Hello everyone, Im a bass/pike fisherman at heart but would love to boat a few muskies this year. I got lucky opening day and landed a nice 33incher. it was released and swam off
healthy to be caught another day. Now I know I got lucky and it was clear I had no idea what I was doing out there. Im going to pick up some gear and really go out there for em. any tips would be great
Lucky new Muskie guy
Moderator: Cyberlunge
Lucky new Muskie guy
Last edited by mattman on Wed May 01, 2013 1:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
![[smilie=2thumbsup.gif]](./images/smilies/2thumbsup.gif "2thumbsup"){kind=small}
First off congrats on your first muskie, that is awesome and something you will always remember!
Best advise I can give you is to offcially join MMA by becoming a Muskies Inc Chapter 47 member. With this you will have access to the members only discussions for like the past 8-10 years. Spend time reading all the old posts that interest you, there is a lot of great content and you will learn a lot, plus you will be supporting the organization that has made catching muskies in michigan possible! Members dont give out too much information on the public part of the forum. Check this link for information on how to sign up. http://www.michiganmuskiealliance.org/f ... m.php?f=48
As for gear, you will definately want to get a muskie appropriate rod/reel combo. What that means is a reel that can handle big muskie lures spooled with 65# braided line minimum, although 80# is more the standard. A good all purpose muskie rod is prolly gonna be something in the 8 or 8'6" range rated to about 6 ounces or so. They make heavier rods for huge baits and lighter rods for downsized baits and so on.
Check out this video for what you will want to have to safely handle and release muskies, big muskies are strong fish and you dont want to hurt yourself or the fish by being unprepared.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FHyVsyMBeM
Good luck and welcome to the sickness.
Best advise I can give you is to offcially join MMA by becoming a Muskies Inc Chapter 47 member. With this you will have access to the members only discussions for like the past 8-10 years. Spend time reading all the old posts that interest you, there is a lot of great content and you will learn a lot, plus you will be supporting the organization that has made catching muskies in michigan possible! Members dont give out too much information on the public part of the forum. Check this link for information on how to sign up. http://www.michiganmuskiealliance.org/f ... m.php?f=48
As for gear, you will definately want to get a muskie appropriate rod/reel combo. What that means is a reel that can handle big muskie lures spooled with 65# braided line minimum, although 80# is more the standard. A good all purpose muskie rod is prolly gonna be something in the 8 or 8'6" range rated to about 6 ounces or so. They make heavier rods for huge baits and lighter rods for downsized baits and so on.
Check out this video for what you will want to have to safely handle and release muskies, big muskies are strong fish and you dont want to hurt yourself or the fish by being unprepared.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FHyVsyMBeM
Good luck and welcome to the sickness.
Steve gives some good advice. I couldn't agree with him more on the importance of getting quality release tools and being prepared to handle the fish. Not just for the fish but for your own safety.
As far as baits I would keep it simple to start. Get yourself a couple solid baits and use them until you master them. It won't do you a lot of good to rush out and buy a ton of baits if you're not familiar/comfortable using them. Plus they aren't cheap, so save your money for more important things to start. Everyone's preferences vary, but I'd start with a crankbait, bucktail, topwater, and probably some type of rubber bait such as a Bulldawg, Medussa, or big tube. Many of us spend insane amounts of money on various lures then end up catching most our fish on only a couple.
The right rod and reel are key. Many baits are essentially useless without the right rod and reel. I spent lots of money at the beginning on all these fancy baits only to find out my bass-sized reel and MH Ugly Stick couldn't handle them.
As far as finding fish, I don't mean to oversimplify it too much but pretty much it's the same as most other fish. Good structure for bass and pike is usually good structure for muskies. And don't rule out open water, they can and will suspend out over open water even with seemingly little or no structure around. My advice in general for finding muskies is find the bait fish, and the muskies will be near.
Good luck!
As far as baits I would keep it simple to start. Get yourself a couple solid baits and use them until you master them. It won't do you a lot of good to rush out and buy a ton of baits if you're not familiar/comfortable using them. Plus they aren't cheap, so save your money for more important things to start. Everyone's preferences vary, but I'd start with a crankbait, bucktail, topwater, and probably some type of rubber bait such as a Bulldawg, Medussa, or big tube. Many of us spend insane amounts of money on various lures then end up catching most our fish on only a couple.
The right rod and reel are key. Many baits are essentially useless without the right rod and reel. I spent lots of money at the beginning on all these fancy baits only to find out my bass-sized reel and MH Ugly Stick couldn't handle them.
As far as finding fish, I don't mean to oversimplify it too much but pretty much it's the same as most other fish. Good structure for bass and pike is usually good structure for muskies. And don't rule out open water, they can and will suspend out over open water even with seemingly little or no structure around. My advice in general for finding muskies is find the bait fish, and the muskies will be near.
Good luck!
Ryan Adams
Yeah well ya know, that's just like, your opinion man
Yeah well ya know, that's just like, your opinion man
yeah thanks for the quick and helpful replies. I did enough research to know alittle bit where to find them, figure its close to pike, and enough to release the fish properly. Almost dropped it a couple time because my hands were shaking so bad, but i got ahold of myself and had the fish out of the water for a total of about 45 sec. enough to take a pict and let him go