Northwest Fishing Reports

Ok gang! I am beefing up the tackle box for the '09 season and being a MN guy I just can't bring myself to avoid the pounders and double cowgirls!!! Go big or go HOME! At the same time I find myself heeding the advice of many from the Northwest and supplementing my aresenal with some smaller sized lures to ensure I have all my bases covered. Anyone out there willing to suggest some colors specific to each of the WA Muskie lakes?

Tapps
Mayfield
Merwin
Curlew
Evergreen
Silver
Newman

Also when do they start filling Tapps back up so I can get my boat in the water?


See you out there.
Travis

Nice fish Travis, where did you catch it? Bill and I have had good luck with red and firetiger on Tapps but I know others use alot of different colors. I know a girlfriend of mine even caught a tiger on a pink or purple bucktail (I can't remember which) so you can see there are many different choices. It all depends on how adventurous you are. Hope to visit with you again next week at this month's meeting.
Rosann

Uhm, dude..just a little jealous of that little girl you have there!!

Took a guy out to Tapps he got a 40 inch Tiger on a pink Showgirl. And he is from Illinois. Whats with the pink? I don't know, but it works.

Hey Travis,

For decent launching at Tapps,I would expect around mid-March and a full pool around April.
I'll be making trips there and keeping tabs on the level...keep you posted on that.
Heres a website to help monitor the water levels.
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=12101000

Nice fish too!:cheers:

Looks like bright colors for Tapps is the hot ticket, thanks! How about the other tiger lakes?

Kev, thanks for the website... what is the magic range for Lake Tapps? I read the site as it is within normal range right now but that can't be right.

Rosann, I caught that hog jaws on a northern MN lake ;).

T

Don't know for sure if its the bright colors. Put 16 fish in the net there last year. 15 on Musky killers 8 on Black and 7 on chartruese. And one on a Rapala blackn'silver Magnum. I don't think color is all that imortant out there. You just have to watch out for the unattentive boaters and jet/water skiers. Its nutz out there..oh by the way I just purchased two 8" Homewreckers for the jet skiers to checkout this year!! he he he..

Hey Travis,

Check out Ducktail Lures. They make some great smaller bucktails with both hair and rubber skirts that are awesome. The sizes are perfect for early season action and fast action whenthings heat up all summer long. The best colors for me have been purple, black, and yes, pink and red with white. Jim also makes some awesome spinner baits called the weed warrior or Jungle Warrior. Very weedless, bigger profile and easy to fish slowly.

Good luck and check us out.

SKI, I have seen the ducktail stuff and I currently have a couple of lures. I know burning BIG tails during the summer months can leave you in one of two ways... serious fatigue or pop-eye forearms! Check out the Penn international 975 series reels. You can get them on eBay pretty cheap and you can burn double cowgirls all day without issue!

T

Hey Travis,

I am not saying not to use the big WI/MN lures ever, I am saying that until you discover what works for your style, where you are fishing, etc that the smaller lures will show you in general where the fish are hanging out. I will admit that the bigger lures, especially gliders, some deeper cranks and jigs will draw less fish but overall bigger by far. My fishing partner Mark Wells can attest to this. He usually throws some bigger Bikinibait custom gliders (Turmoils in smallmouth, perch and walleye patterns) and I have personally seen more than a few 50 plus inch fish follow and strike these larger baits. My initial response was to what works the best around here - I usually equate that to numbers of fish versus size for those new to the area. I will have to check out the Penn reels. I am currently a huge fan of the Diawa Lunas.


www.bikinibaitcompany.com

Oh yeah, I forgot one other great med - large size bucktail I love to throw here mid to late summer. Check out Beast Teaser Bucktails at www.beastteaser.com. The double bladed BT 8x8 in purple, rain or black with nickle blades rocks! By the way, I usually only use nickle blades - the water is always so clear I rearely ever use gold and almost never use painted or colored blades. Back in WI I used to love throwing the huge black bucktail with blaze orange blades. I have never caught a single fish here on a colored blade - just my experience.

Ski

You can try Mepps Musky Killers. I put 16 fish in the net this past year on Black and Chartruese. 15 on those and one on a Rapala Magnum...Cabelas' has a bunch back by the where the Musky mounts on the wall are located. So you just really don't know. try what you like then you'll have to adapt to this fishery a bit.

Travisah,
I'm a firm believer in 'big bait - big fish' and I do use some bigger baits but "big" is relative to a body of water or geographical location or maybe even species as after 6 years of tiger musky hunting, I lean toward the 5" - 7" size lures if you'd like consistant action.
Given the right conditions, I'll definitely throw something bigger.
Relatively speaking, our water is damn clear so natural colors and stay in the 5" - 7" size range and you'll do just fine. That and get together with some fine gents and even finer musky fishermen like muskyhunter, ski and kevinb.

I feel lure selection should be governed primarily by where the fish are, and the physical characteristics a lure needs to reach them. The main thing is to get your lure into the strike zone, with color being secondary. For example, the fish often are deeper at Merwin than Mayfield, so when I'm fishing Merwin I'll use deep-diving crankbaits and weighted bucktails with heavy blades to get down to them. If the water is muddy or has an algae bloom, I'll use a large blade for maximum vibration and a bright color like chartreuse to help the fish see the lure. In clear water, I like black-red and red bucktails, and natural colored crankbaits with white bellies (to imitate a squawfish's belly), but I've seen tigers caught on all sorts of colors, which leads me to believe that color isn't very important per se and is mainly a visibility thing. You always want to make it as easy as possible for the fish to locate your lure by means of vibration, flash, action, and visibility. Washington's tiger muskies don't seem to especially like large lures, so I've gravitated to bucktails in the 1 1/2 oz. range and 6 to 8 inch crankbaits. I'm not saying other things won't work, and the more people experiment with lures and presentations, the more we'll learn, as long as we're willing to share information. Which I do, to a point; I've got a couple of lures which consistently work well for me that I keep under my hat.

Hey Don,

I definitely agree with you - regardless of size, color, type, etc. getting the lure in the strike zone will draw more follows and fish. Once that is accomplished, then I think all the aforementioned colors, sizes, styles should be considered based on what lake, cloud cover, water clarity, and water temp.

Guys pretty much what I have gathered here is... finding the fish/structure is the most important thing, then any color will pretty much work, there has been success on many different sizes, bucktails seem like the hot ticket... Sounds like every muskie fishery I have even been on ! The only steady factor seems to be TOTW (time on the water) will help you understand the lake and the successful presentations that will land more fish!

Is anyone a mid week fisherman? I am in retail and typically have WED or Thurs off each week. Works well to get away from the weekend recreation traffic!
T

Travisah wrote:Guys pretty much what I have gathered here is... finding the fish/structure is the most important thing, then any color will pretty much work, there has been success on many different sizes, bucktails seem like the hot ticket... Sounds like every muskie fishery I have even been on ! The only steady factor seems to be TOTW (time on the water) will help you understand the lake and the successful presentations that will land more fish!

Yes.

Hey Travis,
I think I have the itch just enough to hit Mayfield this Saturday. A mid February Tiger sounds interesting to me.

Dude... make it next Sat and I am in. The Ranger needs to get in the water!
T

Ok..i can feel an itch in 2 weeks too! just have to watch the weather the week before. I think with the stable weather this week. Well you know where I'm goin with this. We will be in touch. Todd