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| Hello People. I found this forum after looking for some info on some muskie, pike and walleye fishing. You see, I am a deep southerner from way down south in Texas and I just so happened to get invited to do some muskie/pike/walleye fishing at the end of this month.
I have never done any northern fishing of any type (except for a rare chance to fish salmon in Alaska), but have grown up bass fishing and fishing the Texas coast.
My specific questions are listed below. I will gladly heed any advice for a novice such as myself and attempt to follow it.
1. I think the reels i have are sufficient. Various Shimano reels (calais, curados, and chronarch). Comment?
2. Should I have separate reels/rigs for the different types of fishing? I am not sure of the different habitats for each of these types of fish, but the muskie obviously has the most interest for me.
3. I currently run a 30# braid on all my reels (with a flourocarbon leader for the coastal fishing). Is this a good all around choice, or do i need to go with the extremely heavy lines?
4. Rods - most of my rods are light to medium action rods. I do have a couple of heavy action bass rods. These are probably what i should use or do i "need" a specialty muskie rod? (the word "need" is for my wife's benefit)
I have looked around your forums for a few days, looking at lure selections, reading about rigs, but am just looking for a little home town advice. I haven't read the rules on this forum, but if links are permitted, if anyone can point me in the right direction to read up on more info, it would be appreciated.
Respectfully,
Nobody |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Tell her you NEED 3 new outfits in reality for only occasional use you can get by with a heavy flippin stick and smaller to med bucktails and hard baits. I would spool up with a little heavier braid 65lb. with a single strand steel leader or some like a heavy flourcarbon leader. Good luck have fun. |
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Posts: 540
Location: MN | Where were you invited to go Muskie/pike/walleye fishing? I'm willing to bet one of us would have specific nonage of the lake you'll be fishing. |
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| Thanks for the replies.
It is at South Shore Lodge, just north of you guys in the Wisconsin/Minnesota area. I believe it is on Eagle Lake in Ontario.
The 65lb line seems awfully heavy, but if a trophy is to be had, i guess its necessary. I am not looking to get the biggest fish possible (although it would be a blast), but just some all around advice on gear. I plan on being there the week of May 23rd fishing for 3.5 days. I truly enjoy fishing more than most anything in this world and am anxious to do some of this northern fishing.
thanks again!
Nobody |
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Posts: 461
| I'm pretty sure that you won't be able to leagally fish for muskies at that time. I would think that a call to the lodge would be in order. If your planning on fishing for muskies else where when legal 80 braid and 100 pound floro leader would be the absolute lightest I would go, and I wouldn't throw that on anything less then an 8' Heavy to med Hvy Rod. Good luck and have fun. |
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Posts: 366
| Is this likely a one-time thing or an expanding future pursuit?
How much muskie fishing are you actually going to be doing at the end of the month?
What kind of budget are you willing to put into muskie gear?
The reality is that you could "get by" with chasing muskies on a zebco set up for a limited amount of time, and many have done just that for decades, but most guys on here would seriously recommend against it. There are also guys who will tell you that you have to drop thousand$ on premium gear and tackle. You can definitely get by on heavy bass gear for limited basis, but you do have the potential to destroy your gear, hurt yourself and/or the fish unnecessarily, and simply be unsuccessful with it under the wrong conditions. Where exactly you plan to fish and the fishery's potential are important to the choices you make as well, because encountering mid-30"ers is not the same as coming across mid-50lbers. Rod and Reel choices have a base level minimum for muskie fishing use, but it comes down to what you plan or want to throw for lures that will dictate the more detailed set-up choices.
Ryan
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Posts: 366
| Ah, yes, Ontario muskie fishing season doesn't open until the third Saturday in June. Doing so is considered poaching, and something the MNR takes very seriously. |
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| Well, the Muskie fishing must be out then... I guess we are hitting too early for that. The trip must be for walleye and northern pike. The website where we are staying mentions muskie (and small mouth, lake trout, walleye and northern pike), so i naturally got really excited when i started reading about muskie fishing.
