Late last summer while scrounging for replacement lure-making parts, I came across a badly worn muskie spinnerbait which had been reduced to a bare lure head, trailer hook and just one of two blades. Recalling some spare black and red flashabou tucked into my desk drawer back home, I took what remained of the lure in order to revitalize it. Three weeks later, while standing in line at a schoolmate’s wedding reception, my brother called me from the water.
“Remember that black-and-red spinnerbait you redid,” he asked, “well, I just landed two muskies – a 43- and a 41-incher – on three casts with it,” he concluded, imploring me to crank out at least half a dozen more in a variety of colors and blade combinations for the next season.

Click on Picture for larger Tutorial

Since then, I’ve been turning out big spinnerbaits to honor my brother’s autumn request, and they have been the highpoint of the lure-making season for me this year. They’re an oversized twist on a classic bait for his favorite enigmatic fish. And the wide variety of blades, beads and skirt materials that can be used to customize the baits means we have many new combinations of thump and shimmy for the wary muskellunge in our favorite waters. What follows is a tutorial to help get you started making your own spinnerbaits for muskie success; from here you can downsize and make spinnerbaits for pike, bass and even mini versions for crappies.

MATERIALS
1 2.5-ounce spinnerbait frame with 8/0 hook and .051” wire
1 8/0 Mustad 354 Trailer Hook
1 Hank (20”) of Magnum Flashabou
1 #5 Silver Willow Blade
1 #8 Silver Willow Blade
1 Easy-spin Clevis (.051” holes)
1 Spinnerbait Swivel
12 5/32” Silver hollow beads (.051” hole)
Size A Fine Tying Thread
Head Cement

To start, secure the spinnerbait frame in your vise so that the wire points to your left. This will make it easier to dress the hook with flashabou and keep the wire out of the way as you assemble the skirt. Make a thread base in the small skirt divot between the lure’s head and the hook shank and apply head cement once complete (Figure 1).
Next, select a 20-inch hank of magnum flashabou and cut it into two even 10-inch hanks. Select about 20 strands of flashabou and hold them up against the skirt divot on the lure frame so the divot is halfway between the ends of each strand. Secure the strands of flashabou with a few wraps of thread around the tie-in area in the skirt divot (Figure 2). Form the main skirt by continuing to tie in new groups of flashabou strands adjacent to the previous strands, applying head cement to each new set of wraps for posterity. Ultimately, your skirt will be full and cover the entire circumference of the skirt divot, with no open spaces. Wrap the tie-in point with enough thread so that no flashabou is showing through and secure the thread with multiple half-hitches. Once the thread wraps are secured, you can trim the thread and cement the tie-in spot liberally, forming an unyielding primary skirt (Figure 3).
Set the main lure body aside to dry and secure the 8/0 trailer hook in the vise; tie in the thread near the eye of the hook, forming a thread bed, and apply cement. Select some flashabou from the remaining pile and cut it in half into two five-inch hanks. Trimming the ends of each clump of strands so that they are even will help produce a more secure tie-in point. Just behind the hook eye, begin tying the flashabou around the hook shank using even wraps (Figure 4). Once you have completely and fully formed the skirt on the trailer hook by tying in two layers of flashabou, trim the skirt material so it extends about an inch beyond the hook bend. Whip finish and cement the tie-in point for posterity.
In an effort to keep the trailer hook in place, I like to use shrink tubing around the eye of the trailer hook. Once the cement is dry, slide a 1/4-inch-long piece of 1/4-inch-diameter shrink tubing over the eye of the trailer hook, so that one end covers some of the thread wraps and the other just covers the front of the hook eye. Using a butane lighter (carefully and after the head cement has dried – as it is VERY flammable, particularly in its liquid state) for a heat source, shrink the tubing around the hook eye and let it cool (Figure 5). You can now run the hook of the main spinnerbait through the trailer hook eye and position it in the center of the main skirt.
To complete the lure, we’ll add the blades and spacer beads to the empty wire arm. Start by threading an easy spin clevis on to the arm, stopping after the first hole has been placed on the wire. Thread a #5 willow blade onto the clevis, so that the convex side of the blade is facing the body of the lure. Then thread the other hole of the clevis so that the blade is secured on the wire arm (Figure 6). Follow the clevis with 12 hollow silver beads, enough to allow the secondary blade to move freely without interfering with the main blade which we will attach next (Figure 7).
Let the secondary blade and beads rest against the bend in the wire while you grip the very top of the wire arm with needle-nose pliers. Bend the wire around the pliers so that the wire comes back and touches itself, forming a loop where you can attach your primary blade (Figure 8). Attach the spinnerbait swivel to the hole in the main blade and the wire loop, using split-ring pliers to thread the swivel’s split rings through both points, forming a firm wire loop-swivel-blade connection (Figure 9). With that, your lure is complete (Figure 10)!
Experiment with skirt materials, blade sizes and a variety of spinnerbait bodies in various sizes and head shapes. Use magnum blades, Colorado blades and Indiana blades to give the lure more flash and vibration, or go with a single large blade for a different offering. The possibilities are endless, making these baits easily customizable for slow-rolling in the depths or burning just under the surface. With a simple substitution of components, you’ll have a selection of baits that are ready for whatever mood the muskies might be in on your favorite waters…in our outdoors.

