What speeds are working? FAST! Spoonplugs-Bigger Muskies & Pike-100 SP 4-6+ mph & LM Bass 5-6 mph / VERY FAST-7+ mph-Pike & big white bass (400SP) / SLOW 2-3 mph on cranks—bigger catfish, small Walleye, smaller Muskies, smaller Pike, smaller white bass and perch. Starting every summer trip on these dark lakes shallow with a 400 or 250 Spoonplug (depending on which lake & weed line) NO-BO bumping the bottom…then free run at a faster pace changing speeds around the lake. This tells me a lot about what to do next! I do this again midday if things are slow.
Lately on North Fox Chain: SIX Muskies (best OTW entertainment last week was 47”+ musky on Lake Marie) fishing with spoonpluggers when possible, some quality Pike & Catfish, 4 lb Smallie, a few walleye, lots of white bass, perch. Had to work at it and be there when they moved, but interesting seeing so many shallower fish! Some other Spoonpluggers out there too, which is good
…Strange but I’m usually NOT getting much on a short line. Having some LINE LENGTH has been important with normal lure sizes per depth. NO-BO allows that, and has the short option, too (or use wire). Musky lures and standard cranks were tried but did not catch the bigger muskies or many of the pike. It was the Spoonplug.
Spoonplugging Trolling gear: Its been Buck’s rods, No-Bo 12 & 17, Spoonplugs, Flasher (!), Helix 7. Some days we ended up crazy shallow less than 3 mph. When it’s hot/humid and you think they aren’t biting…speed up…then go even faster!
Casting: Some casting was done but the big fish present and speed told us mostly stay on the TROLL. For funky weather sometimes the fish went for slower, so our bass casting outfits with crankbaits went to work. One day it was a 6” breakline seen on the flasher-only spot we got them one day…my super smart AutoChart set at 1ft. did not show this breakline! 3-way rigs would probably be getting in the way and limit speed checks at this point so I’ve been sticking with just single lures. On good weather days we only caught small white bass and teeny walleye on the slower cranks so we got back to the Spoonplugs to wait for them to move.
Some better days Early Summer: 40 LM Bass/Blue Cat/12 Channels (LaSalle Lake 250SP-medium speed-one structure in 4 hours), 30 Pike-several 30”+ (100SP-Fast speed-in 4 hours otw/WI). One distance trip with a Spoonplugger-50 LM Bass 5-6 mph @Lake of Egypt…new for us, was not in the plans. (Kinkaid turned out too hot back in June so we skipped it. LOE was 20 miles form motel.)
Too hot for muskies now obviously so they get a break for awhile.
Good fishing!
BTW-I understand you have been scaring up some big ones! Keep it up!!!