Musky Fishing - How to catch & release a muskellunge

Interested in catching a muskie? Be prepared, educate yourself, fishing for musky is not simply catching a fish. It is an adventure with the bigest freshwater predator in America, it deserves your respect. We explain how to catch, and most important how to handle the fish once its hooked. This will not make you a muskie expert, its takes a lot of practice, but we hope that this will help you get started.

This is what we have learned and what we follow as guidelines to catch these impressive fish. Not convinced? see the results.

Dont feel like reading everything? Pick from this list

IMPORTANT: the following are tips and tricks based on our opinions. What you do with this information is up to you. We hold no liabilities or responsibilites or guarantees with how you use this information.

Gear and Preparation - for Casting, for Trolling.

Muskies grow to very large sizes, infact is one of the bigest predator in freshwater, so light and medium gear is not recommended. The weight and energy of these fish will wear down reels and rods that are not made to handle a lot of pressure. You'll get away with it for few fish, maybe, but they will inevitably break and may cost you the trophy of a lifetime (not to mention, money).

PREPARATION TIP: Before and after each trip, check all your equipment, make sure all screws are tight and none are missing from reels, nets and rod holders. Verify all leaders and line, make sure they are not chiped or have any weak spots (this should also be done after releasing a fish).

Casting requires a strong rod at least 7ft in length if you want to get a decent distance with those heavy lures. To retreive those lures fast enough, a bait casting reel of 5 to 1 gear ratio(at least) made of very strong components (no plastic), is essential. The line when casting is a preference thing, but we recommend at least 40lb test braided, this last characteristic will avoid line stretching and has a longer life span. Leaders should be between 8 and 12 inches long.

CASTING TIP: When spooling your reel, make sure you have plenty of line, spool the reel as much as you can in order to have a large diameter on your reel. This will allow for the quickest possible retreive, a MUST! Note: in picture below there is not enough line, there should be 50% more.

Trolling for musky is a major part of any serious musky fisherman, and most of the time you are trolling at very high speeds compared to other species. Trolling rods should be very strong (made of graphite) and 8ft long. The length is important specialy if you are on a big boat, because of the diffrent trolling methods. The reel has to be of matching strength to the rod, with very strong bearings and a high capacity of line. Gear ratio is not so important here as it is in casting. The line used to spool your trolling reel should be of 80lb test braided, on average 80lb test will cost the same as 30lb test, so why not!

TROLLING TIP: Trolling at high speed with large lures will put an enormous amount of pressure on your rod and reel, this is why steel rod holders should be used, holding the rod while trolling will give an average person a soar arm or back. Oh did we mention that a big musky will hit your lure with an enormous amount of force, we've seen plastic holders break off the side of the boat.

Using a Musky net- We hate to repeat ourselves, but we are emphasizing on this: muskies get really big! So you need a big net! A net with 32" to 41" in diameter is needed to net a musky of over 40 inches. Muskies are very strong, combining strength and weight they can cause serious damage to a small net and hurt themselves or even the angler. We give tips and tricks below on how to net a musky.

 

Summary, casting for musky: use strong 7ft+ rods with a tough bait casting reel spooled with braided 40lb+ line and a really big net!

Musky Lures - Crankbaits, spinners and bucktails, topwater

Ever buy a single lure that cost 35$ and upwards to 90$? if not then your missing at least 1 musky lure to your collection. That's right these lures can be expensive. They are big, much bigger than average lures you find in local sports and familly shops and use oversized hooks. Dont misunderstand us, not all musky lures are 35$, the average price in stores ranges between 10$ and 20$. There are bigger and more expensive ones (which can help you get a giant female in the right conditions), but these are not necessary for catching muskies.

One of the key things about selecting lures is knowing what the bait fish are. Usualy the first thing to try on a new lake which you are not familiar with is matching your lure to the bait fish. ie: If perch is the bait fish in the lake use a perch colored lure. Once you get familiar with the lake and structures and have had time to experiment with many lures you will find trends that certain lures will work better than others based on seasons. There are no special lures that get more muskies, its all about knowing what lure is best for what scenario.

Crankbaits

This type of lure can be very versatile as most of them will float if left alone, and dive when retreived through the water. They can be retreived or trolled fast and slow. Shallow, deep, they do both. The only type of structure we dont suggest using it (which you would find out on your own if you tried) is areas with heavy vegetation such as: weeds, reeds, coon tails.