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I stood at the edge of the dock and sighed as Sunday’s gusty south wind whipped through the pages in my mental calendar. Next weekend is Labor Day with family up north; the next, dove hunting; the one after that, grouse opener, and then bow hunting. Every weekend was filled with events, and none of them would bring me back to the murmur of Sucker Creek gently rippling its way into the waters of Big Detroit Lake. My fishing season on the South Shore – and for the most part, the open water portion of the year – was over. As I replayed the weekend in my mind, I sighed just a little bit harder, saddened that summer was nearly over, but more so because of the way it ended.

But I guess that should have been expected, considering it closed much they way it opened. If you remember my April column where I relayed losing the biggest steelhead I had ever laid eyes on, then you know where this one is going as well. Due to a twist of fate and the turn of a battle-worn lake-run rainbow trout, the openwater season got off to a memorable and curse-filled start when the fish rolled over in submission, changing the angle just enough to send the hook in its mouth flying through the air. It subsequently bolted for the center of the stream and my steelhead dreams were dashed on the rocks of the Baptism River.

Friday night brought a similar situation to boatside on the waters of Big Detroit, as a crew of four of us jammed in my buddy’s boat to cover some water and troll magnum flashabou spinners for muskies. Tracing the weedlines around the bluff, we focused on transitions where my brother had marked the resident big fish that had followed his offerings in the area.
“Get ‘em up,” my buddy Holmes instructed, recognizing that he had brought the boat too far up the line; “lots of tall weeds here” he continued as he watched the sonar and cranked on the steering wheel to turn the boat back off the edge.
Our lines slackened as we raised our rods and the strong rhythmic pulse of the size twelve blades faded to a faint tap on the other end. I figured I was destined for salad city, but I hoped against hope for the outside chance that the shift in direction and speed might trigger a bite.

All summer at the lake I had a hearty helping of that same hope with my morning coffee, eggs and sausage and had yet to connect with a muskie. Unlike the year before when I had two in the boat before mid-June. But for the first time this season chasing muskies, my hope paid off. The lure missed the weeds and found the mouth of something big. My rod bounced twice in my hands and I hauled back on it and let out a howl.
“FISH ON,” I bellered, as the two rods beside me instantaneously went up and my brother and my other friend, Marty, cranked their weed-covered spinners in.

The next five minutes were a blur between the shine of headlamps and the blackness of night, adding to the sensory overload of something big thrashing fifty feet behind the boat. My drag would screech and stop and the rod would quake violently with the headshakes of the fish on the other end. I worked the leviathan toward the boat and instructed my brother to get ready to net the fish after what I expected to be its final major run. Laying eyes on it for the first time, my brother issued a report.

“Mid-forties for sure, probably bigger,” he advised.
My heart raced and my knees began to rattle as I caught a glimpse of the fish’s silver silhouette in the flickering of lamplight. It’ mouth was open and its gill plates were menacingly flared just outside of net range. I kept tension on the line and let her hold for just a moment. It was the biggest fish I had ever had on but I tried not to think about that as I prepared for the final surge.

“One last run, then we’ll get her,” I said in anticipation of a final rod-wrenching charge.

But the fish didn’t run. Instead, I felt the wild thrash of the muskie. With each shake coming in slow motion: lefffft…riiiight…lefffft…riiiight…lefffft. And then, there was nothing. No bent rod, no thunderous shake, no splashing, no silver lamplight – just the blackness of the water behind the boat.

I put my hand up to my face as the jingling metal of the spinner shot through the air and clanked against the side of the boat. I instinctively turned away. The flash of my buddy’s camera went off, temporarily blinding me and capturing the last “action shot” of the memorable battle. Blinking hard, I wanted to let loose a chain of vulgarities so strong it would bring every fish to the surface, but all I could muster was “aw shoot.”

I tried to remain strong for my buddies, quickly relaying that it was just the first night. I started talking about other chances and getting redemption over the weekend. But redemption did come, at least not for me. My brother boated his fifth muskie of the summer the next day; a fat 45-incher. Even Holmes caught a five-pounder at high noon on Saturday. But all my subsequent casts and trolling efforts came up empty and left with the weekend’s only goose egg; a late season bookend to match my earlier blunder.

For good measure, I sighed one last time, acknowledged the unofficial end of summer and bid farewell to one of my favorite places. I grabbed my rods and my tackle box leaning next to the old oak tree by the boat house and packed them in my truck for the drive home. As I pulled out of the cabin driveway, I stuck a wad of gum on the weekend’s pages so they couldn’t be turned back to by even the strongest wind and I flipped my mental calendar forward to the first weekend in September, welcoming fall and what is sure to be a successful start to a new season…in our outdoors.

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Bemidji, MN – Their names are unforgettable. Their performances are undeniable. Not too many moons ago Northland Fishing Tackle broke the news about three seriously savage introductions into the muskie marketplace. Finally, the entire collection is now available at major sporting goods chains and independent dealers wherever muskies and northern pike live, breathe, and strip line.

First out of the research and development lab came the BOOBIE TRAP® SPINNER, the biggest and baddest, double-bladed warship for the ultimate freshwater predator. Playing no second fiddle we introduced the BOOTY CALL SPINNERBAIT™. Its seductive combination of #6 and #10 blades conspire with a shimmering Flashabou® FlirtSkirt™ to turn heads and cause salivation across the Muskie Belt. Rounding out the tantalizing trio is the STUD FINDER™ SWIMBAIT. This candy-coated chatterbait sends sultry signals with a shaking Rock-R-Blade™ and stunning TinselTail™ skirt.

Time to put our money where our words are… This high-tempo promotional video contains bonafide footage of muskies that were manhandled (and released unharmed) during our rigorous research and development process.

