Musky Report - 10/11/10

Muskie fishing in the Three Lakes and Eagle River area has been excellent and will continue to get even better as water temperatures drop into the lower 50’s in the coming weeks. Current water temps on the Eagle River and Three Lakes chain range from 54 degrees in the morning to almost 64 degrees by late afternoon with the warm weather we have had. The weeds are in great condition right now too and are literally packed with baitfish. With the recent calm weather conditions it has been very easy to see these fish breaking the surface and giving away their location.

The sucker bite has been very good on the chain and we are getting action on all sizes of suckers from 10 to 15 inches. Casting artificials has also been very productive with the best lures being regular size bull dawgs, weighted suicks, deep diving cranks and small glide baits.

Over the weekend we had action from muskies in both shallow and deep water but the deep water sucker bite was by far the most productive tactic. The best shallow water spots seemed to have an even combination of rock and weed structure present and working the lures as close as possible to the weeds produced the results we wanted. The key to success right now is balancing your shallow water attacks with an equal amount of time spent going deeper. We also found good action fishing depths of 15 to 25 feet around schools of suspended baitfish.

On Sunday I was out with Chris and Curtis Buzek from the Chicago area for a full day assault on the Three Lakes Chain. We had a great day on the water doubling-up with two legal muskies. Chris nailed his first musky, a 34 incher, on a sucker in 20 feet of water right after moon set around 11am. (Chris won the coin toss!) Then a few hours later he slammed the hooks into another musky, a chunky 36 incher, in about 10 feet of water just on the edge of a nice weed flat on a weighted suick. Interestingly this fish took a swipe at our sucker but decided to pass up the easy meal and attack Chris’s faster moving presentation.

If you haven’t taken your fall muskie fishing trip now is the time to do it!
Things are only going to get better from here on out as the weather cools and the water temps reach the perfect temperature for even more consistent fishing.

Good luck and fish hard!

Chas Martin

http://www.muskymastery.com