Must have lure for 07

[jkrash]

I e-bayed a bunch of junk I don't use anymore, my lure fund is full, what are some of the hot lures I must pick up before the season starts?

[Giant_Jackpot]

The new 2 pound Bull Dawg. Get one of each color… At only $50 each it’s a bargain (until the tail gets bitten off)!

[cjac]

We should have went to Chicago this weekend for the muskie show to see for ourselves. Oh well, Medina in a few weeks......

Here's a couple I've heard of:

Crazy Crank Rumbler: Topwater that D Pearson and D Johnson were testing prototypes of, but what do they know? They could catch fish on a dinner fork with a hook attached to it! RK runs with these guys, he may have comments.

Muskie Mayhem has a "Flashaboo" spinnerbait, designed to be a cousin to the Cowgirl. I got one, but at the price of two Rad Dogs, we'll see if it's worth it.

Mojo has the XXX silicon, already proven with the Jody Drahms/Steve Jonesi guided fish from Mille Lacs. Some 10 inch Weagles too, along with baby wabulls and weagles I believe. No secret, these lures catch fish, lots of fish and big ones.

It sounds like the prevailing theme is going to be with big baits, operative word being "theme", there is a situation for all lures. Candy Spins are not big but often are the "go to" lure on huge bodies of water like LOTW.

Personally, I'm still working on the ABCs of muskie fishing, no secret bait is gonna help me more than time on the water spent learning. 10 years from now I should be saying the same thing!

One more thought......There is a reason that Suicks are still around, some things flat out work. Granted, I'll bring new stuff into the mix, but not forget about what is time tested and proven.

RKs last article in EA was a self admission of forgetting time tested and proven things that work, I read that over once a week, yes...in the "reading room" of the house!

Chris

[Giant_Jackpot]

RK is in the latest In-Fisherman with an article on top water (with Mr. Pearson) – The Rumbler gets a nice mention!

[RK]

Hiya -

Ahaha.... I'm always the last to know. I haven't even seen that issue yet...

The Rumbler is a pretty neat bait. Not sure what it is about it but the sound is just different than a lot of other tail-spinning topwaters. More subtle maybe? Whatever - the guys who had prototypes this past summer did really well on them. I got to throw them a little.

Construction is the other thing with the Rumbler. It's some sort of space-age resin who knows what, and it's got a different buoyancy than either injection molded baits or wood so it rides in the water low but it's still buoyant. Durable as all get out too. Pretty much can't hurt the stuff. It's neat.

The same company also makes a little twitch bait that's pretty neat too...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Silver Scale]

jkrash.

Must have lures will be the ones in my box.

[jkrash]

There's know way I'm useing a 2 pound lure. It has to be for trolling, right.

The rumbler sounds like a winner, I'm a sucker for any new top water anyway.

Silverscale: I enjoy going through your box and using all the antiques that you have in there.

Last fall someone told me I needed a Suzie sucker, I'm afraid to google Suzie sucker, What is it?

[LunkerBaitCo]

Allow me to turn this question around little...I'm a basement bait maker...what type of lure would you guys like to see made (that maybe doesn't exist right now or is not quite like you want it)?

[AWH]

jkrash,

Do a google search for "Shack Attack Lures" instead. Go to their HSOforum and you'll see just what the Suzy Sucker is. And now they've come out with the Curly Sue. Should be a couple of great baits. They're now making them with Formula-X plastic, which is going to make for a much more durable bait.

Aaron

[jkrash]

Thanks Aaron

Another lure for the list.

I fished with a guy last summer that had a lure that looked like a Shack Attack sub zero, it was a little different that it had double 10's in front of it, he wasn't sure what it was called but I know it pulled like an anchor and looked very realalistic in the water.

It will be intresting to see if the fish like the new goo, formula X

[cjac]

Just found the issue on the table, quite the endorsement of the Rumbler! Plus, a Crazy Crank ad in the mag too! Topwaters are flat-out fun, and isn't that fishing is meant to be? Caught a few nice fish topside right here in town, basically in my back yard. Validates the point they work on pressured fish.

