Plastic – New To Musky Fishing

So,
I’m easing myself into musky fishing.
Bought my first large plastic bait a few weeks ago – Large Medussa.
Haven’t gotten any more yet.

Hearing from a friend who’s had the musky fever for a few years that plastics like bulldawgs, medussa’s, etc can be fished ANY WAY YOU WANT.

What’s your preferred way to fish plastics?

I find that my medussa rolls when jerked or reeled in fast. Is this OK or are there methods to tune it?

Thanks guys. Still haven’t caught a musky yet, but don’t feel i’ve earned one yet either.
FOreArm is still sore from pitching double 10’s on monday

Any general advice for a newb is welcomed.

I don’t fish Medussa’s. But many plastics are fished using a pull pause technique. Sweep “pull” the rod “keeping the tip relatively close to the water if possible” several feet. then reel in the slack during the pause, repeat. I’m using a plastic called: Life Like Pike from Dunright, seems to work for pike.

Ben Brettingen is quite well verses in throwing the heavy plasics for Musky’s try mailing him.

Thanks Joc.

So, I’ve noticed that i’m terrible at reeling in the swivel from the leader right into the eyelet right before i go into a figure 8. Made me cringe after i did it probably 20x the other night. Figure i’m going to bust my eyelet soon and am quite surprised i haven’t yet.

Does anyone use a rubber stopper of some kind to soften the blow from a big swivel hitting your eyelet?

I think a longer rod will help, because i won’t need to reel in as close to the rod to do a proper figure 8.

How long is your leader? Perhaps they are to long? My leaders are only (12 to 16)” long. You can put microscopic dings in the eyelet which will wear down your line ‘via friction” thus compromising your fishing line.

Yep, that’s got me real worried.

I make my own leaders, 10-12″.
Green water I just don’t see the bait/leader till it’s too late, especially when reeling really fast. Something I’ll need to work on and will come with practice. But was thinking a small rubber stopper like used in sinker slides or even a rubber bead would save an eyelet when you make the mistake.

Owner Tackle company makes Soft Glow Beads. In the metro area I have bought them at Thorne Brothers. They work well, just slip one on your line before tying on your leader. They glow and protect your rod tip.

Here is a link to the Owner web page. Scroll down to find them http://www.ownerhooks.com/accessories.htm

Ahhh… Rubber! Fishing dawgs and dussas and the like is far and away my favorite way to fish Muskies!
There really isn’t a wrong way to fish them either. I have caught fish ripping them as hard as you possibly can through weeds in the middle of summer. Or with a slow pull pause in late fall. It really just comes down to getting to know what they want.
As to your problem of a rolling dussa I find they run better if you bend the nose down so the bait is shaped like a banana. Once you feel the bone crushing hit of a rubber bite you’ll own more rubber than you’ll know what to do with!

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That sure is different then pull pausing for pike where you usually just feel a bit of weight on the pause and better set that hook quickly when you do or you’ll miss it.

There’s almost nothing I hate more than catching pike while Muskie fishing! I’ve had more rubber baits absolutely shredded by pike than I care to even think about.
You can’t even imagne the disappointment you feel while fishing a known big Muskie spot on Mille lacs or vermillion when your bait is crushed only to reel up a 40″ pike.

tim:

I’d be ok with a 40″ pike, substantailly smaller, I am right there with ya!!!

Mark

40″ is a lot of pike sure don’t bother me, or even tiger-musky for that matter. Thats what I fish for. To each his own. I feel the same way about bass.

timschmitz wrote:

Ahhh… Rubber! Fishing dawgs and dussas and the like is far and away my favorite way to fish Muskies!
There really isn’t a wrong way to fish them either. I have caught fish ripping them as hard as you possibly can through weeds in the middle of summer. Or with a slow pull pause in late fall. It really just comes down to getting to know what they want.
As to your problem of a rolling dussa I find they run better if you bend the nose down so the bait is shaped like a banana. Once you feel the bone crushing hit of a rubber bite you’ll own more rubber than you’ll know what to do with!

Tim pretty much nailed it. Ripping as hard as possible is an awesome way to trigger fish!

I’m kind of a rip fisherman with the dussa’s as well. The majority of my fishing is in pretty heavy cabbage so you have to really rip it to keep it high and to be able to rip through the cabbage without getting any debris on your bait. A large majority of my bites have been right when I rip it through a clump of cabbage. Like Tim said, their is something about muskies and rubber, they come unglued and attack the bait.

However I have seen some people do some weird things with these baits and catch fish. There really isn’t a wrong way.

Doesn’t matter if the dussa’s roll when ripping it?

Like I said bend it nose down these baits are very tunable.

Sweet.

Anyone recommend a tackle box?

I keep my stuff in 2 custom made Justencase boxes. They’ve been serving me well for the last 4years.

Spent about an hour last night laying in bed searching for musky tackle boxes….which quickly lead to musky dreams last night..about making tackle boxes LOL

So i think i’m going to make a box to hold my baits.

I use a soft side tackle box with the flat Plano boxes removed. I then cut rain gutter downspout to the appropriate height pieces and hang my baits vertically in there. Once your collection expands you can use more than one bag ie: bulldogs and similar in one, spinnerbaits/cowgirls in another. Never have had baits tangle and is a lot less expensive than buying premade boxes…..more to spend on baits.

I keep all my big rubbers in a Rubbermaid box. Same with all my big crank baits. In the fall when I bring all my big baits out, they usually are just hung by their hooks on the boat somewhere. As far as tuning the baits, just bend the nose like stated before. I usually do the slow pull, pause in the fall.

Just remember that some rubbers don’t like other chemical compositions of others and do the big melt down.

Mark

I use a surgeon’s end loop in the end of the braid. I make the loop about six inches long the knot works good for a feel indicator. It also makes quick work switching my musky leaders to sturgeon rigs. I have never had this knot fail me.

Yep, milk crates with either cut plastic down spout material or Plano 3730’s served me well for years. The Lakewood boxes are great too.

If you throw any Bulldawgs, cut the top single hook right off as it just keeps you from moving the lure through the fish’s mouth during hook-sets. You will find out quickly that you almost can’t have too stiff of a rod or too fast of retrieve reel for ripping big rubber.