Menace for Early Season Muskies
With musky season only weeks away, anglers in the know are already thinking about tactics. Targeting the warmer waters found on the north side of lakes and using downsized bucktails and rattle traps has long been the accepted dogma of post-spawn musky fishing. While these shallow, warming waters can be productive during this period, they are also exactly where you are guaranteed to encounter the most angling pressure.
After a winter under the ice, muskies may initially be a bit more willing to fall for the same old tricks. However, the reality of opening week quickly sets in. The roar of outboards, the hum of trolling motors, and the relentless ping of sonar units push big, wary muskies away from the obvious shallow water zones during the earliest days of the muskie opener.
If you are looking to start the season with a trophy-class post-spawn muskie, this is where the new Menace from Livingston Lures comes into play. While some muskies will slide into inches of water in the shallows, many of the biggest fish suspend adjacent to these shallow areas. In many cases, these fish are only a cast or two away from the pressure, suspended just a few feet below the surface in open water.
These fish are often recovering from spawning while using their size advantage to hunt small open-water forage. Transitional panfish, crappies, minnows, and chubs become easy targets, and suspended muskies take advantage of these roaming meals away from the angling pressure found along the shoreline.
The simplest way to get started is to fish the water adjacent to traditional target areas. I will generally start by positioning my boat in five to six feet of water and casting toward open water. Working the Menace like a tube, with quick upward pops of the rod, creates a highly erratic action that effectively covers the upper layer of the water column. Still, it can quickly be transitioned to a deeper running depth if needed.
What makes this presentation so effective early in the season is the ability to cover water while still offering a controlled fall. Muskies that are suspended and recovering from the spawn often react best to baits that move quickly and then pause or drop. When the Menace is popped upward and allowed to fall on a semi-slack line, it imitates an injured baitfish that is struggling to regain control in open water.
Another advantage of targeting these suspended fish is simply avoiding the crowds. While many anglers continue to focus on the warmest shallow water they can find, the biggest muskies are often sitting just outside that zone, watching and largely uncontacted. By fishing just a few cast lengths away from those traditional areas, you are presenting a lure to fish that are far less pressured.
Often, these fish will appear on electronics as suspended marks that seem inactive. Still, a fast-moving rubber presentation can quickly change that stationary mark on downscan and side scan into a muskie with murderous intent.
Early-season muskies are rarely as shallow as most anglers believe. Some certainly are, but many of the biggest fish in the system prefer the security of open water just outside the obvious spawning flats. Targeting that overlooked water with the Menace can be the difference between seeing fish and actually putting a trophy-class muskie in the net during the first weeks of the season.