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Bill Dance Musky Tips?

A Bill Dance video popped up on our Facebook feed yesterday and posed the following question . . . What do you do when the fish won’t bite?

Here’s Bills thoughts on the topic:

“First you must turn a negative into a positive. Second what you wanna do is slow down. By doing this, you”ll fish the area much more carefully and much more methodically. Third, fish slow moving lures and make several casts to the same area.

“Fourth, psych yourself into believing that you’re gonna find ‘em somewhere. What this does is encourage you to keep trying . . . Believing projects success. And fifth, make it a fun and productive trip regardless if you catch fish or not. Learn something. Fish some new areas. Look for new spots. Try out that new bait you just purchased, experiment. It’ll pay off when you least expect it.”

We checked in with our resident musky nerd Josh Borovsky to ask how much of Bill’s advice actually translates to musky fishing. 

“I have been musky fishing for over 40 years now, so obviously I have formed some fairly strong opinions about how to approach a tough bite or difficult day.

That being said I am always striving to learn, grow, and evolve. So every time we have a new Musky Insider PRO instructor on for a Live Q&A session, I try to make it a point to ask them about their strategies for this situation we face all too often as anglers.

Everyone has their own take depending on the water they fish, their fishing style, and overall philosophy. But, there’s definitely some common themes and I think it’s safe to say that everything on Bill’s list has been mentioned at some point by one of our instructors when asked this question.

What resonates with me is what I call “pacing.” Generally, I slow down the speed the boat is moving and fish spots more thoroughly. In terms of retrieve speed, I usually have the luxury of having two or three baits in the water at the same time. So I typically have a progression of fastest to slowest retrieves in the boat and wait for the fish to give us clues on which way to cheat. 

I would say a high percentage of the time slow and/or erratic retrieves (often times with rubber) end up being the ticket when it’s tough. On the other hand, there are days where it’s a window deal and they still want it fast and it’s more of a timing issue than a speed issue. So I like to keep my bases covered as long as I have multiple people in the boat to do so.

As far as trying new lures and new spots goes, that would be highly dependent upon whether I’m guiding or not. Generally, when I’m guiding I’m sticking to proven high percentage areas with proven high percentage baits.

She came from the number one destination on the Eastern list . . . Georgian Bay.

And like some of the other giants caught out of this fishery, the 57 inch monster was actually caught targeting walleyes and on a crawler harness of all things!

Here’s the rest of the run down for this neck of the woods:

Top Six Eastern Canadian Fisheries 

1. Georgian Bay
2.  Lake Saint Francis
3.  Lake of Two Mountains
   
4.  Lake Saint Clair
   
5.  Ottawa River
   
6.  Lac Saint Louis (Montreal to Quebec City)

One of the interesting things about this list is four of the six fisheries (Lake Saint Francis, Lake of Two Mountains, Ottawa River and Lac Saint Louis) are connected to each other through the St. Lawrence and Ottowa rivers.

If you’re a Musky Insider PRO member, you’ve seen just how often these waters dominate our 54”+ analytics when we run our waterbody and size-specific “Pink Day” filters in the members only portal.

They consistently produce some of the longest muskies in the world. Like this incredible 59.5-incher caught by Mike Chisamore while fishing with guide Marc Thorpe  on a “pink day” in August of 2023.

Now let’s head west — topping the Northwest Ontario list is Eagle Lake.

Renowned for its world-record potential, Eagle Lake has produced some real elephants over the years including this 60lb. 8 oz beast caught by John J. Coleman back in 1939. (Photo credit Larry Ramsell)

Here’s a look at the top fisheries Sunset Country has to offer:

Top Six Western Canadian Fisheries

1. Eagle Lake
2. Lake of the Woods
3. Cedar Lake
   
4. Lac Seul
   
5. Wabigoon Lake
   
6. Rowan Lake 

Just like the Eastern list, there’s a mix of high-numbers fisheries and those with serious world-record potential.

While the eastern fisheries may get the tip of the cap for kicking out a higher volume of biggies, giants like this absolute unit (filmed by Devoted Outdoors) do exist in Northwest Ontario.

You can check out the full video here to see why these fisheries made the cut and which ones almost did.

#2 – Check out these cool musky cutouts from Elite Metalworking. They can be made into three different sizes and you can even choose the main and background colors. 

#3 – We’re diggin’ these Bim Tackle Chacha Bait Chatterbaits we came across at Ezoko. Cool to see some vertical bars incorporated on this style of bait. From top left, clockwise, we have Natural Perch, Black is Magic, Brown Roach, and Firetiger.

#4 – In this clip by @jlyonfishibgteam it looks like this musky came strait outta’ the mosh pit because it’s head is bangin’. How many consecutive head shakes can one fish make? 😳

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QUICK HITTERS:

– River Muskie (video) w/ Keyes Outdoors Musky Hunting Adventures

– West Virginia River Muskies (video) w/ Mayhem’s 10,000 Casts

– 54 Minutes LIVE with LARRY RAMSELL, Legendary Musky Angler & Historian (video) w/ 54 or bust

– Fly Fishing for the coolest predator in fresh water!! Musky Fishing (video) w/ Hardman Fishing Adventures

– PROVEN PRESENTATIONS FOR MUSKY (video) w/ Smith’s Fishing Outdoors

– Glider Dip (video) w/ MuskyHunterTV

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Pat Karpinksi got this Green Bay beauty to eat on the third turn of the eight. Not much better than a boatside eat at night! 🌚

Brett Poffenberger convinced this one-eyed Upper Potomac River beast to eat an 18” fly. Nice work Brett! 🤘

This pre-spawn porker out of Southern Pennsylvania caught by Rich Stepinski is poppin’ at the seams! 🐷

Brian Hanson got this big dawg trolling a rock complex last fall. It turned out to be his biggest of the year. Way to go Brian! 👊

Wanna be featured in Musky Insider? Send in your recent trophy musky photos by replying to this email. You might just see your pic in next week's newsletter. 🤙

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