Northwest Fishing Reports

I know that there are tiger muskies in evergreen res. and love to fish that prt of the state. Ive read plenty of books on this fish and have fished at evergreen, green lake, and mayfield res. but have still to catch one is there any tips and hints someone can help me with, like I said I havent ever been taught just what Ive read so any info from the pros would help

well im no pro but i would love to help as much as i can and yeap what kind of baits or lures are you using?
roostertails are awesome for the muskies but one thing, they are too small!!! so it be better off with bucktails.
you want something with vibration,flashy,and big for these muskies.

if your fishing from shore and u spy a musky on shore cruising by try casting it like about 6 feet away from it then retrieve tio where the musky can see it, if the musky is hungry there will be a good chance of a bite but if its not intrested try some thing else or its just that it isnt hungry. If it swims away dont get upset it will likey swim back.

In evergreen res. if i were you i'd fish the dropoffs or around the small islands well sorry if this aint the best help but yep just wanted to give you some info

When I started off, I went the first year without catching a muskie. So your not alone in your dry spell. I started off by renting some of the In-Fisherman's muskie video's to learn some of the basics of lure presentation and seasonal movements. I've found that our muskies prefer a smaller range of lures also. I wasted a lot of time tossing huge lures only to learn the smaller offerings are better in Silver, Curlew and Mayfield (for me anyway). The fish in Evergreen Res. are not progressing very rapidly as far as size, when compared to Merwin and Mayfield so start with smaller offerings (fish & game can confirmed this in the last survey). I've talked with crappie fishermen who've had muskies pop their crappies off the lines while realing in. So I grabbed a couple crappie pattern lures for my next trip there. Small swin baits always produce for me too no matter where I'm fishing. Trout and Perch are killers for me. I use a medium action set-up this time of year for presenting smaller lures, so I don't lose any action. I use florocarbon leaders as well. I'm doing well this season with 6 fished landed and 2 lost since April 15th using a stealthy approach.

Hi
I have a question for Muskie Guy. What are you using for a main line and what pound test is the leader. Also would you be able to recommend any brands of baits.

Thanx alot guys this will really help on my next muskie outing and I also feel a lot better about not catching one yet. The main thing that Ive used is just the biggest baddest plugs I have in my box and I have a couple of HUGE spoons for salmon That I try as well. And about that florocarbon leader, thats the leader that I would prefer to use (same leader I use for every other fish) but I havnt because I heard their teeth will rip right through it, is this true or should I switch to florocarbon. I hate using that wire leader junk

my first year was a dry spell too and the people i was fishing with only caught small ones. the second year i caught 3 one a 37" and one over 40".

there is a learning curve to catching these bad boys, but it's not too hard once you get some gear and devote some time to it. the biggest thing not already mentioned in this thread is to be patient, persistent and if you're not finding the fish cover as much water as you can and you'll eventually find one... now whether or not it will bite is another story.

oh and sharp hooks and timely hook sets. i don't even want to count the number of GOOD fish i lost due to dull or slow hook setting last year.

i've also noticed on mayfield that the smaller bucktail like lures we had seemed to work best. got the 37" on a 3" lure. but on merwin the standard size have worked just fine 7"+.

Hey GPC,Musky Guy and Jay S,
Hi...I use 9 1/2 inch long 244# wire with 143# test ball bearing swivels size 4. Attached to 65" braided Spiderwire. I use that for jerk baits and trolling with the big lures. And for throwing bucktails I use 17lb p-line with about 75 yds of 35lb stren braided added with 12 inch 100 lb mono leader with ball bearing swivels in the clear water of Lake Tapps. I would not consider my self a great angler but I have learned alot from my father who still fishes Muskie in upper Wisconsin. True Muskies. Occasionally he'll run into the Tigers. So I have learned alot from him.But I think I know enough to help the newest Musky angler. And just read alot. I also hang with a couple of guys from around here that fish for them alot too. Bill Green and Mark Wells.
Mainly I throw bucktails way easier to throw that those 3 oz + jerk baits. Now I am in the process of learning the trolling technique. I am currently waiting for Tapps to get settled then the fun begins. Smallies and Muskies. Nothing better than that. I have not fished Mayfield as of yet. But I think I may wander that direction with my son and try to get a fish out of that lake. Can always try anyway. And eventually hit Merwin. I have heard that there are some tanks in that lake. Have seen one photo of a older guy with a under sized net stuffed with a 31 lb fish. If its still alive I'm going to try and get it. If any of you guys are interested in hitting a lake in the near future give me a shout.

