Halloween ‘Skies - Turnover Talk - Quintano’s LSC Tips

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Small Baits Paying Off Big on LSC

We had a great Insider PRO Live Q&A this week with Lake St. Clair guide Jason Quintano who’s been chasing muskies on LSC for 16 years, and this season’s been a weird one.

Jason explained that Great Lakes water levels go through natural cycles. Right now, with the lake is just above average he’s noticed two big trends:

1. Fewer fish overall (and keep in mind, “fewer” on LSC still means more than most musky spots).
2. The ones that are biting are almost always smacking smaller trolling baits.
   

Whether he’s casting or trolling, downsizing has been the name of the game. Smaller crankbaits, bucktails, and rubber have been getting it done.

“They’re not eating the bigger baits like they used to,” Jason said. “I’ve maybe caught 10 to 12 fish this summer on big baits. That’s me every day being stubborn, running big profiles in my spread, and they’re just not touching them. I’ll get follows, but no eats. Six-inch crankbaits and small bucktails like double 8s have been very effective. Everything trolling-wise has downsized.”

To match the smaller baits, Jason’s also gone lighter with his trolling setups.

“My crankbait rods have light line and light leaders, 50-pound main line and leaders,” he said. “It works great for running smaller baits like Madtads, Ziggies, Gobies, and Lokes. When you’re using little baits that hunt, heavy leaders can dampen or kill their action.”

Of course, there’s a tradeoff.

“The downfall is you’ve gotta run lighter drags and really stay on top of your leaders and snaps,” Jason added. “If you’re using small baits that wander and hunt, go with the smallest snap you can get away with. Constantly check for nicks and frays, especially after catches.”

Jason also shared a few solid late-fall and river tips for members who joined live.

 

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Halloween Musky Style

One common denominator among us musky heads? We’re obsessed! And one of the fun, weird ways that obsession shows up is how we manage to infuse our love for muskies into just about everything, holidays included. Halloween is no exception.

So let’s take a look at some of the fun ways muskies have gotten mixed into the Halloween madness.

For some of us, it’s a tradition to chase muskies on Halloween and bring along a costume for the fish pics.

Last year, the 54 or Bust crew got into the spirit when they released a Halloween Spooktacular vid.

Next up we have the Troll Blazer Crew with a pumpkin head costume. Pro tip: wear a ski mask underneath so you don’t end up with pumpkin guts in your hair. 😂👇

The Custom Clarkey Baits team had some fun when this St. Lawrence ‘skie smoked a Money Maker and followed it up with a photo sesh with Chucky.

Sometimes we add costumes to our musky fishing, and sometimes we add musky fishing to our costumes. 

Check out this musky mascot we found online. It’s the perfect way to let everyone at the costume party know, “I stopped musky fishing to be here.”

Let’s not forget the Musk-o’-lanterns!

If you’re out trick-or-treatin’ with the kids and walk up on one of these jack-o’-lanterns, there’s a good chance you just found a new fishing buddy in the neighborhood.

Got a good musky-related Halloween pic or video? Send it our way by replying to this email and you just might see it featured on our socials or in next year’s Halloween issue. 🎃

 

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Cracking the Turnover Code

It's that time of year again. Many lakes that stratify during the summer months are either somewhere in the beginning stages of turnover process or finishing up depending on how far north or south you are. 

If you want to get dialed in for fall success, there’s no better way than to view our Late Fall Tactics class. Musky legend Steve Herbeck and Josh Borovsky cover everything from turnover to ice-up in this 4-hour course. You might need to watch it more than once to absorb all the golden nuggets shared in this class. 🤯

Here’s a few of Josh’s turnover tips that we plucked from this class...

Turnover occurs when the water above the thermocline becomes cooler and denser than the water below it and the stratified layers start to mix, until the entire lake becomes the same temperature.

When turnover begins is somewhat debatable. Generally most folks talk about it occurring when surface temperatures start to creep into the mid to low 50's. However, depending on the lake’s depth, geographic area, and weather patterns the entire lake can become the same temperature above that range. It’s generally a safer bet to view fall turnover as more of a process than a short term event.

I say this because there are other important things that take place in this time frame as well. One of the bigger ones being that musky summer home ranges also breakdown in this time frame. The muskies tend to be more nomadic roamers until they eventually settle into their winter home ranges.

If you're fishing larger, multi-basin lakes or a chain of lakes, (ie. Vermilion, LOTW, Eagle River chain, Fox River chain, Minnetonka, etc.) I believe the turnover process triggers mass movements and migrations of fish of all species.

This movement and scattering of fish is what can make the fishing somewhat challenging. However, an effective strategy for dealing with the movement of muskies and their forage is to fish the bottlenecks and/or channels between the basins, along with any pinch points within them.

Any fish moving from one basin to another needs to travel through these constricted areas to get where they're going.

Focusing on these areas during turnover has led to some outstanding days in my boat when many others have struggled.

I've had success throwing blades, gliders, dive & rise baits, tubes, beavers and rubber this time of year and it’s usually the beginning stages of a good sucker bite on many waters as well.

Hopefully that helps you narrow things down and hook a few more muskies over the coming weeks. 👍

If you’re a Musky Insider PRO member, the Late Fall Tactics class is included with your membership along with the rest of our class library and can be found in the member portal. If you’re not an Insider PRO member, this class is available to be purchased individually and it’s a great way to get a taste of what Insider PRO is all about. If you want in, get your name on the waitlist. We will be giving the first ten people on our waitlist the opportunity to get in this week!

#3 – How many of us can relate to this one? “I became ruined by my first boatside eat.” - Matt Lenz of Net Buddy.

#4 – What do you get when every part tells a story like a 1920’s typewriter, a Model T wrench, and a chunk of old chain? Robert Schultz of Robert’s Recycled Originals turned all that and more into this incredible musky sculpture. Absolute work of art! 🎣🔥