Putting together a Musky box, what lures?

[Maverick]

I am new to musky fishing and I am looking to put together a musky box. I only have an orange buck tail and a black and orange bull dawg. I will be mostly fishing Cache Bay and the west side of Nipissing, might venture to Trout Lake or Nosbonsing.

 

My question is, if you could only take 10 lures, what would they be and in what colour?

[Nipfisher]

Handelbarz double 9s or 10s in any combination of black / silver / orange / copper. You an cast or troll with them.

 

You can get them from member/owner MikeP here or at North Bay Outfitters.

 

 

P.S. even if you have 100 lures you will mostly use10 or less confidence baits.

Edited May 7, 2014 by Nipfisher

[muskymatt]

Topraider, Double blades (Mikes are awesome) and a muskiestalker (perch)

[ckrb2007]

Check out Water Wolf Lures. They have some awesome stuff there.

[lew]

These 5 have been my best producers for years and the large black/orange spinnerbait at the top gets most of my muskies in your area.

 

These baits are all in the 8"-10" range.

 

Throw in a mix of different colored large bucktails and your all set.

 

[ccmtcanada]

Suicks are my go to lure....but I hooked by biggest musky ever on a Jake on Lake Nipissing!

[muskymatt]

That's so funny Lew, I have 2, yes 2, not one, but 2 Jointed jailbird Believers in my box I have used over the last 15 years and I think I have had one fish on it.

Must just be me cause others talk about it as a hot bait and you have it in your top five.

 

Bulldogs are also a great bait

[lew]

The Jailbird has worked very well for me over the years Matt but I remove the rattles from them, infact I remove the rattles from most of my Believers and that seems to make a big difference, specially in clear water. For dark or murky water, or trolling after dark I use baits with the rattles still in place.

 

That Double "D" was originally a different color that didn't do much, but after I painted it Jailbird it became one of my best producers.

Edited May 7, 2014 by lew

[jbailey]

a believer, a jake, a sledge, a bulldawg, a spinner, and after watching that episode of uncut angling I want one of those umbrella rigs haha

[outllaw]

cast or troll.?

[Maverick]

Thanks for all the replies guys. So I'm guessing you don't match the hatch with musky because I don't think I've seen anything local that looks like the jailbird colour.

 

cast or troll.?

 

I usually fish for bass so I like casting but whatever works best. I've only fished for them 3 times and haven't caught one yet so I'm not ruling out any method.

 

Couple more questions, what pound test line should I be spooling on my reel? What type, strength, length of leaders should I be looking at?

[Fang]

Early in season I prefer #5/6 bucktails like the Mepps Muskykiller and Blue Fox and then go bigger through the summer and fall

 

Big spinnerbaits too like Lew posted

 

Gotta have a couple jerk baits like suicks and sledge

 

One of my better go to casting baits that has works in a number of different lakes is the Rapala Super Shad - Perch and Crawfish color

 

and tried and true top raider (also pack a change of shorts for the first few times you throw that)

[mike rousseau]

For trolling

 

Stalkers 10"

Jakes 10"... Also great for casting

Jake 8"... Also great for casting

Depth raider

 

Casting

 

Double 10s... Handlebarz are nice

Bulldogs

Top raider

Sledge

Red October tubes

Storm kicking minnow... Don't laugh... They work... Get the purple one...

[lew]

 

 

Couple more questions, what pound test line should I be spooling on my reel? What type, strength, length of leaders should I be looking at?

 

All a personal choice, but myself I use 80# Power Pro for casting and 100# for trolling.

 

I make my own leaders using 130# Seaguar fluoro and crimps and use around 18" for casting and roughly 48" for trolling.

[porkpie]

I don't specifically target muskies much anymore, but when I did, my most prolific baits where a large black spinnerbait and a large black and yellow spinnerbait. I also took many on larger buzzbaits. I never trolled a great deal for Muskie, so I'm not much help there!

[Sinker]

That top spinnerbait Lew posted is one of my all time favourites too. Any bucktail or spinnerbait will work, as long as its black and orange

 

S.

[lew]

That top spinnerbait Lew posted is one of my all time favourites too. Any bucktail or spinnerbait will work, as long as its black and orange

 

S.

Great minds think alike Shane LOL

[misfish]

No one mentioned a worm harness

[Raycaster]

I know Lew would know best but has anyone fished Cache Bay lately? Last time I was there it was 100% cabbage with zero chance of retrieving any musky lure more than 5 feet without super polarized xray glasses on for guidance. Medium spinner baits seemed the least likely to tow back a 100 sq ft block of weeds.

 

Very successful with pike on Cache bay due to the weeds but can't imagine double tens...

Edited May 7, 2014 by Raycaster

[Rich Clemens]

I am throwing the Double Cowgirls probably 90% of the time and have been doing quite well with em. Mine are black in color with either silver or copper blades.

[Gregoire]

I've never really used the jailbird pattern, but have a few jailbird lures, always thought it was cool looking. I'll run them a bit more this year, maybe even remove the rattles from a jailbird believer I have.

I tossed spinnerbaits last year a bit more and landed a pb....walleye. I doubt anyone had ever been more pissed to hook a 32" walter. I'll have to keep throwing them this year...the black and orange has been an effective lure for me.

Instead of suiks I throw hose jerks now...I can get the action I want from them without having to go through the pain of tuning them like you do a suik.

Some days the fish just want rubber, a black and orange dawg is a good bait, but I prefer tubes. A more versatile bait that can be fished different ways depending on how it is rigged.

I have a legend perchbait in natural perch that has gotten me a few fish in the past. A bit on the expensive side, until you get into custom baits, and it will seem cheap.

I also like the chrome shallow raiders and flash jakes or grandma's in perch.

One other bait that I have had luck with is the dadson vortex double ten in the hideout walleye pattern with the marabou, not flashabou.

Some people like to fish side to side gliders, and have luck with them, but I have never gotten a fish on one. I think Jim Saric had some luck two years ago with a black head gold flash body phantom a few years ago. That would be a good option as well.

Restricting yourself to 10 baits is really a practice in futility if you catch the Musky Bug. I have been cleaning out my garage lately, and have counted around 200 baits so far, and am still finding lures in nooks and crannies. The funny thing is that all the baits I use are in cowajo's garage at his cottage. I think this year I will do a full inventory and sell off the ones that I do not use.

[mike rousseau]

No one mentioned a worm harness

My PB was on a worm harness... Lol

 

Seriously

[Maverick]

Man, thanks to everyone who has replied. There's so much to learn and only 5 weeks to learn it, haha.

 

I think this year I will do a full inventory and sell off the ones that I do not use.

 

Let me know what you plan on selling, I will probably be interested

 

 

Funny how you catch the unexpected sometimes. Caught my PB pike, 33lbs, fishing for walleye with a jig and grub tipped with a minnow.

[Fisherpete]

If I was to only have 10 lures with me... hmmm...

 

Three twin 10's (natural/dark/bright)

Three minnow baits, 8-10" (natural/dark/bright)

One spinnerbait

One glide bait

One surface bait

One big plastic

 

Early season some smaller lures should also be in your box... 5-6" minnow baits... size 5/6 blades...

 

I could probably put together a 10 lure package for you if you were interested.

 

Pete

[Freshtrax]

Kind of a side note, But if you only had two lures to troll for muskies what would they be? I'm thinking of taking the long slow route to our campsite on the French this year ... It's about 20 km west of hwy 69