The eyes are not positioned so as to provide vision in an unbroken 180-degree arch directly in front of the Musky. The result is that there is an area below, behind and directly in front of the Musky where vision is not available. The sight zone and "dead zone" shown here gives a little better perspective. When you take into consideration the physical short comings of the Musky, you can begin to understand some of those instances when the Musky loses interest in a lure being retrieved. When a Musky stalks a bucktail, crank bait or surface lure from the rear, the Musky, by moving too close to the lure, may actually lose sight of it. I imagine that it must be frustrating to the Musky: "Now you see it…now you don't". How does one go about overcoming the handicap of our farsighted quarry? Well, it turns out that direction changes during retrieve and at boat side are the best way to ensure that our Musky friend has the lure as the "apple of his eye". Erratic lure action like pumping a bucktail or speeding up a retrieve will keep the lure in the sight zone of the Musky. For my part, this bit of knowledge has caused me to alter my approach to Musky fishing. As I look back at my fishing habits, I recognize that there has been far too much "cast them out and reel them in" action with my lures. Yes, making direction changes and varying retrieves will take more time but the retrieve variations will give each cast a greater potential for a Musky strike. Now that I know why a figure eight works, you can bet that I will be less likely to neglect to finish off my retrieve with one.
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