On a side note, good article on pike in the issue as well. Calls out the Johnson Silver Minnow, once spent a week in Canada throwing nothing else, and catching lots of 40+ inch fish. Sometimes the "new lure" isn't always the ticket.....

The lake we were on back in the early 90's where we did this is called Lake Utik, 100+ mile fly in from Waboden, which is 400 miles north of Winnepig. I'm not dating myself, as I was there as a 20 year old! That lake is C&R only now, way out in the middle of nowhere (at least it was then), makes one realize we need to be more protective of our own waters that are so readily accessible here in MN.... See Shara's article in the Sunday Tribune for more.

RK, was this the roundtable that you were mentioning you were planning on attending? Any key points come of it? Just curious....

Chris

[RK]

Hiya -

I still haven't seen it - heh... In-Fish has article deadlines so far in advance I usually forget what I'd written by the time they come out. It's as new to me as it is to you

Cjac - Yeah, that was the same meeting. I was actually the one who presented the case for better pike management at the open session of the Fisheries Roundtable. It is sort of a controversial issue. I got into it with one of our more vocal walleye stocking advocates during the discussion afterwards... But that's ok I guess.

Shara's column is pretty good, but he does miss one key point - we DO have some management tools that are working on protecting and developing better pike fisheries - the max size and protective slots like the 24-30 or 24-36 (sometimes with a one-over provision). On several lakes, these regulations have been pretty effective in protecting pike so they can develop into quality fish.

I'm mainly thought of as a muskie guy, but I'm really passionate about pike in Minnesota. We have so much potential for a good pike fishery here, and it's a shame we aren't making more effort to see that happen. Part of the issue is we're used to what we have. We think a 5-pound pike is a nice one, on lakes capable from a biological standpoint of producing fish 4 times that size. the crux of it is that in a lot of ways pike are two fish in one - small pike are a consumable fish, big pike are trophies. We've handled that distinction - sort of - with walleyes, and we manage them in that manner. We haven't done nearly as well with pike, and the pike's biology combined with angler behavior makes it tougher yet.

Anyhow - I could go on for pages, but I won't.

As for the rest of the roundtable...it was pretty interesting. A lot about the recovery on Red Lake. That will go down as one of the most successful fishery restoration projects anywhere I think. Huge thanks to Henry Drewes and his crew in Bemidji for that program. I was there this spring, and it really is amazing.

Quite a bit of talk about tournaments and tournament regulation, as there are some changes in store there I think. Yet another incredibly thorny issue...

The main thing that got to me though were some of the presentations on climate change. Set aside the politics of this issue for a minute. It's a science question, not a political one, and that it has become politicized is to all of our detriment.... The fisheries folks are already starting to plan for how the state's fisheries will (note: WILL) change as a result of a warming climate. One of the fisheries researches gave a long presentation on this issue the last day of the roundtable. By the time he was done, I was sick to my stomach. If the climate models the climatologists at the U of M and elsewhere are seeing are accurate, we're going to be seeing summers like Kansas City, and winters like Central Illinois. Wetter summers, but shorter and more violent rain events and storms, which means intense runoff and the water quality issues that can create - things we struggle with badly as it is. Loss of cold water species at the southern boundaries of their current range. Species like ciscoes that are the basis of the foodchain for predators like walleyes, pike and muskies. They're already seeing decliens across the board in cisco numbers on the major walleye lakes that don't stratify... It really was sobering stuff.

Since the In-Fisherman was brought up earlier in this thread, I'll mention it again. Be watching in the March issue for an article about climate change and fisheries by Gord Pyzer. I've talked to him about the article some, and it's scary...

Ok, two tangents in one post is my limit... We can discuss these issues more certainly, but I don't want to totally hijack this thread.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[TBone1]

Quote:

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Allow me to turn this question around little...I'm a basement bait maker...what type of lure would you guys like to see made (that maybe doesn't exist right now or is not quite like you want it)?

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I have a good project for you - reinvent the Pacemaker, I love the sound of these things, when they are working right, which is about 50% of the time. I have done the modifying as suggested on the MH board last summer, but it really does not solve the problem completely. Also, these baits a very susceptable(?) to hook rash, and after a muskie gets a hold on it, it's trashed.