Is it legal to use a live bait for muskie fishing at Mayfield Lake?

Silent Angler wrote:Is it legal to use a live bait for muskie fishing at Mayfield Lake?

nope.

If I am not mistaken...no live bait at all in this state.

No live-bait for Muskies in the state of Washington. The reason that live-bait is not a good idea for this fish is because using this method usually kills the Muskie with no chance of a release. If you are using a 8"-12" Sucker the fish must first swallow the bait before you set the hook. Not many Muskie anglers using this method any longer. The best thing to do for these fish is to release them, especially true of the "Tigers" which are sterile to begin with. They are truly a great game fish and in many lakes help reduce the "rough" fish populations so other "game" fish do not become stunted. Good fishin".

Bad Esox,
You are correct about the no live bait. I think you are wrong about the method killing the Musky.Usually uneducated fisherman kill these fish. Back in the midwest this method is still used mostly during ice fishing with shiners and with tip ups. Used for Pike. Occasionally Musky are had by this method and released with no problem or injury to the fish. Just by using a cutter to cut the hook. Even caught with dead smelt. So I don't know where you got your info but its not 100% correct on this subject......good luck to you.

I have several responses to comments in this thread.

Re live bait: You can't use live fish for bait in Washington. And muskies, unlike northern pike, won't take dead fish. So we're pretty much dead in the water where bait is concerned, and Washington's tiger musky fishery is a 100% artificial lure fishery. In the midwest, most late fall cold-water muskies are taken on live suckers, so this restriction does limit our season and impair our ability to catch tiger muskies when water temperatures fall below 62 degrees. The only option I can suggest for those conditions is plastic jigs, creatures, and reapers fished very slow, like you would for early spring bass.

Re line and leaders: Most midwest musky anglers use 80-lb. superline, but their waters are much murkier than ours. Although I have superline on a couple of my reels, in our lakes, which tend to have extremely clear water with visibility often down to 25 feet, I mostly use mono. Specifically, Cortland Musky Mono. For Evergreen, where the fish are smaller, or for throwing small lures at any lake, because it's hard to cast small lures with heavy line I'd go with #17 or 20# test. But that line weight is too light for the bigger fish in Mayfield or Merwin, and on those waters I've been using Cortland Musky Mono in 25# or 30# test (mostly the latter). I'm phasing out my wire leaders in favor of flourocarbon, even though the latter is expensive (almost $6 each), because flourocarbon is almost invisible in the water and as fishing pressure increases our tiger muskies are getting warier every season. I use 60# leaders most of the time but on Merwin, where the bottom is littered with logs, I often use 80# leaders. I always buy them in 12-inch lengths. You don't need more length because the fish will always be hooked in the mouth, and it's difficult to cast with precision if the lure is hanging more than 12 inches below the rod tip.

If you are putting in time but not catching fish, the first question I'd ask is if you're seeing fish. If you not, you're very likely casting into empty water, and need to refurbish your understanding of fish location and your strategy. If you don't find fish in shallow weeds or cover, move farther out and go deeper, fishing the outer weed edges and dropoffs. Tost important thing to do is keep moving. It's a mistake to sit on one spot, or keep casting to the same cover. This isn't bass fishing. Throw one cast at your target and then move on. Making repeated casts to the same spot wastes valuable time. Muskies are a very low density population, much less than 1 fish per acre, and they're scattered, so you have to COVER A LOT OF WATER to find one. That is the key tactic in fishing for this species 95% of the time.

