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MidWest Outdoors contributor and Hall of Famer Joe Bucher reveals his fall locations to effectively target muskie.

The location of muskies throughout fall varies greatly depending upon the water temperature, length of day and the body of water. This is why it is a mistake to categorize or generalize all muskie fishing in the fall as one single subject. The weather, water temperature and length of day in September are certainly different from that in November. Yet some anglers continue to refer to fall muskie fishing as “one period,” and mistakenly think you can fish for this species the same way from Labor Day until ice-up.

This simply isn’t true. What works in September rarely works in October—and certainly isn’t going to get it done in November.

Muskies are apt to be shallower while water temperatures hold above the 50-degree range and are more apt to be weed-related. Remaining stands of healthy weeds can be hot spots, and they pinpoint shallow muskie locations. The odds of finding a trophy-class fish in any weed bed steadily increase as the mass of weeds depletes. However, weeds become far less productive once the water temperatures dip below 50. This is when steeper breaks and classic, hard, bottom structure really comes into play.

In fact, hard bottom substrates become the most consistent producer as the calendar creeps toward November and water temperatures dip into the 40s. Usually, rocks situated on steeper breaks are a key component. Hard bottom points with quick breaks into deep water can be particularly good. Add some submerged wood to this equation and it becomes even better.

Now that you have Joe’s insights on locating fall muskie, be sure to check out his full article in the September issue of MidWest Outdoors magazine. Joe goes into even more detail about location and also gives information on the best lure presentations during the fall. Available the first full week of September at a newsstand near you.

 You can also listen to a 50-minute MidWest Outdoors podcast interview with Joe.