Home Forums Fishing Freshwater First Muskie trip of the year.

Went well. 48 inches and bottomed out our 25 pound scale. Released to fight another day. Had 1 other non-picture worthy fish. Not bad for a few hours.

Nice first fish of the season! I'm just getting started with ol' Esox this year. I've bought a lower end muskie rod, and some tackle. About the only thing I don't have right now is appropriate line for my baitcasters and some good leaders. Any helpful hints for a newbie?

There are far better muskie fishermen on this site than me but what we have learned in the last few years.

Keep a record of where you see fish. Hit those high percentage spots regularly throughout the day.
We keep our tackle pretty simple. We have a few stick baits, spinners, and soft plastics.
We use fluorocarbon leaders, no wire.
When the fish are really finicky and just following, we really down size our tackle. Spinning rods with 15 pound braid and J 11 Rapalas have accounted for some of our biggest fish.

and finally

Don't get frustrated: They are one of the most exasperating fish I have ever fished for.

Nice!

Thanks for the info. I'm lucky to have good muskie lakes within an easy drive of home. Two lakes with hyubrids, one within about 10 minutes of here, one about 15 miles from here. Several good muskie lakes within less than an hour's drive. Minnesota's legendary muskie waters "up north" are an easy half day drive from here. Starting out with black bucktails and some big spinnerbaits, cranks, and surface lures. Found a couple ugly old Creek Chub Pikie minnows that have been through the wars. 'Would really like to tangle with one on one of these old timers. With the flurocarbon-what weight to do you use, what knots, and why not steel leaders? Mainly for the visibility?

I use a uni or a Red Philips knot. We use 20 pound fluorocarbon on the spinning rods and 50 on our baitcasting.

Not at all sure why as the waters we fish are stained but we have significantly higher fish enounters with flouro. I'm knocking on wood but we have not had a bite off.

Looks like fun....I need to get up there and try to catch one of those things....but then the thought of salmon or trout pops into my mind, and out goes the idea of musky.