Northwest Fishing Reports

Everyone has got a lot of good stuff to report! I thought maybe we could put some of our thoughts about the specifics of our personal rod and reel selections, line type and test used for specific lures and for general purpose in one place. Oh man, I can't wait to see what every one has to say on this topic.
I match rod size, reel speed, line selection and test, lure type and size to water clarity and size of fish targeted. I've usually got 3 to 6 poles rigged. If I fish really clear water like Silver lake (in spring) with smaller muskie's in it, then I use a 7' med/hvy (1/2 - 1oz.) casting set-up with 12 - 15 lb. florocarbon line and a 12" 50 lb. florocarbon leader or a 12" 15 or 30 lb. Terminator titanium leader. This is what I've caught all my fish on this season so far.
When I hit Curlew I use 7' and 7-1/2' hvy (1-3 oz.) action rods, one with 20lb. floro and the other with 50lb. Power Pro. I use smaller diameter superlines in clear water like Curlew and Mayfield with big 30 lb. fish potential. I use 12" & 18" 50 and 75lb. Terminator leaders.
A really turbid lake like Newman it's all superline on a heavy pole, because I like to throw lures with a lot of attracting qualities in the dark water. My buddy landed a 47" brute out of Newman, which was released.
I use a couple poles for jerk baits and gliders. Both are short and stout, 6'4" 1-4oz. and 6'9" 1-5 oz. both with high speed reels and 65 and 80 lb. power pro, solid wire leaders too.
If a new guy is checking this, let me tell you that it's an obsession to buy more and bigger baits and poles to toss them with! But you absolutely can get by with your bass gear, it doesn't have to cost you an arm and leg to catch a muskie. Just upgrade your line on your bass rig and use a 12" leader (shorter one's get bit off easier) of some sort. Also carry a glove and long nosed pliers too.
I think I'll put another posting up about lures, I have a feeling we're going to need it.

Hey guys,
I just received a 6 foot XH South Bend Musky rod from my dad.He used it for jerk baits. Are South Bend rods any good? Is any thing South Bend any good? Just wondering. Thanks!

Hey Muskyhunter,
That rod will make a great jerk bait/glider rod and will work topwaters well also. I use a St Croix Legend 6'-9" heavy for my gliders and jerks and love it. The heavy action works best for 'walk the dog' type lures because when you pop the bait the rod doesn't bend much, allowing the lure to glide as far as the slack will let it before you pop it again. A softer rod bends and straightens back out robbing the slack and preventing the lure from gliding. You'll use that rod more than you think.

Hey Mark,
Just looked at the rod a little more in the light...Its a Tony Rizzo signature series rod. Thats a 6 footer. I also have a Fenwick 6-6 HMX. It is rated for 1-4 oz jerks. This ones a little war torn. But will rock these fish pretty good. I'll talk at you later....Todd

The first piece of gear you need is a catalog from Rollie and Helen's Musky Shop, because you can't buy musky tackle around here.

You need a boat.

Bass tackle? You gotta be kidding.

For a first musky rod, I would say get a bucktail rod about 7 1/2 feet long with a medium-heavy action and a fast tip. This will handle most of the lures you'll use -- all but the smallest and largest bucktails and crankbaits.

It's smart to standardize reels, so if you have one set of repair parts, they'll work on all your reels. I use Garcias because they're durable and relatively cheap, and I've come to prefer models with a thumb bar. A gear ratio of 5.3:1 is fine for your workhorse reels. A fundamental question you have to answer is whether you're going to (a) switch hands after each cast, (b) cast opposite-handed, or (c) reel opposite-handed. If you talk to three professional musky fishing guides they'll give you three different answers -- it boils down to personal preference. I'm right handed and use left-handed reels so I don't have to switch the rod to my other hand after the cast. Why? Because I don't want to miss the fish that hits the moment the lure hits the water. I don't have any problem cranking the reel handle with my left hand. But if you just can't get used to opposite-handedness, do what's most comfortable for you.

Many midwest fishermen are going to superline (80# test is pretty standard) but their lakes are murkier and shallower than ours. Most of my reels are spooled with 25# or 30# Cortland Musky Mono because it disappears in the water better. I've had too many fish break lighter lines to use anything less, except I have one very limber rod designed for throwing bass-sized lures that's spooled with 17# Cortland MM. You just can't cast light lures with heavy line, no matter what the rod action is.

