Propwash Muskie

[Don Wittenberger]

I talked with a fisherman at Mayfield Lake on Thursday who told me that he and his wife were trolling for rainbow trout in the middle of the lake when he spotted a good-sized tiger muskie following his boat. The fish was in the propwash about 5 feet behind the boat. He was quite surprised by this event, but I've heard of "propwash trolling" for muskies -- in fact, Musky Hunter magazine recently published an article about this technique -- and it's an established method of fishing for muskies. The basic idea is to drag a lure less than 10 feet behind the boat at a rather fast trolling speed, say 4 to 8 mph. Sounds crazy, but some anglers actually catch them this way back east. This incident also provides additional confirmation of what I've long believed -- that muskies suspend in open water. If you've ever wondered where they go when they seem to disappear, there's a good chance that's part of the answer.