WARNING: This Video May not be Suitable for Some Muskie Fanatics. Professional Guidance Suggested.

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Muskie anglers love to throw the biggest, flashiest baits. But in these days of dwindling discretionary income, spinners with oversized blades, magnum flashabou skirts and price tags to match are becoming cost-prohibitive. However, you can produce a bait at home for half as much as you’d pay for popular store models and catch fish just as effectively – if not more so due to your ability to customize the bait for your favorite water. If you’re new to bait building, or just want to get the kinks out before starting in on your first big spinner of the season, log on to www.nicksimonson.com and search “bucktail basics” for a beginner’s guide to lure making which will help set the stage for this tutorial.

There are two principal parts to a super-sized spinner: the pounding blades in front and the pulsating skirt on the business end. And it is the profile of the spinner’s skirt that makes big fish commit after the thump of the blades has lured them in. To make a strike-inducing skirt on a mondo muskie spinner, you’ll need one package (20 inches) of magnum flashabou, two 3/4-inch coils cut from a lawnmower throttle cable along with some Size A nylon tying thread and some head cement (Figure 1). The magnum flashabou, thread and head cement are available through Rollie and Helen’s Muskie Shop (www.muskyshop.com), Barlow’s Tackle (www.barlowstackle.com) or Lure Parts Online (www.lurepartsonline.com) and the throttle cable can be found at your local hardware store for about a dollar per foot. We’ll be tying a full skirt and a partial skirt, which when combined on the spinner shaft will provide for some amazing action on the retrieve.

To make the skirts, you will need to extend your tying vise by taking a scrap piece of .051” diameter spinner shaft and forming a 90-degree bend on one end using needle nose pliers. Thread the cable coil on the shaft and lock it firmly in the vise so the cable coil sits snugly between the vise and the bend and does not move. From there, you can begin wrapping the tying thread on the coil to form a foundation, cementing liberally (Figure 2).

Cut the hank of magnum flashabou in half so there is a pile of strands approximately 10-inches in length on the table in front of you. Divide the strands into two separate piles, one consisting of two-thirds of the total strands and the other consisting of the remaining third (Figure 3). For the primary skirt, we will be working with the larger pile of flashabou.

Form the primary skirt by evenly distributing the flashabou strands around the coil and tying them in at their midpoint (Figure 4). The strands should lay flat against the coil and the tie-in point should be centered on it. After every couple of sections, apply some head cement to the tie-in area and allow it to set for a minute or so. Tie the strands evenly in sections that overlap so that none of the coil is showing and the skirt is full in all areas. When done tying in the flashabou, make several half hitches over the tie-in point and cement the area thoroughly. Allow the cement to harden and apply some more, letting the second coating set on your finished skirt (Figure 5).

To make the partial skirt, cut the strands of the smaller pile of flashabou in half, so you have a group of strands approximately five inches in length (Figure 6). Remove the first coil from the vise and replace it with the second coil. Form a thread base on the coil and cement it for posterity. Tie the five-inch strands of flashabou onto the coil by their bases, so the bulk of each strand hangs to the left of the coil. Again, be sure to tie these strands in evenly for a full-looking skirt and apply cement after every couple of sections. Once completed, make a few half hitches or whip finish at the tie-in point and cement it thoroughly as you did with the primary skirt (Figure 7).

Once the cement is dry, you should have two skirts – the primary and the partial (Figure 8). Placed together on the spinner shaft, they will form a bulky-looking body, but because they are so light and easily moved by turbulence in the water, they will provide pulsating and life-like motion sure to trigger the wariest fish. Next week, we’ll put the skirts together with the rest of the spinner components for a homemade lure with all the attraction of a store-bought model minus the sticker shock. My guess is, those monster muskies won’t know the difference…in our outdoors.

In last week’s installment, we tied up the skirts for our mondo muskie spinner. This week, we’ll combine them with the rest of the components to finish off a lure that will save you money and catch fish. In order to do so, you’ll need the following components in addition to the skirts: two 7/0 Mustad 3551 treble hooks, two 2X heavy size 4H split rings, one 12-inch long .051”-diameter spinner shaft, two spacer beads, five 9/32” nickel beads, one .31-ounce nickel body, two size 12 magnum spinner blades, two size 6 clevises and a two-inch length of heat-shrink tubing (Figure 1).

First attach a treble hook with a 4H split ring to the looped end of the spinner shaft. Next, thread the two-inch length of shrink tubing down the shaft and wiggle it into place over the looped end of the shaft, split ring and hook. This might take some effort and a lot of wiggling, but try to get it so the split ring and loop are completely covered and the rest of the tubing is on the hook shank. Once it is in position, shrink the tubing with the heat from the butane lighter, taking care not to melt the tubing. This step prevents about 95 percent of lure fouling on the cast and keeps the treble riding straight during the retrieve, maximizing your chances of a positive hookset when the fish of 10,000 casts decides to strike. After the hook is attached and secured, thread two spacer beads onto the spinner shaft (Figure 2).

The next step is to add the primary and partial skirts that we tied in Part I of this tutorial. Thread the primary skirt onto the spinner shaft through the center of the underlying coil at the skirt’s center. It should stack on top of the spacer beads. The lower strands of the primary skirt should cover the spacer beads so they cannot be seen, and the strands should just reach the bottom of the treble hook. If they don’t, remove one spacer bead; if they hang down too far, add another. Once the primary skirt is in place, thread the partial skirt onto the spinner shaft just above the primary skirt, forming the body of the bait (Figure 3).

