The Bone-Jarring Muskies of Lake Chautauqua – Part II
By Chuck Bailey
Muskie are notorious bait followers, so it begs the question as to whether applying scents might help in eliciting a strike. After 30 years, our guide Mike Sperry concludes, “I have tried scents with baits while trolling in the past and I haven’t found any advantage to using it. It’s just an additional expense.”
Eliciting Strikes from Followers
“But,” Mike adds, “the question does bring up an interesting point, because muskie will follow a bait. And it makes you wonder how long a muskie will follow a trolled bait before it hits it. And… how many fish have followed that bait and just turned off.”
“That’s why the client and I won’t troll but a couple of hundred yards before imparting some action on the rod. We will do s-turns, trying to change the speed and direction of the bait, but we will also pick up the rod and pump it. (That’s only if the client can handle doing that, because some of these baits pull really hard). We’ll actually hold the rod and periodilcally start ripping it a little bit. And it’s amazing how many fish we have caught when we have done that.”
“Likewise we have caught a lot of muskie after I have put the boat in neutral and said, ‘Alright let’s crank these in, we’re going to go to another spot.’ We will pick up the rod, pumped it a couple of times… and ‘fish on’. That happens quite a bit.” An essential key to triggering strikes from followers is to impart erratic action to the bait.
Casting Verses Trolling
Mike prefers to cast for muskies - but he’s a practical man whose main purpose is to put his clients on the fish. “Normally we start out casting. And if we are not moving some fish, (at least getting some followers), we may switch to trolling. Now I may not go way out in the middle of the lake – I may troll right close to the weedline – but I will try to get the bait down at perhaps a little higher speed in the strike zone.”
That’s when Sperry turns to speed trolling. “We will normally run anywhere from 4 to 5 miles per hour just off the weedline. We may slow it down at times, but normally we’re going pretty fast and the reason goes back to eliciting a reaction strike again.”
“Now, this past summer we had a huge open water bite in July that lasted all month into August. So if I get clients on the boat and I know there is a trolling bite, we may only cast for a little while in the morning and if we’re not producing anything I will immediately switch to trolling.”
Mike then uses his graph to locate forage, usually perch, and then covers that area with either perch or chartreuse crankbaits that get down to about 20 feet.
Trolling may be an efficient way to produce strikes, but Mike is quick to add, “I prefer to cast. It’s a lot more fun. A lot of times when you are casting the fish will hit close to the boat, and the client can see the fish. But with trolling the client is rarely holding the rod when the fish hits. That’s why I prefer to cast.”
“The strike is one of the most exciting part of the muskie experience,” shares Mike. “Sometimes it is just bone-jarring the way they hit.”
Sometimes the decision to cast or troll is dependent on the client’s desires or abilities. “I do get some clients that don’t want to troll, and some who can’t use a baitcasting rod - they just want to catch a muskie. So trolling probably produces more fish if you were to stick to it all season, but it’s not as much fun.”
Casting Big Baits
One might imagine there is a trick to casting big nine inch baits, but Mike assures his clients that it’s not that hard. “With these longer rods you can still cast these bigger baits overhand, which is usually the safer way to cast with people in the boat. With the jerkbaits we sometimes use just an underhand toss. With these heavier baits, it doesn’t take a lot to get them out there. We can just throw that bait underhand with a shorter rod and get it out there quite a ways.”
The Length of a Cast
Are long casts a necessity for successful muskie fishing? “I like making long casts but it is not always easy for a client to do that. Truth is, you don’t need to make a long cast. Especially when the water has a lot of floating weeds on the surface. To make a long cast in weedy water is not efficient. Experience has proven that you don’t need to make a real long cast to catch muskies.”
Nor are long casts necessary to avoid spooking the fish. After all, muskie will come up to the boat and follow a rod around in the water while a figure eight is performed. They are not timid fish. Mike explains that a following fish has “…tunnel vision. They see that bait and they are focused on it.”
Even so, Mike warns that “Jumping around in the boat when you are doing the figure eight is not good – that sound vibrates through the water. When a client gets excited after seeing the fish and makes noise in the boat, the fish is snapped out of his trance and is aware that something else is going on, and he takes off.”
Until recently long casts were not very efficient. “When we were using monofilament line years ago, we used to make nothing but short casts because of its inherent line stretch. Mono’s stretch made it hard to set the hook on a long cast. Now with this non-stretch braided line you can get a pretty good hookset. So - you can get a way with a long cast but it is not needed.”