Solid wire leaders were standard for years, but like many musky anglers, I'm phasing them out and going to flourocarbon leaders because they "disappear" better in the very clear water of our westside lakes. Mostly 60# test.

While my medium and medium-heavy action bucktail rods are my plow horses, I have crankbait and jerkbait rods in the rod locker. Occasionally I'll rig several rods, but usually I have only one (or two at the most) out. I really don't want extra rods kicking around in the bottom of the boat, and it isn't necessary, as I tend to fish all day with only 1 or 2 lures. I don't believe in changing lures just for the sake of changing lures.

Don't forget hook removal tools, including tools to remove hooks from yourself. Hopefully that'll never happen, but it's best to be prepared in case it does. Think bolt cutters. Have a first aid kit in the boat. If you get stuck in the leg with a musky hook, you're going to bleed a lot.

Gentlemen,
I agree with Muskie Guy...You can get away with using bass gear for muskie. I even have used a Mithchell 300 reel with 8lb line and a spinning rod. And with a little #3 mepps spinner. If you are a experience fisherman all you have to do is play the fish out. Use your drag! It can be done. I wouldn't do it all the time. It can be done.
A lot of guys who fish around here are hard working blue collar guys that work hard for their money. Usually on a budget. (LIKE ME) And can only afford gear that is considered downsized for Musky fishing. I have just recently been able to afford the more expensive gear. Which does work better for these brutes. So you do what you can.
Alot of these guys are beginner Muskie guys. So, just help them out. Don't tell them they gotta buy the latest and the greatest. They really do not need to do that. You can get by with a 6-6 rod M-MH rod with a nice inexpensive baitcaster with 10-15 lb line. And a Eagle Claw brand set of wire or mono leader. A Rapala or spinner bait of some sort. And a decsent 12-16 foot boat. Lets get their feet wet. We need to as a group, get more people involved in this game fish. Get them hooked as I was as a youngster some 30 years ago fishing with my Dad.
That in turn might just help this Musky program continue to grow. And we, as a group, can possibly save this program from becoming extinct!
Also if you get a Musky lure stuck in your leg..uhhh...nevermind.

Lots of good info above. Some of us have gathered gear for many years and spent way to much on it but what the hell.
Most of you guys have a flippin stick that'll work gret for a musky rod. Your worm/jig rod will work as a backup.
Most places around here do sell the Berkley wire leaders for about $2 for a 3 pkg. Please don't fish for muskies on purpose without a leader. Fish w/lures stuck in their mouths can and do die of starvation before the hooks rust out.
I use Power Pro and Stren Super Braid but any of the super lines will work great. 50# is about the lightest I use and alot of the reason is because the heavier lines don't bury themselves in your reel when throwing heavy lures or fighting a good fish. Fish do not know what line is and the minute difference between 20-30lb and 50-65lb will not make a difference to the fish 99% of the time plus you don't have to retie every 5 minutes. Super lines alow you to set the hook hard like it needs to be done. Mono does not. Yes, you can get lucky but that's not what we're talking about here. Also, wearing out a fish with light tackle might be fun but the fish will probably die of 'post release mortality'. Remember, they're fighting for their lives and lactic acid builds up in their muscles and cannot be dissapated quickly enough for them to survive after some long battles especially in warm water.
I'm forced to endure the inconviences of fishing out of a bsss boat but I'll suffer through it. Whatever boat you've got is great. I certainly remember my shore fishing days. Don't let anyone on this board or any other board make you believe you've got to spend your rent money to fish. Having done this my whole life, it's turning into a rich man's sport like everthing else. It used to be a poor man's sport. Now everyone thinks you've got to spend 50K on a boat to play. B. S. What you've got is perfect. Buy what you can afford(maybe some more when your wife ain't lookin)and have a blast. Not pickin on anyone, it's just a passion of mine.

