METRO MUSKY HUNTS - MINNEAPOLIS MUSKIES

The moon phase and moon times can have a major impact on muskies and when they decide to feed. This was the first musky of a 4 bite window, late in the morning. The morning started with catching a musky within the first few casts of the morning, right around 6 AM, a respectable 40 inch fish. We proceeded to fish for 5 more hours without even getting a follow. Talk about a let down when we boated a fish within minutes of starting our day. I knew we had a major at 11:00 AM, a major is when the moon is directly over head or under foot, so we stuck with it, fishing good spost and trying to locate fish to go back on. Just before the major, we moved to a wind blown underwater point. With the wind blowing into the side of the point, in my mind, I knew right where an active fish SHOULD be sitting. On the side of this point is a very small secondary point that I call a "knob", that was my target. A bomb cast with my 10 inch weighted Suick Thrilller landed right on the knob, two hard pulls and this giant 53 inch metro musky unleashed her furious headshakes. She was so big and heavy, she couldn't get her body out of the water when she tried to jump and shake free. After a long boatside battle I was able to slide her into my Clam Musky Net. We proceeded to get four more bites and and landing three more muskies in a 60 minute bite window.

This really shows the power the moon has on muskies feeding opportunities. Does it mean there is a guarentee you will catch muskies at a moon time? No, absolutely not, but it's worth watching when these times are so you can be ready for it. Every month has a full moon and a new moon, and every day has four moon events. The four daily moon events to watch for are moon rise, moon set, moon overhead and moon underfoot. The moon rise/set times are considered a minor, and moon overhead/underfoot are considered a major. What is the difference? A minor lasts for an hour, a half hour before until a half hour after the listed moon time, where as the major is one hour before until one hour after the listed moon time. In my experience, the most consistant moon bites are when the weather has been very consistant, with calm-sunny days. The conditions can make for poor musky fishing, but the majors and minors can be a great help to influence a feeding window, even better if it is in close proximity to a sunrise/sunset. You can do one of two things here, either go back on muskies that followed earlier in that day or the day before. Or if you haven't been out for a few days, go to a high percentage area that historically holds fish, or the most recent spot you had success from following fish or a boated fish.

When it comes to the new moon and full moon, you can anticipate an increase in musky activity a couple of days before and a couple of days after the new moon or full moon. I've historically had better success when the moon is down. That means, on a full moon phase, I've experienced better morning bites at moon set and after. As the new moon approaches, I've experienced a better afternoon/evening bite as the moon sets later in the day. As mentioned earlier, when one of these moon times occurs close to the sunrise/sunset, this can be recipe for success. If you do happen to land yourself a nice musky during any one of these moon feeding windows, get a quick photo and safe release because the window can be very quick and you have to be ready to cash in on the action when the time is right! Look up the moon times for your area and make sure you are on your "A game" when they happen.

In musky fishing, there is more to it than just clipping on a big bait and catching a fish. There are proper steps to not only keep you safe, but also keep the fish safe. Muskies are surprisingly fragile, from their slime, fins, oxygen, to water tempurature, there are a lot of factors in keeping a musky healthy after the catch. The most ethical thing you can do in musky fishing, is to have all the necessary equipment to safely handle these amazing fish. It all starts with the right net, to most people, a net-is a net, no big deal. It actually is a big deal, nets are extremely important, from hoop size to the netting itself makes a big difference in ensuring the musky isn't harmed in the catch and release process. When it comes to a good size musky net, I always lean to the biggest net available. I use the large Clam Musky Net that is 40" x 44", this is a great size, it is plenty big to scoop even the biggest of muskies. Another feature I really like is it has a deep bag with a flat bottom, this allows the musky to relax without being all twisted and bent up. Another great feature is the extra thick rubberized coating on the netting. This does a couple of things, first, it won't remove the protective slime on the fish. Second, the thick mesh and coating is really easy on the fishes tail, fins and eyeballs. And third, the hooks on your bait won't get snagged in the mesh when the fish is thrashing around, which makes our job a little easier when unhooking the fish and getting baits out.