At this point, thread on a nickel bead and then a split ring with the second 7/0 treble hook attached to it (Figure 4). Then, for the purposes of flash and weight, thread the lure body and the remaining beads into place (Figure 5).

Now it’s time to add some thump to the lure. The selection of blade colors and sizes is growing rapidly each season, and there are a lot of cool patterns and colors to choose from.  . For the purposes of this bait, we’re going with dual size 12 hammered nickel blades to emit even more crazy flash and put out the beat that draws muskies in. What’s more, the water these blades displace on the retrieve provides ample turbulence to get the flashabou skirt pulsing and flashing to help you seal the deal when a big muskie chases your offering.

Thread the bottom holes of two size 6 clevises on the spinner shaft and thread the clevises through the holes at the top of the spinner blades. Then thread the top holes of the clevises onto the spinner shaft. Make sure the spinner blades are situated with the curve facing the spinner shaft (Figure 6). Slide the clevises and blades down so that they stack up tightly with the other spinner components.

To create the spinner’s eye, you will need a pair of pliers and some muscle. Grasp the spinner shaft with a pair of round- or needle-nose pliers approximately one inch above the top clevis, with all components stacked together. With your other hand, grab the portion of the spinner shaft extending above the pliers and bend it 270 degrees around the nose of the pliers, forming the eye of the lure (Figure 7).

Applying a little more elbow grease, begin to wrap the tag end of the wire around the shaft below the pliers. Make four wraps around the shaft, forming an eye that will not be bent straight by a heavyweight fish. Using a wire cutter, clip the tag end of the shaft off, leaving a secure connection point that you can clip your leader to (Figure 8). Your finished bait is ready to hit the water (Figure 9). This pattern accounted for a monster my brother landed while trolling in the cool waters of opening morning of muskie season, but it really excelled when cast over cabbage and reefs in late summer when the water warmed up and the fish had the feedbag on (Figure 10).

A commercial flashabou spinner like the one we’ve put together will cost upwards of $30. But with a little free time you can save more than fifty percent on your muskie arsenal and learn a lot about lure making in the process. Give it a shot this spring and try out your color and blade combinations on your favorite muskie water this summer. Chances are, you’ll get plenty of follows on the lures you create, and undoubtedly the time will come when a toothy fish strikes your offering…in our outdoors.

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Attitude, Character, and Enthusiasm are the keys to muskies

It sounded like the hardware store jingle as the long-time guide laid out his simple plan for muskie fishing. “ACE is the base for success with muskies – Attitude, Character, Enthusiasm,” he bellowed to those of us in attendance at the banquet. Simply, he summed up what makes a good angler – the mindset that a person can catch fish, the integrity that we will do so responsibly and the enthusiasm of childhood extended into every cast and crank of the reel handle. I left the lecture surprised at how easily it was all put together.

Attitude

Generally, we as sportsmen go on the water with the idea we will be catching fish, approaching each point or piece of structure with the know-how and experience to locate, entice and fool fish with our offerings. Even in new situations, where we might not be too sure of the basic elements – where the fish are, or what they want to eat – we apply previous knowledge and adjust our plan from there.

It has also been said that good anglers go fishing, but great anglers go catching. The positive attitude only results from experience, from mastering one situation and moving on to another. Contentment generally leads to a plateau in the fishing experience. To the inexperienced the plateau seems like the apex, to the experienced the plateau seems like an enjoyable, yet unjumpable hurdle. The importance is to expand horizons, fish for various species on various waters, expanding horizons and seizing new opportunities.

Doing so isn’t always easy; it means breaking out of comfortable patterns, locating new spots, adjusting old tactics, burning calories, gallons of gasoline, yards of line and a selection of lures in an attempt to find what combination is needed. Through it all, the stick-to-itiveness pays off with heightened knowledge and that perseverance through the trial-and-error phase, as the Good Book says, builds character, the second element for success.

Character

Character means doing what is right, even when no one is watching. One doesn’t have to lapse too philosophical to understand good character on the water. Being courteous to nature, to fellow anglers, to property owners and ultimately to all who come after you is the right thing to do. Picking up after yourself and others, respecting the resource by staying within the legal and ethical limits, limiting your footprint and caring for the catch are signs of good outdoor character.

These behaviors not only enhance personal enjoyment, but also the enjoyment of others, and hopefully fuel the fire and excitement in the next generation of sportsmen. You don’t necessarily have to point everyone who asks in the right direction every single time you catch a few, but making sure the right direction is still somewhere out there is the responsible thing for all anglers to do.

There’s a karma that goes with it too. What goes around comes around – and bad lapses in judgment beget worse consequences in the long run. Good deeds, while they may be their own rewards, often bring other perks with them and they seem to be both immediate and long-lasting. That’s not to say that every day will be a success, but then if every day was, we’d never grow.

Enthusiasm

Regardless of the outcome, which obviously varies day-to-day even for the best anglers, there is a reason we are out there punching holes in the ice, or casting at shadows under the surface – and that is to have fun. There’s a joie de vive peculiar to anglers. It is pretty obvious that we do what we do for the love of it all – for the challenge of our skills, for enjoying nature, for just getting out of the office or away from the TV.