Spinners and bucktails

Although some people use it for trolling (which can be great in the right spots) we prefer to use these casting. If you want to pull out a big female out of the weed bed a single hook spinner or a bucktail is the way to go. The key to making these lures work their best is with a very fast retreive. Reeling as quick as you can to make lure break the surface of the water sometimes can really get a feeding musky to hit your lure.

Topwater

Arguably the best sensation an angler can have is having a big musky hit a top water lure. The sight of the jaws and teeth rushing out of te water to destroy that lure with a splash to match makes this the most thrilling way to catch musky. Frankly we put this lure on here because we know it can be done, but we just never caught one this way yet. When we do we'll be back with how we did it.

What to Look for

Muskellunge is the apex predator in the water it lives in. The first thing to look for is the bait fish. Finding out what muskies feed on in the lake is crucial to understanding and trying to predict the muskies behavior. The bait fish could be more than one species, heck it could even be other predators such as pike, but to increase your chances usualy targeting the more abundant schools is what we recommend. Find out where the perch, ciscoes, suckers, bass, shad and even walleye spots are you will be on your way to finding a feeding esox.

Now that you know what else is in the lake and you know where these bait fish are, scout these areas for structures. Muskies love to ambush, if you find structures where they can hide and strike incoming prey, you're lure will be targeted for a meal if presented at this structure.

Structures are areas in the lake that offer predators a chance to ambush, and also a place for the bait fish to hide. If you examine these structures you will understand. If you find say a dock with lots of weeds surrounding it, that's a great stucture for bait fish to hide. Guess who is also patrolling around those weeds or even hidding in the weeds themselves? That's right, esox. Its so simple it makes us wonder why it was so hard at one point to find these predators. Find their food and you will find them! The rest is up to you to make them chose your bait instead of the real thing. Early in the season bait fish hang out near spawning grounds and so do muskies, summer bait fish move to their prime habitats and so do the muskies. Come the transition of summer to fall is the toughest part, bait fish dont know where to go yet, water is getting colder and warmer in certain spots so baitfish can be anywhere, so are the musky! end of Fall when the water is cold, fish go deeper where the water is not as cold as in the shallows.. well again muskies follow. Keep in mind these are creatures and animals with instincts, not robots! THERE IS NO SET PATERN FOR ANY GIVEN TIME OF THE YEAR! The important thing is to stay versatile, follow certain guidelines but if they dont work try something new or something diffrent! If there is one sure, no fail technique to catching muskies everytime and in numbers, well it hasn't been found yet, so guess what all these techniques can all be worked on and adjusted.

Rocks and weeds

Fish both! Even better, fish the places where weeds turn to rock and rock turn to weeds. The transition spots, these structures hold lots of fish.

 

Techniques and Tips

Trolling & Casting - You can do whatever you feel more comfortable with. They are very diffrent experiences, rewarding in diffrent ways. Casting is very demanding physicly since casting these big baits can take a toll after a day's work on your arms. Trolling will cost you in gas and time and requires a very precise knowledge of your lures and your structures if you want to be efficient at it. We have built our portfolio mostly on trolling for the moment, so the focus for now will be on trolling and will follow with casting info shortly.

Trolling

This is our favorite way to catch these big fish. Before you start throwing your lures behind your boat and start moving forward you have to do some homework first. Here are the points you must be familiar with before you can successfully troll and catch muskies.

• Lure depth, ranges and speed : The first thing with any new lure is to test the lure on the side of the boat. Does the lure run properly? or does the lure seem to swing to one side in particular? Does it start to roll? You have to make sure the lure runs true. You may have to adjust the swivel on the lure to make sure it stops pulling to one side and stays straight. You may realize certain lures run well at fast speeds others require a slower troll. Finaly does the lure have a wide swirl? Does it perform while staying in the same zone, or does the lure swirl side to side with a 4 foot gap in between? How much line do you have to let out to reach specific depths with the lure? All important questions you need to ask yourself with your musky lures. The goal is to know exactly where your lure is in the water and what its doing, so that you can put it right above the bait fish, in the bait fish or have it run 1ft off the bottom.
• Understand your Sonar/Fish finder: What are all those lines on the screen? is that a fish or just debris? There is no easy way to do this, every sonar is diffrent and represents things diffrently on screen. Read the manual, pay attention to what you are seeing and try and run your sonar at a lower sensitivity. Doing so will at least tell you that when your sonar shows items on screen you know there is actually something physical there and not just small debris floating in the current. Why not use the FISH ID feature on the sonar? Its just not accurate, you can waste hours in spots where there actually no fish. The new sonars now show the arch of the fish which seems more accurate then the little fish symbol used by the FISH ID whenever it picks up something floating under your boat.
• GPS: GPS, GPS, GPS! know where you are! You think you know everything about your body of water? you dont! Setup you day by plotting a course and spots you wanto try out on your map. Also allows you to mark certain structures found in hard to find places.
• Rod Holders: you will not want to hold that rod the whole day. You need strong rod holders, use Down Est rod holders. Every other musky angler does. That says something about these holders.
• Speed, know what speed you are going at, guessing just doesn't work. Going against the current or with the current will completely throw off your perspective of speed. GPS is your best bet to know speed.
• Variety: if you are able to run more than one rod at once, then run diffrent lures targeting diffrent depths at first at the same time. Run a lure right off the bottom (not on bottom but close to it) and the other just bellow the surface.

