Top 5 Spring lures?

[b1gf1sh1]

what would be peoples top 5 lures be to start out the season with for musky?

mine:

8'' sand cat

prop-bait, plenty annoying, loud.

medium large spinnerbait, about 2 ozs. plenty of material

shallow very erratic crankbait like a storm shallow thunder or 5'' x-rap, twiched or retrieved normal or burned, or a believer/swim whiz 6-8''.

medium bucktails in hair, m'bou or flash.

[Esox_Magnum]

Mag Dawgs

Hellhounds

DDD's

Cowgirls

Wades wobbler.

I don't buy into the small in spring theory as you can see.

[VMS]

Hiya,

Dependent on weather and water temperature for the most part..

But... if I had to pick:

6" grandma (old style, no rattles)

regular bulldawg

blue fox vibrax #5

I couldn't even get to 5...sorry..

Steve

[DHanson]

I have had good luck on topwater lures (walk the dog) early in the year. I used to be a topwater maniac, but have kind've shyed away from it the last 2 years. I think topwater might be going better this year than the last 2 years, just have a feeling,

[Scoot]

Hiya,

Hey, that's RK's line!

[smeese]

Probably 5 of the ones coming in the mail today

Along with ripping showgirls and harrassers in the shallows,

I think The Jimmy from Muky Inovations may lead up to some use this year, but probably not till later in the season along with the the Medussa from Chaos

[BrianLucky13]

Anything with side to side action!!

Hellhounds

Vipers

Walk the Dogs

Shallow Invader

Maybe throw in a Rad dog!!

[10,000 Casts]

small spinnerbaits- muskie candy

small bucktails- musky candy

glide bait- helhound

any topwater

small twitch baits

[Musky Buck]

Walk the dog slowly, that's the only bait I need early, mid day or not.

[ole matty]

Spinnerbaits. Varies sizes. Colorado 10 blade, colorado 8# blades, the grinder, slopmaster, rad doggy and propeller topwater, topwalker and pacemaker.

[Quackaddict9]

Quote:

Walk the dog slowly, that's the only bait I need early, mid day or not.

that's how most the fish were caught around the Bemidji Lakes area early in the season last June by a guy I know, mostly were caught on the smaller style WTD baits. It musta' works!

[b1gf1sh1]

lol, i forgot all about the WTD's i made for early spring. outside copy-cats they are my first attempts. put the old interchange weights on them. so i guess theres 6 i'll be tossing out. but they ain't a top 5 for me just yet.

as far as small in the spring i don't really know any better because that's all i throw. small/medium. i just like stuff i can speed search and destroy with easier. i like it fast in the early season. maybe because the nice pike are hitting too. and huge smallies. they all like 'em fast. lol three maybe four..?.. years ago i snagged into a sturgeon (on accident of course) on it's back with a bucktail, and i ain't kidding it was at least 7' maybe more. i never seen anything like that before, thankfully it was a long line release. man those things can pull. i thought i had a log caught in the current for about 5 minutes. sheesh. anyway... i'll be trying some WTD's early.

[RK]

Hiya - <--

Really depends on the day and what the spring is like, but if I had to pick 5 in a vacuum:

- Bomber Long A

- Single spin Rad Dog

- Stidham's Z-180

- Squirrley Burt

- French-bladed bucktail

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[b1gf1sh1]

Quote:

Stidham's Z-180

never seen one. WTD. so Z-180 i would guess is a description of the action it has. Z pattern at 180 degrees each swing?

[guideman]

I throw a lot of hair baits in the cold water period, both in lines and spinnerbaits. Hard baits include, Nitro's, Magnum Shadraps, Manta's, 7" Cranky Nitro's, 9" suicks, Topraiders and Wegals.

"Ace"

Ace guide service.

[St_Croix_Banks]

Topwater

Cowgirl

Viper

Mag X Rap

Lifelike Perch

[cbrooks]

Weagle

Showgirls

slopmaster

8"Dunwright lifelike

topwalker

[Dano_the_jigasaurus]

rad dog single spin/ Fudally Musky Candy spinnerbait

4" bass tubes or 6" tiger tubes

DeLong 7" Kil'r Eel

Small bucktail (ghosttail or showgirl)

[JRedig]

Same as the rest of the year.

[Musky Buck]

Right on Quack, been a topwater early guy as long as I can remember. There is 1 lake in particular that before pressure became a major factor, was the most guaranteed bite I've ever experienced.

[DHanson]

MB,

I wonder if we are thinking of the same lake. It would be pretty standard for me to get 5 to 10 blow ups a day out of my boat on one specific lake in June. Last 2 years, it has only been 2-3 blow ups a day. Of course hooking percentage has always been really low.

[Musky Buck]

Very possible DHanson. My first official year with my own boat was 1996 and not having a clue what I was really doing, opening day had about 20 wakes and boated 3 fish and every year was exactly the same up to present time, but pressured so much now I haven't been to this lake in the last 8 years, but I bet that topwater is still smokin there, maybe pressure has changed it but it was unreal for a few years. In 1997 on Bemidji radio, that changed that jewel of a lake, someone went on fishing 101 country with Kev Jackson and reported boating 8 fish in 2 hours on a topwater bait all 43"-49" and then the dude said the lake name, after that day pressure quadrupled x10 and I quit going there. I'm sure now in 2009 opening day there must be a complete zoo. Glad the same topwater theory there, works on most lakes I fish.

[RK]

Hiya -

Big1fish1 - the Z-180 is a great walk the dog bait. Just because of how the run, I have had a great deal of success hooking fish with them. (On the other hand, I can't hook a fish on a Jackpot to save my soul...) They just work for me, and I've caught a lot of big fish on them over the years. Not the most durable things though, and I can wreck one in a season if I use them a lot. Sadly, as far as I know Bob and Ward Stidham aren't making them anymore...

To the original post - one bait I really should have added is a jig. A Bait Rigs Cobra jigs is pretty awesome in the spring.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[b1gf1sh1]

Quote:

To the original post - one bait I really should have added is a jig. A Bait Rigs Cobra... Sadly, as far as I know Bob and Ward Stidham aren't making them anymore...

yeah i did everybody an injustice i guess by limiting 5. altough the top 5 was asked for i could have put + + + i spose. and yeah, jigs. nice fast presentation on the drop.... on the other, if you have one or preferably two and even better three destroyed stidhams and they stopped making them and you like them. we could talk about some customs, maybe i can help?