2013 Muskie Reports

Post any pictures and reports on this topic page!

On the topic of split rings, yes i also put them on every bait. Size 7 on large or medium baits and size 5 on small baits. Change them when they start to stay a little bit seperated after a change. Tight lines.

I agree fishfinder... We had that 30" class fish at the dock trying to revive her. When we called it, it was a tough decision to just let her go belly up and become turtle food instead of just taking her up to the cabin and made into fillets. While we followed the rules, it seemed like such a waste. It was a solid stocky fish and would have had some nice fillets although ive never had musky before.

I'm quite sure that is not what happened m-nut. The fish was lost over the main basin of the lake. I don't think the fish went to the bottom in 50 plus ft of water to rub out 2 treble hooks. Also, think about what I stated...."the top jaw was full of muck"...in your theory, the fish would've had to dive to the bottom of the main basin and then swim upside down to fill the inside of his top jaw. It makes much more sense that the fish died, sunk to the bottom and settled upside down into the muck filled basin until it filled with enough gas to float to the top.

" The interesting thing was that the musky's top jaw was full of muck....an indication that after it died, it had sunk to the bottom of the lake and laid there " Not sure how you can draw that conclusion. How do you know it wasn't an indication that the fish was trying to dislodge the bait by using the bottom?????

I havent had any muskies die on me that I know of but have had some pike not make it. I'm glad I've been on a lake where the size limit allowed me to keep them. I love pickled pike but have only kept the ones that look like they may not make it. I wish you could do the same with any fish that probably wont make it. I'm sure people would abuse this if there were an execption to the rule. I also believe the same people are already not following the rules anyways. Hate to see fish go to waste of any kind. my two cents

I've been making my own leaders for over 20 years now. In the beginning I used heavier cross lock type snaps (same type found on many of the common commercial built leaders), but lost 2 fish in one year with those. Since then I have been using split rings with no issues. I have not tried the Stay-lok type yet. One of those lost fish was a heavy, mid-forty incher that had a 9" crankbait sideways in its mouth. During the fight, it corkscrewed violently and twisted open the cross lock snap. Just before it was close enough to slide the net under it, it popped off the leader. The fish stayed on the surface for a split second and then took off with the lure stuck in its mouth. About 6 days later, I was fishing the same area where I had lost the fish. After several hours of fishing, a large white flash caught my eye. I motored over a hundred yards to find the very same fish I lost earlier floating dead. The interesting thing was that the musky's top jaw was full of muck....an indication that after it died, it had sunk to the bottom of the lake and laid there (for perhaps several days) until the decomposition gases built up and caused it to float to the surface.

Yes its one of the pitfalls about fishing, where you can kill a fish when you hook them. I have released all my muskies but I'm sure some have died later. I know one that swallowed a Buchertail Willowbuck and while I did cut hooks, it still was not in the best shape when I released her. She took off fine, but I did not see her go anywhere (very stained water). I reached into the water and grabbed her tail. She did a nose dive right into the mud. I pulled her out and ran my hands around her face to rid the mud off her. She did release, but not in great as I would have like. About" I did the split ring for a while (back to snaps now) . One thing to make it easier is to buy a bunch of rings and put them on your most used baits. Its easier to put the ring on the leader than some baits, especially ones with big eyelets. And that way your not constantly working the same split ring over and over. " Also keep in mind that if you keep opening the split ring to place on the eye of the bait, it will fatigue the split ring faster to accommodate the thicker diameter of the eyelet. So another reason to place split rings on your baits and leave them there. I have gone snapless on my muskie lures for some time as I trust no snap.