Thanks for all the replies. I won't waste any of your time any further... somewhat disappointing really. But, I'm sure it will still be fun.
Now that I think about it, I did receive a itinerary on our flights to Minnesota that also had something of a little tournament for the group listed in it. It didn't even mention Muskie... i guess that's why. My mistake, but thank you for your replies. I think i can get by with most of the reels i have, but may pick up a little bit heavier rod for the northern pike.
Dang it! Maybe a return trip is in order another time. And to the guy asking about how much time to invest, this is obviously my first time up there, so i don't anticipate too much time spent. Funny the statements about the zebco's and completely understand.
Thanks again! no need to reply further... |
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Posts: 114
Location: Kingston, Ontario | Northern fishing in that area will provide good action and you will be able to chase trophy pike. You should be able to catch multiple huge northerns so don't be too disappointed. |
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Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | The muskies on Eagle don't bite, anyway. They just follow your bait up to the boat, go around in a circle a few times pretending they're chasing it to get you all excited, laugh at you, and swim away.
It's the laughing that hurts the most.
Kevin |
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Posts: 906
Location: Warroad, Mn | Muskie season won't be open so don't worry about that gear. However, if you are lucky you may hit the smallies when they are starting to come up on the beds. If so you will have a great trip. 30 lb braid is good for this. If things are somewhat normal and if you fish for smallies you'll contact many other species, so be prepared. A light wire leader is something to consider. Usually a 1/4 -3/8 oz spinnerbait are a real good choice as are small Rappalas and the like. Tubes and soft plastics also work. It's one of the most fun times of the year. Lots of fish shallow including walleye, pike, and muskies and most are very willing to bite. Muskie season is closed, so don't use what would be considered muskie lures or even have muskie gear in the boat as that would be illegal. However, it seems that no one told the muskies that they weren't suppose to bite a 3/8oz spinnerbait or a #5 Fat Rap. Doug Johnson |
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Posts: 317
| Your 7' Flippin rod/Curado with 35# braid will be just fine to throw spinnerbaits and smaller bucktails like Mepps Giant Killers. |
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Posts: 551
Location: Columbus, Georgia | The Shimano Chronarch is a great Musky reel. I throw one ounce rattle traps and small spinner and crankbaits with it. Have it spooled with 50 lb. braid, using one of the Shimano Inshore Crucial line of rods. The reel is also smokin' on the St. Croix Tournament Legend Downsizer rod (7'3"). |
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| I would get ahold of some 6" muskie lures and smaller muskie bucktails and see if my tackle can handle these. If it could I would just go with what I had and try and catch a lot of fish. In springtime fishing, the smaller lures are prefered anyway. Certainly 30 lb. line is going to handle any walleye or pike you encounter. It would probably handle most muskie too. But you might want to spool up one reel with a 50 to 60 lb. superbraid. Have a good time. |
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Posts: 906
Location: Warroad, Mn | If you are fishing before muskie season is open I would not have any lures that even look like a muskie lure in the boat! The MNR officers don't like that and it's your word against theirs in a Canadian court, with a Canadian Judge. Guess who wins! Just fish for what's legal and you'll have a great time. Doug Johnson |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | And just for future reference, in case you do get into muskie fishing on a more regular basis. I know 65# braid seems overkill to you, but it's not for the fish. It's more for the type of large lures that are commonly thrown for these fish. Since the super braids have little to almost zero stretch, the heavier line helps prevent line breakage upon backlash or sudden halt of the cast, thereby saving you potentially an expensive bait. 65# is on the lighter side but works for many of the lighter baits, as does say a 50# braid, but for the heavier/bigger stuff, 80# is much more commonly used. Good luck on Eagle regardless. It's a beatiful body of water that holds trophy caliber fish of all those other species that will be legal at the time you are there. |
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