Our party of three fishermen has caught 6 tiger muskies since Sept. 6, ranging in size from 35 to 43 inches (not counting a 21-inch juvenile we caught twice). We've also hooked and The pattern that was successful for us the last two years -- casting bucktails and crankbaits to shoreline stumps and logs in September -- is not working this year because the fish are not in shallow water. We have identified something of a pattern that works like this: Position the boat at the 30 to 35 foot depth counter, cast bucktails with flashy blades in toward shore, and retrieve fast enough to turn the blades but as slow as you can to get the lure to drop down the dropoff. We can see our lures to a depth of about 15 feet, which means a fish lying on the bottom at 30 feet can see it, too. Nearly all our fish have come up from deep water to hit our lures, which convinces me they are not very far from the shorelines but are laying deep on the dropoffs. A friend of ours with a depth thermometer said there's very little difference in water temperature between the surface (currently 65 to 67 degrees) and the depths. We've had just about every type of weather the last 3 weeks, which doesn't seem to make much difference, except we feel the sun and heat of this last weekend is helping rather than hurting the muskie fishing at this point. (Normally, blue skies and bright sun are not good for tiger muskie fishermen.) Also, I would advise musky hunters to concentrate their efforts on the Cresap Bay end of the lake down to Woodland Park, as we are not seeing any fish in the lower lake down to the dam; and the other muskie fishermen we've talked with report the same thing. As for lures, a bucktail with a willow-leaf blade will get down farther than one with a large fluted blade, and you can also "dig deeper" by hanging a small bell sinker off the leader-lure connection ahead of the lure. Black-red tail with nickel blade is what's producing for us. This kind of fishing is not as much fun as catching them off shoreline cover and it's very tiring and tedious work -- we call it "zombie casting" -- but it is producing a few fish. We did find them on the shoreline wood in July and August, but they just are not there this September, which in the past has been Merwin's best muskie month. Of course, we've batted around all sorts of theories about why; but logic argues that a combination of food supply and fishing pressure (there is considerably more now than in the last couple seasons) is governing the muskies' behavior. I would add that we've caught these dropoff fish despite jet skis and ski boats buzzing nearby, so don't let weekend crowds or heavy boat traffic discourage you from fishing. Also, all fishermen we've spoken with, and ourselves, have been catching smaller fish than was the norm a year ago; we're just not seeing many of the 20-pounders this year, and there's a lot more 33 to 36 inch fish in this year's bag. We release all our fish, and urge others to do the same, as this lake probably can support only a few hundred adult muskies and if people kill them, we won't have a musky fishery at all. Also, big changes are in store for Washington's tiger musky stocking program; according to a July 16, 2006 proposal posted on the WDFW web site, Minnesota is discontinuing its tiger musky stocking program in 2008, and Washington will lose its source of certified, disease-free fertilized tiger musky eggs at that time, so state biologists are proposing that Washington develop its own broodstock program. This will involved stocking true muskellunge in Silver and Newman lakes near Spokane, from which eggs will be harvested to fertilize with northern pike milt from pike taken from the Pend O'Reille River. The fry will be reared at the Columbia Basin and Meeseberg hatcheries near Moses Lake. This report also contains the most complete information I've seen to date on biologist studies of tiger musky foraging habits, and indicates they feed on squawfish, tench, and carp during the warm months but switch to eating rainbow trout in the cooler months. This tends to support my belief that in winter the tiger muskies suspend over deep water, as rainbows are not shallow, warm water fish, and possibly could be taken by open-water trolling in the winter and spring if you can figure out where their food supply is hanging out. I'm in Seattle right now, but will return to Merwin Lake on Sept. 28 to fish until about Oct. 9.

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