Massive Musky Caught – Jim Saric Tips – Muskies vs. Walleye vs. Frogs?
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GIANT ALERT!!
You don't see too many West Virginia 'skies that get THIS big....
👀
Huge congrats to Luke King on cracking this splendidly obese WV leviathan – 51 inches long and almost 28 inches around!
Says he caught her bangin' crankbaits off submerged trees in 10 feet of water.
Surprised she could catch up to a crank rockin' that plus-sized pregnancy belly 😉
What do muskies eat???
Was just thumbing through an older study on musky diets in northern WI and dug up a juicy/hilarious nugget:
Esox masquinongy (our favorite fish) literally eat more MUSKIES than walleye.
Folks that complain about muskies eatin' all the walleye obviously don't follow fisheries biology.
When they examined the stomach contents of 1,092 muskies, they found five walleye....and six muskies. That's bad news for the anti-musky crowd.
Turns out muskies eat more FROGS than walleye, too.
Wonder how many guys are usin' topwater frogs for muskies 🤔
You can take a closer look at the data here:
Remember: context is everything when you're lookin' at stuff like this. Every water body is going to be a little bit different. For instance, muskies LOVE slurpin' down gizzard shad in lakes where they've got 'em, same with lakes that have suspended forage like cisco/tullibee.
That said, the northern WI lakes in this study had plenty of walleye to eat, and they still weren't the meal of choice. Now suckers and perch on the other hand....
Saric on Biometrics
The most hardcore musky-heads are obsessed with the minutiae of the hunt. Optimizing gear, understanding bite windows, and putting the odds in their favor any way they can.
When we reached out to Jim Saric (Musky Hunter TV) for some musky catchin' tips, he came back with some info/thoughts that fell right in line with that school of thought:
"As musky anglers, we are always looking for an edge."
You got that right....
"Fortunately, since muskies are apex predators, their activity is significantly influenced by biometrics. If you can understand biometrics, predict musky activity and adjust your approach throughout the day, you can boat more muskies."
Okay, so what are "biometrics"?
"Biometrics are all of the factors that make muskies active, neutral or negative. They include everything from weather influencers such as sun, wind, humidity and barometric pressure; lunar influences including moon phase, rise/set; and other factors such as baitfish and the geological make-up of a lake, river or reservoir.
"Savvy musky anglers analyze all of these factors every day on the water to try and predict musky activity. Knowing when the muskies are going to be active or when that activity level may significantly decrease, results in better on-the-water decisions and ultimately more musky opportunities each day."
The problem is keepin' track of what's what. That's where technology comes in handy. If the robots are gonna take over the world, the least they can do is help us catch a few more muskies along the way. 😉
Jim recently launched a new app, the Musky Hunter TV app, and one of it's biggest features is it's "biometrics" algorithm.
"Rather than try and calculate all the environmental factors in your head, I worked with Blue Sky Invention Company to help develop the "activity gauge" on our new app.
"The activity gauge reads the real-time local weather conditions for any area, and assigns a value for approximately 20 biometric factors. The activity gauge uses a mathematical algorithm to calculate over 300,000 possible scenarios to project musky activity.
"We tested it last summer and fall and had numerous success stories where we knew, early in the morning, when they were going to bite that day."
We haven't had the chance to play with it ourselves yet, but you can bet we'll give it a good look during the 2020 season. It's free, so why not? 🤷♂️
Sounds like Jim will be talkin' more on this topic during his seminar at the MN Musky Expo next month. In the meantime, we'll be tuning in to his show on the TV machine and fiddlin' with his app.
Date night will never be the same.....
Chattin' with Bucher
If you're a Joe Bucher fan and you haven't watched this video/interview on the Todays Angler YT channel, you should definitely check it out:
Can't believe it took me this long to sit down and watch. It's a bit lengthy (1+ hour), but totally worth the time.
Got to hear some cool stories:
- How Joe got into musky fishing
- How folks used to shoot muskies 🤯
- When folks started doing figure-8's
- Why he started Musky Hunter magazine
- How he started making baits
Also loved hearing Joe talk about how bass guys "graduate" to musky fishing.
He's not wrong!
QUICK HITTERS:
– Musky illegally caught and kept on Lake Champlain (link)
– 49” southern river musky (video)
– Sucker rig and One Eyed Willy w/ John Bette (video)
– Musky seminars in Rhinelander, WI, April 3-4 (link)
– Podcast interview with Rich Gallagher (link)
THIS WEEK'S LUNAR TIMES:
(Times based on Minneapolis)
THIS WEEK'S MONSTER MUSKIES:
You know you've got a nice musky when your whole crew can fit behind her for a quick photo! Congrats to 13yo Ava on a super sweet Nebraska catch.
Corey Pease stuck his new PB fishin' #tinyboat style in his canoe. Didn't need a 21-foot vessel to get this Pennsylvania beauty in the net!
This goldback pot belly took a tour of Will Zeichert's boat this past season – a new PB that smacked a topwater at low light. 🔥
This Green Bay gator from Ross Provost (Burnin' Eights) was just short of 45 inches on the bump board. You know it's a big pike if a musky guy's taking the time to bump her. 😂
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