Tips: Muskies In Summer

I have been patiently waiting for the Muskies in my neck of the woods to get into their summer pattern but its been so wet in my part of the world that the water has not had a chance to warm up. When I think about good Musky fishing I think about mid summer and structure.

So many of us translate Musky fishing into a slightly larger form of Pike fishing and that is a monstrous mistake especially when it comes to the summer time. Sure, Pike and Muskies look the same, they both like a lot of food and they live in the same places but keep in mind that when the water gets warm, the fish are very much not alike.
First of all, anybody who plans to fish for Muskies needs to do a great deal of research. These fish are not that plentiful even in waters where their population is high. You need to know where to look, and when to look there with which flies or you will be wasting a hell of a lot of time and effort.
In the summer time when the water temperature gets over 65 degrees up to around 70 I look for Muskies in shallower water than other times of year and I try to associate them with structure. For me, a guy who fishes rivers, that means wood or weeds. Now if the water temp gets over 75 I start looking in deeper water. I search for troughs or deeper weed beds. When I am fishing deeper weeds or troughs Im looking for them in areas where there are weed flats or shorelines nearby where a fish can cruise for a meal if he feels like it.

As far as presentation, this is where Pike and Muskies are different. Pike's metabolism slows down in the warmer water where as a Muskie is getting fired up and needing to feed quite a bit more than other times of year in cooler water. In summer I fish much bigger flies and I retrieve them faster. As with all Musky fishing this formula can vary bit by bit but you need to experience. Ideally you would like to get a follow and gauge the fish's reaction to your retrieve but we all know this doesn't happen every day so make sure you are changing things up, especially if you are in water that you know has historically held fish.