Roll The Dice

The considerations that matter to early season lake selection.

- Jim Saric

Having taught the University of Esox schools with Steve Heiting for over 20 years, another 10 years teaching similar musky schools with Joe Bucher, and simply growing up fishing a lot of weekends chasing muskies in northern Wisconsin, i have learned that selecting the proper lake can make or break your day in early season. 

The beauty of the northwoods is there are many lakes to choose — literally hundreds within a 45-minute drive. But that can also be a curse because there are so many choices. 

At the University of Esox early summer school held in St. Germain, Wisconsin, each June, we focus on warm water, shallow cover and bait fish being the three elements to consider when choosing lakes or spots, but it can be more complicated than that. For example, when considering the above elements, you might think simply fishing a smaller, shallow, stained-water lake with abundant newly growing vegetation may be the best choice. After all, those lakes should warm the fastest, have the most advanced weed growth, and most likely have a lot of perch and/or suckers. While those lake types produce for our students quite often, there are times when those lakes are dead.

So how do you choose a lake when fishing early season muskies? Early season lake choice often revolves around weather conditions that specific day and local trends. Sometimes simply having a bit of local information can go a long way.

Let’s take a look at a few lake types and conditions or situations when you might select them. This approach applies to fishing in Wisconsin, minnesota, michigan or anywhere throughout the musky range where you are in the first month of the season.

Rivers & Channels