The Last Guy Through.......

During the past several years, I have had the unique perspective of always being the last guy to fish through a certain area (we always line up on the same side of the boat and cast the same direction in order to keep the 6/0 out of each other's skull) and I must say it makes a HUGE difference in the amount of MUSKY action I have. When fishing for walleye/bass/trout, things are a little different but not much.

On trips with 1 other person and myself, my action picks up tremendously. It has gotten to the point the past few years that I will suggest to my clients that they might want to rotate positions after a fish (pike or musky) is caught in order to give everyone (besides me) a better shot at catching a fish.

Lake fishing has been a different story, especially weedy lakes that have many more hiding spots and the ability to make longer casts and possibly get some 'virgin' water from the back of the boat or fan casting a shallow flat where fish could be anywhere.


Do any of you notice a difference in action when fishing through first or last?

There are many times where the last guy casting through a spot casting at a slight angle upstream or casting directly behind the boat and bringing it back towards the boat gets the most action. Other spots on the river, yours better be the first bait through, cause it will get crunched.

What i notice is when i am in the back there are times i do not get the amount of time i would like to work an area the way i would like to work it. With that being said i am not saying my partner is mean, he is the best fisherman i know, and a real good friend but he is geared more for the bass and with little pike in him. I am almost all musky and with the pike as a extra that usually saves my day. So the spots he fishes is real hard for me to work my baits. This case it is different from most others.

As for when i am running the show i do see alot of the time my partner does not catch the number of fish, but he usually catches bigger fish of what he is targeting. Like i said before we are fishing for different animals.