Muskie in 100 degree weather

[Aquaman]

Me and a friend are finxing to go try a little muskie fishing at Cave Run on Saturday. Does anyone have any idea how heat like this will affect the fishing?

[MagikSmallie]

Me and a friend are finxing to go try a little muskie fishing at Cave Run on Saturday. Does anyone have any idea how heat like this will affect the fishing?

The musky are deep right now, hanging off breaks and aren't very active right now. The most productive thing to do would be to troll. BUT I have to say I hope you don't hook any musky because it will most likely result in you killing the fish. just hooking up on one in this heat will probably kill it, even more so if you were to actually land it. I would hold off on the ski fishing until later in september and into october.now If you want to catch a ski and have better chances of it surviving I would try the KY River, they can survive better in the heat with the current and cooler temps a river provides.

[Aquaman]

eh don't want to do that I may just go for LM. or maybe just ride around and look for a catch of the female variety!

[MagikSmallie]

eh don't want to do that I may just go for LM. or maybe just ride around and look for a catch of the female variety!

There will be plenty of the female variety of catches to be had!! try the beach by Zilpo and the other beach just down from zilpo and the rocks by Scotts Creek always good looking ladies there!! try a Bud Light in either 12oz or 16oz should do the trick!!

[BuckeyeAl]

Magik pretty much cover both options. Good luck.

[Aquaman]

now i'm confused... talked to a guy that lives down the road last night and he said they were in the Ffats last weekend... he caught three of them last weekend. Two of which top water baits... is this a blind squirel type thing or could the wierd weather this year be chaning their patterns?

[Splatterback]

now i'm confused... talked to a guy that lives down the road last night and he said they were in the Ffats last weekend... he caught three of them last weekend. Two of which top water baits... is this a blind squirel type thing or could the wierd weather this year be chaning their patterns?

There's still some fish shallow, especially smaller ones <30", around the weeds early in the morning and at night. I caught 2 bass fishing last weekend but the majority are deep. For me, during the summer this is how it's always been with some variation depending on how hot/cool the summer has been. And as MagikSmallie said, it is extremely stressful on them with the high water temp when caught this time of year. I try my best to release them quickly when ever I accidentally catch one bass fishing this time of year. If your set on trying to catch one, you could try below the spillway.

[Aquaman]

HMM well really it's not worth it to me to risk it. I would rather not catch them and have it die at the side of the boat. I think I will just let them go until september or October. What water temp am I looking for?

[jastew]

I haven't fished a lot for muskies for years, but there was a time when that's all I fished for. Spent lots of days in the hot sun dragging hellbenders around Cave Run. Most of the ones I caught were suspended deep, maybe 20 feet down over 50ft of water. There were always a few up shallow though, especially morning and evening.

That was before all the weeds grew in Cave Run. From what I hear though, deep is still where it's at in summer, though it might be a deep weed edge instead of deep timber.

If you're gonna fish in the summer here's what I did in the summer to help with a good release.

- use heavier tackle and horse em to the boat. Don't wear them down any more than you have too.

- don't use a net. I used those long handled duckbill looking pliers and never took them out of the water if I could help it.

- take some time with them and don't release them until they can swim on their own.

- as a last resort and you have a big livewell, put them in the well for a bit with the aerator running

[Aquaman]

quick update

Got there around 6am and the boat wouldn't start... I guess it happens to us all. got the problem fixed and got on the water around 10:00 third cast with a 8'' orange and red jerk bait had an immediate blow up around 50' from the boat. looked like it could have been a good fish but he missed the bait and didn't pursue it. It started to get hot and I didn't want to risk hurting the fish so I switched to LM. Caught two decent fish and then gave up due to the heat and more boat trouble. Strange thing is the one hit I did get from a muskie came when my lure was tangled in my leader. I gave it a quick few jerks to untangle it and boom! That was the extent of the excitement for the day except a few big gar milling around that offered some entertainment.