In search of the perfect musky fishing conditions

Last Thursday morning I crawled into the sack knowing that a good day of musky fishing lay afoot for anyone who floated a boat that day. Thursday was the full moon of July and a coworker had been dreading it for a week already. A quick weather check showed the barometric pressure dropping slightly. A good day afoot.

Barometric pressure affects the swim bladders of fish. The larger the bladder the greater effect. Musky’s have big swim bladders. Falling or just sustained low barometric pressure increases fish activity and feeding.

A chain of events takes place with a change in barometric pressure. Starting with zooplankton and phytoplankton, moving all the way up to the top of the aquatic food chain – gamefish. Big fish eat little fish. Changes in barometric pressure effects the buoyancy of fish in water. And just like jumping into deep water and swimming down can cause ear pain from a change in water pressure, fish feel pressure changes on their swim bladders.

Entire research papers and articles address this. We can load apps on our phone to watch barometric pressure or purchase barometers to keep in our boats and they both record the changes on your trip. We can keep track of all that, if we want.

Where you live, the elevation you fish at, as well as the month of the year causes different ranges in barometric pressure affecting fish activity. The time of the day makes a difference because air temps rise and fall with the sun. Changing temps cause changes in barometric pressure and is one reason fish feed better in the early morning and evenings.

I prefer simple. Generally easterly winds correspond to generally higher pressures and slow fishing. Westerly winds like southwest in the summer, mean better pressures, but those winds often blow harder and make for difficult conditions that way.

My alarm woke me. I found a rainstorm just started. When I went to bed, the weatherman predicted rain starting after midnight. The radar showed a pretty large storm system. Once again, I missed a good fishing day for work.

The musky fishers target those few days around the full moon in July. Back in my day the diehards spent a week of vacation on it with visions of big musky dancing in their heads. Now the diehards I know travel to Canada, seeking the modern day standard of a trophy musky – a fish measuring 50 plus inches.

Wisconsin waters produced a few 50inch musky so far this year. After last Thursday afternoon, I’m betting that increased a bit. I’m betting that in the mid to late afternoon the musky waters of Wisconsin saw a lot of hook-ups on big musky. By modern fishing regs in Wisconsin, on some lakes, a 49-inch fish sits below the minimum length size limits. Today most of those big fish go back into the water to stalk lures another day.

“Oh, could you imagine being on the water today!” the first guy to reach me said. “Why can’t I catch a break this year?” he asked.

I told him that I haven’t had a day off with good fishing conditions once this year. If it’s not raining hard, it’s hot, 20 mph winds, and a barometer rising faster than the temperature of a hot dog in a microwave.

I managed to catch a few small fronts on some rainy days that caused the barometric pressure to drop for about a half-hour. But once that small front passed, the action slowed or stopped. Last Thursday was a good sized front and the pressure fell and the fishing action got hot.

The key to fishing heavy fronts revolves around how close do you let the lightning get. But just before the storm hits, the fish become the most active. Scuba divers documented this back in the 70s.

“Should have been here yesterday,” keeps running through my mind. I liken this to standing in a huddle with the rest of the team saying one, two, three – break; hoping to go forth and change the luck of a game that none seems to exist in.

By the time you read this, I’ll have spent at least a day on the water. The conditions predicted for that don’t cause anglers to get tingles all over. “A bad day of fishing, beats a great day of work.” But maybe the weatherman might get it wrong again in my favor and the conditions blossom into a fishing paradise. “One, two, three . . .”

Tight lines everyone!

THROUGH A