I've caught two more tiger muskies since my last report, and lost another at the net. Right now, I'm in Seattle for a few days tending to a sick wife, but Mike and Tony continued fishing, and Tony has caught two tiger muskies in the last 3 days, including a 43-incher taken today by trolling. Now for some general comments. In the fall of 2004 and 2005, casting to shallow cover was a productive pattern, but it didn't work this year. I caught some fish off dropoffs, but they appeared to be scattered and far apart, so I used search tactics to find them. My reason for fishing bucktails is they make a lot of flash in the water and the fish can see them farther away than a crankbait. Bucktails are designed to run shallow, so I added extra weight to make them sink, because the fish were fairly deep. This is an example of how you have to figure things out and use your brain to solve problems when the musky fishing is challenging, as it is right now. I'm not a biologist, but it's just common sense that as the tiger muskies reduce the squawfish population, the musky population has to decline, too. Eventually, the musky and squawfish populations should reach an equilibrium and level off. This lake has a vast amount of great-looking habitat, but I believe food supply will limit the musky population to a few hundred adult fish, and this lake will end up with a lot of good-looking water that is empty. Lure selection or color doesn't matter if you're casting to empty water; I think it's far more important to focus on fish locating skills. There is a big difference between casting randomly, and methodically eliminating "dead water." Also, there's no substitute for putting in time on the water; catching this species involves committing days and weeks to the effort. Finally, in the past weeds were nonexistent, but I'm seeing weedbeds this fall, and feel certain that weedbed tactics will be an important part of the mix by next season. In general, I think the easy pickings at Merwin are over, and it's time to develop your all-around musky angling skills if you want to realize the full potential of this exciting but challenging fishery. I also think it's time for WDFW to change the tiger musky regulations to catch and release only, or institute a unfiorm statewide minimum size on all muskellunge species of at least 44 or 45 inches and preferably 48 inches.

---