I have a particular set of skills. Skills that make me a nightmare for RU-vidrs like you. I will find that river and I will fish it. All joking aside Brian is the man!
I don’t fish a lot of bucktails (call me crazy, I know, I know) but I do use spinnerbaits pretty regularly and I happen to strongly prefer a single blade. I just think the more distinct “thump-thump-thump” is easier for them to find with their lateral line than the more buzz/humming tone of the multi-blade ones.
Brian is literally eating what I did last weekend on the boat when I was muskie fishing. I had 2 follows and 2 fish bite my bait, but unfortunately, I didn't get any in the boat.
Last year’s early season pike trip, and my first of the year, I ended up with 7, yes 7, missed strikes on topwater. Fishing a very shallow and soft bay in the spawning period, like 2’ or less, so topwater is kinda all I could use. Fun day, but a bummer, too. A couple of them were absolute monsters, very large and wide heads coming after the lures.
All the old timers that I've had discussions with swear about the very early morning bite. I think a breakfast color pattern of some sort should be included in the lure line ups.
Rubber fish lures will always catch fish. It is a natural prey. So why do squid looking baits like the medusa, tubes and bucktails work on musky? They are not a natural food source nor something they would see in nature. The pike and musky we fish are relatives of the barracuda who`s favorite food is squid. It is very likely that all fresh water fish were once salt water fish that looked a little different than the fresh water versions. Salmon can actually cross over from salt to fresh water for breeding. Once the world was covered in sea water. 12 Thousand yrs ago the ice age suddenly ended. The ice melted fast and it flooded the whole world. Sea water covered the land! Over time the water withdrew leaving inland lakes. Evolution and a change from salt to fresh water due to rainfall and time, created a new fish species. Pike and musky. They don`t look like the barracuda no more but they still have the old prey lists in their minds. Squid being one of them. So I tried some salt water squid swim baits from Savage Gear on lake St. Clair. The musky tore it up! I was using the 10 inch soft rubber realistic swim bait and put 14 fish in the boat in one day!! They were not giants, but averaged 20 inches to 30 inches. It was a blast! I never caught so many fish in one day! Word to the wise. If you manufacture musky baits, bigger would be better. These squid swim baits look amazing in the water but they are too small. 15 to 20 inch versions would be the big ticket! The medusa works good but the squid swim baits worked a lot better! The more it looks like a real squid, the more fish you will put in the boat!!! Evolution never forgets its favorite food!
