Muskie fishing in lake ontario?

[Sneaky Duck]

I have been watching a TON of videos on muskie fishing on youtube lately (I'm bored and the boat wasn't in the water yet) and I now have a goal.  I want to catch one of those monsters!  I was reading the magazine that comes with my fishing license and noticed that it says that keeper length for Lake Ontario Muskies is 52 inches (at least that's what I remember) which tells me you CAN find them in the lake although judging by that SUPER size minimum, they must be VERY rare.

 

My question is 2 fold.

1. where on the lake am I most likely to find one? I was reading that they like to hunt and live along weed beds. Is this true?  Do they like shallow water? Warm water?...

 

2. I have an opportunity to do some salmon trolling this year.  If I was to get myself a Muskie rod and set it up with a big muskie lure and maybe a marlin fly or something that will trigger only a BIG bite, and run that off to the side of the boat, could that mess up what my buddy has going for his salmon fishing?  (he didn't seam to think so in that the muskie bait wouldn't run that deep and could be 20-30 ft above the salmon down riggers.) Would it be a TOTAL waste with little to no chance of catching a Muskie?  I kind of figured that if there were those fish in the lake, and I'll be out there anyway, maybe I'd give it a shot and devote 1 rod to them, so long as I'm not going to mess up the salmon program.

 

Thoughts?  Sorry this is a bit rambling...

[NitroMusky]

You're better off putting one more salmon rod in the water. Muskies are so uncommon in Lake Ontario that it's not even worth your time except for maybe up around the mouth of the st lawrence.

[Sk8man]

Nitro is right your chances of catching an "incidental" Muskie in the lake is about zero point crap.....spend your time figuring out the salmon.

[BP Swing]

I have been asking and posting this question for years (see old posts). I was wondering if anyone got any around the central section in the Rochester area and there was a few guys who claimed they either saw one or caught one off the Genesee River Piers, another charter guy said he got one off oak orchard but seriously they are almost non existent in this section. You might get one on the eastern end or mouth of the Niagara though but its like fishing for a needle in a haystack.

[Sneaky Duck]

Thanks guys.  I'm sure you're right.  I live and play in Rochester so it's probably a waste of time, energy, and equipment.  They call Muskies the fish of 10,000 casts.  Is it something that you can park yourself on a dock or pier and waste a few days?  Or is trolling from a boat really the only way to go?  I will be racing my sailboat up in Saratoga a couple times this year and I've heard they have the fish up there.  It'd be fun to go up a day or so early and try and land one.

[Consigliere]

There are many out there that know more than me, but musky generally follow a seasonal migration from St. Lawrence through to Lake Ontario basin and then back to river every year to spawn.  So opening, structure outside known spawning territory is probably the best bet.  Summer you are probably fishing deep lake basin and then in the late fall back into the river.  

 

Never caught a big one, but caught a 34" last year in Lake Ontario a couple weeks after opener on a structure about a mile from a shallow weedy bay on Ontario side.

 

We've tried hard in the fall for a big mama but no luck yet...we will keep trying though.  

 

They are definitely not the fish of 10, 000 casts, but come summer time they are deep fish making them more difficult to catch, especially given the clear water we deal with in Lake Ontario which pushes them even deeper.

 

If you want to totally maximize your chances, only fish for them after several days of warming or stable warm weather and wait for a day with good cloud cover.  Fish all day, sun up to sunset and focus on deeper structures around the main lake basins.  Trolling is pretty much always the best bet to cover water but remember you need to cover lots of different speeds but generally faster is better, up to 10MPH.

[Sneaky Duck]

AWESOME info!  Thanks man!  Good job on the 34 incher!  If they are as illusive as they seem you must have been pumped.  So, you say they're deep fish.  How deep is deep for trolling?  Last time I was out running with Down Riggers he had them down 80+ ft.  Would the Muskies be below that in open water?  I haven't seen anyone in any of the video's running down riggers to catch them, it's always just diving lures going down 20 or so feet.

[Ronix 51]

salmon boat caught a 57" last summer on the O and a bass angler got a 54"...they're in there. Gotta think about it this way too the amount of effort by anglers specifically targeting muskie and lake O proper is next to none so who knows what the possibilities are...but I imagine the odds aren't too favorable as everyone has said!

 

Guys run down riggers a lot on the st. lawrence and troll over water as deep as 100' or more (Bob and Brad would know more about that) for them but they're suspended off shoals and such. 

[Consigliere]

AWESOME info!  Thanks man!  Good job on the 34 incher!  If they are as illusive as they seem you must have been pumped.  So, you say they're deep fish.  How deep is deep for trolling?  Last time I was out running with Down Riggers he had them down 80+ ft.  Would the Muskies be below that in open water?  I haven't seen anyone in any of the video's running down riggers to catch them, it's always just diving lures going down 20 or so feet.

 

Depth depends on weather, water and light conditions.  The longer the warming or stable weather trend continues, the shallower they will stage.  The less light (cloudy, sunset etc) the shallower they will come.  A cold front will send them deep again and reset the process. 

 

In Lake O the zebras have pushed many of the fish deeper than they have historically been because more light can reach deeper in the water column.

 

For depth, not saying you have to go out and find 150ft of water and try and troll that....it will be very difficult to control lures accurately that deep.  Also, you cannot TELL the fish where to be, you must check it out!  So, start at the weedline and move out from there, check out all depths.  Typically from weedline down to 80-90 ft you have covered the best water. 

 

One thing to consider for the biggest fish is this...in the Detroit River many muskies, all different sizes, are caught every year.  The smaller fish do not have lamprey on them, the big ones will almost ALWAYS have a lamprey attached or a recent lamprey wound.  Why is this?  Well...the big ones stay the deepest and are the least active which allows the lampreys to attach.  So, extrapolating that info to other waters (a fish is a fish is a fish no matter what body of water) the biggest muskies will use the deep holes, and the deep hole doesn't have to be huge....it may be the size of a big boat, but they will use that if it has strucutre close by.  Look for structures with those holes nearby (may not see them on a map, need lures and finders to locate them) and if you try the shallows and in between with nothing, then focus on targeting the deep holes.

 

Another thing, muskys will take free running lures and will cover a large distance up to take it....BUT....this is almost always when they are very active and moving.  The big ones, this may be for half hour a day when weather and water conditions are good...to maximize chances to catch them when they are inactive, try and have your lure occasionally ticking the bottom to stir things up.  A musky that is inactive that has a lure hitting the bottom in front of them will take it but isn't that likely to take a free running lure.