The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is reminding residents that fishing seasons for muskellunge begin on June 1 in inland waters and June 15 in Great Lakes waters and their tributaries. These include Lake Erie, Upper Niagara River, Lower Niagara River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.
Muskies are managed as trophy fish in New York, with minimum size regulations of 40 inches for inland waters and 54 inches for Great Lakes waters. Special regulations exist on a few inland waters, so be sure to check the current fishing regulations for the water you plan to fish.
Some of New York’s most popular waters for big muskies include the St. Lawrence River, Upper Niagara River, and Chautauqua Lake. Other quality fisheries can be found at Waneta, Greenwood, Bear, and Cassadaga lakes and the Susquehanna, Chenango, and Great Chazy rivers. These areas support naturally reproducing muskellunge fisheries.
The minimum size limit on these waters is 54 inches and all of these waters have the potential to produce muskies that size or larger. Western New York boasts several lakes and rivers with stocked muskellunge fisheries. Chautauqua Lake, Bear Lake, Findley Lake, the Cassadaga Lakes, Waneta Lake, Allegany River and Conewango Creek are all stocked annually with muskellunge.
Chautauqua Lake is the source of muskellunge eggs for New York’s stocking program and the brood stock netting program has produced record high catch rates and numerous fish over 50 inches in recent years. The smaller lakes in western New York tend to have high numbers of fish but trophy sized muskies are less common. In south-central New York, the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers support self-sustaining muskie populations. Fish in the 40-50 inch size range are commonly landed.
DEC has provided several tips for muskelllunge.
Muskie Fishing tools include a large coated landing net designed specifically for muskies. After netting a muskie, never bring the net with the fish into your boat. A thrashing muskie on the bottom of a boat with large hooks in its mouth could injure you or your boat partners and it will certainly injure itself. While removing hooks from a muskie keep its head under water so it can breathe.
Hook cutters place less stress on the muskie and allow for a more successful release. This will be the most important tool you’ll ever purchase if a hook from a muskie lure becomes embedded in you, especially if the lure is also attached to a thrashing muskie.
Large long-nose pliers enable you to keep your hands away from them as you remove hooks and hook pieces.
Jaw spreaders. On occasion, muskies take lures deep into their mouths, and jaw spreaders enable you to access these deeply embedded hooks.
Limit a muskie’s time out of water to less than 30 seconds. If you want to get a picture of your muskie, have your camera ready and make sure your partner knows how to use it before you remove the muskie from the water.
Slide four fingers of one hand under the fish’s gill flap. Be sure to avoid the gills, with the thumb on the outside where the two gill covers meet, and hold very firmly while cradling the fish under its belly with the other hand. No vertical holds. Best yet-do not take the fish out of the water at all. Hold the fish in the water until it swims away under its own power.
Muskies can be caught by trolling and casting in almost any water containing muskies in New York State. Medium-heavy trolling rods eight-to-10 feet long and rated for 20-to-40 lb. test line can be found for under $50. Use Rods at least eight feet long with heavy action and stiff but modest flex in the upper third. Beginner casting rods can be found for about $100.
Larger capacity line counters are the favored reels among trollers. Counters with larger line capacities and handles are best – they make it easier to reel in large muskie lures and muskies alike. Good reels can be purchased for around $100. 80-pound braid is the standard. It is tough, but thin, enabling your lures to go deep when trolling. The diameter of 80-pound braid is around that of 17-pound monofilament, which makes it easy to cast.
For trolling, use 100 to 200-pound seven-strand or solid stainless steel wire at least 3 feet long. Trollers who bounce lures on the bottom use leaders up to six feet long. Use 200-pound solid wire, eight-to-12 inches long for casting.
Never use cheap leaders-they will fail on a big fish. Muskies will always exploit the weakest link in your presentation, so be sure that all leaders have quality snaps and swivel. Popular casting baits include jerk baits, crank baits, in-line spinners, spinnerbaits, top water baits, rubber creatures and tubes.
Use a few lures in natural colors: perch, sucker, walleye, shad, a few in hot colors: firetiger, orange tiger, hot perch and a few in black: night shiner, black perch. In clearer water, start with natural colors or black. In murky water, hotter colors can excel. While fishing at night, black, white or hot colors are good choices.
Keys for casting and trolling shallow areas are weeds and their edges. Cast and troll above and along the edges. Any deviations from the norm – such as points, openings, and rocks among weed flats-are prime areas for muskies.
If you like trolling deep, also make sure to key in on edges, especially rocky breaklines or deep shoals which act as feeding shelves. Troll both the top and bottom of the breakline. Let your lure hit and bounce off the rocks, which will help trigger strikes from curious muskies.
Vary the speeds of your presentations until you contact fish. When casting, erratically moving your baits may trigger strikes. The same applies to trolling. Vary your speed until a muskie strikes. Experienced trollers often pull their baits up to 6 MPH (or more) when water temperatures are warm, and may drop speeds to under 2 MPH when water temperatures dip into the high 30s.
Muskies tend to follow baits. At the end of each cast, you should alter the direction of your lure with a 90-degree “L” or sweep them into a figure 8 or large circle, which will result in more strikes. When trolling, jerking your rod forward may also trigger more strikes.