Modern angling is found at the crossroads of simplicity and complexity. The activity is so basic – just man versus nature. But it too is complex – weather, time of year, water, air pressure, moon phase are elements provided naturally; now add in electronics, 6.1 gear ratios, and the endless debate of green pumpkin versus watermelon. Each part of the puzzle is exciting. We attempt to understand them, and enjoy unlocking the mysteries and combinations. When we do, the result leaves us with memories that are relayed again and again until they are tall tales amongst family, friends, and if we’re lucky, whole communities.

Most all of us have gone through our tackle boxes at one point or another, and just thought of the memorable fish we’ve caught on the lure we happen to be holding – a Senko, a Daredevle, a firetiger Shad Rap. And of course, it is natural to picture fish we COULD catch next time out with those lures. That hope, that enthusiasm for things to come, is something particular to anglers.

As the New Year approaches, focus on these three things, a simple summation of what it takes to be a successful angler. The same can be applied to hunting, and probably to most pursuits in life and life in general. In the end it really isn’t surprising to those who love the outdoors that much of what we need to know to savor the amazing journey through life can be learned season after season…in our outdoors.

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A good pair of polarized glasses can help you see things you might have missed otherwise

Just five casts into Saturday morning, I figured the weekend would have one of two outcomes: either bigger muskies would certainly follow the one in my hand, or I just pre-spent my next 995 casts on the 20-incher with the treble of my homemade pink-and-brass bucktail in its mouth. As it turned out, I was right on both accounts. But, as Robert Plant put it, sometimes words have two meanings.

The next 19 hours on the water yielded a plethora of pike, two monster bass brave enough to take on lures half their size, six sore shoulders, but no other hook-ups with the empress of Esocidae by anyone in our boat, despite an estimated 3,500 combined casts. However, bigger fish did follow – right up to the boat. Some of them were so close I could have reached down and grabbed them.

We located a population of pounder pike holding off of a solidly established weedline, in eight to ten feet of water. Every fourth or fifth one we caught bore the telltale sign of something bigger lurking in the area. Deep scars, fresh toothy scrapes and even a gaping wound on the largest pike of the weekend, hinted that the muskies we saw cruising the shallows a few weeks before were probably still present.

The first follow came as the moon began its descent into the trees on the opposite shore. I had bumped a load of cabbage from the deeper side of the break, and was bringing my lure to boat for a cleaning. From out of the depths behind came a brownish spearhead chasing the vibration of the spinner blade. I pulled the bucktail from the water, much to my brother’s dismay.

“Why didn’t you figure-eight her?!?” he hissed, as he churned the water next to the boat, hoping to engage the genuine forty-incher’s interest.

I explained that there were weeds on my hook, the rush of adrenaline didn’t allow me any clear thought, and then began working my section of boatside water into a foam to prevent a mutiny. Every cast was finished with a whip or two through the water after that incident.

Amazingly still in command of the helm, I motored us off the break and headed into a nearby cove. During his retrieve, my brother-in-law shook the boat when he lunged backwards. He praised some god, and hooted that what he had seen was no guppy. Moments later he hooked up with a fish that ran him into the weeds and left him with a ball of cabbage covering his 10-inch bucktail.

The next muskie lazily rolled in behind my brother’s green magnum flashabou bucktail about a half an hour later. Collectively, our hearts began pounding so loud the lone shore angler on the other side of the lake probably heard the thump-ump coming from the Grumman. The thirty-something-incher paralleled the boat for a few seconds, and turned off into the depths.

At about nine-thirty, my brother called for the net as his reel spit up line in spurts. The rod arched and pulsed with the pull of a large fish and he confirmed the size. Horsing it out from under the boat, the light-on-dark patterning of a large pike surfaced, and even though it eclipsed thirty-two inches, we couldn’t help but feel disappointed. The fish sported a bloody gouge, about a head’s length from its tail. We assumed that despite its size, it probably wasn’t the dominant predator in this small backwater connecting the two larger lakes.

We broke for lunch and naps on the cabin couches, already complaining that we were out of shape and out of adrenaline, having awakened at 4:30 that morning and fished straight through until noon. Following some recuperative sleep; we headed to a small bay off of the main lake. The cool spring had slowed weedgrowth on much of the water, but this particular bay sported reeds and deep cabbage, and was a known haven for large muskies in recent seasons. The sun shone brightly between blossoming thunderheads, and the water was clear.

After working halfway into a finger of the bay, I looked down into the water. My eyes met the sullen stare of a cream-bodied muskie, which seemed to materialize out of nowhere. I pointed her out to everyone in the boat, lingering just a rod-length away from the port side. My brother began a figure-eight which drew her attention. She veered toward his bucktail, eyeing it like a cat watches a ball of string just before it pounces. But this cat didn’t pounce. I plunged my rod into the water, about a foot below my brother’s offering. She spurned his lure for mine, but wasn’t interested for long in the pink-white-and-turquoise “bombpop” bucktail I had engineered earlier this spring. She lazily drifted away from the boat and faded into the depths. The full minute she was in view was one of the most maddening – and at the same time, amazing – moments I had ever experienced.

A nearly fifty-inch fish, just out of reach, unwilling to strike, is a situation that is beyond befuddling. It made my heart rate accelerate as I tried to think of ways to entice the strike, and the thump in my ears pounded faster still when I got ahead of myself, thinking how I would land a fish that big with just two feet of line out.

After another pass through the area, we trolled between storm clouds and saw one large fish cruising the shallows. She darted away from the weedline as we approached. We alternated between casting and trolling during the evening, but neither tactic produced another muskie sighting. We called it a day just before midnight, and made a run to town for necessities.