A Good Place to Start
When Mike pulls up to a spot in the morning and declares “This is a good place to start”, there are several reasons behind that decision. “First, it’s usually a spot that I have raised or caught a fish on recently.”
“But the second reason for picking this spot is usually the habitat. Is there good weed growth? Is there a point? Is it a place where creeks run into the lake? Sometimes it has to do with a water temperature difference that tends to attract baitfish to an area, and naturally predators follow.”
Where and How to Cast a Jerkbait
After arriving, our guide hands his clients a rod and instructs them to “…cast it parallel to the weedline - which is usually parallel to the shore. So if you are a crankbait enthusiast I will put you up on the bow, and have you throw shallow running and deep diving crankbaits parallel to that weedline or shore.”
When it comes to throwing the jerkbait, Mike insists, “You can’t go fast enough. So don’t worry about speed, you can really jerk them. And if the weeds will allow it I will have you throw towards shore, up over the weeds. Or, if you can believe it, I will have you cast out over open water. You might be in 12 feet of water and casting out into 18 feet of water. Because muskie will move back and forth.”
Are muskies ‘bottom huggers’ when located in deeper open water? Mike explains, “Say you have 12 feet at the weedline and those fish are on the bottom. When they move out they may go out into open water but not go down in depth. I’ve seen it on my graph. You can go out in 20 feet of water and still be marking fish only 12 feet down. So all those fish have done is move out over open water.”
Never Stop!
Often a fish might roll on a jerkbait as soon as it hits the water, but miss it. That does not mean the only opportunity to catch that fish is gone. Mike knows muskie often follow the fish all the way back to the boat. “That’s why you never stop working a bait.”
“And,” warns Mike, “you never stop and attempt to give them the bait. You want to keep that jerkbait going – and rip it even faster. You want it to appear that this baitfish is trying to get away from him. So I tell a client ‘You keep that bait moving all the way up to the boat. And if you see a fish following, try not to say “there’s one” and stop the bait.’ – and believe me, it’s hard to do.”
“It’s exciting to see a 45 incher coming behind a bait, but it’s important to keep that bait moving and to go into a nice big figure eight at the boat. And you need to just keep going it because a lot of times those fish might come in after it, and go down underneath the boat and they are still down there. That muskie may not hit until the third turn of a figure eight, or maybe even the third figure eight!”
Bye, Bye Muskie?
What happens if the muskie should take off? The final option is simple; have someone in the boat throw back at the fish with a different bait. “That’s when there is an advantage to having a couple of anglers in the boat.”
Retrieving a Jerkbait
When retrieving a jerkbait, our guide tells his clients to “Jerk – stop. Jerk, jerk – stop. Keep it erratic. Jerk, jerk, jerk – pause it. Rip it.” However, during the stops and pauses there is no advantage or need to leave the bait suspended for a long period of time in any one spot. Work the bait hard, erratically, and constantly all the way back to the boat.
Retrieving a Crankbait
When it comes to retrieving the diving crankbaits, “We’re doing the same thing. (With the jerkbaits we’re usually throwing up shallow – they only dive a few feet. So you are around the weedlines although you may make some casts to open water). With the crankbaits, especially if we’re throwing over the weeds with a twitch bait – it is a constant twitch. Rip, rip, reel, rip, rip, rip, reel. You really want to impart some action to the bait.”
“With a deep diver, you crank it down to depth, and then start ripping it back to the boat. So when it hits the water, you want to crank that bait down a little bit, and then start jerking it, cranking it, and jerking it the whole length of the cast.”
Casting for Muskies is Hard Work!
Obviously, diehard crankbait enthusiasts will cast and retrieve those large baits all day long. However for some of Mike’s clients that kind of effort may be beyond their capabilities. Let’s face it, if this technique sounds like a lot of work, that’s because it is.
“Oh yeah, it is,” agrees Mike. “Casting for muskies is not easy. Physically I have had people who could not handle it. Perhaps they had a bad rotator cuff and they can’t handle the constant casting. So in those cases we switch over to trolling.”
“There’s no doubt that jerkbaits are probably the hardest to throw, because if you just throw that jerkbait out and crank it back it doesn’t do anything. It takes the fisherman to impart the action.”
“With a crankbait you could throw a crankbait out and crank it, stop, crank it, stop, and that is a lot easier. Perhaps the easiest for a client to throw is a bucktail because it is a cast out and steady retrieve bait. You don’t pause it. You may speed it up, but you are not stopping it.”
