Northwest Fishing Reports

so my friends and i are going to jump off the deep end, and take this on. keep in mind we are new, and have zero experience.

all of our gear is tuned for bass fishing, and most, if not all of us have shimano gear. would this be suitable for muskie hunting?

:king:

we have alot of gear tuned for swimbait fishing, and i do not see us purchasing muskie specific gear.

any tips to help us along our way?

thanks

Your heavier bass gear will be just fine. You want to be able to net the fish quickly so you don't stress it too much.
The main thing is having a net that is capable of handling a big fish. We have two nets, one is 36 inches across and 4 feet deep and the other is a cradle 5 feet long. You will need to use either steel leaders or flourocarbon ones so that the muskies do not take your lures.
You can catch them on just about anything. I've caught them on 1/32 oz. jigs to foot long gliders and everything in between. Each year they seem to like different colors and sizes of baits so it is trial and error at the beginning of the year. If you find the smallies you will find the tigers.
Bill

I've been told that many of the Muskie guys like a $30 IM-6 rod from BPS (not sure which one though), backed up with a baitcaster and braid. Steel or Flouro leaders, and I am sure that your SB's would do the trick. SOme guys troll, some fish weedlines and some fish drops. I personally have brought one up to the boat on 6lb p-line on a 4 inch senko, and lost him at the boat. oh, well. I'm ready this year though!

I suppose you could build a house with a ball peen hammer, but I'd prefer a framing hammer. I'm of the school of thought that believes in using tools designed for the job.

Hey 2000subaru and T Dot:

Welcome aboard! Can't wait to see you with a purdy little muskie! There is a LOT of information to be had at the web site: www.nwtigermuskies.com ... then click on the link on the left called "Musky U."
Every angler has their preference on rods, reels, lures, but there are some basic tools you'll need, to keep yourself and the muskie safe. I agree with Bill that a starting point is a good, no, great net. I used to complain about the size of it in our moderate sized boat, but no more; it is critical.
And be sure to check this out:

w7yEV7wZ9JQ

It is a video made last year by WDFW and features our own Tournament Director, Mark W. giving some good pointers for our tiger muskies.
There is a lot to learn, especially patience. This is not an easy fish to catch, but that just makes it all the more gratifying when you do get a beauty on.
Good luck, guys and y'all know you don't have to be a member to come on down to a Chapter meeting, yeah?

Hope to see you there or on the water,
This is going to be YOUR year!

Happy Trails, KOOP

All you need is a worm and bobber!

always
catch and release!
Never eat a Musky, Because if you don't clean them right the poison in the meat will kill you!

Is that supposed to be a funny muskyhunter28? They don't have any poison in them that I know of but they are awfully slimey.

Don Wittenberger wrote: I'm of the school of thought that believes in using tools designed for the job.

I'm sure tDot believes this as well, but as he stated, he doesn't foresee himself purchasing Musky gear...He's just wondering if he could do some musky fishing with some heavy bass fishing gear..

I guess one can expand on the question then: what makes a "good" musky rod?

For instance, a lot of bass swimbait rods are nothing more than rebranded/wrapped backbounce rods (I had a custom St Croix 2C80XHF wrapped for my 2nd swimbait rod) yet they have the right characteristics to be a good "swimbait" rod for bass fishing.

Just because something is labeled "bass" or "trout" or whatnot doesn't necessarily mean its the wrong tool for another job. Some inshore rods make great heavy/long casting freshwater rods. Etc etc.

I'm guessing for certain lures like big bucktails, or if you want to throw big gliders, or soft single jighook swimbaits, its all going to want a different rod right?

thx for the link KUP!

The only reason you need a big rod for musky fishing is so you can throw big lures at them. Muskies in my experience are pretty weak fighters and tire very quickly. You get a few seconds of drag pull then you're pretty much reeling in a log. I accidentally hooked a 30"+ musky last year on a 6'6" medium spinning setup with 10 lb line and had it to the boat in seconds before it got off. If you have a nice swimbait rod, say 7'6" MH or something around there, you are going to be perfectly fine for musky fishing. Just remember to spool up a little heavier line because you could potentially catch a fish over 20 lbs, and always use a leader because they can and will cut through your line.