Casting

What is different about casting for muskies compared to other species is: the speed of the retrieves and the weight of your lures. We've examined that reeling in your lure is different for each type.

Buck tails/Spinners: Speed and short pauses. Speed is the crucial one here, lots of speed! Reel as fast your hand can take it!

Jerk baits and crank baits: Hard rips and speed. We mean giving big tugs on the rod to make lure shake and scatter violently in the water. Combine that with speed.

Top water: Pauses. No matter how it’s retrieved we have noticed that pauses (sometimes even long ones) work great!

Specific lures: by this we refer to lures like the Magic Maker or the bull dawg. These have very distinctive possibilities of fishing. The dawg allows for a drop and jig retrieves which works great. The Magic maker has a walk the dog like retrieve which can be fine tuned to different speeds and width.

Famous figures: when retrieving the lure before pulling it out of the water for the next cast always finish with one of three figures. The figure "L", make an L shapped turn of the lure just before pulling it in. The figure 0, run the rod in a circular maner in the water to make the lure perform an 0 pattern. Finally the famous figure 8, run the rod tip in the water with your lure 1-2 feet behind it and run it in a figure 8! ..ohh and make sure you have a good hold on your fishing rod and set that hook!

 

Time to bring out the net

PUT THE CAMERA DOWN,GET THE NET!!

You set the hook now its on, its fighting and your heart is racing this is it you have one hooked! Now what? Hope you have a big net!

The big KAHUNA by Frabill

Netting is simple, but if you dont follow simple guidelines you can lose your fish and break some equipment. Always hold the net with both hands, one hand on the handle the second hand holding the bottom of the teardrop. Holding the teardrop is very important because once the net is in the water it does not stay in a fixed position and the last thing you want is hooks caught on the outside of the net, kiss your fish goodbye! Make sure the net is in the water before you bring the fish close to it, a splash of the net can cause muskies to run which can snap the line when they are very close to the boat.

 

The fish is in the net; this is where it gets dangerous. Leave the fish in the water. Again this is where having a big net helps, so you can leave the hoop on the side of the boat while keeping the fish in the water so it starts recuperating. Do not attempt to pull the fish in the boat with the net, nets have snapped in half trying to do this with muskies. Although nets such as the big kahuna from Frabill are built really strong, you can never predict if it has been cracked or if a weakness in the handle might have developed.

Unhooking the musky SAFELY

Simple, wear thick protective gloves! Use long pliers to remove hooks or cut the hooks if you have to. Because once the hook is out of the Muskie jaws you still have to remove the hook from the net which can be brutal if the fish still has a good chunk of energy left.

Let her go!

Alright the hooks are out of the fish is in the water and is not showing signs of severe stress; take a picture if you want. Remember to hold it from the gill plate (not the gills themselves).

 

Releasing the fish: hold the fish straight and steady do not move front and back as you counterproductive since you are pushing all the oxygen away from the gills when you pull it back. Simply keep the fish straight until the fish wants to swim away on its own.

 

We have a story in our fish tales which focuses on the proper handling and release of the fish. Check it out!

 

The last tip to catching more muskies: go fishing as often as you can! your couch will not help catch more fish.

DISCLAIMER: This will not make you a muskie expert, its takes a lot of practice, but we hope that this will help you get started.Any information found on fishingisliving.com are tips and tricks based on opinions. What you do with this information is up to you. We hold no liabilities, responsibilites or guarantees with how you use this information.