The only time I’ve ever fished for musky has been early summer in northern, natural lakes.  I plan on hitting a river nearby on Halloween.  The river is up and moving and I’m wondering if I should target the deeper, slower moving sections, or move up close to the dam and fish the eddys and slacker water behind anything slowing the current?

Are you fishing down near Delavan, or up near Balsam Lake?  If you're up near Balsam Lake, you're not far away and I'm looking at conditions daily...if you're up north, feel free to reach out via private message.

...either way...don't waste time this time of year on shallow stretches, focus on the deeper pools.

High, rising water scatters fish, low, dropping water concentrate them.

@Further North has good advice.  He regularly posts about musky fishing in Wisconsin rivers.

 

I target muskies but not in river systems.  In terms of feeding activity, its probably very similar to a lake.  There are brief "feeding windows" for them.  Its not like targeting other game fish species where you might be able to get a bite at almost any time.  There will be a specific time where something has triggered one to bite and the best way to take advantage of that is to spend as much time out there as possible.

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

@Further North has good advice.  He regularly posts about musky fishing in Wisconsin rivers.

 

I target muskies but not in river systems.  In terms of feeding activity, its probably very similar to a lake.  There are brief "feeding windows" for them.  Its not like targeting other game fish species where you might be able to get a bite at almost any time.  There will be a specific time where something has triggered one to bite and the best way to take advantage of that is to spend as much time out there as possible.

River muskies are not as sensitive to the "bite window" idea, or to atmospheric conditions, as still water (lake) muskies are. 

With a river, if you're drifting it, you're unlikely to be able to pick where you'll be at a specific time anyway...you're going to be where you're going to be.

If the "hot spot" is in the first hour of an 8 hour drift, but the "window" is from 4:00 - 6:00...you're simply not going to be able to be there.

All that said, I agree 1,000% with the idea that the more time you spend out there, the better you'll get at it.  With rivers, recognizing and setting up for the the important stretches is the key to getting muskies attention.

They'll still screw with you, and mess with your head, because they're Muckin' Fuskies. ?