Movements

There are usually some fixed seasonal movements that can help make locating fish a little easier. Early in the season many muskies prefer the new weed growth on the largest flats available for forage and cover. Even if these lakes have a quality deep-water forage (ciscoes, herring, or whitefish), most muskies will remain shallow until they are fully recovered after spawning. As the season progresses, the different forage species will eventually migrate to the areas that will be their summer homes. Understanding movements of forage species will help you determine muskie location.

For example, walleyes in mesotrophic lakes are excellent forage in terms of both size and numbers. Walleyes relate to a number of structural elements available in these lakes and in turn offer the muskies a number of options. Walleyes themselves will search for high-protein forage species but where these are not significant, they will relate to perch found primarily in the weeds. Some walleyes will school on rock shoals and sunken islands to prey on lake minnows. A muskie may spend the entire summer and fall living on a shoal or sunken island among a large school of small walleyes. It's a very efficient system and the muskies cohabiting with walleye are often the biggest muskies. This pattern really comes into its own with the first spell of really hot, calm weather, usually in late June or early July. The key shoals or islands are those associated with the long, slow tapers that walleyes prefer during the relatively stable weather of the summer months. The best depths can be anywhere from five to 30 feet or more with most of the muskies suspending over deeper water adjacent to the shoal.

In the fall, as the weather becomes less stable, the walleyes will look for faster-breaking shoals (those that drop quickly to deeper water). These fast-breaking structures offer the shortest possible migration route from the shallow feeding areas to the stability of their deep-water sanctuary. Once more, the muskies will follow the forage and suspend off these shoals.

In many meso lakes there are extensive weedbeds that do hold large numbers of muskies, usually smaller ones. On lakes where fishing pressure has drastically reduced the walleye population or average size, the weeds may hold the last strong population of walleyes. In this instance, the muskies will be found around weed edges and the open water immediately adjacent to them. As with the shoals, the weeds on long, slow tapers would be the prime summer areas and the weeds closest to deep water would be best in the fall. As usual, the muskies would spend most of the time suspended over open water and move up to the weeds under optimum conditions such as low-light periods (dawn, dusk, overcast day) or during a period of lunar influence.

In meso lakes with significant populations of both walleyes and ciscoes all these patterns may hold. In addition, there may be specific ciscoe - whitefish patterns to consider. These high-protein forage species feed primarily on animal plankton and require much cooler water temperatures. Some muskies will roam the open waters following these massive schools of baitfish as they feed on wind-blown plankton. Others will set up home territories on shoals, feeding on walleyes and smallmouth bass, and wait for the wind to deliver the baitfish to them. Ciscoes and whitefish (herring, too) are obliging in other ways as well. Their spawning habits help provide muskies with good meals. These baitfish are fall spawners, placing themselves in an extremely vulnerable position to reproduce. Huge schools of these high-protein fish will stage in deep water, usually near shallow rock rubble areas with immediate access to deep water. They move from the depths at night into the shallows to spawn, usually on the full moon in November. The muskies will suspend in deep water just below the forage to take advantage of these spawning movements. With such superior forage, this type of lake consistently produces trophy muskies.

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