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Posts: 572
| just curious about how and where to best fish a Burmek lure.
Thanks,
Bob |
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Posts: 132
| I have been using them for 30 years. I even knew two of the brothers (Fred and Cliff). They have outstanding action and will run about 6 feet on a cast. They can also be retreived very slowly on the surface and look awesome.
That all said, I have never caught a lot on them. They are a great shock bait for me when times get tough and I just need some follows. I get all kinds of follows on them but few strikes.
They have a small speed window and don't work well fast. Slow to medium. They troll well at slow speeds and have sort of a "hunting" action like a J-Plug does.
They get a lot of looks but few eaters for me. |
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Posts: 2361
| No, they aren't. There are better lures to use, and you need to use them. |
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Posts: 572
| Thanks Partycrasher. I figured they would be best worked slowly on the surface over weeds. At least that was what I was told. Very interesting about getting all kinds of follows but few strikes. I'll try a few pauses in my slow approach.
firstsixfeet, there probably better lures to use. I just never had the opportunity to fish the burmek as mine was stolen many years ago. I guess it is just an age, but I've always been curious about a lure that was used to catch proven to catch muskies a long time ago.
"Lure made famous by Tony Burmek, who caught 42 Muskies in 12 days weighing a total of 533 lbs. Pretty impressive anywhere. Fish were caught in Wisconsin in 1955. Bait can be trolled or cast, working along or over weeds. Proven fish catcher. 8", 2 oz"
Sometimes it's how and where one works a lure to make it productive. That's what I am curious about.
Thanks again for your input. |
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Posts: 691
Location: nationwide | Without a doubt it is an awesome looking lure in the water, but the stories of the Burmek boys need to be investigated because those fish were caught "jug" fishing and not on the lure in question. Interesting this has never been addressed by honest John Dettloff.
Numerous property owners and guides from that era have verified the story enough for me to believe it. Sad in a way because I believed it for alot of years and threw the B-1 with dreams of catching those numbers of fish as well.
Corey Meyer |
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Posts: 909
| muskiemyer, What is jug fishing? Just curious!
Brian |
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Posts: 691
Location: nationwide | A jug of some sort with a line tied to it with a hook attached. The hook would have been an old school "j" hook with a sucker attached . . . . . . and throw it overboard and let the suckers and wind take them all over the place. Then the next morning/day go around the lake and pick them up and see what you caught. That was the complaint I heard from the property owners, jugs all over the lake, some with muskies and walleyes attached.
Corey Meyer |
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Posts: 132
| Muskybob, I don't know about allegations of Jug fishing back in those days. The more stories I hear about all the old musky hunters more hanky-panky went on than we know about. I do know that even back in the 80's Cliff was still fishing Pewaukee and catching muskies with them out there. I wasn't with him but I did see pictures shot in the water where the muskies had clearly eaten a big B-1.
Like a lot of lures, they had a cult following and a niche. Back about the time I was friends with them they were getting up in years. I was in my 20's and seriously thought about talking them into selling the business to me. They sold a lot out east and were actually still doing well. With a little promotion I thought it could do even better. Before I could get up the nerve to ask them about selling, they went and sold to Uncle Josh.
I think it has one of the greatest actions I have even seen in a lure but you cant get the speed or sharp actions needed to trigger strikes at the boat. You cant really twitch it or jerk it.
Here is one other observation I have about the lure. The B-1 that is available today resembles the ones that Tony used to set records, BUT it is not the same lure! I have seen the originals and actually have one of them. It's a smaller lure and doesn't have the fin on the tail. I have tried it close to the boat (I don't really use it any more, it's in a shadow box on the wall) and you can snap it and twitch it like a Grandma. You can't with the B-1. It has a lazy slow action that lends itself to trolling well. It's actually a good row-troller if you want to row shallow areas.
The best application I have had for it is back in the "bogs" at dusk on Cranberry Lake of the Eagle River chain. You would just slowly "wake" that thing on the surface and the Muskies would blow up on it.
They also made a surface bait that was one piece with a propeller on the back. Those were already out of production when I was hanging out with the boys 25 years ago. They also made a great little minnow bait called the Burmek Minnow that was great for Bass, Walleye and even Lake Michigan Browns. It was built like a tank.
Interesting conversation! Thanks for bringing it up. |
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Posts: 572
| Partycrasher, interesting....needless to say.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and history. |
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| Just wondering if Partycrasher or anyone else might have a photo of the SURFACE bait that they made, I've been trying to have a look at one for years.
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Posts: 132
| Hi "Old Guy",
There is a fairly good picture of one in Ron Schara's book Musky Mania (1977). There are also several very good photo's in Robert Slades "Fishing tackle of Wisconsin". They look like a B-1 without the joint and propellers front and back. No lip. Slade also refers to a B-3 Slap tail that I have NEVER seen, nor does he have photos. The propeller surface models show up here and there on e-bay. It was known as the B-2. |
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Posts: 691
Location: nationwide | Burmek flaptails.
Corey Meyer
Attachments
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 burmek flaptails x.bmp (173KB - 443 downloads)
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Posts: 691
Location: nationwide | Better picture located here.
http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?a...
Corey Meyer
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Posts: 132
| Nice shots.
Thanks, Corey |
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