There's a problem with "playing out" tiger muskies. They have a better chance of survival if you don't play them to exhaustion. Yes, a good fisherman can play big fish on light gear. Some people catch muskies on fly rods, and fly-rodding for muskies is a fascinating and thrilling sport in itself. But here's the problem with using bass gear for muskies. With a light rod and light line, you can't put enough pressure on the fish to keep him from getting to the bottom or to a dock or log to foul your line on. You're going to lose some fish if your gear isn't beefy enough to overpower them. There are times when you simply have to out-muscle the fish, or you'll lose the fish.

I just don't buy the pocketbook argument as an excuse for not using adequate gear. You can buy an economy-grade musky rod, which is what most of mine are, for $70. I don't know too many bass guys who own only one rod and reel. If you don't want to spring for another $70 for a new reel for your $70 musky rod, take one off a bass rod you don't use very much and replace the line on it with something that's better matched to the species you're fishing for and the weight of the lures you're throwing. If you like to cast bass lures for tiger muskies, then you need a limber rod and light line. But if you try casting a 2 oz. musky crankbait with 8# line, it'll pop like thread on the cast unless you have an extraordinarily dexterous thumb.

I will grant you that paging through Rollie's or any other musky tackle catalog and looking at the price tags on lures will make you fall out of your chair. But here's the thing. You don't need very many lures here. This isn't the midwest, where muskies feed on a wide variety of forage. I'll tell you what. If your lure budget is $20, buy one Musky Buster bucktail in nickel blade/black-and-red hair ($11.49), and one 12-inch flourocarbon leaders (60# test) ($5.99), and go fishing. You can fish any of our tiger musky lakes, or all of them, and you can fish all summer -- with that one lure and leader. (Although, if you've got another $20, it would be smart to buy a backup of each in case a big fish breaks off and takes your gear with him.)

I just told you what I fish with 75% of the time, and what I caught all but one of my muskies last year on.

A comment I should add about mono is, Mark is right that standard mono lines have too much stretch, and you need to set the hook hard on a tiger musky because of their bony mouths. The Cortland Musky Mono I use is designed for musky fishing and has very low stretch. It's not zero-stretch like superline, but won't give you any problem with setting hooks.

just a quick tip that anyone who's musky fished knows already. If you don't use a thick flourocarbon or steel leader, you will not get "broke off" as they say. That would imply the line breaking due to stress. This is not the case. The musky's teeth will cut your line like hot butter, most likely during the hook set, and there's a good chance you will do a backflip out of your boat and into the water. The same water with a very angry 4 foot fish with a lure stuck in it's mouth thrashing around about 5 feet from you. i would almost call not using a leader a safety issue.

Mark, I can't help chuckling about your comment on "poor man's sport." When I was a kid growing up in the '50s, all the fishermen were old geezers and they had wood or aluminum rowboats with putt-putts on the back. Now it's an arms race, and a status race, too. I was camping and fishing at Lake Roosevelt with friends a couple years ago when a family entourage pulled into the campground. Between the old man and the sons-in-law, there was close to a million dollars worth of RVs and boats in that caravan. They spilled over into three campsites, and you could hear them roaring down the lake from 5 miles away. Must be nice if you've got it, I guess.

I've occasionally been on Potholes, Banks, or Roosevelt at the same time as a bass or walleye tournament. The display of hardware -- RVs and boats -- was pretty **** impressive. I agree with your comment 100% -- go with what you've got. Todd took me to task in another thread for posting info about my top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art musky boat. But my TOL/SOA musky boat is no 50K sexpot. I had to buy every option there is to spend $19,700, and still needed the tax man to get it above $20,000. Does this mean that musky fishing -- compared to bass or walleye fishing, at least, and let's not even mention salmon or sturgeon fishing -- is a poor man's sport?

Derisive laughter is permitted.

Nik, you don't need to set the hook THAT hard.

Also, you're supposed to set it with your arms and shoulders, not your knees, rump, and back.

Well, some times you just have to go against the grain to be successful. I caught my 8th muskies since April 15th this weekend while fishing from the shore (4th from shore) of Silver lake, and I did it while using light muskie tackle that would, in other circles, be called bass gear. I mean, if a 7' med/hvy. stick and 17# test is universally called bass gear. I call it light muskie tackle, whatever.

I don't really know why some people have such a problem with other people's point of view or success when it doesn't conform to their ideals. I do know that when a muskie angler chooses not to consider all viable view points, they miss techniques that work because they wouldn't even try them. Don't conform, that's for sheep.

