Northwest Fishing Reports

I am starting to get into tiger muskie fishing and was wondering what some good lures were for fishing them out here. I have a M.S. slammer, Cl8 bait 8 inch swimbait, And a few other really big lures. are these good for tigers? or do they like smaller things? what about topwaters?

Thank you.

I have several "Go-to" lures in my arsenal. Most of the season I will throw a tandem Mepps Giant Killer, or the Musky Killer. Early and late, I have had good success with a Swimmin' Joe 10" swim bait. Last 3 fish have come from it. Newman seems to be good with the Husky jerks, producing 1/2 my fish on it there. I have been known to take a crappie of two on the husky jerk as well ;)

Don't be afraid to throw the larger baits. The advantage (to some) is throwing the smaller baits will tag a few more bass, which keeps people's interest. I honestly don't care to catch the bass, so I generally will only throw the larger baits. When you throw larger baits, you very rarely will ever get anything but Tigers.

Topwaters.... They work very well, and the fun in that is actually getting to see the fish strike the lure!

The magic is in keeping the lure in the water as long and often as you can. Try to become as efficient as you can when you have time on the water. Eat while trolling. Don't burn time on the water sharpening hooks, do that at home before you get to the lake! Also, have an extra pole all ready to go, so if you get a snag, and break it off, you have something else to go to. Then you can troll it, or something else till you get it fixed. Again, always have a lure in the water.

Another important factor is to ALWAYS do a figure 8! Many times, fish will follow and not strike till you perform the 8. You can't see every fish, and it is a shame to miss an opportunity when you do get a fishes interest. Keep their interest till they leave!

I prefer glide baits but ialways carry a x-rapin gold ,and you also have to keep a bucktail with to ,heres my favorite bait,its 6 inches long killer wobble[thumbsup]

Thanks guys! what is that lure called there cudaman?
I heard that you should do a "figure 8" every time, they really bite with the rod in the water right next to the boat?
What about spoons?

crankbait42 wrote:Thanks guys! what is that lure called there cudaman?
I heard that you should do a "figure 8" every time, they really bite with the rod in the water right next to the boat?
What about spoons?

crankbait42,

I am sure that lure cuda put up there is one of his own design. He makes some fantastic lures, of which I hope one day to have him make me some!

As far as a fish striking a lure on the 8, and yes they will go after it! My two largest fish (both 44") hit on the 8! It is the change in direction that will normally trigger the hit. That being said, if you can change your direction as you are bringing the lure up to the boat, even better. Even subtle changes in direction will trigger a hit. Muskies love to follow. When they see prey (in our case the lure) change direction, they must feel they have been discovered, and feel like they have to make a decision to eat or miss the meal they now invested effort into. Any changes in direction on the way in will help, as the fish hopefully hasn't seen the boat yet. When a fish sees the boat, I think they are less likely to hit, but you still have a chance by distracting them with the lure, and coaxing them to strike with the 8. Don't quit the figure 8 till the fish sinks from sight.

Spoons.... Yes, muskies will strike spoons as well! They are a time-tested method for getting muskies to hit, and I doubt they are any less effective than most of the lures out there. Again I will stress, LURE TIME IN THE WATER! Our VP put it best saying the winners of finding the 'perfect lure' are the lure manufacturers. We are all guilty of keeping up the search for the perfect lure, when the truth really is you just need to put your lures in front of the fish and let them decide!

I would say my favorite go to bait would be a bucktail. They are easy to throw and seem to always work. From a small roostertail to double cowgirls. When in doubt throw a buck or two.

That's a really big fish you're holding ther Mr. "Muskyhunter". What spinner did you catch that one on?

edw wrote:That's a really big fish you're holding ther Mr. "Muskyhunter". What spinner did you catch that one on?

Well Mr. Netman on that one.. as you well know that was on a "Half-Dead" tubebait. A 14" hand-poured plastic tube that only catches BIG fish on Merwin when they bump your little triple trout out of the way to tag the tube. Don't be sad. Half-Deads are my favorite. But a go to would be a spinner or bucktail.

What kind of smart ,good looking guy made such a great lure for such a humble dude as yourself?[flapper]

I dont know about the good looking part...lol.. but smart..uhm maybe you? I dunno? You do make some radical tube baits for sure. Todd

ive got a new favorite bait ,the paint is a color shifting type awesome

Brett, those are awesome! Are you going into production anytime soon? Hope to see you Thursday.