Table of Contents
News from the Underground - A Classic Setup in Sunset Country
For the better part of the last decade, it feels like every musky opener in Northwestern Ontario has arrived with a massive asterisk attached. Whether it was too much water, severe droughts, an unusually early spring, a punishingly late ice-out, a freezing June, or a sudden heatwave, something always seemed to dominate the pre-season conversation. As we approach the 2026 musky opener, however, the most notable observation is the complete lack of anything unusual. For the anglers traveling north this week, that quiet predictability is welcome news.
Across much of Sunset Country, the seasonal progression from ice-out through the spawning window has followed the script perfectly. Ice cleared from most major fisheries during the first half of May, allowing water temperatures to climb steadily through late May and early June. This steady warming trend was only briefly interrupted by a handful of routine cold fronts. Recent weather patterns have settled into a classic pattern characterized by moderate daytime temperatures, cool nights, and a highly stable forecast heading into opening weekend.
In many ways, these conditions resemble the classic setups often celebrated in Musky Hunter articles from the late 1990s and early 2000s—years when anglers could confidently expect fish to transition naturally from spawning bays toward early summer habitat, rather than reacting frantically to extreme weather events. While a textbook spring might not sound thrilling on paper, it historically produces some of the most consistent and rewarding fishing over the entire season.
Another critical factor working in favor of anglers this year is the region's healthy water levels. Following several seasons where low water levels restricted navigation and shrank structural options across Northwestern Ontario, many lakes are entering the summer with highly typical baselines. This has dramatically improved access to vital shoreline habitat. Emerging vegetation looks exceptionally healthy, traditional spawning bays are holding plenty of water, and shallow cover that sat high and dry in recent years is finally submerged and available to fish. This baseline shift doesn't guarantee a trophy in the net, but it does restore a familiar, productive environment for both forage species and apex predators.
The primary challenge of any opening weekend is that anglers often arrive carrying strategic memories from the previous autumn. The fish, meanwhile, have spent the last six weeks adapting to actual spring conditions. Reports from across the region indicate that spawning activity is completely finished, weed growth is nicely established, and baitfish are becoming highly active. Because the seasonal progression is perfectly on schedule, muskies are already spreading out into multiple patterns.
While some fish remain tightly bound to shallow, early-season structures, others are already pushing out to explore main-lake breaks, developing weed lines, and offshore habitat. Ultimately, this opener will reward on-the-water observation far more than rigid pre-season predictions. In a sport defined by chaotic variables, a beautifully normal season is exactly what we wanted.
The Bite - Your Musky Briefing
Wisconsin
In the north woods, muskies are now completely recovered from the spawn. A large cold front with heavy rain and strong winds has stabilized water temperatures in the upper 60s. The new moon activated larger fish, with many hitting the net in the past week. Most of these fish were found in shallow broadleaf cabbage beds.
What’s Working Now — Triggering reaction strikes from muskies by ripping smaller profile baits through the weeds. Contact has been key. Effective lures have been 5” Shallow Raiders, Spring Swimming Dawgs, and Mustangs.
What’s Out — The bucktail bite has still not developed. It is worth checking occasionally as we move into the next couple weeks, however.
Minnesota
In the southern part of the state, water temperatures reached the upper 70s and then moderated to around 70 following days of rain and wind. Water temperatures are cooler in the north, with mid to low 60s being the norm. While some fish are being found shallow or near break lines, the dominant pattern is the basin bite. Look for muskies suspended near forage schools over mud basins.
What’s Working Now — Baby Beavers and Tridents are effective at reaching depth quickly and triggering strikes for suspended muskies.
What’s Out — While bucktails and other shallow presentations were showing fish near break lines around opener, that bite has dwindled as fish pushed into the basins.
The South
Water temperatures and the health and safety of musky populations dominate the discussion. Water temps in the high 70s through the mid 80 are easy to find and often too easy for many anglers to overlook. While high water temperatures have had varied results in musky mortality one must consider air temperatures in the 90s combined with high water temperatures as a potential source of harm to the fish.