I  hit the snooze button a couple of times the next morning, and we slept in until five-thirty. We returned to the connector lake, and it was slow. Nearly three hours into the morning, I thought to myself what a disappointing day it had been without even a glimpse of a muskie.

As if willed into being by my thoughts on that very cast, a mid-size cruiser tailed my reed-runner spinnerbait to the boat, and cautiously waited a few seconds before bolting back to its haunt. A few hours later we would log the last of our northerns and head for home; tired and frustrated but willing to do it all over again if given the chance.

Each fish that trailed our lures gave us new information, new knowledge of what didn’t work and new ideas to try in an effort find some boatside method that would trigger a strike in subsequent trips. We parted ways on Sunday night with a toast of water and Ibuprofen as we braced ourselves for the muscle aches and sore arms, which, like the muskies, were certain to follow another adventure…in our outdoors.

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A nice muskie caught while fishing at night

There’s nothing more primal in our human psyche than fear – or at least a healthy level of cautious respect – for that which we cannot see when the light of day has faded. The haunting cry of a loon at sunset is quickly replaced by the hoot of an owl, filling the a late summer night with mystery and trepidation. Another creature stirs as the evening air cools, and some hardy anglers cast their fear of the dark aside to be drawn out of the comfort and security of a well-lit home in hopes of coming face-to-face with a monster.

The phenomenon of night fishing for muskies is becoming more commonplace, as anglers focus on periods of decreased angling pressure and water use by recreational boaters. Muskies never stop feeding, but are more apt to attack prey – and lures – under the calm and cover of night. And right now, big baits with lots of buzz and vibration are the key to hooking a true monster in the dark.

Muskies find their prey based primarily on sight and their ability to detect other fish with the sensory cells located in the lateral line. This special row of cells allows fish to orient themselves, detect predators and prey, and to sense changes in the environment. Scientists have proven that the lateral line picks up both the slight electromagnetic energy that all life forms give off and mechanical energy, such as physical vibrations in the water. The latter stimulus is what anglers attempt to mimic in the dead of night while hunting for trophy muskellunge.

For this reason, the popularity of big-bladed muskie spinners is on the rise. With the increased vibration of large-bladed baits such as the new #13-blade, Super Double Cowgirl by Musky Mayhem tackle, anglers can effectively increase the range of vibration emitted on each retrieve in hopes of hooking up with the fish of a thousand casts. Other popular nighttime lures include boisterous top-water offerings, such as oversized buzzbaits, walk-the-dog style stickbaits like Poe’s Jackpots, and surface-disturbing prop-tailed plugs akin to Salmo’s Turbo Jack. All of these lures offer outstanding resonance in the water, giving big predators a target to attack even if they cannot see it all that well. On lakes with substrates composed primarily of rock, and to a lesser extent sand, baits that give off a lot of vibration are aided by the echoing effect of boulders and hard bottoms.

Be cautious when handling muskies at night

Work baits quickly and methodically to maximize vibration over key summer muskie haunts such as transitional shelves, sunken islands and reefs. Using a seven-to-eight-foot long, heavy-action casting rod and a powerful and reliable baitcasting reel, such as the Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6500 or 7000 series will minimize fatigue and help cover water swiftly.

Of special concern to nighttime anglers is illumination. Besides the standard navigation lights, it would be wise to work with battery-powered lanterns and headlamps to keep an eye on the action, to know where a co-angler’s treble hooks are heading and to assist in a quick release when a fish is caught. A GPS will aid in navigation, allowing safer travel to and from favorite muskie hot spots. Keep an eye out for lit channel buoys and hazard markers when on the move, and reduce speed to match visibility.

Have catch-and-release tools ready and stored together, including needlenose pliers, a compact bolt cutter for deeply-imbedded hooks, jaw-spreaders and a measuring tape to verify length. Make sure the flash is enabled on the camera used to photograph the event and minimize the time a muskie is kept out of the water. While the night air may be cool, August lake temperatures are still very warm, resulting in increased stress which may hinder a successful release of large fish. Be certain the muskie is resuscitated after the battle before releasing it.

The excitement of a follow at boatside in the white light of a headlamp is an experience that will send a chill up your spine; and though it may be an unfamiliar experience at first, after a few night fishing trips it will seem like the monsters are hiding from you…in our outdoors.

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There's some solid musky fishing in Minnesota

Up until last year, the muskellunge was just a footnote in my fishing journals. Between jigging for walleyes, pitching tubes for bass, and waxing a few panfish on the flyrod, there wasn’t much room for another angling pursuit. Sure, I had a muskie rod, but its use had fallen by the wayside since I first purchased in 2001. To say I wasn’t a devotee would have been correct.

That was until a sunny August morning produced a 40-inch fish, and the fight of my life, just moments after my bait slapped the surface of Big Detroit Lake. Then it was on. Cash flashed across the Sportsman’s Warehouse counter as Cowgirls, Suicks and Bull Dawg baits piled up in my bag. The tackle wall at the lake cabin filled with ten- and twelve- inch lures and the obsession became all too apparent to anyone who set eyes on the board filled with baits.

My co-dependent in the pursuit was my brother, Ben, who tallied two forty-inch class fish the year before. And last year, during his summer of sweetness – so dubbed because of his sweet work schedule which allowed him to work Tuesday through Thursday and fish a five-day weekend while on break from school – he caught multiple muskies and had hook-ups and follows from fish that would cause a veteran angler’s heart to skip a beat.