Bass gear works OK for small muskies, and if it was all I had, I'd use it. I've caught muskies on my 7-ft. flipping rod, but it's too limber to get good hooksets, I can't cast large lures with it, and I can't muscle big fish with it. Using light gear, you're limited in your ability to pressure a fish, so the fish controls the fight. This puts you at a disadvantage in situations where you must drag a fish out of cover to keep it from wrapping up. As in any other fishing that involves catching large fish on light tackle, playing the fish requires a fine touch; if you put too much pressure on your gear you'll break the line and/or rod.

Solid hooksets are critical in muskie fishing. Fishing with bass lures and a bass lure, a lot of times you can lip-hook them with those small hooks. But to drive large hooks through their bony mouths, you need a rod with plenty of backbone and, of course, strong line. I really slam 'em but sometimes they're still not hooked. You'll lose more fish with light gear.

Like many people, I did some of my early muskie fishing with bass gear (the flipping rod and a stiff worm rod) but it wasn't really adequate and these days I use my muskie rigs exclusively. I wouldn't go back to using bass gear if I could avoid it. Again: If that's all you've got, use it, because it's better than not fishing at all.

Bill G wrote:Your heavier bass gear will be just fine. You want to be able to net the fish quickly so you don't stress it too much.
The main thing is having a net that is capable of handling a big fish. We have two nets, one is 36 inches across and 4 feet deep and the other is a cradle 5 feet long. You will need to use either steel leaders or flourocarbon ones so that the muskies do not take your lures.
You can catch them on just about anything. I've caught them on 1/32 oz. jigs to foot long gliders and everything in between. Each year they seem to like different colors and sizes of baits so it is trial and error at the beginning of the year. If you find the smallies you will find the tigers.
Bill

this is probably the only species we will use a net for. as a basser we take pride in catch and release, we would practice the same methods for muskie.



we use to catch them while growing up, but back then fishing was just fishing. there was no rhyme or reason for the techniques we used, we simply duplicated what we saw on tv.

2000subaru wrote:I've been told that many of the Muskie guys like a $30 IM-6 rod from BPS (not sure which one though), backed up with a baitcaster and braid. Steel or Flouro leaders, and I am sure that your SB's would do the trick. SOme guys troll, some fish weedlines and some fish drops. I personally have brought one up to the boat on 6lb p-line on a 4 inch senko, and lost him at the boat. oh, well. I'm ready this year though!

i see you post often in the bass forum, do you fish for bass as well? if so when and where do you fish?

:king:

we plan on taking a few trips south of seattle this year, it probably would be in your neck of the woods.

Don Wittenberger wrote: I suppose you could build a house with a ball peen hammer, but I'd prefer a framing hammer. I'm of the school of thought that believes in using tools designed for the job.

LINK:
- http://fish.shimano.com/catalog/fish/pr ... 5417310896

i totally agree with you, and have looked up a few muskie rods. i would gladly invest in a rod, but i think my swimbait rods will be more than capable of handling such a fish. we mainly will be throwing sbs and big top water, the sbs rods are tailor made for these types of baits.

alot of anglers have caught fish that werent designed for the particular rod they were using, so i will use that to my advantage. with muskie and with bass fishing it is mainly about lure presentation. i believe [but i may be wrong] the sbs rods are the only rods in the shimano lineup that will be able to help us make proper presentations with our sbs. that being said i will use my sb rod for now until i see a hookup ratio vs landed problem.

