Radio-tracking studies reported in In-Fisherman beginning in the late 1970s verified that muskies often suspend over open water, starting soon after they spawn. The reason why might be as simple as that’s where their prey is found.

In some lakes, coolwater forage like ciscoes swim high in the water column, before a distinct thermocline develops and the water temperature climbs too high in the upper water column. Even as temperatures climb, though, ciscoes often make short evening migrations from deep water into the upper water column to feed. In other waters, warmer-water baitfish like bluegills, perch, and bullheads suspend in open water until weeds get thick enough to provide cover.

Dan Craven, Bemidji, Minnesota, area guide and frequent In-Fisherman contributor, has been toying with these open-water muskies for a long time. “When you’re looking for muskies in open water you can expect to find key areas where they hold,” he says. “I think these spots are areas of turmoil or upwelling where zooplankton are swept up from the depths, so it’s easy for ciscoes to feed. Of course, the muskies are there to eat the ciscoes.

“I’ve never been able to calculate exactly where these areas might be by looking at maps. You have to use electronics to look for pods of baitfish. Sometimes you see big hooks on the screen that might be muskies nearby. Eventually you verify they’re present by catching them. Similar patterns often develop each season in the same general areas, although every new season also typically brings with it a new location wrinkle or two.”

At the season opener in early June in Minnesota, Craven expects a few days to a week of good fishing for fish that continue to hold on shallow structure. As these fish begin to disappear, he probes over deeper water, usually by trolling. Craven: “Many seasons, trolling is the best bet for roughly the first month. I find the odds better not only for catching more fish, but also for catching bigger fish. Up until about the Fourth of July, I catch most of these fish in the top 5 to 10 feet of the water column.

“One of my favorite lures is a 9-inch Sledge jerkbait, which I fish with just 25 to 50 feet of line out. Other good baits include Shallow Invaders, Hell Hounds, Jakes, Believers, and Swim Whizzes. I troll these at speeds from 3 to 4.5 mph.”

These shallow fish move off to the side of the boat as it passes, so Craven uses inline planer boards to get lures away from the boat. “I run 10-inch Jakes in either a Tennessee Shad or a Superman pattern 50 to 125 feet behind Church Tackle boards, keeping the boards out about 100 feet from the boat. I use 25-pound Berkley XT as my main line. It’s tough, reliable line with just the right amount of stretch to keep hooked fish from tearing hooks. Some of my rods are 9-foot Shakespeare Ugly Stiks, but the rods I use have been replaced with a 10-foot model that works just as well, the BWC 1100. I also use the Shakespeare line-counter reel, the Tidewater 20LCL.”

Craven has experimented with fluorocarbon leaders testing 100 pounds and standard wire leaders of at least 100 pounds, without seeing any difference in productivity. He finds that fluorocarbon is easier on fish that roll in the line when they’re hooked. He hasn’t had any fish cut the fluorocarbon.

He takes what he considers an important step to minimize damage to fish by removing the rear treble on all three-treble lures like the 10-inch Jake. “The fish hit the head of the lure and are hooked on the front hook, so I’m not missing fish by eliminating the tail hook,” he says. “I’m also not hooking fish in the eye with the tail hook.

Mid-Summer Trolling on Structure

By mid-summer, ciscoes move deeper and forage like perch and bluegills move into thick weedgrowth. The open-water bite often declines as muskies relate to weedbeds. Fish in some lakes also relate to rock bars. Either way, trolling opportunities exist. Craven, however, concentrates his trolling on weedgrowth, preferring to cast to the rock structural elements on the lakes he fishes.

Trolling a spinnerbait is an efficient and effective means to search across sprawling weed flats or along lengthy weedlines. Craven uses Jack Shriver HiJACKers, Northland Bionic Bucktails, and Ruff Rad Dogs.

The key to trolling spinnerbaits, he says, is controlling running depth so that lures tick through the tops of the weeds. Faster trolling keeps a lure higher in the water column. Slowing down allows it to run a little deeper. He varies speeds from about 3 to 5.5 mph, covering a range of depths.

Speed also is used as a triggering factor. Stalling the boat allows baits to flutter into pockets or along edges. Meanwhile, increasing speed often is a trigger on its own.

Legendary Homer LeBlanc pioneered—or at least popularized—trolling lures in the prop wash on his home lake, Lake St. Clair, in the 1960s and ’70s. Craven’s a believer based on his own success in running lures “high and tight,” 8 to 20 feet off the corner of the transom once fish are on weedlines and weed flats.

Craven: “Shortline trolling works on smaller inland lakes, not just on giant lakes like St. Clair. LeBlanc was right. There’s something special about the near prop-wash area and the wash of the boat as it passes over fish. This area of turmoil creates irregularity in lure action, triggering strikes. These lures on shortlines also are the first to be seen by active fish, which often strike the first lure they see.”

Of course, the best lure distance behind the boat is situational. When trolling through thick, floating weeds—common on St. Clair and sections of the Ottawa, or along the edges of thick, sloppy, and often shallow weedbeds—shortline trolling makes it easier to keep lures clean. In and along heavy cover, the “area of turmoil” can be the difference between fish contact and no contact. But over deeper, cleaner, sparser weedbeds, especially in clearer water, getting a lure back 100 feet often is a better bet.

Craven uses another twist for mid-summer fish: “At times I run surface baits such as the HiJACKer Surface Buzzbait or a Pacemaker right up on the shoreline or along an inside weedline. I stagger lures from 20 to 50 feet behind a planer board. Twice in recent years I’ve had muskies eat the planer board instead of the lure.”

Many anglers just don’t like to troll. Certainly, once muskies move into weedgrowth in mid-summer, it isn’t always necessary. When customers insist, Craven also positions the boat for a long drift over deeper water, where muskies usually are holding during early season. Fish are caught casting that way, but, as he says, it’s a much lower-percentage option than trolling. We’re not suggesting how you fish, just pointing out that fish often aren’t set up where many anglers want them to be, during early season.

Many years ago, fishing the opener on a lake in Northwest Ontario, I was with two expert anglers who went on to become famous fishermen. That day as we probed shallow bays we saw dozens of fish still in spawning mode. This made for an exciting but frustrating day of fishing, because the fish certainly proved to be spawners, not biters.

Meanwhile, two guys in a Lund with a windshield and a canvas top were trolling around a group of islands not far away. As we fished, all day long they kept putting around out there. Silly, we all thought.

Then at camp that evening we talked with the trollers. They had Polaroids of two fish, one measuring 48 inches and the other 49 inches. Lesson learned.

*Jack Burns has been fishing for muskies for over 30 years and writing about it for over 20.