The Payoff: A Strike!
Still, if an angler is capable of casting, the eventual payoff is incredible. For there is nothing more exciting that a muskie strike. Unlike some species that just sneak up on a lure and inhale a bait gently, the muskellunge hits with the impact of a speeding train.
“It is almost always a hard hit,” says Mike excitedly. “It’s so hard that sometimes they will set the hook themselves. But, you still want to lean back and give them a good hookset. At least one. I tell the client ‘Give them a good shot, and keep the line tight. If he runs right at the boat, make sure you keep the tension in the line.”
How to Fight a Muskie!
What’s the proper fighting technique in a tug-of-war with a monster muskie? “Keep the slack out of the line. You don’t need the rod tip way up in the sky; you can keep the rod tip down. Oh sure, its fun to see a fish tail-walk or dance across the water, but that is usually when they throw the hooks. If you really want to land a fish, keep the rod tip down. You want to force them to keep their head down and not come up out of the water.”
Keeping the rod tip down does not mean eliminating the bow in the rod – it’s not pointing the rod straight at the fish. Mike insists “You still want that tension, so you sweep that rod to the side, and down low, so that the rod tip is almost in the water. Admittedly this technique will reduce the amount of exciting acrobatics, but it’s the way to land a muskie. You must keep the fish’s head down.”
The Figure-Eight
Without a doubt, if there is one feature of muskie fishing that is totally unique in the freshwater fishing, it’s the ‘figure-eight’. How important it is? Mike declares, “I try to get my clients to figure-eight on every cast whether they see a fish or not. Because sometimes those fish will follow deep and you won’t see them, and then they will come up and hit right at the boat.”
“So it is a good practice to figure-eight on every cast, or at least make a big circle - just keep that bait moving. If the bait is 30 feet out and we see a fish, I’ll tell my client ‘Keep cranking’ or ‘Crank faster!’ And it’s extremely important, that as you continue to crank that bait towards the boat, you slowly begin lowering your rod tip. By the time the bait gets 12 to 24 inches away from the tip of your rod, you want that rod tip way down in the water. And you want to smoothly go into a nice circle or a figure-eight.”
“And you don’t want to pull that figure-eight right towards the boat and get jammed up with your rod. You want a nice smooth figure-eight; come in, and go out and around and away from the boat making a big wide circle – that’s when those longer rods come into play – and then go back and do another wide circle on the other side.”
“I can’t stress enough how important it is to work smoothly and to make a really wide circle. You don’t want to make a real choppy one, because muskie will follow a bait on a wide turn, but… if you try to cut the circle off short - they just lose their focus. It’s as if they wake up and say ‘What the heck was that?’, and then they turn off.”
“With today’s 8 or 9 foot rods you can produce great figure-eights. And if you are right handed, don’t turn right at the boat, because you are going to be vertical with that rod and end up jamming yourself and having a slow turn. You want to make that nice wide sweep and keep that bait moving.”
Bone-Jarring Strikes Under The Boat
It’s easy for a novice to imagine the impact of a muskie strike on a long cast. But it’s harder and almost scary to envision what happens when a 40 incher strikes during a figure eight under the boat. Mike says it is a bone-jarring experience, “Oh yeah! I’ve had them slam the rod against the boat.”
When a muskellunge rocket hits a bait under the boat, the angler must be prepared. Mike reminds his clients “Normally we have the drag set pretty tight. When muskie hits with only two feet of line out, you have to react pretty quick. Because bad things can still happen, even though we are using that heavy braid with fluorocarbon or steel leaders. There’s still the possibility that hooks that can straighten out – even with heavy duty hooks. There are all kinds of things that can fail when a strike occurs under the boat.”
Free Spooling and Thumbing The Reel
“So when that fish hits, put your reel into free spool and thumb the reel. Give that fish a little bit more line and let him play out a little bit before you attempt to bring it to the net.”
Self Hooked
When a figure-eight strike occurs there is no need to set the hook. “Usually when they hit with only 12 to 24 inches of line out, they are hooked real well. I did have a client a few years ago break a rod with a hookset like that. But I suspect he had a defective rod because I’ve never seen that before. Still, it’s a pretty violent strike. If you get a mid 40 inch fish hit at the boat, it is brutal. But it is fun!
The Reason For Lost Fish
If a beginning muskie fisherman is plagued by lost fish, Mike suggests several contributing reasons, “It is usually the hookset, and the hooks. I believe longer shanked hooks help – but it’s vitally important to check them throughout the day. After so many casts I will check my client’s hooks. And I carry a file and just sharpen them up – you want them razor sharp.”
