Collins River Post Spawn Musky Fishing

In Eastern Tennessee there is an abundance of good fishing. I mean solid fish. You can run down the list of walleye, bass, trout, crappie, catfish, musky and stripers. You can catch trophy sized fish year round. Now, not everyone is going to catch these fish, but they are there. Knowing when and where to wet your line is about having good intel. It is about knowing the water and what the fish are doing each and every month.

Knowing the water, albeit a lake, river, reservoir or creek is the keystone. Without a well grounded fundamental understanding of what lies below the surface you are at a huge disadvantage. You have to know the topography, in order to know where the fish will hold. You don't go out and learn this fishing a few times a year. You learn this spending countless hours on the water studying water movements, how fish respond to those movements, where various species will set up to feed and what they feed on.

If you just look at the surface, well then, everything looks very similar. At In The Spread, we do not work with fishermen that operate near the surface. We work with guys that are well below the surface. What I mean by that is we provide you, the viewer, with captains, guides and anglers that are well seasoned, deep thinking fishyAF watermen and women.

Since this video is about post spawn muskie fishing on the upper Collins River, I will use the analogy of a river rat. A river rat is savvy, sneaky, very attuned to the environment, a creature that knows the river ecosystem with an intimacy unavailable to most. Dwayne Hickey is just such a creature. He has spent his life fishing the Collins. He knows every weed bed, deep hole, shelf, downed tree, stretch of hard bottom, creek mouth and spring on the river. He is encyclopedic in his knowledge. His favorite species is the muskellunge. Damn if he doesn't know this fish well.

The day we filmed this In The Spread muskie fishing video, we watched a couple of fly anglers zipping up and down the river in search of fish they “moved” the week prior. We just slowly drifted down the river fishing every bit of water we could. Dwayne just shook his head at these guys. They were running past so much good water. The thing is, they didn't know what they didn't know. We caught fish in water they ran right past. I wonder why.

Dwayne has such a deep understanding of the river, he can call out and point to every visible and invisible (below the surface) feature in the river. We fished lay downs, weed beds, deep holes, creek mouths, ledges, bluffs and he broke down each and every one. He explained how to fish each. The info he shares in this fishing video is relevant to any river in the south that holds muskie.

With this post spawn muskie fishing video Dwayne Hickey is going to take you to the upper Collins River, where the water is skinny and clear. He will discuss muskie tendencies for late spring. His lures arsenal is simple. He will show you how he uses a shallow crank bait, bucktail, spinner bait and live bait to entice bites. A common theme with Dwayne is fishing wood and weed beds. He really likes the intersection of wood and weed beds. This is the perfect spot for muskie fishing. The fish has both feeding grounds and cover.

He emphasizes making extra casts to these areas. His goal with this video is the help you understand a little more about fishing a river system for muskie. Another key take away is how a musky will relate in and out of deep holes, moving in and out to feed. Anywhere deep water starts shelving up, you will find fish that move up onto the shelves, up on the flats and shallower banks to feed.

Muskie use the deep holes as a place to chill out. If you have wood in the water of weed beds near by, this is pure gold. Dwayne will explain why you don't want to miss these areas. You do not have to focus your efforts on casting to the bank, all the way down the river. Work the middle of the river and work the wood. Muskies just love to relate to wood. What wood is worth fishing? Dwayne will giver you the intel you need to know which wood is ideal and how to fish it.

Dwayne has very clear opinions on musky baits and what colors to use for different colored water. When should you use a natural presentation? When should you use bright colored lures? When does he get unconventional? It is all here. You will know a lot more about fishing river systems for muskie after listening to this river rat. Dwayne Hickey is considered the Godfather of Eastern Tennessee for a reason. Wach more Muskie Fishing Videos.