Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Couple more Muskies and a new muskie rig

Haven't been catching too many here lately. Been playing net man mostly for others lol. Here's a couple river fish from a few weeks ago. Also retired my 12' alumacraft and broke down and bought a new 1648 alumacraft with the no center seat option. The little Yamaha purrs like a kitten too. This should get me into water that I've had to skip out on in the past. If 1/2 as many Muskies hit this boat that hit my 12' I'll be one happy camper

Great pics and congrats on the new boat!

New boats are like puppies you just gotta love them.

Cool beans! The new boat looks great and so do the muskies!

I use a 1648 boat with a 25 Johnson for swift water & love it. Congrats on the new rig.

Thanks guys

Creeker- it's rated up to a 35 but there's 3 lakes that I fish that have 9.9 limits on them....would like to have had the bigger motor but the 9.9 is what I needed

Terrific fish!

Killer rig man! That little yamaha will sip gas. I too have a Alumacraft Jon but mine is smaller, 1546 with a prop tunnel. Well built boats they are.

I have been doing a little resurch on musky fishing here in East tn after you mentioned Melton hill and have found several sleeper holes that don't get much pressure but I am going to have to buy some big baits and heavy rods. Have never fished for them so I'm sure there's a learning curve. What do you fish for them with? Lures and rods? The ones I will be fishing for are also river muskies.

Good pics man, always enjoy'em.

Starting out muskie fishing here's what I suggest.

1) good pliars, bolt cutter for removing hooks, jaw spreaders, and a large tangle free net. I use a frabill power catch but Beckmann and drifter also make great nets. Use the net as a live well to work on the fish over the side of the boat to minimize time outta th water. Muskies are easily stressed and less time outta the water is best. Catch and release only works if the fish survives the ordeal.

2) I reccomend at least 2 rods. Starting out though you could get buy with one. An 8' heavy is a good all around Rod, combined with a shimano Calcutta 400 and spooled with Quality 65-80# braided line. This would be a solid setup that can do a little bit of everything.

3) lures- it's endless but here's what's hot and you will find in pretty much every body's box

1) bucktails-Single and double bladed. Black and nickel blades, black and orange blades, black chartreuse, whites, etc

2) bulldawgs- get a natural and a bright, I reccomend the regular size starting out. Then move up to the magnum when you're ready

3) crank baits/twitch baits- 6-7" jakes, grandmas, slammers, cranes. Again the options are endless but these are popular

4) topwater- pacemaker or top raider in black

5) glide/jerkbait- hell hounds, phantoms and mantas. These shine in the winter months because they work slow and have very good hang time


Don't have to buy all this at once but this is a pretty good Arsenal right here that will cover 98% of your muskie fishing. As you progress you can add customs to your bag. There's a ton of bait makers out there churning out some really good lures

ky, ya got yourself a nice new rig there. Congrats!

And no worries on the 9.9 Yamadog. You will get a ton of fun out of that one. I had a 40 Yammie on my old 13'6" Whaler that was bulletproof and ran like a sumbich.

Thanks local. That little Yamaha uses no fuel at all. 7$ filled it up. Fished 3 days. Still had 1/2 tank. And it's quiet. You can talk over it no problem

Surprised at the speed to. I got 15mph out of it with 2ppl and gear

Thanks Ky, not a lot of musky bait available around here but the local sporting goods store does have some large redfins, classic old school jerk bait. We use them for stripers. I have a 7.6' flippin stick and a 5600 Abu garcia. That do for a while? Also, I bet big swim baits will work too, what about you?

I'm rather intrigued with that large of a fish on waters that most people don't even know have muskies in them.

Thanks again.

Go to team rhino outdoors, musky shop, thorne bros or musky tackle online.

Spool you Garcia up with 50# braid. On that setup you could probably toss small to med bucktails, 6/7" cranks, and buzz baits.....that would get you started

Swim baits work.....we use a lot of bulldawgs tho. Give them a Google. Responsible for lots of fish
Large creeks/ small rivers, lot of them hold Muskies. Just gotta do a little digging around to see which ones have the best populations

U da man, thanks.

Good luck!