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| Fast Trolling For Muskie |
Casting to a weedy shoreline for muskies early and late in the day is nearly as American as baseball and apple pie, at least if you're a muskie fisherman. In the spring and fall, when the water is cool, this technique probably accounts for the majority of muskellunge landed in North American waters.
During the summer months, though, this method doesn't excite these large predatory fish, a fact that many muskie fishermen find frustrating. If you have found the muskies tough to connect with in hot weather, Larry Wagner has a tip you might be interested in. He says the best way to hook into a fighting, summer muskie is to troll fast along sharp drop-offs. Who is Larry Wagner? Well, he
is a fellow who fishes on weekends and after work for muskies. but, with a more frequent success than most others. At one point last summer he caught nine muskies on eight fishing trips. That may not be any kind
of a record but it got my attention.
It took Larry thirty-six hours of trolling time to claim those nine fish. At an average of one fish for every four hours of effort that tops all accounts I've heard and read about productive muskie fishing.
None of the respected battlers were whoppers, but then few are. Most of his fish, however, were taken during the middle of the day,
when temperatures were at their peak. Late morning and afternoon proved to be the most productive period. However. Wagner took muskies in the evening as well, when temperatures remained as warm as they were in the day.
Surprisingly, Larry is a relatively new muskellunge fisherman and last summer was the first time he tried for them in Iron Lake in upper Michigan.
What lake Larry fishes isn't as important as how he fishes. The first time out on Iron Lake Larry tried the traditional technique of casting to shallow, weedy areas. He also attempted to lure a muskie from weed beds near drop offs by casting. His depth finder was used to determine where abrupt changes in the bottom occurred.
The only action Larry had this trip was seeing a fish follow his artificial on one retrieve. He had been varying the speed with which he brought his lure back to the boat.
On the cast that the muskie showed interest in, Larry was cranking his spinning reel as fast as he could. He was using a 7-inch sinking balsa minnow plug. The muskie followed his plug right up to the boat. He felt the fish would have hit if he could have kept the lure in the water longer.
On Larry's next outing he tried making rapid retrieves. His hands quickly tired and he decided to troll. "I thought this would give a fish an unlimited amount of time to make up its mind to strike as well as give my wrists a rest," Larry said.
"As I trolled slowly around the lake, the thought finally occurred to me that the only muskie I had seen reacted to speed."
That was the beginning of his success. He cranked up the motor and started dragging his lure along weeds where he knew the lake bottom dropped off from 8 to 15 or 20 feet.
At first, Larry felt foolish chugging around the lake looking more like a man trying to get somewhere in a hurry, instead of a troller.
He didn't feel foolish for long, though. Within 20 minutes he hooked a muskie.
On subsequent summer fishing trips Larry continued using a speed trolling method. With each trial he got renewed confirmation of how productive his newfound technique was. He proved to himself that fast trolling for muskies during hot weather couldn't be classified as a hit-or-miss proposition.
The clincher came one day in August when he boated four muskies between 10:30 a.m and 3:30 p.m. Here is how Larry described it:
"My most successful day was interesting, both in terms of fish caught and other fishermen. It was hot and sunny with southerly winds
strong enough to make the water a little choppy. It was a Saturday, so there were several other boats already on the lake. One boat was trolling slowly. The others were beating the shallows by casting."
"I was on the lake by 10:30 and planned on fishing until the temperature started to drop. Before I had trolled halfway around the lake I caught my first muskie. I had an audience of two boats. One came over to help out and learn what lure I used to catch it.
"They asked if trolling as fast as I did was the 'proper' way to do it. I could only answer that it worked for me. They went back to shore and started casting.
"Before I got out of earshot I heard one of the fishermen laugh and comment on my speed. A moment later 1 had another strike. I made sure the fishermen saw me fighting the fish. I thought it might cut down on their cynicism."
It did indeed. After inspecting Larry's second muskie the fishermen asked if they could troll behind him!
Three more passes were required for Wagner to hook another pair of muskies. By that time, the anglers who had been so unbelieving to start with spread the word to other fishermen on the lake.
"Before long I was leading a parade of six fast trolling boats," Larry chuckled, "it looked like a race." One of the following boats did manage to land a nice muskie before Larry quit.
Not everyone on the lake had gotten the word on fast trolling. As Larry pulled up to the boat landing about 3:45 p.m., there was a pair of anglers just quitting.
"They had been out since 6:00a.m. pounding the shallows," Larry said. "They asked me how the 'nuts' out there trolling were doing and at the same time informed me the fish just weren't biting. A few fish had followed their lures but wouldn't hit.
"After that I was totally convinced my method worked," Wagner concluded.
What makes fast trolling for muskies so effective during the summer? Well, the fish move from weedy shoals into deeper water at this time of year to find temperatures to their liking. Without the worry of constant foul ups in weeds, trolling becomes practical.
Some days muskies may only be in deep water during the heat
the day; heading into weeds early and late, when temperatures are cooler. This probably accounts, in part, for Wagner's best luck during the hottest part of the day. It also serves as an explanation of why fishermen "pounding the shallot saw fish, probably during the early part of the day.
Muskies must eat more at this time than during the rest of the year. Consequently, they are often looking for a meal. An offering that zips by at a fast clip undoubtedly triggers a feeding response, an instinctive reflex reaction to seize prey.
With only a fraction of a second to decide whether to grab the escaping prey, a muskie has to hit fast or not at all. A fish might be able to detect the artificiality of the same lure trolled at a slow speed, because
he has more time to look it over.
another point to consider is that a diving lure is designed to run deeper as it is trolled faster, which increases the likelihood of reaching the depth muskellunge are lounging in. Many plugs just won't work well at fast speeds; spoons may produce success via this method; however, most will probably require additional weight on the line to get them deep enough.
Larry had no way of accurately determining how fast he was trolling when fish were hooked. And he also varies the speed at times. Some of his strikes have occurred when increasing the speed from an already
fast pace.
A fairly stiff rod is necessary to take the strain of hauling a hefty lure around at this pace. The tip of a medium-action spinning rod was
broken when one of Wagner's first muskies hit while he was fast trolling. Since then he switched to a heavier rod with more backbone.
A heavy test monofilament is also recommended. Larry uses 30-pound line but admits that lighter line might result in more strikes. A wire leader is used to protect the line from a muskies teeth. Larry normally trolls the lure from 60 to 100 feet behind his boat.
Color of the artificial doesn't seem to be extremely important. Larry has used silver-and-black and gold and-black plugs with equal success. And most of his fish are taken just over the edge of a drop off. The bottom dips from 8 to 15 or 20 feet at most productive spots.
This kind of success may be possible on any muskie lake, using the fast-trolling technique. Of course, anglers will have to pinpoint drop offs before expecting results. Both depth finders and underwater contour maps are useful in locating possible hotspots. If nothing else, trolling can be used to locate fish In Larry's words, as he explained his method to the doubting fishermen, "I can only say it worked for me." You can scoff at the technique as they first did, but if you want to catch hot-weather muskies, it's worth your time to try it.
Field & Stream August 1976