Where cooler water can be found, muskies are at a metabolic peak and striking fast moving big profile and big vibration lures.
What’s Working Now — Deep edges off points and humps are productive areas. In prime conditions, double 10 blades, magnum topwater, and large crankbaits are effective, while swimbaits like Mustang and Swimming Dawgs excel for post-frontal conditions and during mid-day windows.
What’s Out — Evening bites are out as water temperatures climb into the mid-80s through the day.
Iowa and Illinois
Rising water temps have brought exceptional weed growth in the middle of the musky range. Water temps are ranging from 75 to 80, and fish have been holding tight to shallow weed cover. With good numbers of fish showing up on weed edges and unrelenting pressure from musky anglers, the challenge has been getting them to move on baits. Proximity has been key. Saturation casting in the evenings, with casts landing less than 5’ apart, has been the ticket. Contending with the many bass anglers and loads of recreational traffic is a daily occurrence.
What’s Working Now –— Pull/pause baits like 3D Real Eel, Menace, and Medusa are effective when used to probe dense weeds. During low light conditions, the 8” Weagle has been getting bites when used to walk in place.
What’s Out — Run and gun techniques with high cast spacings are not effective in highly pressured environments.
Western Ontario
A hot spell with a rapid warm-up in water temperatures has put the progression back on-time. We anticipate muskies will be out of their post-spawn funk and into a variety of patterns for the Canadian opener this weekend. The long range forecast looks like temperatures will climb into normal pre-summer peak fishing for the end of June and into July.
Saturday will be a seasonally average day with change of light rain. Water levels are average on most lakes. The long range looks like th average conditions that we all look forward to. Temps will continue to climb towards July 1-4 week, which should lead into some very solid fishing.
What’s Working Now — We’ll let you know after the opener!
Northeast US
While summer has finally arrived in the northeast US, our lakes are still measuring the low 60s for water temperatures. Cold fronts and rain have been the norm. Muskies are still behaving somewhat normally, despite continual disruptive cold fronts. The reason is that the competing effects of increasing sun angle and strong cold fronts have kept water temperatures surprisingly stable. Muskies are still positioned in areas of shallow cover like weeds and wood.
What’s Working Now — Spinner baits and dive/rise presentations in cover. If you’re not making contact with wood or weeds, you’re not in the game.
What’s Out — Surprisingly, muskies are not tight to bottom as one might expect given the procession of cold fronts. Bottom-related presentations have not been effective.
Eastern Canada
After below normal May temperatures, a big warm spell ignited weed growth and the musky bite on the Rideau and Madawaska rivers to start off the early opener. Fish have been active around the weeds and rocky points. The Ottawa river opens this coming Saturday with a cooler, rainy week ahead. It will be great to have all waters available for musky fishing!
What’s Working Now — Glide baits and dive-and-rise baits around cover have been most effective.
What’s Out — The bite involving straight retrieve lures has been off so far.
Underground Intel - Bugs! The Musky Connection
Mayflies. Midges. Caddisflies. In the northern tier of the musky’s range, this is the time of year where fish behavior is dominated by their interaction with these insects. The bug hatches of June draw many forage fish to the basin where these insects hatch out of the mud beneath deep water. These hatches often happen around first dark, but the forage fish that feast on these insects are in the basin throughout the day: crappies, perch, bluegills, ciscoes. Muskies follow.
How do you locate productive basins? Start with basins that are near to shallow spawning areas. As the pattern progresses, the muskies will migrate toward basins with complex mid-lake structure (reefs, humps, and extensive complexes near deep water), but to start, look for small secondary basins near spawning areas.
