In the 6-minute YouTube video below, Jeremy Smith and Ty Sjodin from Angling Edge are targeting fall muskies on Ontario’s legendary Eagle Lake. The guys are trolling with crankbaits, and they are spreading two of their three lines away from the boat with the use of planer boards. (They can fish with three lines because their cameraman in the boat is also a licensed angler.)
As the water temperatures cool, muskies will leave the shallow weedy bays and begin moving toward the main lake basins in preparation for winter. In this video, Jeremy and Ty are focusing on a neck-down section with a muddy bottom surrounded by weed beds in 15 to 20 feet of water. They also catch a musky along a steep rock wall on a point that leads to the main lake.
By rigging their three rods with the same lure, 5.5-inch-long Rapala Super Shad Raps, Jeremy can easily control the boat and place the lures in the fish’s strike zone without snagging weeds or bottom. Depending on line diameter and trolling speed, these floating lures have a running depth of 5 to 9 feet. Based on the gear used and the speed of their boat, I’d estimate that their lures were getting down 8 or 9 feet. The muskies are suspended in the water column at that depth, or perhaps a bit deeper, and when the lures pass over their heads, they rise to attack them.
The boards are made by Off Shore Tackle Company, specifically the guys are using two Pro Mag Planer boards. They are using one Left and one Right model to cover each side of the boat. The third crankbait is being trolled straight behind the boat (no planer board). As you’ll see in the video, after a musky is hooked and then brought closer to the boat, one angler unclips the planer board from the line, which makes it easier to fight the fish all the way to the net.
Trolling allows fall musky anglers to cover a lot of water, and also keep their hands relatively dry because they aren’t having to constantly cast and retrieve lures. It’s a tremendously effective system during fall — give it a try!
