First Musky Outing - LSC 7/9

[E Man]

Went out Trolling for Ski's for the first time Tues from 2:00 - 7:00. My buddy had two 8ft saltwater poles filled with 30lb braid. Started out from Selfridge to just in front of Strawberry. Caught a 6lb and a 13lb on a black Bucktail spinner. My buddy running perch Believer and Yellow bucktail but they both hit the black. Caught both by 4:30. Then trolled north just beyond Grass Island with no bites. Man that 13lb was huge but I guess that's a little one. Can't wait to get into a decent one. Going out tonight to buy my own Musky rod and reel and a few more baits. I've seen posts where guys are talking about using braid with mono leaders, Why do you do this? So the fish don't see the line? Seems like it would be one more weak spot to snap you off.

I used somebody's torpedo trick to revive the 13lber and it worked well. I forget who posted that but thanks.

Keep your line wet:D

[Gone Fishing]

Great job on your 1st Muskie hunt E Man. If you put in a little time, I'm sure a big one is in your future. As far as braid goes, I personally don't use it but I'm pretty much from the old school. I use 30 lb. mono on the planerboard rods and 40 lb. mono on the boat rods (don't have much line out on these). I use 60 lb. mono leaders about 5 - 6 ft. long. I usually run 1 - 4 oz. weight on the planerboard rods and anywhere from 8 - 16 oz. on the dowwnrods. Boat rods usually get 6 - 12 oz. But by all means experiment. This program seems to work OK for me but I'm sure there are better ways to set-up. I don't know if you have any rods picked out but I'll mention what I use. Planerboard rods are Shakespear Ugly Stik's BWC 1120 7 ft. long. Down rods are the same only 5.5 ft long. Boat rods are Ugly Stik's also but are Tiger Rods BWC 2202 7 ft. long. I use Shimano TRN 200G reels but most guys prefer the Penn 320's. Anyway, have fun shopping and if your not hooked on Muskie fishing, I bet you will be soon. Just one more note on set-up, don't use cheap swivels. Coastlock and crosslock seem to work quite well. Also, glad you liked the torpedo release. If the fish does comes back to the surface, come back and give it a good poke with the net. They will usually take off. Sorry, I know you didn't ask for my opinion, I guess I was just bored and thinking about Muskie fishing. Take care and good luck fishing! John

[Reeltime]

A second to Gone Fishing, good crosslocks are important. I can vouch for what happend with the normal snap swivels and a muskie. I pretty much use the crosslocking snaps now for everything and just very the size based on the target.

[E Man]

Thanks GF and Reel. I can use all the advice I can get as I am new to hunting Muskies, but hopefully not for long.
Yeah that bigger fish didn't seem to revive by swimming it, I even held it along side the boat with it in gear, but once I torpedoed it it came back to the surface then immediately started swimming towards bottom.
Good Fishin Fellas.