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Posts: 268
Location: Central Pennsylvania | Im having 0 success with big baits, so id love you guys that fish shallower waters to tell me what're your favorite musky baits to use when downsizing  |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Twitch baits. Work them erratic.
Small blades reeled very fast. |
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Posts: 59
| Small blades also work for me as well.
I also like to use smaller gliders like the 6 inch phantom softail. I haven't tried the 4 inch variation, but it would be interesting to see how that works.
Oversized bass and pike spinnerbaits (3/4 - 1 oz) also work pretty well, plus you get lots of extra action from the smaller species. The cost of this extra attention is smaller ski's (biggest Ive seen with this was upper 30s). If you try this in the spring you may have better success with the big girls though.
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Posts: 199
| Use smaller baits. |
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| Musky sized buzz baits like Boogerman might be an option. Single hook, designed to run on top but can run it just below the surface, with a slightly slower retrieve. |
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Posts: 268
Location: Central Pennsylvania | What power rod would be good for 4 and 6 inch phantoms? I currently have a heavy, but the reel on it doesn't have a fast retrieve so if that rod is fine for gliders i very well might buy a reel for that rod just for glidebait outings.
Also: what colors would you reccomend for phantoms and or hellhounds if you have any experience with them? |
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Posts: 16
| I use a 7’6 MH for small jerk baits. You don’t need a high speed reel to use a jerk bait. |
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Posts: 20218
Location: oswego, il | I fish smaller baits with a flippin stick. I think defining what a small bait is would be most important. To some that's an 8" bait, to others 6" musky bait for me it's larger bass baits. I have no problem throwing. 4" crane or a lucky craft pointer minnow, 5" zam for musky. |
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Posts: 72
| Ok here's a setup that won't cost a lot but works. Go get a 7' medium heavy bass rod rated for an ounce. Get a nice bass reel ( lews are my favorite for the $$$) and spool it with 40-50lb braid. Directly tie on a bass spinnerbait, the $3 northland tackle ones are nice. No leaders at all. I prefer 3/8 and 1/2 ounce baits. Get a trailer hook on there. For whatever reason green and yellow colors are best around here. Now fish it. Anywhere from bass coverage to deeper weed lines. |
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Posts: 31
| everything i do is probably considered downsized to most. the biggest stuff i have is flststicks, baby DRs and baby shallow raiders, bucher 500s and spring dawgs. its all thrown on a MH 7'6" rod and a 300 lexa reel. when i want smaller, its pointer 128s and 5" tubes. i also have some rewired 500 sized bucktails with smaller tinsel skirts. |
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Posts: 268
Location: Central Pennsylvania | Would yinz say that spending 200 for a 7'6 st croix medium heavy premier series musky rod is a waste for this particular way of fishing? |
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Posts: 59
| I use a 7'4'' XH mojo bass for the tiny stuff, but it doesn't have a lot of backbone. I think if anything bigger than 25lbs strikes a bait and takes off the rod will break. That said, a 7'6'' st. croix musky premier might have the backbone necessary so I would go with that.
As for reels, I use a tranX 300 spooled with 65lb braid. I find this reel to be almost perfect for this kind of setup, the only issue is that it struggles to pull any blades showgirl size or larger, and you can really feel it working when pulling in musky sized crankbaits. You will want to up the reel size to the 400 if you want to do anything even remotely larger with this setup.
The best phantom colors for me are Canadian crush, hot white fish, orange belly perch and sucker. |
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Posts: 268
Location: Central Pennsylvania | I've been told to get a tranx, however i'm just a 14 year old from PA. I dont have the largest budget, but id need a whole lot of people to recommend it and then i save up for it. I don't even have real muskies where i am. I just been trying to catch a tiger, i been out 80+ times this year and not one fish to show for it.
i just figured a tranx 300 might be a waste for fishing this way, whenever Im fishing such small lures. |
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Posts: 390
| My favorite downsized baits are 4" phantoms, rapala HJ14 husky jerks, 5" grandmas (if you can still find them) and the ~5" slammers. All of these baits can be used with a spinning rod if needed. Good luck! |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Crane 206, Mepps musky killers and giant killers. m |
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Posts: 17
| I recently picked up a 7'6" St Croix Triumph Musky rod in MH and plan to use it for just those sized baits. They run about $140 and have the 5 year warranty I believe. I am pairing it with a Abu Garcia Maxtoro 50 size (sometimes you can find them really cheap through amazon warehouse). I think you could certainly get away with an Abu Garcia 6500 C3 which can be found used on eBay for under $100.
