Outdoors Articles & Tips

Beat the Late Summer Dog Days! Try Night Fishing for Big Muskies!
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The late August sunset was breathtaking as the warm wind began to settle down and the Vilas County lake approached the cover of darkness. Numerous boats were headed to the landing, and I told my close friend and fishing partner, Coach Kip Cramer, that the fun was about to begin. When darkness fell, we had the entire lake to ourselves! The muskie action was slow during daylight hours, as we had mustered only three follows prior to dark. I told Kip not to worry, as the weather conditions this particular evening were absolutely perfect for nighttime muskies. We put all of our rods and gear away except one rod each, and a few lures apiece. I motored to a favorite deep weed edge, and instructed Kip to tie on a large tandem black and nickel bucktail. I opted for my favorite after dark weapon, a jointed crankbait.

We began easing along the weed edge, listening to the pre-season Packer game against the Cleveland Browns, when suddenly my boat rocked, and I heard Coach grunt as he buried the hooks home. "I got one!!" he hollered, and his rod doubled as the big muskie headed for deeper water. The fact that the boat was clean and well organized allowed Coach to fight the fish properly and safely. I grabbed the Frabill net, and slid it under a beautiful 44 1/2 inch musky that was one of the heaviest of that size class I had ever seen. "Touchdown!" I exclaimed, and high-fived Coach Kramer while the fish waited patiently in the net. We snapped a couple of quick pictures and released the 25 pounder back to grow some more. Once again, night fishing paid off big time in the dog days of August!!

I guide in Vilas and Oneida Counties, and spend a lot of time on our area lakes. I am amazed at how few musky anglers take advantage of this opportunity that frankly is way underfished. Many prominent musky pros have written excellent articles on the effectiveness of night fishing for musky, but very few anglers have dedicated themselves to trying it. The prime time for night fishing muskies here in northern Wisconsin is from mid-July through early September, however, muskies can be caught in June or even into October on occassion. Since our lakes are in an area with lots of cabins and resorts, boating pressure is at its peak during this time frame, and the muskies adapt and begin to feed heavily under the cover of darkness. I often will not launch my boat until about an hour before dark. I also choose larger lakes with clear water, heavy day time boat traffic, and a proven history of producing big muskies.

I recommend that you bring one to two rods tops per angler, a high quality comfortable head lamp, and plenty of tools for catch and release purposes that you want to put in a place you can locate them quickly in the dark. I only have four to five lures that I use to help keep the boat clean and well organized. As far as musky location is concerned, I usually fish deep weed edges relating to points or mid-lake bars, especially the inside turns of these structual elements. Any established deep coontail or cabbage weed edge has the potential to hold nighttime muskies. Position your boat parallel to the edge and make short casts to the weedline, with the angler in the front of the boat using a deep diving jointed crankbait to probe the edge of the weeds. The angler(s) in the back of the boat should use a large black bucktail and cast over the weed tops, or a noisy topwater lure like a Topraider will work well, too. I use glow tape on all of my bucktails I throw after dark to better enable me to do a proper boatside figure-8 manuever. Creepers can be deadly too, especially on those flat, muggy late August nights when there is not even a ripple on the surface.

Much has been previously written about night fishing for muskies, yet many anglers are not taking advantage of the great fishing our area has to offer after dark. When the dog days of summer arrive, clean out your boat, break out the headlamps and head to your favorite trophy musky lake and have fun! Please practice proper catch and release to perpetuate musky fishing here in the great Northwoods!

Tom Dietz is the Store Manager of the Baxter Minnesota Gander Mountain store, and resides in Baxter, Brainerd, Area Minnesota. He guides for muskies professionally in Minnesota and frequently fishes muskies in the PMTT Tournament Circuit each year. He gives seminars and writes articles on a regular basis. Tom is originally from Wisconsin, a multi species angler since 1988.

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