Once you have sucessfully scooped up your musky in the net, first, get your nerves calmed down and gather your thoughts after the extreme high of catching a musky. Now it's time to examine how this fish is hooked, and the safest way to extract the hooks with minimal damage to the fish. If the hooks are easily accessible, like in the corner of the mouth, a long nose pliers or a long hook removal tool will get it done. Usually a quick pop with your tools and the hook will come out. If it's being stubborn, don't force it, set the fish back in the water so it can get a breath of oxygen. Never hold a fish out of water longer than you can hold your breath. If the hook will not pop out on the first try, it's easier to just cut the hooks, pull out the broken piece of hook and be done with it. For cutting hooks, the only tool I use is a spring loaded Knipex mini bolt cutter for easy operation. This thing will cut big 7/0 hooks like butter, and they last a long time. One last tool I like to have with is a big jaw spreader, I don't use it very often, but when I need it, it is a big help. Before you hit the water in search of the fish of 10,000 casts, make sure you have all the right tools to safely remove those big hooks.

I spent this last week targeting very shallow water, typically in 2 to 4 foot sand flats with small, scattered broad-leaf cabbage patches. Some of these cabbage beds are as small as a 20' x 20', and they are holding multiple fish. How I approach these flats is, move in a zig-zag pattern across the flat with my trolling motor, and as I found these isolated patches of cabbage, I would map them out on GPS so when I come back, I know exactly where the best locations are.  With this recent cooler weather, the water temperature has dropped significantly and there are a number of muskies starting to move into the shallows, and it's only going to get better as we get closer to September. I had 2 different baits in the water at all times, one being a tail rotating topwater, like a Lake X Fat Bastard or a Joe Bucher Outdoors Topraider. The second was a double 8 bucktail, like a Spanky Baits Fireball. When I'm throwing a topwater, I use a Tackle Industries 9'6" MH or XH rod, the 9'6" makes boatside maneuvers a bit easier when trying to keep the bait moving on the surface. With bucktails, I'm throwing those on a Tackle Industries 10' XH, the extra length allows you to make very large and smooth boatside maneuver so your blades don't stall on the turns, which is extremely important, especially in shallow water. Typically, I prefer a overcast day with a slight breeze, that seems to be the best for active muskies in skinny water. Sunny days will still hold fish in the shallows, but they seem to be more boat shy due to visibility.

Tackle Industries Musky Rods 

It's that time of year when the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler. We just went through peak water temps and things are starting to cool down, which means, SHALLOW WATER MUSKIES. Fish will be moving into shallow areas where they are easy to access, and they are willing to bite. And depending on how long the hot water period lasted, some of these fish haven't been pressured for up to 4 or 5 weeks, so they can sometimes be pretty easy to fool. This is my favorite time of year, without a doubt. This 50 inch fish was 1 of 3 caught on this cold front day, they pushed up onto shallow flats just like they were supposed to and they were actively chasing topwater baits. What I look for is a shallow shoreline flat near structure and deeper water, a lot of times the flat close to an inside turn can be a key location. The fish will be in heavy cover, but I like to look for areas that are sandy with less cover, and find smaller weed patches and weed points that the fish can relate to. When muskies are up on shallow flats like this, I prefer cloudy days over sunny days, especially if it is calm. My choice for topwater baits is a Lake X Fat B or Cannon ball Jr. These baits move a ton of water and they are a huge profile, making it an easy target when a musky decides to explode on it. My prefered rod for topwater is a 9' 6" XH telescoping Tackle Industries rod. The 9' 6" is long enough to make big boatside maneuvers, yet it's not too long to where it will jamb you up next to the boat. When it comes to boatside maneuvers, there is no room for error, so make it count.

Normally I don't bass fish too often because I spend so much time chasing muskies, but the summer heat is starting to take it's toll on our water temperatures in the Twin Cities metro area. Currently water temps have sustained in the 79-81 degree range, which has forced me to take a break from musky fishing until it cools down. BUT, it's given me the chance to go back to my roots and chase some largemouth. No matter how addicted to muskies I am, it never gets old to put a whoopin' on some bass. We've been catching them a variety of ways the last couple of weeks, from jig wormin' the edges of structure and weeds to froggin' up in the jungle. No doubt, we've been having fun! The schools are big and they move ferequently from day to day, so it takes a little time to find them. But when you do, the action has been fast. and furious. My jig worm rod is a Vexan fishing bass spinning rod, 7'6" MH power with an X-Fast taper. I pair that with a 2000 size spinning reel and Cortland Masterbraid 20lbs line. For my casting setup, I go with a Vexan Fishing 7'8" Heavy power with an X-Fast taper. I typically spool it with 50lbs Cortland Masterbraid. All of my jigs are made by All-Terrain Tackle, Either the Grassmaster jig or the Mighty jig for my jig worming applications.

Vexan Bass Rods

All-Terrain Tackle