[Scoot]

Quote:

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Since the In-Fisherman was brought up earlier in this thread, I'll mention it again. Be watching in the March issue for an article about climate change and fisheries by Gord Pyzer. I've talked to him about the article some, and it's scary...

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OK, a couple different threads going here, but I'll go with it. RK, can you elaborate more on this, I'm completely ignorant to what you mean...

[cjac]

Hey Scoot,

You'll be able to relate to this, take Detroit Lake, up in your neck of the woods. Here's the intro paragraph from the DNR lake profile. In a nutshell, it profiles the climate related issues.

"Detroit Lake has a variety of fish habitats and the fish community reflects that diversity. This fishery includes warmwater species like bullheads and panfish, coolwater species like walleye, and even coldwater species like tullibee. During the summer of 2003, however, the tullibee (cisco) population was likely stressed by warm water temperatures in the well-oxygenated layers. Coldwater fish species require both cool temperatures and good levels of dissolved oxygen and, when both are not present together, there is often a die-off of those species, as there was in some area lakes in 2003."

Imagine DL without the cisco population, which is what those muskies dine on. Lose the water clarity/quality, and look to what are now nice weed beds to resemble shag carpet. Sucks, eh?

RK will have more I'm sure (much more!), but I hope this helps.

Chris

[tanman]

dunwright dancers are the best lures i have ever fished in my life i have had many hits and catches on them they are easy to work and produce ! 8 inch walleye is my favorite if i used one lure the rest of my life that would be the one ... last year i had arround a 50-55 inch fish follow up real close behind but never got her to commit... man do those things www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Number=712089]dancers thread

[Cooter]

The sub-surface jerk or topwater Dancer?

[10,000 Casts]

I have never thrown a Dancer... I will have to get one and give it a try. I have always had my eye on the perch color.

This year my must haves are actually from last year..

Muskie Innovations Chatterbaits...... WOW are they sweet

Muskie Innovations Mag Bulldawgs..... enough said

And I will have to pick a XXX with the Silicon bucktail

John

[mtreno]

carefull with those chatterbaits - the old ones break and are weak and the new ones never seem to work right.

[10,000 Casts]

Mtreno,

have you had problems with the Muskie Innovations Chatterbaits that came out last year???

I have heard that people were having problems with the older ones, the one that I have works pretty good. Once in a while it will get hung up on itself but thats it..

could you elaborate more?

Thanks

John

[tanman]

Quote:

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The sub-surface jerk or topwater Dancer?

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both work great! the normal dancer runs just under the serface or you can count it down for deeper fish i mostly just run it right under the serface

[Musky_Madness]

I had the chance to use tons of new lures this past weekend at the Garden Inn in Maple Grove with Gregg Thomas, Tony Grant, Brad Hoppe, and Jim Murphy. The 2 lb Bulldawg is cool but you wouldn't want to cast that long. The new spinnerbait from Musky Mayhem looks real nice as well as the Reef Runner silicone in-line spinner from Llungen Tail. The Curly Sue was cool as well as some new topwater lures. There was a nice one from a guy out of Great Britain. I forget the name of it. There are also some new lifelike lures from Dunright. Those were pretty neat as well as the new Flying Witch from DeLong. Looks like plenty of new purchases at the upcoming shows for sure!

[mtreno]

i guess i only did try one of the new ones but i never got it to run right. messed around with it for a day or two and then pulled it out of the box. later in the season while fishing the pond with a guide my guide told me he had the same issues. he also said the older ones were made with poor parts, but did work well.

[propster]

Sorry for weighing in late - I've been gone attending hunting trade shows the past couple weeks. My son throws the topwater dancer quite a bit, especially in rougher water. He caught a 49" on it last year that hit it really cool. Cjac, interesting to hear you mention Utik. A dozen or so years ago we used to fish Bear Lake, which was part of Utik's operation, a little further east and longer flight I think. Hard to beat for big pike. Any idea if they are still producing?