“Some times we pinch down the barbs, to get a little bit better hook set. Admittedly the angler risks the chance of losing the fish if they don’t keep the tension on the fish, but it is a lot easier to drive a hook in that has no barbs.”
The Use of Electronics
Sperry utilizes his electronics constantly throughout the day. Even though his boat is equipped with depthfinders mounted in the bow and on the driver’s dash, it is the later one that gets most of his attention. “If I have one client fishing with me, they’ll be on the bow, and I’ll fish off the back. And I will be watching the dash fish-finder. I’m just trying to keep us on the weedline. That’s all I’m doing. I’m not that concerned about marking fish, just keeping on the weedline.”
Although his electric trolling motor is in the bow, Mike utilizes an electric foot pedal that can be positioned in the back of the boat. “That way the client has a nice casting deck to cast from and is comfortable up in the bow. And also they have first shot on a high percentage spot.”
“The electronics really come into play when we are deep water trolling,” explains Mike. “You are looking for schools of bait, perhaps emerald shiners or perch. If you find the smaller forage, you’ll find the predators.”
“When we are trolling for muskies in open water, we’re looking for big arcs on that graph. That’s what you are looking for in open water - those big arcs.”
Water Temperature
Does water temperature have a major impact on these muskies? “Oh yeah. Especially in the summers when our surface temperatures get up to 80 degrees, or even a little bit higher. To be honest, when the water gets that warm, I don’t like to fish for them because it is such a stressor to them.”
“But the muskies are definitely impacted by warmer temperatures and will move out to deeper water, so that obviously changes things a little bit. They will typically hold in the 20 foot zone. We have a lot of deep holes in that lake, so they may be 20 feet deep in 40 feet of water.”
Thermoclines?
Mike is not too concerned about the effects of a thermocline affecting muskie behavior. “There is a slight thermocline, but not like the kind they get in Lake Erie. Lake Chautauqua has a very uneven bottom; the deepest hole is only 72 feet in the upper end. So you don’t get a large thermocline.”
Wind, Light, and Weather!
Muskies are more likely affected by wind; but in a positive way. “Some of our best days trolling are when you have quite a bit of wind and chop.” Even the muskies in deeper water will rise towards the surface.
Changes in light, however, do not have a dramatic effect on muskellunge. “I don’t consider muskie to be low light feeders like walleye. Muskies will feed on a bright sunny day. So I don’t think they are as affected by light as much as walleyes are.”
Mike is quick to point out, however, that huge weather changes can have a major impact on their behavior. What is the perfect day to go muskie fishing? “I like a slightly overcast to sunny day, and a little bit of chop on the water.”
And the worst weather to go muskie fishing in? “When a major cold front that came through the day before has blown through, and it is nice and sunny out – with blue bird skies – those are some of the toughest.”
The Cold Front
Each species of fish bounce back differently after a cold front has moved through, and unfortunately muskie are some of the slowest responders. How long before the fishing gets back to normal? “It can takes days,” says Mike. “The other species will bounce back long before the muskie will.”
However, the hours before the front moves in can be great. “That is probably the best!” explains Sperry, “especially if it is a thunder storm about to come through. Obviously we don’t play around with the weather; if it is thundering and lightening we are off the water. But if you know there is a pressure system coming through, especially if you know it is thunderstorms coming, those couple of hours before they get here is the best.”
“For a couple of hours the fishing is everything you could hope for, but it can really screw up the rest of your day. In a full day charter, you may only get a few hours fishing in. But it can be some of the best fishing. Sometimes you can have a feeding window that can last less than an hour, but in that hour you can actually boat several muskies.”
What Are The Chances?
Most of Mike’s clients are very realistic about their chances of hooking into a muskie. But occasionally a new client will ask “How many fish will we catch today?” Even though the average throughout the season is 2 to 3 fish, Mike’s answer is a balance between hope and reality, “I usually tell a client, (especially if I know it’s going to be a decent day weather wise, and we’re going to be casting), ‘You are going to see some fish today. I am going to put you on fish, though I can’t guarantee we’re going to hook one, or land one. But I am going to put you on the best spots and you are going to see some fish today.” Rarely is a customer disappointed.
It is quite common for experienced muskie anglers to hire Mike the first day of an extended stay on the lake. Their main expectation is simply to learn the lake, check out the local patterns and techniques for catching Lake Chautauqua muskie, and then spend the following days on their own utilizing what they learned. To those experienced clients, catching muskie while being out with a knowledgeable guide is a real bonus.