While Ben had fished away most of the summer in pursuit of muskies, I fished bass on the river back home, and eagerly awaited his phone calls each night which detailed his adventures. Such tales included a fish half the size of our 12-foot boat that had been hooked on a 1/16-ounce jig and four-pound test while he was fishing for bluegill. Another story detailed the hook-up of a monster fish in two feet of water on a spinnerbait, which, upon the leviathan’s leap completely out of the water, sent the oversized lure buzzing by my brother’s ear, adding attempted injury to insult.

As summer turned to fall, we became desperate for just one more fish. Angling into October, when we should have been stalking grouse and pheasant, we made forays along the shores of Big Detroit in between Florida Gator and Minnesota Vikings football games, coming in to warm our hands and calm our eyes. After a few weekends of follows and no hookups, I was finally able to land a 30-inch fish on an explosive attack against a Poe’s Jackpot topwater lure in the cold of a Sunday morning on the last fishable weekend in the fall. That muskie, swimming off with the creek current, rather than the barren trees and icy north wind, heralded the end of the season. Reluctantly, we cleaned our lures and unstrung our rods for the year.

We were worn both physically and mentally. Each Sunday, on our way back from the lake, we’d complain of sore shoulders and elbows and wondered aloud at the long-term effects that 3,000-cast weekends would have on our joints in the future. We often asked each other to confirm whether or not we actually saw a fish follow the lure up to the boat, just to make sure the event was not imagined after the adrenaline had worn off.

This winter, I hung the new pictures of our biggest fish on the wall at work to remind me of the approaching opener and the new hope that summer always brings for every angling pursuit. When April dropped 32 inches of snow on my doorstep, and my hope of a big steelhead faded away, I began cranking out spinners for this season, readying our arsenal for the mad devotion we now show to Esox masquinongy..

The day is fast approaching; our season started the other weekend on Lake Vermillion in northeastern Minnesota. With hooks sharpened, reels tuned and lake maps in hand we once again ready ourselves for sore shoulders, boatside scares and smiles as toothy as those of the elusive 50-inch muskies we continue to chase…in our outdoors.

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There is no rush in freshwater fishing like a giant musky.

Wearing a pair of old glasses, I peered into the choppy surface of the lake. The gray ceiling of clouds reflected in the trough of each ripple, while the weedtops were visible in the water column with each tiny crest. Despite the weaker prescription, I could clearly see the orange pulsating blade of a well-worn bucktail working its way back to the dock from where I cast it, fading in and out giving off a rhythmic pulse like the wavelets against the shore.

Like a shadow, a greenish-gray silhouette appeared out of the ether behind the thumping lure.

“What do I do? What do I do!?!” The ten-year-old screamed at me in my mind. Fifteen feet…it’s still there. Ten feet, the fish is still following. Figure eight? Slow down the retrieve!? Speed up!? ARGH!

As quickly as it appeared, the muskellunge vanished with a turn of the tail. There wasn’t any time to watch it go, it disappeared like smoke. I wondered if the follow really happened – had my old prescription tricked me? The goosebumps, increased heart rate and adrenaline rush confirmed the it was no hallucination

What I don’t know about muskies could fill the Great Lakes, but what I do know about them is enough to hook an angler for life. They are sleek, powerful, vicious, fussy and haunting, like the cat from Pet Sematary but with a better profile. In a few short weeks, they have changed the way I fish, the way I view the sport of angling and how I view other species.

Where once a wall was devoted to bass baits in our little boathouse on the south shore of Big Detroit Lake in Minnesota, muskie lures have crept across the pegboard like kudzu. Giant hooks dangle down from wooden Suicks, rubbery Bulldogs and massive bucktails Mr. Mepps probably only saw in his worst nightmares. Behind them, bags of bass plastics hang under cobwebs. Pursuit of these muskellunge has certainly changed our tackle and our behavior.

I’ve never known my brother to be an early riser. To get him up for pheasant opener at daybreak was a chore last year. Before this summer, the only time a soul would seem him at five o’clock in the morning is when he was coming home on a Sunday morning. Now, I am his alarm clock on Saturday morning.

Some of our favorite musky stories are nothing more than a follow

“What time will you be getting up?” He asks.

“Five, I suppose,” is my usual reply.

“How about four-thirty,” he suggests.

I usually agree and turn the alarm back a half hour.

We start in the dark, cast through dawn and into the morning, watching for shadows in the water. It is a maddening pursuit which fits him better than me. As a college student with a half-week part-time job, his Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule is perfect. As I wrote this, I received a phone call detailing the three or four sightings of fifty-inch fish that refused to strike at boatside. A forty-hour work week isn’t the cure for muskie fever, and no amount of angling for other species fills the void.

While raking the beach in front of the boathouse I find dead walleyes with missing tails and two-pound pike washed up with large gashes in their sides. Are these just steps in the decomposition process, tiny holes made bigger by bacteria and the bites of small fish? More likely they are brushes with the new dominant predator in the lake. Stocked since I was a child in the late 1980s, I have grown alongside these fish but paid little attention to them until now. Sometimes the fingerlings would be mixed in with the myriad of shiners, perch and bluegill in our seining nets. Other times stories would buzz around Long Bridge of someone catching a ten-pounder, then a thirteen pounder, then bigger and bigger as the years went on.

Now these gray ghosts have become the Moby Dicks of Detroit Lakes, a relatively water bordered on the north by the main drag of the city and ringed everywhere else by starter castles with Hummers, Escalades and thirty-thousand-dollar boats parked in the driveways. The establishment of these fish, and stories of specimens now topping 60 inches in length draw the weekend warriors from nearby Fargo and other places. I assume the fish are all the more finicky from the increased pressure.

