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Posts: 196
| I rarely ever fish bucktails but this year I have put one on more and I have lost about 4 fish on the hookset on a pink Mepps bucktail the last 2 trips out. I barely feel the tick and see the fish turn and there is nothing to set the hook against. The hooks are sharp. It seems as they are just nipping or swiping at the bait. I pulled some of the hair out of the bait earlier in the season as it seemed bulky to me...any ideas? |
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Posts: 827
Location: Minneapolis,Minnesota | What you want to do is stop fishing and give me all your gear......
But seriously, just put the hooks back on that bait and you'll catch way more.......
Edited by Phish Killer 7/1/2003 9:56 PM
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Posts: 3926
| The musky gods are frowning upon you because you tried to swipe my Topraider that makes both the plop plop AND the whistling sounds. |
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Posts: 346
| I've read an article where the author was getting tons of hits on hair, but couldn't hook up. He switched to a bucktail that had a treble right below the blade, and a normal treble in the hair, and starting getting the hooks into the fish.
Example:
http://www.muskyshop.com/modules/cart/product.php?did=4&cid=0&sid=0...
A little more weedless:
http://www.muskyshop.com/modules/cart/product.php?did=4&cid=0&sid=0...
I believe the authors theory was the skis were ambushing the lure from thick weeds and would get nothing but beads, blades, wire, etc until he put a hook up front.
Hope this helps,
MJB |
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Posts: 1430
Location: Eastern Ontario | This may sound stupidly simple but try to fish them faster. Seems that fish hit them more agressively with higher speeds as well as hooking themself on the hit. P.S. Only try this after the 11th ;) |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | Do you run any teasers? Hang a 4 to 6 inch grub off one of the hooks, now your profile is much larger and the hooks are in the middle instead of at the back. The twisting of the tail behind the hair adds great action too. |
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Posts: 532
Location: Chicago, IL | I would have to agree with Trophy, the faster you run a bucktail the more aggressive the strike and usually because of the speed if you keep reeling and set the hook you should have no trouble keeping the fish on. Regardless they are muskies and even on a better hooking bait like a bucktail they will still get off.
-Phil C. |
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Posts: 2061
Location: Belgium | how about double splitringing the treble hook so it hangs way back behind the spinnerblade? It works for me. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | I also agree with speeding up the retrieve. It's something about a burned bucktail that the fish hate! I don't know about switching bucktails though. I would stick with what is producing and fine tuning your retrieve. Besides, I don't know how many places carry a pink bucktail. A few other things to try is:
1. Thin out the hair a little more so that there isn't much hair beyond the hook
2. Run a 3" Mister Twister tail on one of the hooks for a trailer
3. Run a piece of Uncle Josh Pork Strip for a trailer.
4. Use more of a "pulsing" retrieve. This is done by half of the crank is faster than the other half on a full cycle. |
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Posts: 3926
| I've been watching this thread with great interest, being a bucktail kind of guy.
My best success this year has been when I've slowed down the retrieve; in fact, the old Ghosttail I've been using goes sooooo very slow I can slowly "juke' it up and down as it returns to the boat. What I mean is, I can stop reeling and the bucktail slowly dives, blade still turning, then I start reeling and the nose slowly rises up again, blade still turning. In a way, the bait comes back to the boat muck like a dead suick.
Ok, now from another angle - I've been under the impression that most really big muskies are fat lazy gals who won't chase fast baits. That's why suspending cranks are so effective, they look like really easy prey. Do you folks often catch BIG muskies (over 45') while burning bucktails? |
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Posts: 135
Location: Elgin, IL | I'd add one thing in regards to a trailer. Fished a lake in MN last year using a bucktail with a twister-tail trailer and was getting some hard hits...but no hookups. It drove me nuts for a couple days. So I downsized the bucktail, sped up the retrieve, thinned out the hair. Nada. I finally realized, during the last hour of course, that the fish were just biting down on the twister tail. I even had one fish that came to the boat still holding the trailer. He had it stretched out about a foot behind the rear treble. I led him around like a dog holding on to a toy for about 5 seconds before he let go. It was pretty amusing actually. Same exact thing happened to me during opener on the same lake this year. Maybe I'll learn a lesson and try running a stinger hook through the trailer next time out. Could happen elsewhere I guess.
Mark |
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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | What type of Mepps is it. Single or tandem. I know that on the single tails the hook is embedded pretty far in tail. You might want to consider rigging a trailor hook off of it. It'l tough to trim the tail hair off of the singles. If it is a tandem, trim the back of the hair, or put a larger hook off of the back.
Good lungen,
Joel |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Big fish?! You bet! The biggest I have ever hooked (yes, I did not keep it on long) was 2 years ago burning a bucktail with my bro Krappie in the boat. I set the hook once, did not move. I thought I was in a log. For good measures I set the hook a second time, and the same result. Just as I hit the trolling motor to retrieve the snagged lure the fish decided to moved. We both saw her rolling under the water, and then she was gone.
Second big fish incident was the same year burning a bucktail in 18 ft of water. This fish I do believe is the same 49" I caught in the fall. However, the first time it broke through my net when it was unhooked. No pics or measurement.
This weekend sounds like it will be a good weekend to try the big fish/burning bucktail thing out again. |
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Posts: 3926
| Ok, Cisco has spoken - big fish on burned bucktails. I'll try this evening, by jingo. I have two of those little all-pink Mepps, both named "Pinky Tuskedero". |
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | I love bucktails. Keep burning them, but also try the slopw thing.
I'll burn them in 20 ft of water or 1 ft of water. 46" Tonka to speak of and a bigger one lost on a bucktail! |
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Posts: 1430
Location: Eastern Ontario | Originally written by Ranger on 2003-07-02 11:54 AM
Do you folks often catch BIG muskies (over 45') while burning bucktails? Hmmm maybe some 20 to 30 a year. LOL really I am talking about burning or speed trolling spinnerbaits. My son's 54 from last Monday was caught at 5 MPH, also caught a fat 45.5 inch male last week and I was going over 5 MPH.. |
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Posts: 196
| Thanks for the tips...I'll try speed and a strip of bacon off the back. |
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Losing fish on bucktails