Needing Some Advice

[10,000 Casts]

My top 4 changes all the time but here is where it ended up last season,

1. Orange and Black Mepps Muskie Killer

2. Cowgirl JR.- I'd rather throw that than a #10

3. Bigger X-Rap - great twitch bait

4. Pacemaker- it is the first thing I throw in the morning and the last thing I throw after sundown...

Honorable mentions,

Jointed Depth Raider- Perch

Bulldawg-Walleye

Rad Dawg spinnerbait- any color

Giant Jackpot- black

Hellhound

Suick

Wades Wobbler

[Musky Buck]

Scoot I have used them meanwhile I'm busy netting my cousins bucktail fish. I gave a way fair go to crankbaits, I've read many articles on them and even practice them in my pond, I've trolled them twitched them I've done it all ooops time to net another upper 40 on hair. I'm always the guy wanting to experiment only to get nothing for 22 years, I'm done with that. Last summer 21 fish in 18 runs I think it was, do you really think if I had a crank going I would've done better, maybe. I'm down to roughly getting out 4 times a month or once a week, I'm going with the 22 years on the water and watching what the pro's are unhooking from the fish on film. My gut says if cranks were big producers the tournament anglers would use them a lot more. But, you go with your own theory and everyone does. Not that I've seen tons of boated fish over 22 years but I have never seen one caught via a crank. If I were to fish late Oct/Nov. I would use a crank then. Go back a few Musky Hunter's ago and find Jim Saric's diary and look at top water, hair, cranks, soft plastics.

[Shoot2Kill]

Originally Posted By: RK

Impossible to fish them wrong...

Sorry Rob, but I have to disagree..... Took your advice and put a 8" Believer on for my brother to use to finally get him his first muskie. Going well until he launches the rod tip straight up in the air, rocketing the bait out of the water and skyward. I said "What the heck are you doing?"

"Right there!! There was a muskie right there!"..... as he's pointing down at the water just below him with a shaky voice. He saw the fish, freaked out, and yanked the bait out of the water at 100 mph!! Let's just say I gave him a hard time about it all day....

Nothing is impossible!!!

HAHAHAHAHA....wow, how funny...I did the exact same thing last summer about 6 hours prior to actually hooking into my first muskie. I had just joined my buddy in his boat about 2 hours before this incident so I was 100% new to muskie fishing. We were along a nice break in some really clear water...I was throwing a blueish 8" Believer just as he was telling me to do, really not having a flippin' clue what I was doing. I was fishing out of the back of his boat, casting, figuring 8'ing, sometimes forgetting the figure 8, you know how it is when you're new...haha....when I look down and I honestly screamed like a little girl....there was a GIANT fish 3 inches behind that bait and I yanked that thing straight up out of the water!!! Still to this day after having lots of follows after that the rest of the summer I think it was the biggest follow I've seen. Anyway....so when I yanked the bait out of the water my buddy jumps to the back of the boat to get a look at the fish and try to get his bait in front of it but in the process the bucktail he was throwing got caught on something in the boat and when it popped free it lodged directly in the back of my neck! Just barely up to the barb so it didn't go all the way in. I was still freaking out at the fish so it didn't even phase me until it was all over. Good stuff. Funny thing is I never threw a believer the rest of the summer after that for some reason....I better give it another go this summer and redeem myself.

So I agree....they are impossible to catch fish on when you pull them out of the water when the fish is following it. hahaha.

[Scoot]

Musky Buck, it makes no difference to me what you use! I was just pointing out what I hear all the time-- people will say "the fish on 'my lake' love bait X". Turns out all they use is bait X, and that's why it works for them. If bucktails workfor you, use bucktails. Meanwhile, I'll continue to have a little of everything with me when I hit the water. I like to be able to tap the water column from top to bottom. When fish are deep and not willing to come up, I go down to them. There are a couple dozen fish that saw my net the past couple years that came on cranks, so it's working alright for me. But... to each his own.

Don't fix it if it isn't broken and it sounds like you're doing just fine without cranks.

[10,000 Casts]

MB, my thinkind was alot like yours until last fall when the conditions were perfect for throwing big cranks over the 20ft humps. I traded all my grandmas last winter so all I had were a couple depthraiders. What I would have given to have my big cranks back when we were out there! Every bait has its place and time.

And scoot, Bait X on your lake over the years has gone from an all black suick then to shallow invaders and now everyone and their brother is throwing cowgirls. I know I missed a few but am I right?

[AWH]

they are impossible to catch fish on when you pull them out of the water when the fish is following it.

Don't be so sure!!! I caught a fish two years ago after pulling the bait out of the water. Never saw a fish follow it in. But I pulled the bait out of the water...still dangling just above the water line as I looked at the depth finder and the water exploded! Too bad it was only about a 30" fish. But it's the first musky I've caught while not having a bait in the water! Tim Anderson of Big Fish Hunt Guide Service has a similar type story, but only that fish was a monster.

Aaron

[RK]

Bait X on your lake over the years has gone from an all black suick then to shallow invaders and now everyone and their brother is throwing cowgirls.

Lord do I wish I would have kept my mouth shut about the Shallow Invaders...

*sigh*

[Scoot]

And scoot, Bait X on your lake over the years has gone from an all black suick then to shallow invaders and now everyone and their brother is throwing cowgirls. I know I missed a few but am I right?

Yep, pretty much! I used to love shallow invaders. Unfortunately, they don't work anymore. Suicks... thing of the past! Cowgirls will be the end-all-be-all from now on... until the next big thing comes along.

[Musky Buck]

I know Scoot, my only point is I am fishing when I know the fish are up and active so a topper and a bucktail are the tickets, when I see them down or not chasing I usually know I'm in for a lond day but with 22 years logged in my knucklehead I can mostly avoid those days on the water and target those multiple fish days. The book is not closed on plastics and cranks, oh no, I just fish those upper water column days thoroughly. Couple dozen so 24 Scoot on cranks, that sounds like fun, how many do you boat a summer and how many days a week are you out ? Good job !

[ole matty]

I m pretty sure lures that had been hot in past wil be still popular/good in future

suicks dawgs dcg reefhawg weagle topraider depthraider etc etc etc

[Musky Buck]

LOL guys, that is the beauty of Musky fishing. It's why we love it, it's a real active talking about us, real active physically and mentally, it's like trying to get on that lucky slot machine at the right time. The unpredictability of how the run may or may not pan out. Any lure can produce a fish but often times it's how the fisherman fishes that lure, it's like a 50,000 piece puzzle, can drive ya nuts at times. I'm breaking down and will select a crankbait that I feel will produce and I will forgo catching some hair fish to learn how when where and what makes it get struck. My boat partner will freak, he's going to say 22 years, several hundred fish, and now you're jinxing the boat once again with a crank. Hey 4 months from right now guys and we'll be counting down from 10. !

[cjac]

Pretty cool if you look back on this post and read it thoroughly and do a little homework.

It's crazy how well you can do with about $75 tops and be set for almost any lake, any time, and any conditions (terminal tackle/tools/net excluded). Granted I have hundreds of lures, but if you were a starter, you could do quite well with the information posted here.

[hunter991]

Interesting question..

I would grab 2 bucktails, a crankbait and a topwater. Doesn't even matter whose. I can fish a bucktail in 40 ft or 3 feet which makes some so versital. Always need a topwater, and a good crankbait to mix it up.

Ghosttail

Mepps

pacemaker

DDD

[propster]

If you're going to go that thin on baits, and that's not a bad way to go, I'd swap one of the bucktails for a spinner bait for a little more versatility.