Ffirst two muskie follows. Need to get over the top.

[BlackwaterStout]

I've never caught muskie before. Yesterday I went to a local creek that is known for having large populations of muskie. I don't have many muskie lures. A few large bucktails and a couple of large crank baits I bought at Gander Mountain last year.

Long story short, I strapped the largest lure I had to my line and I after working the pool for about 20 minutes I had a muskie follow my lure to the creek bank. My heart was beating fast like it does when I go deer hunting. I tried the figure 8 tactic and it was kinda sloppy and the muskie swam off. Looked to be maybe 3 foot long or so. Spent the next 3 hours walking the creek bank trying my other lures. Nothing. Finally I strapped on a 6 inch floating fire tiger Rapala thinking maybe they wanted smaller bait. On the second cast I caught a 10 inch smallmouth bass. As I got him closer to the edge of the creek I noticed that a Muskie was right behind the bass. I assumed he was either attracted to the smallmouths struggle or else he was going to eat the bass. Needless to say I walked away without a Muskie which was no suprise. But I felt good in the fact that I had Razed (or raised) 2 muskie that day.

So now my question is what should I do to actually get these fish to bite? I know thats a tough question but what should my gameplan be? I can't afford to buy a bunch of new lures but was thinking about maybe trying live bait next time. The creek is full of suckers and I maybe try rigging a live sucker up in order to produce a bite. Just not sure how to fish live bait in that situation. What is the best way to rig a 10 inch sucker? And should It be casted like a lure or should it just be thrown out there and leave it sit there.

Anyway, help would be appreciated.

[shamalex72]

When you see one following try to do something different with your retrieve. Try speeding up or changing angles, sometimes thats all it takes to trigger them.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Just a heads up, muskie season doesnt open until first week of june.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Turn Up- If you look at his profile, it says he is from West Vir... I am sure their season may be open?

[Random guy]

West Virginia is a year round musky state.

Quote:

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This is a summary of the applicable laws and regulations governing sport fishing in West Virginia. The West Virginia Code and the West Virginia Code of State Rules contain the details of these laws and regulations and are available for review in the Director's Office and Division of Natural Resources District Offices. Year-round fishing is in effect unless otherwise noted.

SPECIES DAILY CREEL LIMIT MINIMUM SIZE POSSESSION LIMIT

Muskellunge 2* 30 inches 4*

Tiger Musky 2* 28 inches 4*

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[BlackwaterStout]

WV does not have species specific seasons. You can fish for whatever you want whenever you want. There are creel limits however.

I will try varying my retreavel speed.

Any tips for live bait presentations?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Quote:

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Turn Up- If you look at his profile, it says he is from West Vir... I am sure their season may be open?

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hmmm...guess I wasnt paying to close attention. I guess I assumed that he was from MN with this being FM and you know what happens when you assume....

[BlackwaterStout]

Quote:

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Quote:

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Turn Up- If you look at his profile, it says he is from West Vir... I am sure their season may be open?

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hmmm...guess I wasnt paying to close attention. I guess I assumed that he was from MN with this being FM and you know what happens when you assume....

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Yes it's probably odd to have people outside of Minnnesota posting to these boards, but when I was originally doing some google searches for good fishing forums this site was listed and after reading a lot of threads it looked to be very informative and a cool place to get fishing info. Turns out a lot of the info on this site is applies to a broad range of the country and not necessarily just MN. So I hope you all don't mind me crashing your forums looking for fishing info

[delmuts]

shoot! they keep leting us IOWANS in!( although they do give me some greif me some times!! ) yes this site is a great source of information that applies to many locations! and these folks are willing to share that info!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Actually it was because of this that we have changed the name of the webpage. from FishingMinnesota.com to HotSpotOutdoors.. We welcome all our out of state friends. And you are totally correct, a lot of fishing information is just that, fishing information that will work on any body of water!

Del, we tried to keep it the other 49 states, just leave Iowa out, but then felt bad and let you guys in as well.

[Random guy]

We are Nation Wide Baby!

If you look many of our members are from across the country and even a couple from Canada. We all share the love of the sport and and trading information across state lines can really open up the door for new ideas we would have never been exsposed to otherwise.

[delmuts]

you felt bad alright! what is family for.

[BlackwaterStout]

I've been doing more searching for live bait tactics for Muskie. It's been a little daunting to say the least. I hear a lot of mention about quick strike rigs. But when searching for info on making them all I can seem to find are tackle shops and stores that sell them.

Can they be used with a float and does anyone have details on how to make them?

[Deitz Dittrich]

BWS- you are going to have a hard time finding information on quickstrike rigs for Muskies. As many in the muskie comunity are against the use of them. I know of a few muskie shops that will not even carry quick strike rigs. Any time you use a live bait, your chances of a quick easy release go down.

[BlackwaterStout]

I thought that quick strike rigs made it much easier on the muskie and made it easier to release a fish unharmed because it doesn't give the muskie a chance to swallow the hook? Am I missing something here?

[Deitz Dittrich]

In theory yes, that is what a quick stike rig is supposed to do. However, that is not always what happens. There is going to be some mortality in any style of fishing. it does seem that when using live bait, that percentage increases by large numbers. Even with a quick strike rig.

Dont get me wrong, I am not telling you not to use them. I was just telling you why you may be having a hard time finding information on it.

[Random guy]

Quick strike rigs have become somewhat of a heavily debated topic among the musky family. Many studies have been done on the hooking mortality of live bait verses artificial bait. Of course live bait has a much higher rate of death, sickness and infection then artificial bait.

The simple reason for this is live bait presentations allow for a fish to take its time and fully engulf or swallow the bait before the hook has to be set. This has branded any live bait presentation as “bad”. The quick strike rig was designed to do just as the name suggest, quick strike or set the hook the instant a fish strikes the bait. There is no need to wait for the fish to fully engulf the bait before the hook set.

If I have an angler that insists on using live bait for musky I would suggest the quick strike rig. It is the safest method of using live bait as long as it is used properly. The second you have a possible strike the hook is set preventing injury. Trouble is many still feed line and wait to set the hook allowing the fish to become hooked in the stomach or damage the gills and rakers killing the fish within a week.

Due to this factor and the bad press that can come along with it many tackle companies have stopped selling live bait rigs for musky to help protect the fisheries and prevent debates over the ethics of using live bait.

BlackwaterStout, in your current situation I would try a different direction then live bait. Live bait in my opinion is a very slow and inefficient way to hook musky. Look into a plastic presentation for your stubborn fish. A jig/plastic creature or tail combo may convert those followers into biters. A jig presentation tends to trigger less active fish due to the smaller size, slower movement and the factor of something that it does not fit the normal healthy baitfish profile. A jig/plastic creates the erratic struggling movements of a baitfish in trouble. The same thing inactive muskies are looking for…an easy meal.