[quote="KUP"]Hey 2000subaru and T Dot:

Welcome aboard! Can't wait to see you with a purdy little muskie! There is a LOT of information to be had at the web site: www.nwtigermuskies.com ... then click on the link on the left called "Musky U."
Every angler has their preference on rods, reels, lures, but there are some basic tools you'll need, to keep yourself and the muskie safe. I agree with Bill that a starting point is a good, no, great net. I used to complain about the size of it in our moderate sized boat, but no more]

thanks for the link.

do you guys ever meetup on weekends? if so when and where. we are very new to muskie fishing, and are willing to take the necessary steps to be a great angler. obviously we need to learn the ropes, so it would be helpful to see it from a regular.

would it be possible to tag along at your next club meet?

thanks

muskyhunter28 wrote:All you need is a worm and bobber!

always
catch and release!
Never eat a Musky, Because if you don't clean them right the poison in the meat will kill you!

assuming by the name you fish for bass as well. do you know bass anglers love to fry fish?

:king:

there are anti-poisons in bass meat we consume, so we will be immune to the poison in the muskies.

Sam Kafelafish wrote: I'm sure tDot believes this as well, but as he stated, he doesn't foresee himself purchasing Musky gear...He's just wondering if he could do some musky fishing with some heavy bass fishing gear.

exactly.

if the gear i have can take a peacock bass, i would hope it would be capable of taking a muskie.

Nik wrote:The only reason you need a big rod for musky fishing is so you can throw big lures at them. Muskies in my experience are pretty weak fighters and tire very quickly. You get a few seconds of drag pull then you're pretty much reeling in a log. I accidentally hooked a 30"+ musky last year on a 6'6" medium spinning setup with 10 lb line and had it to the boat in seconds before it got off. If you have a nice swimbait rod, say 7'6" MH or something around there, you are going to be perfectly fine for musky fishing. Just remember to spool up a little heavier line because you could potentially catch a fish over 20 lbs, and always use a leader because they can and will cut through your line.

LINK:
- http://fish.shimano.com/catalog/fish/pr ... 5417310896

those will be the main rods we will be using.

most of our reels partnered with those rods are capable of handling large sbs in excess of 5 ounces. these reels have been proven to take the punishment. what better way to prove this fact by going after a fish they call 'one of a 1000 casts'.

thanks for verifying my assumption with using other rods not gears specifically for muskie.

i do have a few questions regarding leaders. can you suggest any ones that are premade, so we can simply snap them in place? we will also be using these as trap hooks for our sbs. we have already changed out our snaps, hooks and whatnot, so all we need now are leaders. we are looking for ones with the bare minimum, because as stated we will be using these on our sbs, and they should not restrict the movement of our lures.

[quote="Don Wittenberger"]Bass gear works OK for small muskies, and if it was all I had, I'd use it. I've caught muskies on my 7-ft. flipping rod, but it's too limber to get good hooksets, I can't cast large lures with it, and I can't muscle big fish with it. Using light gear, you're limited in your ability to pressure a fish, so the fish controls the fight. This puts you at a disadvantage in situations where you must drag a fish out of cover to keep it from wrapping up. As in any other fishing that involves catching large fish on light tackle, playing the fish requires a fine touch]

i believe i wasnt clear enough in my statement, so i apologize for the confusion. im not sure if you have been bass fishing lately, but there have been alot of improvements. more recently within the past 5 years they have come out with sb rods, reels and lures. this type of equipment can handle long repeated casts, and if coupled with the right line has the capabilty of having strong hooksets.

just like you i swing for the fence when setting the hook. everyone in the boat always knows when ive set the hook.

in addition to that, we have also changed out our hooks to stronger ones which hold a point better than the average hook. which should help improve the hookup ratio.

it may also be the asumption we are regular bass angler, which we were at some point in time. we have moved away from that field, and have geared alot of our equipment to the larger bass. though we did have fun catching fish of different sizes, our mentality has changed, where as we are only looking for 1 specific bite - a monster.

:king:

I recommend buying the titanium leader from Bass Pro Shops and making your own. Pike and musky absolutely hammer swimbaits and I personally don't trust the flouro leader enough to use it. The cheap pre made leaders from Berkley are cheap garbage and will kink every time you catch a fish or get hung up.