it. Running baits right in the prop wash is kinda tough - so much turbulence it's hard getting anything to run right. Run it just under or alongside though, and there's enough turbulence to get the baits to kick around some - they dodge back and forth sort of...left-right-right-left-right... without getting knocked out of whack. Seems like the more the baits work back and forth the better the fish like 'em.

A number of baits work well on short lines. 9" sledges, stalkers, wileys, jointed believers, ernies, super stalkers, spinnerbaits, spoons. Sometimes to get under the prop wash you need to add some lead. I just clip 'monkey ball' trolling weights to the front of my trolling leaders. Helps pick up weeds too. Ammount of weight varies depending on the bait, speed, and how far back you're running. Generally the closer to the boat and the faster you're moving, the more weight it takes. I'll use as much as 10-12 ounces sometimes, but usually it's 3-8 ounces. I run these right off the transom on 'down rods' - short, fairly stiff rods with the rod tips sticking into the water.

How close? Shortest line I've ever caught a fish on was about 18 inches of line with a 5' leader. Rod was in a rod holder right behind my seat, so the bait was basically even with the transom and about 3' down. They ain't boat shy. More typically though I run short lines between 10 and 25' back. You just sort of have to fiddle with the variables till you find the right combination for the depth and speed, especially if you're running over weed tops or something.

The interesting thing about shortlines is it seems like it either works like mad, or not at all. When I have a couple people in the boat trolling, I generally start with a combo of short and long lines (long lines often are behind boards) then see what kicks fish. It's usually one or the other, and rarely both. Some days, particularly overcast/hazy/stormy type days, everything comes on the down rods. If fish are really crashing the transom, I'll switch the out lines to down lines, and run two alongside the wash, and one a little farther back directly under the wash - sort of a 'tail gunner.' If the out rods start working, I'll pull up the down rod and run either another board or a long flatline. You just have to experiment.

When fish are crashing the transom, it really is exciting. A 25 pounder hitting a bait going 4mph on 10 feet of line is less a strike than a collision - it's pretty spectacular. Sometimes if the bait's running high and you happen to be looking you can see them come up and grab it. Have to really have your drag set carefully, or at best the fish goes immediately airborne and pulls the hooks out. At worst, something breaks.

Give it a shot - it's pretty neat.

Cheers,

RK

[guideman]

Thanks RK,

It's hard to try to add much to that post however I really like a Heavy spinnerbait as my prop wash bait. They run great, even at extreme speeds and

they go through weeds like a champ. I'll run mine about 6ft behind the motor, just to the side of the heavy bubbles. The bait will flutter a bit at higher speeds but it actually adds to the effect.

"Ace"

[dsludge]

I was backing my boat up to a spot to anchor once. I was looking at the depthfinder, then looked back and was just ready to press the kill button when a big muskie surfaced, jaws wide open. It appeared to have tried to hit the prop as if it were the bait! The prop was white.

The guy who was with me still asks me every year when we meet to go out, "Have you put the hooks on the prop yet?"

dsludge

[davev]

In Michigan, they talk about fishing for muskies in the propwash of freighters on the Detroit River. I never tried it though.