Value Baits

[cjac]

Hey all,

Quite a few newer anglers to muskie fishing, high school & college guys, and the rest of us feeling the economic pinch on the boards lately.

Here are a couple lure options I've been using that are good baits and a good value that will help improve your options and number of presentations and stack the odds in your favor.

Spinnerbaits: They've been talked about a lot lately, and for good reason. Most can be had for the $12-15 range. M&G single blade is a great bait.

Mepps Maribou: Nice bait, and again in the low teens as far as dollars. Might want to upgrade the rear hook to one a little bigger, but a good option.

Double Showgirls: $14 at Thorne Brothers, a great bait, just a smaller version of the Cowgirl at nearly 1/2 the price. Muskies like them.

Storm Kickin' Minnow: Around $7, one of the cheapest baits out there, but the catch fish. Not the most durable, but I'd gladly trade $7 for a nice fish anytime.

Storm Thundersticks: Straight and jointed, think about how many muskies are caught by Fall walleye trollers pulling the walleye sized Thundersticks. I was playing with these this past weekend, trolled and on the cast, really a nice looking bait....

Reg Sized Bulldawgs: With the tail, they're still a 10+ inch bait in the water, hardly a small bait. I've probably caught as many on the reg compared to the mags. Not every Dawg has to be a Pounder.

Suicks: A dive and rise jerkbait in the Fall is a "go to" bait for sure. I"ll be throwing one this weekend, and again in the low teens in terms of dollars.

I have to make my point on not cutting costs on certain things: Buy quality leaders, a lost lure in a fish's mouth will like mean a lost (dead) muskie, along with a lost bait. Same goes for a net and release tools, get it right and buy the right tools the first time.

These are a few options, and there are many more. Muskies Inc members get a discount at Thorne Brothers, and all these are carried there. Mention Fishing Minnesota when you're in there too, and ask about the Wednesday night seminars, lots of great seminars scheduled on the upcoming ice fishing season (not on muskies, as the season closes Dec 1st, but good stuff about hard water fishing).

Thorne Brothers November Seminars

Hope this helps......

[Esox_Magnum]

MI members get a discount at Thornes?? Is this just an in store thing?? Good thing to know since I spend a ton there a year.

Another good tip is to watch the boards as people are always selling off eqipment they no longer use or things they buy with good intentions then don't use it. I got a combo from cjac this spring, saved some money and its been my best rod in the boat this year. I'm also 1 of those that seems to buy things that don't pan out or wrong color ect and end up trading or selling. I have some double 10's and mics bucktails right now I don't use for sale cheap.

[mroyten]

Yup MI memebers get 10% off. And I know that at least at the north metro mi meetings they always have coupons for thorne, get $10 off a purchase $50 bucks or more or something like that.

[polarsusd81]

Yep, Thorne is great. I am in there all the time, and will be in there for all the seminars this winter. I have to talk to Matt and Pat, but I know someone has suggested trying to do a reel cleaning/tuning seminar. I have been dabbling in that quite a bit and might do a quick segment at the end of one of them. I will let everyone know if and when it happens.

They give a 10% discount to all FM members that go to the seminars and also the MI discount. They'll hook you up.

Speaking of the Storm Kickin Minnow my buddy dorked an 8 and had a fish come completely out of the water and hit the side of the boat under the full moon on WBL. That fish wanted the bait bad and it would have been his first. I also love the Double Showgirls, easy bait to burn.

[b1gf1sh1]

storm deep and shallow thunders are great baits too. around 7 or 8 bucks. 7'' swim whizz too. your right chris theres all kinds of ''value'' baits. big spoons are a good arsenal in any box. rapala super shads. on and on. i think i'll go by thornes tommorow after work. been almost a week since last week great people. sales help them keep their jobs too. i'll do my part. 200 bucks before i leave, after discounts of course.

[DHanson]

Don't forget Tackle Industries Super Ds, better price than the dawgs. I agree with EsoxM that you can find some great deals on the internetz. I got 5 pounders arriving hopefully tomorrow along with a new tackle box.

[Nick Kuhn]

I got a bag of 6" slurpies (4 in a bag I think) for like $3. Only complaint is at 7/8 ounce they sink like a rock, but in the few times I've used them I've caught pike and they hold up well. Need to make a spinnerbait type thing for it, then it may be a good bait for the skis. I have some smaller (like size 1 blade) spinnerbait thing but instead of a jig at the end it's a snap swivel you can use with anything. Do they make anything like that in the big sizes?

[b1gf1sh1]

ever seen a beetle spin? that set-up is on the storm soft plastics shad style. large or small. just check your local stores. or a custom bent one can be done too, i guess ...but you'll find one if you look. fits right on a slurpies. good luck.

