Tough Weather Lately

[Red Childress]

I cannot wait for this weather pattern to change. Water temps are falling rapidly and making for some tough fishing in my area. This Sunday is suppose to be the beginning of the 'upswing'.....I sure hope so.

[JIM T]

Red,am hoping that with all of your connections you can get some good weather coming. I'll be back there next week and do plan on being on the river. Need to try all that new tackle you suggested

[muskie24/7]

Jet motor + Floating Leaves = :(

Brian

[b.bent66]

it has been tough to get the fish to eat, the last couple of weeks. i think things are starting to change already have picked up a few nice walleyes the last couple of days. i talked to a buddy and he said the dam is only open on the bottom now.

[Red Childress]

I fished through the 'gate switch-over' last weekend and what a treat it was.......the water temps dropped an additional 2 degrees in addition to the severe dropping temps leading up to that putting the muskies down and even more tightly lipped.

This scenario happened in '06, according to my records when we had 13 straight days of COLD rain during the middle and late-September which dropped water temps 11 degrees in 15 days......that made for some tough fishing. The '06 PMTT championships were held just after that time-frame and the winning team had to resort to jigging bottom just to catch their muskies........much like last weekend's winners who crunched bottom trolling plugs and spoons during that severe cold front in Wisconsin.

Better weather coming for next week and hopefully into next weekend.

[Anzomcik]

Ok i am still new at this muskie stuff, with this fall/winter weather we are having, shuttin the fish down. My question is what kind of weather are we lookin for right now? What are will we want in a month or so.

[Red Childress]

The last 2 days of steady precipitation-cloud cover/falling or stable barometer will likely get some fish moving. Falling and/or stable barometer is nice but not necessary since many huge muskies have been caught on 'blue-bird' days. Winter storms moving in, get the boat out. Big snowflakes falling, get the boat out. Your wife chewing on your arse for no reason, get the boat out. Post-frontal conditions associated with clearing skies and falling air temps, stay home unless it your only day to fish. :)

Quickly falling water temps will adversely affect cold water 'creatures' by driving bait/muskies deep, where the warmer water is located. Many times the fish will pull in tight to structure as well. The fish are still eating somewhat but we have to adapt our presentation. For example: the World Musky Championships (Wisconsin) were held during a severe cold snap and the top teams fished very near bottom in order to put fish in the net.

I have been trying to draw a correlation between bird/waterfowl activity and successful fishing during cold snaps. This might sound a little crazy but over the past 3 years, it has held pretty darn true. I am noticing that on days that I do not see a noticeable amount of herrons, eagles or waterfowl on/near the water, the fishing will be tough mainly due to the baitfish pulling out of the shallows and heading deep to hang out behind boulders or along deeper current breaks. For instance, the only day last weekend (including Columbus Day) that we saw ANY eagles working the shoreline was Monday.......and we hit a musky. We did not even raise a musky the first 2 days which is abnormal. (We only hit some small pike during the first 2 days, which could have something to do with small badder vs. large bladder fish but that is a whole other story in itself.)

Sorry to ramble but I have a student teacher right now and I have some extra time on my hands. :)

[Anzomcik]

Belive me that is very helpful. My limited experence has be thinking that the nasty weather gets the fish moving so i have been hitting the water alot lately. (similar to the way you fish summer storms that are movin in)

Have anyone else noticed that if you fish in the morning and on the way to the water you see deer out feeding in fields that you move more fish? Like the deer are on the same page as muskies?

[Red Childress]

I have noticed the same thing regarding deer too. The moon phases along with favorable fishing weather has an impact on fish just like wildlife, IMO. It is not a guarantee that the muskies will be moving but it sure is a confidence boost to see the deer/turkey moving on the way to the launch.