in 12 feet of water at 10:30 in the morning. There is a slight wind that is just beginning to pick up from the Northeast. There are several things that I'm going to take notice of but then I am probably going to make a few quick assumptions based on that first follow of the day. The first thing I am going to do is to check the exact time of day and file it away in my head for future reference. Based on the fact that the first fish came from relatively shallow water, I am going to finish this spot and move to the next with the assumption that the fish are going to be active. I am going to note the size of the rocks and where the fish came off the structure in relation to the wind. This is what is going to influence my decision of which spots to fish next and where to position my boat when I worked them. My tentative plan will be that I am going to cover all of the places on the lake that are similar in terms of depth, rock size, and orientation to the wind. After thoroughly fishing a few more spots I would expect to have a pretty good handle on whether there is a pattern here or it was just a single active fish. If the muskies are active, it usually isn't necessary to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. The real key to catching muskies is to be fishing where they are biting. There are days when anyone on the lake will be catching muskies. It doesn't seem to matter what spot or lure or presentation. Those days just don't happen all that often and paying attention to the details will often mean the difference between success and failure on all those other days. There are times and there are spots that both position and retrieved angle are absolutely critical. When we are trying to understand lure presentation for muskies, thoughts have to begin with lure depth and speed. There are times when lures speed is the most important factor. Generally speaking, I believe a slow
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