I match each situation with specific rods, reels, line test, leader and lure choices I believe match well with the water clarity, cover I'm fishing and size of fish I'll likely be catching. Since Silver lake is populated by fish that are still a bit young, with only a few fish at or over 4o inches, I can get away with using lighter gear and not over tire a hooked fish. All mine have been released heathly. I also don't miss fish on hook set with this lighter tackle. And using lighter line and smaller leaders to properly utilize my lure selection is producing fish on this clearer lake. Say what you will, but fish landed says a lot more about ability and knowledge than anything else.

In addition, my gear selections for Newman, Curlew and Mayfield are typical heavy muskie gear. New and old anglers alike: Match what the fish in the lake are telling you, not what you read on a forum.

If anyone would like to fish together, feel free to send me an email to the address on my profile. I won't be bothering with posting here anymore. I have a problem with stuff like you "must do", "can't do", "you can't", "I only use", "doesn't work", too much of a free thinker I suppose. Best of luck to you all.

Well, I couldn't agree with you more, muskie guy. And what I'm picking up from this forum is that many of the folks fishing the Spokane-area TM lakes have developed a local fishing style that somewhat differs from what I'm used to, and it's working for them. I'm paying attention, believe me.

I'm not familiar with Silver Lake, but having been initially stocked in 2002, it is (as you say) a "young" fishery. Characteristic of such a fishery is good numbers of smaller fish in shallow water where they're more vulnerable to anglers. I knew a fellow who, in the first couple years of the Mayfield fishery, racked up 100 "boated" tiger muskies a year. That didn't last, of course. As the fish grow larger, they eat down the forage base, and each fish needs more food, so the population thins out. Also, large fish tend to spend more time in deeper water. And they also get "educated." What it all adds up to is a lake typically becomes less productive and angling becomes more challenging over time. It remains to be seen if Silver Lake will follow this trajectory, but I would expect it to.

Hey Guy's,
There is a lot of good information posted here. I do believe we all can learn a "little" something from one another if we are willing to listen to each other as well as share our knowledge with one another. Boats, tackle, techniques...may be suited to many different individual anglers. Yes, there are the proven methods of "hunting" this fish, but there is always room to learn something new. As much "ego" as you want to put into fishing there is one simple fact..."the fish will determine the outcome". When you go to Vegas you may try some "things" to increase your odds of winning, but tell me do you always win???
What new Muskie anglers need will be the education, and philosophy, that goes with this great game fish. In my opinion what those of us who have fished Muskies need to do is help them achieve that. We can learn, we can compromise, and most of all we can find a way to work together in helping others. Brothers/Sisters in arms presenting a "united front" will produce a better fishery. All one ever has to do is remember it is about the FISH first. No one angler is "perfect" although many profess to be!!!! Remember what it was like to be a child fishing:) Let's try to keep that experience alive in each of us and try to help one another.
Together we can go out and help others to have those same type of experiences.
Amen:)

Here is a excellent cheap/inexpensive rod you can get from Bass Pro. Its one that I use for using jerk baits for fishing Musky...Like I said affordable for the guy or gal starting out or on a tight budget....A IM-6 Graphite Muskie rod. Model #GS63XHT. A 6' 3" rod. XH. 8 guides. 14-40# line weight. 5/8-4 oz lures. 1 piece. 12 1/4" handle..The price?............29.99 plus s&h....not a bad price at all for the working man. I've bought a Shimano Corvallis reel for 59.99 plus the line of your choice...from Sportsmans Warehouse pretty reasonable. Check out the Early Spring Angler catalog from Bass Pro. Its in there.Page 73. Hope this helps someone new to this great fishery...Todd

Could I use my 8'6" MH Spinning rated for 1-4oz?

Yes you could. Just depends on what your throwing with your set up. I wouldn't use it for jerk baits. But with spinners it be o.k. to use. Hope this helps...Todd

I'll second the vote for that rod Todd is talking about. I threw it a couple of times and really like it. Light. Stout. Sensitive. I went on Bass Pro Shops and printed the page as soon as I got home from fishin w/Todd so I could bring the info to the meeting Thursday. Can't beat a rod of this quality especially for this price.