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Posts: 425
Location: Elkhart, IN | I was out on Webster right after dark saturday night and the muskies went nuts jumping all over a flat that I was on. The problem was there was so much floating weed right there that I couldn't work much in the way of lures. My little boy was playing with a weedless bass lure called a Salad Spoon and twice muskie blew up on it, but honestly I don't think this would be a good lure to use because its not really made for use with a steel leader. I played around with a buzzbait for a little bit with no success, but even that was getting weed wound into the prop. I seen something called a sloppy pig from a company called Odyssey, has anyone used these? Can you think of any other lures that would work in this situation? Thanks for all help. |
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Posts: 32957
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Yes, a Giant Sluggo. Absolutely weedless, and works like a jerk bait. |
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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | SV.....
If they are hitting surface baits I have found one of the most effective lures to work through the slop is a bait that Mr. Twister/Mepps makes. I am drawing a mental blank right now but I think the name is something like the Top Prop or something like that.
It is a topwater bait with a arrow-head type blade and you can buy it either with a bucktail trailer or for the real slop a rubber tail with a single hook.
I have used this to get through some of the thickest stuff you could imagine and it works... Drive on over to your favorite Gander Mountain and pick one up.... They sell giant Sluggo's too...:)
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | are you sure those were muskies, not carp or gar?
Mike Hulbert
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Location: Pewaukee, WI | try a 1 1/4 oz j-mac jig with a mogambo tail |
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Posts: 158
Location: Eagan, MN | I'll second the suggestion on the Top Prop. I use the one with the bucktail trailer. It has tandem double hooks that ride pointed up towards the sky. Amazingly weedless and attractive to fish. Another good bait is the Boogerman. Don't worry about dragging a few weeds back to the boat, even long ones. The muskies don't seem to care.
I agree with the last post, though, are you sure they were muskies? |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | I fish Webster alot, and the gar and carp usually go wild in the early morning and then again in the evening.
Usually, and I said, usually, a large amount of muskies don't surface one right after another. I would say you were seeing gar.
Mike Hulbert
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Posts: 1189
Location: Bagley,MN 56621 | Top Raider with the belly hook removed, works great in the slop. |
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| I will second the SLOP-RAIDER! Awesome in salad.About those fish,I was on a res.last week and seen 3 ski`s at one time up on the surface chasing spawning emarld shiners.It was a definte fist for me,espically being fall.Always try to get a good look at the fin`s,in my case I seen complete fish though! |
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Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | I will agree with the Gar/ Carp assesment. I fished the lakes up there a lot myself and I swear every time I go I won't be buffaloed by those blasted gar and carp. The gar will definately mess with you and they certainly resemble the back of a musky until you see one up close. Stay focused and don't go chasing rough fish just because they're thrashing on the surface. I've been guilty too many times! |
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Posts: 346
| In one body of water I fish, the only one that I've ever seen large numbers of carp surface repeatidly, they would come up with just their backs out of the water very slowly, not jumping or making commotion. Never had any experience with gar.
MJB
Edited by MJB_04 10/13/2003 12:00 PM
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Posts: 189
Location: Hoboken, NJ / North Webster, IN | I've seen, and mistakenly chased, the gar out there too... Was wondering though if anyone has ever caught one or knows how to go about it? I've read some websites that talk about hookless rope lures to catch them, but just curious if anyone has pulled one in on Webster? |
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Posts: 2091
Location: Stevens Point, WI | I have a large Mr. Twister Top Prop that I put on 6-8" creature tails and it is totally weedless and have boated a few fish in the slop on it. Works good for big pike and bass too. |
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Posts: 131
Location: Kalamazoo, MI | We were out on a small lake in south west michigan on Friday night and the gar were dancing like crazy! We thought they were musky for sure until we got out the spotlight and starting following the splashes. They were everywhere over the weeds, sometimes in groups of three or four all swimming right next to each other. Im not sure what the behavior is all about (cant imagine they spawn this time of year) but they were definitely very active up this way! We did see a few musky as well, and had a few blowups on top raiders.
The Fin-S is just like the sluggo only it is a little taller in the body and has a split tail. If im fishing IN the slop, I like tossing either of those baits. Ive had a lot of musky follow and hit on baits covered in weeds. As long as the weeds arent completely killing the action of the lure, and you are getting action, stick with them! The weeds probably bother you more than the musky, especially under the cover of darkness.
