You may want to think about heading to IN, KY or (God forbid) Ohio to take a shot at them earlier in the season. Early Spring you can look up in the shallows and throw small twitch baits.

The general rule of thumb is small & erratic. Downsize everything. Small bucktails, small minnowbaits/twitchbaits, etc.

There is a definite move to the shallows during the early season that you should try to take advantage of. The tricky part is its not like they will be there 100% constantly for some given period in the spring. They are going to be in and out of the shallows in pre-spawn, during the spawn, and for a while after. They are variably catchable during the pre- and post-, and generally not much right at spawn. But different fish are spawning at different times, so there is always a chance for a biter. Weather does play a different role in this period, I think. Warming trends with sunshine can definitely be a boost. But my best days for fishing these shallows have one important thing in common- NO WIND. You guessed it- that is so that you can sight fish most effectively. That is how we have caught most of these kind of muskies is by spotting a shadow on the bottom, or a moving 'log' or whatever, they will do a lot of cruising at this time- just circling the lake's shoreline like a pack of sharks! Sight fishing is a RIOT!!! And a what a rush when you have that 4 footer tracking your bait down on the sand!…

The old standbys are true as Jim stated- I suggest small stuff only for these skinny water muskies. Max 6" twitchbaits (Jakes, baby shallow raiders, grandmas) these are deadly. These will sometimes crush a fast erratic twitched bait- start there. But if they are only following and not commiting (common), then go to a bait that suspends or slowly sinks and give them lots of pauses and time to think about it with real subtle twitches. I have even had fish pick a dead-sticked bait right up off the bottom! You can of course go to some kind of jig or tub or something too, but it seems like the quick-hopping, quick diving to the bottom baits have not worked at all for me. I need to try just crawling these along the bottom without lifting I think though. But, I don't know what that is supposed to look like? The fish really seem to respond to a dying action of something that really looks like a fish best.

"biiigfish32" said:
I was doing a little bit a research and it said that that reef hawg that you gave me Jim works well in shallow early season fishing

That was actually a sledge, Cory, and I'm really not sure if the action is the same as a Reef Hawg. Dive/rise jerkbaits are very succussful in the springtime. But I classify springtime up to around 70 degree water temps. It seems to me, a Reef Hawg may be a little too fast for the slow matabolized muskie in 40* water. A weighted one may do the job, as it will suspend more.