Do Muskie Get Conditioned to Certain Crankbaits?
Among bass and walleye fishermen who often participate in catch-n-release, there is constant debate as to whether fish get conditioned to certain crankbaits. Many professional anglers believe they do. Are Lake Chautauqua muskie capable of getting conditioned to certain baits? Our guide says, “Yes, definitely.”
“For example; this last summer in July there was an open water bite going on and there was a particular crankbait that everybody was running. It’s a great bait on the lake. And a lot of muskie fishermen caught a lot of fish with it. Then in early August, (even though there were still a lot of fish out in open water), that particular crankbait just went to pot.”
“And it wasn’t the color – we tried many different colors. Never-the-less, a lot of hours passed between fish when trying to do the same thing that worked so well in July. And we were still marking fish. Of course you have a lot of fish that have been hooked and caught, so there’s a fair amount of memory there, but I think it was just particular bait coming through the water and being run at the same speed. I believe it takes muskie a while to forget about it.”
“Typically, most muskie fishermen will stop trolling those baits and they will switch over to throwing something else. But with time, that same bite will kick back in during the fall. So I definitely think they get conditioned to certain baits.”
How Old is That Monster Muskie?
If an angler invests in a muskie adventure on Lake Chautauqua and manages to be blessed with a large muskie, they should be aware that it takes 5 years to create a 35 incher, and 7 to 10 years to produce a 40 inch muskie. But the chances are good that a qualified guide can put you on a magnificent fish if the weather is cooperating.
As Good As It Used To be?
Is Lake Chautauqua still as good a muskie fishery as it used to be? “I believe so,” says Mike. “It had a down turn in the early 90’s, but the lake has really come back since then. And it’s probably back at historic levels like it was in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. In fact, because of catch-n-release and the extended minimum limits, we have a lot of bigger fish out here.”
It’s enough to make any angler drool upon hearing Mike report, “Every year someone gets one around 55 or 56 inches. There are some monsters out here. True, it is a numbers lake, but you have a chance at a real trophy; a 50 incher. My biggest fish this summer was 48 inches, which is 30 some pounds. So they are nice healthy fish.”
Some Final Advice…
To every angler contemplating a trip to this famous muskie fishery, Mike Sperry gives some final words of advice. “If someone has never fished Lake Chautauqua before, I recommend they look at it as two different lakes separated by the I-86 bridge.”
“The south basin is more a fertile type basin, and it’s a lot shallower, the average depth is about 10-11 feet with lots of weedy bays and silty bottom. The south end weedline ends about 7-8 feet.”
“The upper end, (north of the bridge), is just the opposite. You still have weedy bays and silt coming out of the streams but it is a lot deeper. It has deep drop offs, the weedline ends about 12 feet. The north end stays a lot clearer.”
“Stick to the weedlines; you can’t go wrong there. And talk to people at the ramps. Some of the best information you can get from a bass angler – a guy who has been throwing a jig up in the shallows in 3 to 4 feet of water and he’s tired of these ‘damn muskies’ chasing and biting off his jigs. Some of that info is excellent.”
But if you come to Lake Chautauqua, bring jerkbaits and diving crankbaits and be prepared to cast if you want the ultimate muskie fishing experience. Mike puts it simply, “The only reason to troll a lot is if you can’t physically cast; because you really are missing out on a lot if you are not casting cranks. It’s the most exciting and fun way to land a muskie.”
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In Part I - our professional muskie guide, Mike Sperry, described the make up of a great muskie lake, and the character of the muskellunge that live in it. He explained why casting with jerkbaits and diving crankbaits is the best way to experince muskie magic, and shared his favorite baits, colors, and sizes. After helping us to pick the proper rods, reels, line and leaders, he began to teach the best ways to use this equipment to elicit muskie strikes.
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Mike Sperry is a NYSDEC Licensed Guide who has been fishing the waters of Chautauqua Lake for over 30 years. Mike offers guided fishing trips for muskellunge, walleye, bass and panfish. His specialty is casting for muskies. Mike is the founder and past president of the Chautauqua Lake Musky Hunters from 2002-2007. Mike has also fished with Pete Maina during the filming of the television show called The Next Bite while filming the episode entitled Chautauqua Muskies Unleashed. To contact Mike or learn more about his guide service - click on
"Chautauqua Reel Outdoors".
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