The epidemic spreads exponentially each year. In time, it will consume many. The treatment isn’t cheap, and there is no cure. Rods, reels, and sunken costs aren’t the big concern, it’s the habitual doses of tackle that plague the pocketbook. Eight dollars for bucktails, fifteen smackers for a stickbait, and a Jackson for a life-like swimbait are the norm. But they work. At a particular place and time, each one can pay off. Where and when, I can’t tell you. That’s just one of the mysteries I’m beginning to unravel.

What I can tell you, is that it doesn’t take a fish in the boat to hook an angler on muskie fishing. All it takes is that first follow. Maybe the gills flared, maybe it just turned off, but that sighting alone warrants another hundred or so casts, and then a thousand more in other areas, and maybe even more. When the day comes where the fish does strike, you’ll have found the point of no return…in our outdoors.

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Some species such as largemouth and smallmouth bass have a higher percentage of catch and release then most species

A dead-weight tug on the end of my line signaled that the largemouth bass under the dock was indeed hungry. I swept the rod back and the four-pound fish rocketed up out of the water. She battled every foot of the way to my hand.

I reached down, tweaked the hook and felt it stick in the armor of the fish’s cheek. Realizing the barb on the 3/0 Mustad Ultrapoint hook had done its job, I pulled out my pliers, crushed the barb flat and slid the hook out of the gaping mouth of the late-summer largemouth.

Catch and release is a fun and effective way of preserving the resource on any water. However, simply hooking and releasing fish is not the only facet of the practice. There are many other areas anglers should focus on for a successful experience. What follows are just a few tips to help anglers successfully practice catch and release.

1. Go barbless

A growing trend which originated in trout country is the use of barbless hooks. These hooks do little damage the mouth of a fish and make it much easier to release. If you can’t find barbless hooks, smash the barb flat with your pliers. You will find that most fish still stay hooked when properly played and they swim off with far less pressure on their jaws and mouth.

2. Wash your hands

No, you don’t need to use soap or scrub for 20 seconds, but before handling a fish or lifting it up for a photo, make sure you give your hands a quick dunk in the water. By doing so, you reduce the amount of friction that dry hands put on the slime coat of a vulnerable fish. If you don’t plan to photograph the fish, unhook it while it is in the net or the water.

3. Needlenose power

Perhaps the most effective tool in catch-and-release fishing is the needlenose pliers. A decent model runs around five dollars and can last for seasons, presuming you don’t drop it in the river. The long pliers can reach hooks that are back in the mouth and in other tough-to-reach places. Furthermore, the extra prying power is a welcome advantage when releasing fish. For smaller fish like bluegill, try a forceps or hemostat to aid in hook removal.

It's important to know how to properly release fish or there's no point in doing it at all

4. Limit your hooks

 

 

 

Lures with six or nine hooks running up and down them can pose a problem for releasing fish. Oftentimes hooks on the back of a minnowbait will land in the mouth, while the others will snag the eyes, gills and head. Not only do multiple hooks damage these vital organs, but also the removal of the trebles takes longer. That time out of the water poses a risk to the fish. Try using single hooked jigs or lures with fewer hooks when the situation allows for it; or eliminate one set of trebles, which also helps reduce snagging on bottom structure.

5. Cut ties, if necessary

When it comes to big fish like muskellunge and pike, bigger baits work best. Be prepared to part with some of your stickbait’s hooks if the moment calls for it. If a hook is buried deep in the maw of a big esox, use a hook cutter to set the beast free. Cut the metal as close to the flesh as possible. The hook fragment will be forced out of the animal through time and the fish suffers less stress at boat side.

6. Check your net

When fish can’t be lipped because of their teeth or must be landed with a net due to their size, make sure your net does little or no harm. Purchase a mesh cradle when pursuing big fish like muskies and use a rubberized net for other fish like walleyes, trout and bass. A good model is the Tangle Free Rubber Net from Frabill (www.frabill.com). The non-collapsing rubber net prevents unnecessary damage to the slime coat of a fish.

7. Pick your battles

Nothing is more exciting than a bulldogging pull of a bass or the drag-squealing run of a monster northern pike. But fighting a fish for too long can cause irreparable damage from lactic acid build up. Just as when your muscles ache the next day after a hard workout, fish suffer the same problem. But this acid build-up can kill fish. Limit the fight time to help the fish survive.

8. Know when to say when

Blood in the water is never a good sight. If a fish is gill hooked, bleeding or injured badly do not release it. There’s no sense in wasting the resource be responsible and know when a fish should not be released.

9. The thirty second rule

Take a deep breath. How long can you hold it? Thirty seconds is about the average. Now imagine you’re a fish. Along those lines, think of how long that fish can stay out of the water without oxygen. Try to limit the time a fish is exposed to the air and out of its natural environment. Have a buddy ready with a camera and keep the photo session brief.

10. See them off

When releasing a fish, be gentle, do not toss the fish back into the water. Cradle the fish in your hands and slowly move it forward in the water or hold it facing the current. This moves water over the gills and helps the fish recover. Feel for the fish attempting to swim off. Hold it near the tail until it pulls away. If you see the fish go belly up a few moments later, refer to tip number eight.

By following these points, C&R anglers can help ensure that their preferred method of fishing continues creating opportunities for others…in our outdoors.

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