Just about every angler has a certain type of fishing that gets his adrenaline pumping. Without question, fall musky fishing "lights my fire." I don't prefer fishing in the fall because of the aesthetics of the season or lack of fishing pressure, but because it's the best time to catch size and numbers of muskies.
Fall fishing is better for many reasons. The obvious reasons are the reduction of fishing pressure and the need for muskies to put on extra body fat for the upcoming leaner times and spawning season. The larger female fish eat more and have to contend with a diminished year-end food supply which makes them more vulnerable.
Other conditions that aid the fall musky hunter are the drastic reductions in the time a musky spends over open water or feeds at night. During the warmer months larger muskies may feed very little during the day on certain types of lakes. On many clearer bodies of water that experience heavy boat traffic, it's pretty rare to have much daylight action on larger fish in midsummer unless weather conditions are near perfect. You can fish these lakes with regularity during the summer and you'll catch a few fish over 20 pounds. Yet in the fall, bigger fish will start to appear like they were just stocked for autumn season.
There are several lakes I fish that have both hybrid (tigers) and pure muskies. During warmer weather, small-to-medium-size pike/musky hybrids are just about all you'll see caught. But as fall wears on hybrid action will get worse, while fishing for purebred muskies steadily improves. Just about the only answer to this is that the summer muskies are feeding at night or on suspended forage--or both. Either way, most summer anglers won't be successful under these conditions.
As fall progresses muskies tend to be found more and more on "classic structures." Fish that spent much of the summer on large flats prowling weedbeds or hard-bottomed rises will now leave.
In general, muskies tend to leave shallower areas of the lake and migrate toward areas that have deeper water available. This becomes more and more apparent as the weather gets colder. I'm not saying all the muskies do this, nor am I stating you can't catch fish in shallow water. What I am saying is that if 10 to 25 feet of water is common in one large section of a lake, while another area has maximum depths of 30 to 50 feet or more, chances of getting a big fish in fall will be improved by fishing the structures and breaklines (edges) adjacent to the deeper water.
As the water gets colder, these brutes will tend to venture into the shallows less and less, although a late fall "Indian summer" warming trend could trigger such a shallow-water movement, as could a cisco, whitefish, trout, or herring spawning run.
Not having to deal much with suspended roaming muskies is another plus for the fall musky hunter. After the fall turnover these fish tend to suspend less, saving you a lot of time spent checking areas where open-water muskies might be. Or, if you never fish off-structures for suspended fish, your spots now have more holding potential than at any other time.
Another big fall plus is that muskies are now more concentrated (or even schooled up). Although muskies normally don't bunch up as tight as smaller game fish, my fishing records of the last few years reveal that multiple catches off one structure were quite common during fall fishing trips. Actually in the last 54 days of fall musky fishing I've done, we've put 64 muskies in the boat. And it was the rule rather than the exception that fish activity occurred off a few limited areas as opposed to one here, one there.
Besides night feeding and suspended fish being pretty much curtailed in fall--creating more "available" fish for the angler--many or even most of the best summer structures, edges, or cover situations are no longer attractive to fall muskies.
I don't want to give the impression that fall musky fishing is easy, because it almost never is, or that all of fall is treated or fished in the same manner. Early fall starts as the first few cooler nights appear and surface water temperatures begin to drop. This action triggers a "pre-fall peak" for muskies and pike that usually climaxes about the second cold snap of early fall, or when water temperatures get into the high 50s to low 60s.
With this first cold trend, weed-oriented panfish start to bunch up into large schools. No longer does a large individual game fish have to play cat and mouse with scattered weed-hiding perch, bluegills, and crappies. Instinctively sensing these easy pickings, muskies and pike leave their deep water or suspended positions and come into the weed beds to feed heavily. This action may last a few days or as long as 10 days or so.
This is not a time to fish slowly and meticulously, but rather a period to check water quickly with fast moving larger lures. Usually the fish are either there or they are not.
Look for the largest, deepest weed beds in the lake that are adjacent to deeper water. The larger the bed the more fish it will hold. Sometimes I'll quickly fish a small bed or two to check out the fish activity. If these smaller, less desirable beds are not holding muskies, it's all systems full speed to the big beds.
If possible and legal, troll the larger beds. It's the fastest way to check them for the scattered fish or to find the better areas. If the weeds are scattered or clumpy, or thick and almost to the surface, I'd use a big double-bladed bucktail such as the Buchertail Tandem Spinner bait of the Lindy Musky Tandem. Fluorescent blades are preferred in off-colored waters, while the old reliable black bucktail with a silver blade would get the nod in clearer waters.
Conventional musky baitcasting gear is fine for trolling these lures. If two anglers are in the boat, use one lure "short," just about where the bubbles from the outboard motor start to phase out, with the second lure out two to three times that length.
A good trolling speed is fast enough for the lure on the short line to create a bulge in the surface. It also pays to troll in a lazy S route and to vary your trolling speed. If several feet or more of open water exists over the weed top, heavier straight-shafted bucktails and shallow- running crankbaits can be used.
