Muskie Fishing
Ontario Muskie Fishing
The Next
Bite
Ontario Fishing Trips
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 Three
Tactics for More Muskie
by Pete Maina
While many things in life and fishing are
arguable (other than fish with teeth are really
cool), I’ll offer that warm-water muskies are
likely the most challenging, since so many
different presentations can be effective. The
key to the whole game is finding what they’re in
the mood for on a given day or hour. Those who
do it best realize the goal of having the most
release photos to show off. Let’s look at three
possibly not-so-popular methods to hold a
muskie’s tail.
The Ultimate Search Lure: A big
part of this muskie game is simply covering
water. It’s a low density critter, and a lure
that easily covers lots of water – with the
ability to triggers responses – with good
hooking – is the goal. The vast majority of
folks would give the nod to an in-line spinner (bucktail)
and/or a spinnerbait. And frankly they’re dead
on – as these baits can be moved quickly, create
flash, vibration and generally hook and hold
well. The only negative is they’ve been around
for years … maybe these fish haven’t seen a
swimbait. In fact, it’s likely.
To be specific in this instance (as soft baits
with vibrating tails are often referred to as
swimbaits), I’m speaking about a Sebile Magic
Swimmer hardbait, as that’s where my experience
has been. These are double-jointed lures with a
head design and internal weighting – that cause
them to have an exaggerated, maybe snakelike,
swimming action. There are several things that
make these lures rate very high as a search
lure. Part of being effective with today’s much
more experienced (more anglers) muskies – is
showing them something different – something
that they haven’t already been fooled into
biting. For searching, I find that by far, the
fast-sinking models are most versatile.
These baits cast like a bullet, allowing for
long casts, whether with, crossing or even
directly into the wind. They offer a big (deep
sides), aggressive profile and have exceptional
action at all speeds (in this case – as fast as
you can reel), and the way fish seem to attack
them, they hook and hold well (on the largest
size, 228, the bait comes standard with three
hooks; better hooking for muskies is achieved by
removing the middle hook and replacing front and
back hooks with 5/0). More “little things” to
try to trigger fish can be accomplished once a
follower is detected – everything from twitches,
to pulls – to a dead pause that turns into a
wobbling, swimming fall. The most aggressive
retrieve that can often be effective in
triggering responses is a very fast retrieve
with a continuous, varied twitching of the rod.
While you may not think it at first glance, they
go through weeds well too.
Another very important consideration: they’re
easy to retrieve. There’s very little
resistance, amazingly-so for the amount of
action. That helps big time, as the more hours
you can put in, effectively, the better your
odds. The “new” in spinners these days – are big
ones, some like garbage can lids … it’s like
pulling a live goat it, and that’s hard to do
for very long. They’re hard to cast too
(especially into wind); less distance; more
backlashes. Fish are fish, and they won’t always
be in the mood for a swimbait, but I’d argue
with anyone that – all factors considered –
there isn’t a more efficient search lure right
now than these.
Jerk Baits: Most folks are
aware that jerk baits can be effective any time
of year, yet many still, consider them a
presentation for cold water. Never, ever leave
your jerkbaits home. In warmer water,
especially-so, your most versatile and erratic
lures. There are many choices when it comes to
jerks, and more so than any other lure type, the
best ones come down to personal preference. Part
of this is simply based in confidence (generally
gained from activity); much so too because any
lure’s action is so directly impacted by rod
movement (twitches, jerks and pulls) – and that
all anglers are physically different … just
naturally more effective with certain baits;
even down to the individual lure. What does
“look great” mean? I think that’s a big part of
the equation.
Jerks are erratic; the goal is to achieve the
appearance of something wounded, hopefully
triggering nature’s efficiency response to an
easy meal. During the warm water period,
sometimes crazy or very erratic action will
trigger fish when nothing else will, and jerks
have more potential than any other lure type
here. What many “anglers” like to see in jerk
bait action is some consistency, and especially
so with glider (walk-the-dog) style. The hopes
are for the lure to go to one side, then the
next – essentially in a perfect Z-shaped path.
While that action can be effective,
especially-so in warmer water and with pressured
fish, completely unpredictable action is often
most effective. So choose lures – that when
“you” use them – never do the same thing twice.
They could go to the same side three times, but
different distances; up once; then down; all
around. Consistency is not the goal. In weeds,
purposefully make structure contact at times. I
would have never suggested this prior to
superlines, but with the no stretch lines like
Spiderwire UltraCast, sharp snaps will generally
break and remove weeds. Bottom line is that
crazy action with jerkbaits can turn negative
fish active.
Soft Plastics: Just like the
jerk baits, many assume soft plastics are cold
water presentations. Throughout the season
though, there are those days that fish just seem
more in the mood for something wiggly; and hard
baits just can’t do it like the soft stuff.
There are so many options now in large soft
plastics it’s amazing. There is no segment that
has grown like this in the last decade, and I
believe it’s simply because more and more
anglers have seen the effectiveness of “wiggly”,
therefore creating the market. Some are all soft
plastic baits as well as combos of hard baits
with soft posteriors. Many have multiple large
tails, or in the case of big tubes, many
tentacles.
As you can afford it, get a variety of these
baits, considering the weighting in them, so
that all levels of the water column can be
covered. These baits may work in all types of
structure situations, but also tend to be very
effective with open water, suspended fish. Try
weighted models, working them throughout the
water column, possibly counting them down for a
while at the start of the cast, but always while
being aware for a strike as that wiggle is there
on the drop too, so many strikes will occur on a
pause or fall. There’s really no right or wrong
way to use them; fish may be in the mood for
something very slow on a tough day, but don’t be
afraid to get extremely erratic with them, just
like the jerk baits.
Finally, have a triggering plan, both out there
and at boatside. Practice those figure eights
with every single lure type (when a fish is
there – it’s not the time) to be certain you can
do big eights or circles maintaining control. In
many cases, not doing anything real fancy is
best at boatside – just simply speed up – but
you must maintain control and have wide corners.
If a follower is noted out there, what are you
going to do? Have the plan … pulling any of
these lures right up to where they break or push
the surface is one good one. Practice it.
 
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