Favourite musky follow-up lure?

[singingdog]

I had a crazy follow last night. I was walking a big Rap Skitterwalk across a bay and a good-sized (upper 40s) musky surfaced right behind the lure and followed it right to the boat. I twitched, he twitched....I paused, he paused....I sped up, he sped up. I could see most of the creatures back, and half the tail above the surface. When he arrived at the side of the yak, I tried figure8ing, but the ski just coasted off. That experience, plus a couple of other good follows since the opener have me wondering.....what's your favourite follow-up presentation? I tried a swim jig last night, have had some luck with jigs in the past. Should I be trying something different?

[lew]

I usually always have 3 rods rigged & ready with different style baits. One will always have a large spinnerbait, the 2nd will have some sort of jerk or twitchbait and the 3rd will be either a bucktail or boo-tail.

 

If the fish is very aggresive in her follow but still won't take the bait on the figure 8 and turns away, I'll keep throwing the same bait back in the direction she went and will make multiple casts back to her. If she doesn't take it again within a minute or so I'll switch to another bait but only for a couple casts and then if she still won't take it I'll leave her alone and come back later in the day.

 

If she follows very lazily and turns away I'll assume she's somewhat interested but not really enough to make a grab for the lure. That's when I'll grab another rod with something completely different in hopes that she just didn't really want the 1st offering but will grab the different style of bait and will work that bait for a couple minutes at least.

 

If I'm throwing a boo-tail, I'll change up and grab the jerkbait. If the 1st bait was the jerk, I'll go for the big spinnerbait.

 

Whatever you go with on your 2nd choice, toss it back to the area she came from and you'll be surprised at how often she'll grab the different style bait.

 

Here's a fish I got a few years back after switching baits. She followed a twitch bait very aggresively but wouldn't take it and took off. I switched over to a spinnerbait and tossed it back to the original spot and she grabbed it on the very 1st cast with the 2nd bait.

 

Edited June 7, 2011 by lew

[mike rousseau]

If your on very pressured waters... Don't leave that spot!!!

 

Fish the crap out of the whole area... I like "red October" tubes... Never ever had a follow on these baits... They either hit em or not...

 

If there isn't much fishing pressure... And you have good electronics... Figure out when you have a bite window and go back with a very similar bait... You had her interested... It just wasn't supper time... Lol

[Joey]

Really great advice Lew. The Musky Master

[fishnsled]

What Lew said plus I'll have some kind of big soft plastic on hand.

[bigbuck]

A Bulldawg is a good follow up bait. But like Lew said, 3 rods rigged differently is the way to go. 4 if you have the gear.

[solopaddler]

A big live sucker on a quick strike rig.