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| This is kind of a weird thought I had while looking at all the snow. While on Eagle Lake walleye fishing, I and one of the guys I was fishing with hooked into big musky. Mine grabbed the jig/minnow directly, his grabbed a hooked walleye, eventually letting go.
Would it be productive to drop a Bondy or other vertical jigging lure off the other side of the boat while someone else is fishing for walleye? Guys I went with have been going to Eagle for 12 years and said every year they have at least one hookup with a musky while jigging for walleye. They have never boated one and really are not keen on doing so.
Obviously, if I was doing that, would make sure I had adequate release tools, etc. |
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Posts: 294
Location: Oconomowoc, WI | Absolutely. Other good options would be tubes or big Joes. Some of the biggest fish in that system just relate to offshore structure with the walleyes. |
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Posts: 280
| Not uncommon on Canadian Shield Lakes for someone to hook into a musky while walleye, bass, trout fishing, etc. Happens often. Sure a Bondy, ROT, soft plastics or other types of similar baits off the side of the boat would work while targeting other species. I believe in Canada the regulations are one line per person while casting or trolling. You would need a person who would be the designated line watcher, rod person for this approach. So while others are walleye fishing you could have a person muskie fishing on the same boat. |
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Location: PA Angler | I’ve caught a good bit of Muskie jigging. A couple with jigs but more jigging big swimbait s. |
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Posts: 1651
Location: Brighton CO. | When we used to go to Canada ever summer we would fish for Walleyes two or three afternoons for part of the day to have a fish fry and we had lots of Muskies grab our Walleyes. On the last two trips to Wisconsin the guide had me jigging a Bondy and I caught a muskie one trip and on the other I last one. The one I last felted like a good sized fish but got off before we could get a look at it. Of course in Wisconsin we can have three rods so we can jig and still another presentation out there. |
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| Should clarify, I wasn't planning on jigging for both at the same time. Just that jigging for walleyes can be a little boring, even when they are hitting pretty good. I would rather catch one good musky than thirty 16" walleye. |
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Posts: 1473
| If you are in about 15 foot or less, probably not an issue, but you start getting deeper than that, and you are starting to increase delayed mortality. Many people do it, and I'm not going to rip on it. But I'm not going to do it either. |
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Posts: 2085
| Definitely an option all season up there, I tend to do it when the fish aren’t going/nothing else is working, and it’s saved several trips for me… you’ll never forget when a monster knocks 2’ of slack in your line (you’re always in contact with a bondy when working properly), many big pike and a couple 28”+ walleyes too… |
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| I attended a seminar put on by Pete Maina on vertical jigging. The funny thing was that while he had videos showing good success with vertical jigging, he admitted he did not do it very often, despite proven results. Not long after, I was fishing with my nephew and when we took a break to eat a sandwich in the boat, while dragging suckers in the fall, he jigged a brand new Bondy he had just bought. Couldn't have been 5 minutes and he had a strike. Fishing with one hand and a big sub in the other, he didn't get a hook set but that new bait had big tooth marks. We had been casting for at least five hours with nothing. But, soon as he finished his sandwich, back to casting. I understood what Pete was saying. It works, but lots of patience required. Now that I am old, maybe time to do more of it.
Edited by North of 8 3/1/2026 8:54 AM
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