[Nick Kuhn]

Oops, my bad it is a storm swim shad, my bag was clearance and I didn't see any with the spinner set-ups. I do have the smaller ones and they kill the crappies and small bass.

[Rebel9921]

and dont forget Garry Carroll and his infamous kids... even with shipping, its still cheaper than buying Musky Mayhem's stuff... $3-$5 can go a long way...

[JRedig]

I gotta mention the Shack Attack line, little bit cheaper than dawgs, and about 10 times as durable. Great baits.

Making your own bucktails is CHEAP and simple as well, thorne has all the stuff you need.

[MUSKY18]

Have to throw in there the Blue Fox Musky Buck. Great early season bait. CJAC mentioned the M&G Spinnerbait, but the inline bucktail is a great one as well. I have really become a fan of the Pearson Grinder and Ace spinnerbaits. Go throw weeds like none other and produce fish. The Ace turned out to be one our best baits this summer. Really good and cheap crank baits are the Rapala Super Shads. Great twicted, cranked or trolled. If you are looking for an inexpensive topwater that is a producer, then look no farther than a Poes Giant Jackpot. Great topwater/search bait and the fish seem to like them, just ask Bob M or watch his video's and shows. As stated above, keep an eye on the boards as guys are always selling stuff. I bought a ton of great lures in this fashion last year.

[MuskieJunkie]

I like the thread, helping out the kids.

Thorne brother's always has a clerance bin with some nice stuff in it, generic spinner baits, bucktails, Tuff Line for $10, etc at their anual spring sale. The first Saturday after April 15th.

[Andrew Erickson]

nice thread!i second the shallow thunders,ive had a ton of success with those baits.Ive recently started useing the kickin minnows to and those look great.Had a real hot follow useing that bait the 1st time i threw it.Like you said cjac,gotta love the M&G spinnerbaits.Black/Chart is a killer color on indy.

[b1gf1sh1]

when i went to thorne bro's i walked over to the rapalas and lo and behold rapala reintroduced the tennesee shad style in super shad raps. they are a little different than the originals with the shiney white instead of being dull. but i picked one up. i'm probably going to get more though, seeing as i have been searching a popular online auction site and buying the originals for 20-30 bucks DOHHH!!!

now i can get em for less than 12 bucks. i've tried redoing a couple and never got one to be good enough. coating them was a real challenge because it had to be worm-proof AND dull. never got them to work right,lol. anyway, that's my rant.

another cheapy is the boogermans.

[Nick Kuhn]

This thread payed off for me today. Not that I went and bought anything, but reminded me to throw some of those often overlooked value baits that usually collect dust in the box. Hit a 35" on a Rapala Magnum (size 18), IIRC that was only $10. Actually didn't just hit, it really smacked it and ran towards the boat, probably a half dozen turns before I got up the slack to set the hook. The key was mine is firetiger. No idea why but I bet 75% of the fish I've caught this year have been on firetiger lures (and I'm not the kind of person to own multiple colors of the same lure)...

[Grunt L]

da HSOList has a lot of good used and new lures. I picked up about 20 Suicks a few years back and just fix a few up each winter. Kind of nice to fix up older lures and make them new again. Lots of good deals.

Just do a search for muskie lure and you will find about 600-1000 good new and used lures. Also check the various musky forums for sales in the classified sections.

[HugoBox]

Chris -

Thanks for this thread - I got in a bad habit of thinking that some lures were good deals cause they were "only" $25. That said I have a few of those that I will look to get rid of. For me one lure that I've had really good results with is the Sledge. I think they're only about $12 at Tnorne's and they are extremely versatile. I think the first I heard of them was from RK right here on FM.

take care - erik

[MuntzAngling]

Renosky Sonic Swing 6" runs 4 dollars and change. It's in in-line spinner with a plastic fish body similar to a Mepps Giant Killer. I'll credit 2 fish over 40" to it. Try Walmart or Trails End Bass Pro Shop.

[b1gf1sh1]

welcome to elite fleet grunt.

yeah, i go looking when i need something that's discontinued and can't get it new for myself, for my pre-made rehab/customs, or special customer requests.. i did some major searching and found ''the'' coating to use on re-doing rapala's. the other coatings were ok they just chipped and dulled up too easy IMO to confidently sell to a customer. was kind of weird. after posting in this thread i decided to take some time punching in some new keywords/phrases and did some e-mailing. and walla, i got the answer i was looking for. now with the actual coating used on a rapala how can i go wrong? it was extremey hard to find, expensive and a long time coming but it was worth it. it's going to open alot of doors on what i can do for customs and production baits. i say let rapala discontinue them now, lol.

another cheapy... pikie minnow ... plastic ones are anyway, lol.