A favorite big-fish tactic of mine is to troll with wooden jerkbaits, favorites being easy-pulling lures such as a Bagley B-flat Shiner or Smitty Bait. These lures are slowly pumped and dropped as the boat is moving forward, being careful not to allow slack line during the lure's dropback. These same lures can be cast over expansive weedflats but it's a slower process.
Cool fall weather will begin to kill off weed growth; as autumn progresses, weeds will become less important to the muskies...and muskie anglers. Shallower weeds on flats will die first, with the last green weeds usually found on deeper flats adjacent to deep water.
Harder bottom is a big key to fall musky location, but it doesn't necessarily mean rocks. Harder bottom could be a marl in a lake that has mostly muck, sand/gravel in lake with a predominantly marl bottom, or larger rocks and boulders in waters with a lot of sand and small rock.
As weeds die, muskies will usually retreat to adjacent hard-bottom structures or edges. If some type of desirable harder bottom isn't available, the fish will vacate the area. This trait helps you eliminate many spots that held summer and early fall muskies. But don' t think harder bottom is always a rock-strewn bottom or boulders on a drop-off.
When a thick weedbed dies off, muskies generally leave the weeds, but when a dying weedbed is clumpy or has numerous open pockets, muskies may not be in such a big hurry to move out. Weedbeds that are patchy, or fairly thick with numerous open pockets, are generally this way because of the presence of some harder bottom within the bed that doesn't allow weed growth. These hard-bottom openings are often filled with panfish that are utilizing some of the last available cover in the lake for survival purposes.
About seven years ago I came upon this situation for the first time. Out of the top dozen musky areas in a favorite lake of mine, only three held fish. Nine good spots were completely void of any activity or fish life. Later that night I went out to investigate each spot and saw that two of the three producing areas had hundreds of panfish holding in pockets in the weedbeds. The other good spot had hard bottom outside the bed, while the nine nonproductive areas were wastelands of dying, choked, brown vegetation.
Hard bottom can sometimes be seen or felt with a lure, or it can be indicated on a good depth finder. Clues to its general whereabouts can also be derived by watching the contour lines on a depth map. An astute angler can examine the contour lines of a given structure and get a good idea of its seasonal musky-holding potential. For example, the areas of drop-off around an island that has extended flats (shown by contour lines further apart) will generally have softer, more fertile bottom and be more conducive to weed growth. Contour lines closer together generally mean harder bottom and faster-breaking edges that are more suitable to the cold-weather period.
Before we get further into hard bottom and rocks, let's clarify something--don't be in a hurry to totally abandon the weedbeds until you thoroughly look them over. At first glance the weeds may look brown and finished for the year, but often fish-holding green clumps still exist. On lakes that have different consistencies of fertile bottom, two or more major types of deep weed growth may be present. Just as certain varieties of weeds are slow growers and sprout later in the year, some are hardier than others and will stay alive longer. These isolated "active" weeds in a sea of dead, brown clumps can be prime fish magnets that can really concentrate the muskies. They are also excellent holding areas for muskies in a neutral feeding mood, which can often be enticed into grabbing a jig worked through the weeds.
In the northernmost part of the musky's range, sheer rock drop-offs such as bluff banks can be important holding areas, particularly in the fall. As you may suspect, not all bluff banks have potential. A generally coverless, slick-sided bank that plunges almost vertically toward bottom really doesn't give the muskies or baitfish any cover, ledges, or lips to hide in or relate to. Under most conditions this type of bank would be my last choice.
A bluff that doesn't drop quite as sharply and has several lips (breaklines) is usually more productive. And the better bluffs generally have shallow cover such as crevices and broken rock, falling or low-hanging trees, large erosion cuts, landslides, or short little cover-laden "fingers" or flats extending out.
The better buffs are also commonly be near areas that summer muskies consistently use. Bluffs near food producing flats are better than those in an area of a lot of rock and fast drop-offs. Bluffs adjacent or near flatter terrain are more unique to the area and have a better chance of attracting muskies. In the few weeks prior to ice-up, when the warmest part of the day usually produces the best action, fishing bluff banks that are exposed to the afternoon sun may help you stick a big one on the wall.
A good tip: don't always cast to the bank from deeper water. Often casting from the bluff out toward deep water or casting somewhat parallel to the bank works better. A lot depends on how the structure and cover is laid out. Two anglers should also use a "two-lure system" to maximize musky response. The angler getting first cast to a section of bluff should use a lure that runs fairly deep. A deep-diving crankbait or weighted jerkbait would be an excellent choice to draw the fish up. Angler two should use a bucktail, shallower running crankbait, or unweighted jerkbait. Often the first lure draws the fish from the depths and they smack the next bait coming through.
Muskies commonly do strange things like that╔and that's what makes them unique amongst freshwater fish. So if you're looking to catch your first musky, or are just trying to stack a few more odds in your favor, try fall musky fishing...it's the best time to get 'em.
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