Edited by spieg 10/13/2003 3:40 PM
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Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | I keep a Fin-s fish rigged all the time too. Also, a giant Sluggo nose hooked to a big Johnson Silver Minnow has incredible action. Excellent slop bait or bottom hugger. I must admit I haven't caught many musky in my experience but I think anyone who tries the Sluggo/ Johnson Spoon rig will like it's potential. Just another option for your bag of tricks. |
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Posts: 425
Location: Elkhart, IN | OK guys, my reason for thinking they were muskies is because they were blowing up on my boys weedless topwater lure, actually two hits and very aggressive when they did. I just don't think a carp or a gar are going to hit a topwater bass bait like that. Does anybody think they would? I know the muskies were up shallow in the flats because one was caught right in the bay by our pier, which is probably only in the 4-8' range. And the action, to me anyway, resembled the type of action that was going on in the bay when I got my first topwater muskie earlier this year in the spring. When I got that one they were jumping all over the place in the bay and I managed to get one, which actually was my first. Thanks for all the ideas guys, I would have answered back earlier but have been out working all day.
Mark |
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Posts: 425
Location: Elkhart, IN | I do like the Topraider idea, especially since I already have one. I'll be sure and give that a try the next time I'm out. Thanks again for everyones input. |
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Posts: 24
Location: Webster Lake | In my experience with the surfacing fish it is all three of the fish with some big largemouth mixed in. try moving to the outside of the activity and fishing a subsurface lure 1 to 3feet down(ie.bucktail,magic maker,ss shad) I stopped chasing the actual surfacing fish and started catching more muskies. if your seeing muskies on the surface on webster they already have a shad in there mouth. speed kills in this situation.
Chae Dolsen
hammer your hooksets |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | I remember talking to someone once that caught a 34" gar on I think a Reef Hawg. Hey, if it hits my lure and I catch it who cares what it is..Hopefully they are still pretty active this weekend. |
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Location: Illinois-Indiana | If in fact they are gar, they are feeding and that means that the MUSKIES are there feeding too. I caught a gar once on Webster while they were sufacing on a bucktail with a shad body and hair, two cast later I released a 38" Musky. Sometimes it's hard to find what they will hit when they are active on top like that. My favorite lure for this situation is a jackpot, it looks and acts like a wounded bait fish, after all they are feeding on top so why not go after them on top.
Keep casting in there and you will get one.
Edited by Musky Fever 10/14/2003 5:13 PM
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | Ralph..what size was the GAR? I'm thinking it was you I was talking to. It was someone from Southside Musky Hawks a couple years ago.. |
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Posts: 172
Location: Chagrin Falls, Ohio | I second Sworall on the Sluggo. It's been a cold-front and heavy pressure lake secret of mine for a while. And it's great when the weeds are torn up as well. I've had fish move on it when nothing else worked. Good fishin', Tyler Campbell |
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Location: Illinois-Indiana | Kevin,
I caught that gar about three years ago and it went around 24", you can tell by the look on my face that I'm thinking what the hell is this thing. |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | Not sure then..I thought it was in the mid 30" range and that the person may have taken it to a taxidermist.. |
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Posts: 148
Location: DES MOINES, IOWA | GREG. TOPRAIDERS WITHOUT THE BELLY HOOK WILL GET THRU THE SLOP WITHOUT FOULING UP? I HAVEN,T TRIED THAT, BUT DEFINITELY EXCITES ME. WE USE TOPRAIDERS A LOT, BUT FISH A LOT OF SLOP, AND THEY CONSTANTLY FOUL UP. WE FISHED SOME STUFF THIS YEAR THAT I WAS USING A JOHNSON SPOON, BOUNCING OVER THE TOP OF LILY PADS FOR 15-20 FEET BEFORE HITTING AN OPEN PATCH OF WATER. HAULED OUT MANY NORTHERNS, BUT NO MUSKYS. CAUGHT ALL THE MUSKY S (4) IN THE OPEN CHANNEL OF THE RIVER WITH TOPRAIDERS, BUT IT WAS STILL WEEDY ENOUGH THAT WE GOT ABOUT 1/2 OUR CASTS THRU WITHOUT HITTING WEEDS. IF YOU TAKE OFF THE BELLY HOOK, DO YOU FEEL YOU MISS MORE HOOKSETS? |
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Posts: 1189
Location: Bagley,MN 56621 | Jay, I heard of this tactic 2 years ago at the Chicago Musky show...Joe Bucher was doing a pool demonstration and talked about it. I tried it a few times that next season and it worked pretty good as far as getting through some thicker stuff, although I never did stick with it long enough to get a blowup or hook a fish. It was mentioned that if hooksets were an issue that you could put a bigger hook on the back.
That season I had much more success fishing breaklines and deeper structure and didnt concentrate on the shallow slop stuff as much, but always remembered what he said at that pool demo.
someone else here mentioned they liked that tactic as well, maybe they actually hooked up with some fish and stuck with it. |
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| You will not miss any more fish because using the slop-raider you USUALLY fish the thick areas alot slower then when you run a normal top-raider in a more open situation.And yes, I run a 6/0 on the back if it does not already have one!And yes it catches big fish and yes very few people use that bait in that way even though they know about it! |
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