As a rule I change my string-ease (stay lock) snaps the moment the finish starts wearing off. Haven't had any issues with them at all. Plenty of issues with other types. Good stuff in response to the dead fish already. If you fish enough for these things eventually it will happen so you can't beat yourself up over it. Sometimes fish die....regardless of what you do. You can have the absolute best in release tools and when it's their time it's their time. One of the biggest mistakes I see guys do is that they don't calm themselves down at least a little bit before they go to work and end up rushing things and get sloppy. On my removable casting deck I have a piece of baler twine tied in that I can slide my net handle into and the net hangs over the side of the boat so a fish can be kept in it as a pen. This way I don't have to fight hanging onto a net and reaching for hook cutters, pliers, etc. I can let the net hang there...take a moment to gather myself and then get down to business with both hands instead of just one or contorting myself to kneel on a net that wants to go overboard. Hookcutters and pliers are tied to the gunnel of the boat but can be unclipped and moved around. Fish starts going ballistic in the net just drop them and get your hands free. Since I do a ton of night fishing I've also rigged up a pair of $20 accent lights for a car onto a Ram mount that I can simply clamp onto a Ram ball and plug into a 12v socket and adjust so the net is lit up and I can see what I'm doing instead of relying on a headlamp. Regardless of being set up that way I just accept the fact that sooner or later I'm going to lose one. It hasn't happened yet that I am aware of (knock on wood) but that day will come and when it does all I can do is know that I tried my best to get the thing off as quickly as possible. One thing that probably has helped is that 90% of the time I won't even net a fish. Just pop the hooks out at boat side or cut them if possible and let it swim off.

I did the split ring for a while (back to snaps now) . One thing to make it easier is to buy a bunch of rings and put them on your most used baits. Its easier to put the ring on the leader than some baits, especially ones with big eyelets. And that way your not constantly working the same split ring over and over. Maybe that's common knowledge, bit it didn't dawn on me right away that it was easier haha! I had a fish die on me too. Had about a 25in fish eat a suick, but he got his whole body all hooked on it. I was hoping it was a pike while I was reeling it in, at least I could have kept it and ate it. Well I got him undone and put him back and it was belly up within a few minutes....sucks.

Yeah... even the most seasoned pros will tell you that sometimes fish will die on you. We just have to do everything possible to lessen the chance. If I had my cutters on me, theres a good chance that fish would have made it. Hopefully me posting my experience will help others. Jeff... I too use the stay-loks. Alot of musky pros including Bucher are going straight split ring to lure. Ive done so as well sometimes but more then not use the snaps. Ive never had one break on me but one time is too many for me. I think I may go straight split ring with no snap from now on as well. I have a decent pair of split ring pliers so it wont be that much more difficult to change lures.

Tough break rapture... Have had a similar disheartening experience with snaps on leaders opening or failing. I have now switched to all steel ring leaders and beefy split rings. Had a very nice mid 40s engulf a bait last year and it got off... couldnt figure out what happened. Looked at leader and the Stay-lok had failed. Best snaps on the market WILL fail eventually. Guarantee that fish died with a bait that size lodged in its gullet... still bothers me. Steel ring leaders or direct tie leaders wont fail. If it saves somebody one fish or keeps one more fish alive, this post was worth it. Tight lines.

I had a big girl follow my slopmaster spinnerbait on thursday. didnt want anything to do with my figure 8 unfortunatly. We fished for a while after with no other takers. Once the storms blew through we decided to troll and see if we could locate fish that were deeper due to the front that moved through. We finally had a taker around 2 in the afternoon. Was a 30" class fish and it brought a little excitement into the boat. The excitement quickly turned south when we realized the fish was badly gillhooked and we had forgotten my hook cutters back in the other boat. Tried really hard to get her free but it was just one of those cases where cutters were the only option. We got back to the pier as fast as possible but it was too late. Total bummer. Time and time again everyone says to make sure you have all of your tools before you leave the dock. Its an unfortunate learning expieriance that ill never forget. Never gonna happen again, ill tell ya that.

Vilas/Oneida County Musky bite is going strong. Back to back triples with some quality fish last two times out with many other opportunities. Walleyes and pike are very accessible bite is great. Should remain good, though large scale bug hatches may slow it down on a lake by lake basis in the coming weeks. Bass.... are everywhere and super accessible. Bluegills and crappies shallow and plentiful. Have observed some lakes have crappie in prespawn yet as of June 1st and others have been done spawning for many days. Bluegills bedding on some lakes and not even close on others. High degree of variability between lakes but the fishing remains good despite the cold front. Tight Lines.

A nice chunky early season musky from Northern WI!

Jeff Smith got his first musky with me this morning. Mid-thirties fish. She bit on a dawg off some shoreline structure. We lost a better fish and had a couple follows. Congrats to Jeff on his first fish!