You have to put time on the water. If you boat one fish for every 40 hours of fishing time, you're doing okay. This is not a very good sport for people who can only fish for an afternoon now and then. It's not like panfishing where you reel in fish after fish, or bass fishing where you work an area and catch several fish. Assuming you're doing it properly, the number of fish you catch is a mathematical function of how many hours you spend on the water and how many casts you make to fish-holding water.

Musky Hunter magazine did a nice study on the impact on mortality of "stomach hooked" muskies. This is the old meathod that has the fisherman waiting until the bait is swallowed before hook set. They showed this to be a very poor and out dated meathod for fishing any species because of the elevated mortality of released and lost fish.

Quick strike rigs are far more common with live bait fishing and allow immediate hook setting. Doesn't matter since we can't use live bait.

My experience has led me to believe you can catch muskies on dead bait and in water that is barely 40 degrees. I have caght several tiger's in Idaho's Hauser lake on dead bait immediately after ice-out over the years. I used to go there because there was good shore fishing and larger fish. But I didn't spend a lot of time fishing there because it was usually blowing like hell. I caught my first muskie on a 7" Jailbird Suick the day after ice out on Hauser lake back in 1998. I'm still catching them in the cold water, but the lake has been severley damaged by run off from the surrounding developement and has drastically declined. Too dang bad! I caught my largest muskie out of Hauser, at 36 pounds and 51". No more of those left though, some jerks used spear fishing gear to kill all the big fish several years ago.

On Silver and Newman lakes around Spokane, I've had the same experience 2 weeks after the ice has melted. The month of April can be great, May is always better and June is fantastic. These lakes are much smaller and shallower than Curlew, so I put Curlew 1 month behind the warm-up here in Spokane. I think it just comes down to hours spent learning your lakes. You've got to be an expert on your lakes and the fish, like Don obviously is on Merwin, and the only way to do that is time on the water.

Hey Don,

I was just wondering if you ever get back to the Chippewa Flowage anymore. I used to have a place there near the old "Black Bear Lodge" on the west side of the "Big Chip". My Father grew up in the area and I spent most of my youth fishing those waters. Every time we went through Hayward we would always stop in at Pastika's Bait Shop without fail. Beautiful area, great fishing, and fond memories.

I am very pleased that the State of Washington chose to stock "Tigers" here. They are a great fish. I am hoping that the Anglers of Washington will continue to help support this fishery. Good fishing!!

"A study conducted by the Wisconsin DNR proved what many musky fisherman had already suspected---that hooking muskies with a single hook rig is almost completely fatal. Any Angler who wants to use livebait for Muskies should use a quick-set rig. and use it properly. Period."
Quick-set rigs, which enable an angler to set the hook immediately after a musky grabs a sucker, have evolved considerably since they were first introduced in the 80's. Examples would be the "Herbie Rig, and the "Lift-Off" rig.
I too have "accidentally" caught muskies through the ice back in Minnesota, which is a trick in itself. I think the main difference when ice-fishing is that one is not "targeting" Muskies (they would be out of season). The Minnows and hooks used for a species such as Walleye and Crappie are usually much smaller.
Ahhh... alas, it is really of no meaning in Washington anyhow.
I perfer to cast and watch for the "follows" , or sometimes to use a "rowing-trolling" method in a smaller boat.
Fish On My Friends.

Lots of good info already mentioned above but I'd like to emphasize the use of a quality leader. I also use flourocarbon leaders for lots of presentations but it's hard to beat a wire leader for jerks, gliders bucktails and spinnerbaits. I use flourocarbon for cranks and twitch baits where the fish is going to get a good look at the lure otherwise it's just a reaction strike and they don't know what the leader is anyway. To many fish can starve by getting hooked and breaking off with a large lure stuck in their mouths. I'd also stay with any of the super lines for getting the hooks buried if nothing else.
Tie your line to a 4' section of 4x4 post laying in the yard. Back off a cast length and practice your hookset. You can't even move the board with mono and it'll take some effort to move it with Power Pro also but a musky has a darn tough mouth and can grip a lure in those teeth tight enough that you can't move it sometimes to make it slide enough for the hooks to stick.
Good luck and remember Catch & Release.
Mark