Muskies provide winter action
A period of abnormally mild weather has extended the open water fishing season. While ice anglers are waiting impatiently in the on-deck circle, area waters continue to provide exceptional action.
Muskie activity in particular has been excellent, with the main venue being the Allegheny River and its larger tributaries.
Fish found in rivers and streams, including muskies, tend to stay more active than their lake-dwelling counterparts. Perhaps it's due to their having to deal with current throughout their lives, or maybe it's linked to the availability of food fish, but river muskies remain catchable throughout the winter months.
More muskies are caught during mild winters, though this may have as much to do with more anglers being out as with a possible higher level of fish activity.
Just how good winter river muskie fishing can be was illustrated last weekend when Dave Lehman and I decided to end the year with a trip to the Allegheny.
Lehman and I have shared a boat several times during the late fall and early winter, primarily focusing on the fine smallmouth bass action that had remained consistent.
As water temperatures have dropped into the high 30-degree range. bites from smallmouth bass have begun to wane, replaced in part by action from walleyes, northern pike and muskies.
Since gamefish become concentrated in rivers when the water becomes cold — all seeking the protection accorded by slack water areas — we weren't sure what was going to bite when we pulled up on our first spot, a long, slow pool protected from the main current by a mid-river island.
I had barely dropped the trolling motor when Lehman's three-inch Yum tube jig was inhaled on his first cast. Upon setting the hook, it was soon evident the fish was not a walleye or smallie.
"I think I have a muskie," Lehman said.
A look in the fairly clear water confirmed Lehman's initial thought, as a fish in the low 40-inch range shook its head as it made short but powerful runs next to the boat.
I pulled out the Frabill muskie cradle, which is always on hand for unscheduled encounters with toothy critters.
The 20-pound-class muskie made a run under the boat though, likely pulling the line along the edge of the razor sharp gill flaps.
And. just like that. it was gone.
Disappointed about the missed photo opportunity, we were happy to have at least seen the fish. It's a sick feeling to lose a powerful fish and not know what it was.
An hour or so later found us on a similar spot, one that produced a 20-pound muskie a couple of weeks before, when Doug Pavick and I were targeting them.
I mentioned that fact to Lehman as I stepped to the front of the boat. Being the veteran angler he is, Dave pitched a quick cast to the edge of a current seam, a place where the main flow of the river is diverted by a point of land.
"I think I have another muskie!" exclaimed Lehman. "This one seems bigger than the first one.
Since Dave has a pretty good sense of humor, initially I thought he was just trying to get me going. But soon his excitement was evident, an emotion that didn't waver during the next 10 minutes, which is the time it took to get the fish in the cradle
The muskie measured 46 inches with a 23-inch girth, which figures out to 31 to 32 pounds, according to accepted weight estimate formulas.
Later that same day, a 31- inch muskie was landed, as was a six-pound walleye and several smallmouth bass. All of the fish came on three-inch Yum tubes rigged on insert-style leadhead jigs.
