favorite lure!

[cliffy]

I have been have good luck so far this year on a black and silver skirted 1oz J-Mac Jig tipped with a white swimming body. I saw this set-up on one of the fishing shows..and one of the guys at thornebros also brought it to my attention.

I have also been enjoying the new Manta lure (bass colored) that I recently bought. Have not caught anything yet but have had a couple of follows....that lures looks so darn cool darting back and forth...I almost want to eat it myself.

[Aj10]

lets hear what everyones favorite lure is!My favorite is either the phantom or the stomper even the skitter critter.Has anyone ever tried the mepps musky maribou?

[half2fish]

Meeps Syclops by far. Caught pike,muskie,walleye,and bass with this thing. it is great and for right around $4 not a expensive lure. best colors are green,yellow,orange,black and grey and copper.

[RuKiddingMe]

My fav has got to be the Viper, what a fun lure to work and being able to see the water explode on a violent strike is WAY cool. I also picked up a custom walk the dog type lure on hsolist and I really enjoy that one too. Reef Hawgs and Phantoms are also right up there.

Still waiting the break the Goose Egg curse so far this year...

RU

[gundy89]

I love the Jackpot. It really gets the blood boiling when the water explodes!

[Hugo]

My new favorite is a green/black Llungen tail rubber skirted in-line spinner bait (bucktail type) It has put 2 fish in the boat so far this year and have had 3 others on using it.

RU,
Got the monkey off the back last week finally. Keep at it man!!!

Dave

[Cooter]

Cliffy - I've also fished the J-mac jig and plastic combo but haven't caught anything other than northerns. I'm sure its operator error, how have you been fishing this rig?

[Bushwacker]

I am going to get the J-Mac jig/Salt Shaker body combo and I am interested to hear how you guys are fishing them. The article a couple months ago in In-Fisherman they called it the ultimate muskie lure.

My favorite lure is the Radtke's Pike Minnow. I have a few, but the Firetiger is definitely my top producer. I am actually on my fourth firetiger, because the other three have just been demolished. Another lure that I love is the Blue Fox(I think that's what it is called) bucktail. It is the one with the little gears inside it. They are supposed to make a squeeling noice that drives the Muskies into a frenzy. I caught a real nice 41" on Monday on the firetiger colored one.

[cliffy]

Cooter:

I need to clarify what I meant by “good luck”. I have caught a lot of VERY nice pike on the J-Mac set up but only one 38-inch muskie. I have had a TON of follows from monster muskies but they just wouldn’t bite. I think it’s just a matter of time before they will take it.

I fish the J-Mac set up on a swimming motion. Cast it out…reel fast…slow it down….speed it up..slow it down. Sometimes I just cast it out…reel fast…and stop…let it sink..jig it a few times and start reeling again. The employee at thornebros told me to make the set-up act like a wounded baitfish…reel fast, slow, jig, small rips…whatever. I really like the set-up because I fish a lot of lakes with tons of weeds and this thing is about as weedless as they come. I don’t think it’s a magical lure by any means but its something different and I don’t think a lot of muskies have seen it much…so perhaps they would be more likely to give it a closer look or bite. Just my two cents worth….

[RK]

Hiya,
I don't have favorite lures, although I certainly have lures I like on particular bodies of water. Plus it goes in streaks from year to year. A couple years back I caught a ton of fish on Sledges, and I don't think I've thrown one once this season. That having been said, I'd hate to have all my Rad Dog spinnerbaits taken away...

As far as the J-Macs go... I don't know of they are the ultimate muskie bait (there is no such thing, IMHO) but they do work well at times. Doug Stange first got into my head about them a few years back and I've been messing with them off and on ever since. They seem to work better in clear water, and are great on pressured water at times.

As far as how to fish them, I fish them almost like a bucktail without a blade. Just fire them out, let them sink a couple feet if you want, then crank them in. Every few cranks of the reel handle I pause the retrieve for half a second to let the jig drop. It's not so much a drop/flutter I guess as it is a hesitation - the jig just sort of stalls for a moment. Most hits come a half a crank after the pause, and they usually really crush it. Two nice things about jigs: it's easy on the body if you're worn out from burning bucktails or ripping cranks. It's a nice 'take a break' technique for mid-afternoon of a long day on the water. You can also cast the things a mile. I fish mine on a bass flipping stick with a 6500 Big Game, and when you really haul off and launch it, you can barely see it land

J-Macs are tough to find right now though. They, like everyone else that makes rubber-skirted muskie lures, are having a tough time finding long enough rubber. But, any big bass jig will do really.

If you're into the jig thing, another thing to try is a big swim shad like a 5" Power Swim Bait or a big Lunker City shad on a 1/2 to 3/4 oz. bullet head jig. Been messing around with them fishing walleyes (yeah, I fish walleyes some too ) and they work pretty well. If you've never tried it, you don't know how hard a walleye can hit. Bet they'd work on muskies too...

Cheers,
RK

[Cooter]

Thanks guys for the tips on the J-Macs. I don't think you could really fish em wrong. Experimentation must be the key, guess we'll let the fish decide how to work them. I believe these lures will shine on heavily fished waters - hopefully!