Next, use your electronics to find forage schools. You’re not looking for a few perch here or a couple of ciscoes there. You want concentrated schools. Scattered forage isn’t ideal for muskies; they want a concentrated food source that’s worth their time. But for anglers, too much forage is also a problem. When the forage schools are bounteous, how can you entice a musky to bite your lure instead? If the lake or basin is overly full of forage, you’re probably better off moving. If you’re on a multi-basin lake, switch basins to one where the forage isn’t quite so plentiful. If you’re on a single basin lake and have options to switch lakes to one with slightly less abundant forage, it’s probably best that you do.
Since it covers more water at speed, trolling is the most effective presentation when basin muskies are active. But when muskies are less active or more pressured, casting lures that trigger neutral muskies is better. For both presentations, live sonar is extremely useful to note the locations of muskies. You’ll see muskies rising to your trolled presentations far more often than you’ll get strikes. This provides useful information that you can use to adjust your presentation: changing lures, altering your speed, or fine-tuning your lures’ running depth. For those more used to casting, it’s no different than adjusting your figure eights depending on your read of a fish’s mood as it follows. Casting with live sonar in use will also show you far more fish than will actually engage with your lures. But each encounter, successful or not, allows you to refine your presentation. When casting, the best technique is to use live sonar to set your retrieve depth, then look away from the screen and focus on your retrieve. Since you already know a fish is there, does it really matter whether it is following or not? Just do the best retrieve you can and make your best figure eight when your lure arrives boatside. The temptation to watch everything play out on the screen is a trap. It will cause you to set the hook too early when a fish reacts or to lose track of how close your lure is to the boat, messing up your figure eight.
The basin pattern for muskies can be one of the most productive patterns of the year since it concentrates medium- and large-sized muskies in predictable, albeit large, locations. Don’t miss the opportunity to contact some very large muskies in open water!
Underground and In the Net
Share your catch with fellow Musky Underground readers. Send your muskie photos and catch details to [email protected]. Big or small, every muskie deserves to be seen.
The big girls are starting to move in northern Wisconsin.
Matt caught this tank on a Swimmin’ Dawg.
Matt got this beauty from Cedar Lake in Ontario.
Musky Lure Review - Livingston Lures Menace
At 8” long, the Livingston Lures Menace has a smaller, shad-like profile compared to most rubber baits. But its 4.8-ounce weight produces a strong, head-down dive that allows anglers excellent depth control (it falls at about 2 feet per second). What is more, the round body produces an erratic fall; sometimes left, sometimes right. The action of the tail in the water is small and subtle.
Menace is best retrieved with subtle lifts or pops of the rod tip. It does not love hard rips or long sweeps. The rapid drop of the lure is the trigger rather than any fast upward motion. The nearly vertical drop can be exploited to run nearly weedless through vertical stands of cabbage and other broadleaf vegetation. Naturally, milfoil is as much a challenge for Menace as it is for other rubber baits.
Hook placement is ideal, with the front hook in excellent position for head shots, while the rear hook is far forward enough to avoid impeding the subtle action of the tail. If its erratic fall fouls the rear hook, burying a hook point in the round part of the tail is a simple and effective solution.
Build Quality: 5 out of 5
Versatility: 4 out of 5
Ease of Use: 5 out of 5
Innovation: 4 out of 5
Big Fish Potential: 4 out of 5
Underground Verdict: While Menace seems to have been designed with shad-based reservoirs in mind, it functions very well as a down-sized presentation wherever muskies swim. Use over deep or open water as well as near many kinds of cover. A great choice for a multitude of situations.
Want a particular piece of musky gear reviewed? Make a suggestion to [email protected]. Lures, tackle, electronics - we’ll give you the Underground low-down, whether it’s positive, negative, or something in between!
Getting 1% Better…
Working lures through thick cover is a learned skill. Deflecting off rocks, reefs, and timber without fouling comes down to knowing exactly how your lures run and what they feel like at all times.
You are advancing as a musky angler when you stop avoiding contact and start hunting it. Learn what every piece of cover feels like. Learn how your lure reacts. Fish where others fear to tread.
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