I've read that Tigers really like smaller crankbaits such as the 4" Rat-L-Traps. |
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Posts: 1276
| The tigers in the lake by my house seem to like 2 oz. spinnerbaits, small cranks like Krusher Jr.s, 22 shorts, big Rat L Traps, etc. Also show a preference for Jackpots and prop baits. Bucktails from Baby Girls, Mepps, on down to Rizzo Whizs. Sometimes it seems that the bigger fish hit the smaller lures, and the little fish will attack the bigger lures. Not sure why that would be, but have had more than a few days where that seemed to be the theme. |
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Posts: 343
| The jointed Cordell redfin, 5"? straight redfin are good tiger cranks for twitching. Whopper Plopper 130's and 110's work well for topwater tigers. Good luck. |
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Posts: 268
Location: Central Pennsylvania | What do you guys think about a tranx 300 for this application? |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Pa Tigers n trout - 10/7/2020 7:40 AM
What do you guys think about a tranx 300 for this application?
That is a nice reel, but I don't think you "have" to have it.
A good solid bass reel would likely do the job for you. |
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Posts: 268
Location: Central Pennsylvania | Well ive just been thinking it´s probably better to just buy the best of the best first, because ¨buy once, cry once¨
Im gonna get an opportunity to visit Raystown in the coming years, and also id like to get up to Michigan, Wisconsin, or even visit Tennessee or Kentucky and chase the big toothy critters. |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Pa Tigers n trout - 10/7/2020 8:27 AM
Well ive just been thinking it´s probably better to just buy the best of the best first, because ¨buy once, cry once¨
Im gonna get an opportunity to visit Raystown in the coming years, and also id like to get up to Michigan, Wisconsin, or even visit Tennessee or Kentucky and chase the big toothy critters.
If well maintained the Tranx 300 would last you for many years. |
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Posts: 268
Location: Central Pennsylvania | sounds pretty tempting, if im completely honest.
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Posts: 1
| I'd look at the Tranx 400 also... it's a very similar reel with a bigger spool so can hold more line. If you decide to throw larger baits it's nice to have room for bigger line... |
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Posts: 268
Location: Central Pennsylvania | I mean- i currently have a calcutta 400b so that's my big reel, maybe another one soon though. |
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Posts: 221
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | Downsized baits for me are 500 buchertails/musky/giant killers, 1 oz lipless cranks, Hj14 and any other bass jerkbait around 5”, 1oz spinnerbaits, 130 whopper plopper, river2sea s waver 168, 4 and 6” phantom softails, oversized bass squarebill cranks, 5-8” paddle tails, ect.
Most of these I throw on a G loomis e6x 8’ heavy moderate bass swim bait Rod with a tranx 300. The rod is perfect for keeping the smaller trebles in, don’t try to use too fast or heavy of a rod on the smaller baits or you’ll loose a good amount of fish. Most of these I’m using a braided titanium leader because it seems like floro will mess of the action of some of the small hard baits. For the smaller twitch baits I prefer to throw it on a 7’3” MH fast spinning rod. Casts better, easier for me to twitch and once I set the hook I play them on pretty light drag, I don’t use heavy wire hooks on these because I still like the baits to suspend. |
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Posts: 393
| I have really good results with a Rapala 14 Husky Jerk. I use a 7 ft StC heavy spinning rod with Plueger Supreme 35 spinning reel. I spool it with 30lb mono and a 30lb wire leader. It has been a great "downsize" set up the last few years in Northern WI. I tend to fish it fast and erratic. |
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Posts: 343
| Pa Tigers and Trout, you definitely need to make a trip to Tennessee and or Kentucky, both have big purbreds and can fish well during the colder months. Many of the fisheries in both are shad based so smaller baits are often the ticket. Good luck. |
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Posts: 20218
Location: oswego, il | My small reel is a calcutta 200 and a Garcia revo S. A bait that has my current interest in getting is a megabass dorum. The vatalion is awesome and now they make a musky sized one! |
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Posts: 20218
Location: oswego, il | The new River2Sea ICBM looks great in the water.
https://youtu.be/TU99l4Cjnic |
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