Muskie Fishing and…..Henry Ford?
How can I possibly tie in the sport of chasing muskies and the auto guru Henry Ford you might ask? Well back in the early days of the Ford company, to help keep costs down for the consumer, there was only one color option available on the Model T. To paraphrase Mr. Ford, ” You can have any color you want, as long as its black,” The same held true in the world of muskie fishing, long time hunters of this freshwater barracuda said you could have any lure you wanted to catch a ski, but it better be black.
As in the case of the Ford color schemes available today, so is true of the muskie lure. Colors available today range from the traditional black to such names as walleye, firetiger, blue mackerel and clown.
You have as many options today for the type of lure you want, as you do a sedan, stepside, mini-van, coupe, crew cab, and sports car. Although, a plain jane Mustang GT 500 in black would be sweet, on a personal note. You have jerkbaits, swimbaits, shallow and deep cranks, chickens, topwater and flies. Then there are the cross-over baits, see….still keeping that auto theme going.
Something growing in popularity, specially on Lake St. Clair and inland lakes in the spring are the use of flies. As the fish come shallow to spawn, the use of flies becomes more pratical for the fly fishing enthusiast. Sure you can use a sinking line to get deeper, but how practical really is that concept when you are fishing in 30 ft of water later in the summer? There are poppers, streamers, dry and wet flies available on the market to choose from.
Topwater baits are just plain fun to fish with for any species, and even more so, when it comes to muskie fishing. They are effective in the spring or fall, and even mid summer over structure. Morning or evening, and over weedbeds during the heat of the day. In the pic there are several black lures, they do creep in, but with topwater lures, its not the overall color scheme that is important. Look at the belly of the lure. Blacks, flat yellows, dark greens and browns are good on clear days where the sun provides a good contrast. On overcast days, or in stained water, give me some whites, bright orange and yellow, and even some neon colors. In keeping with the auto theme, there are even hybrids available, the bottom two lures are examples of a topwater and bucktail mix.
Love the big splash of big spoon, and the side to side wobble on the retrieve. For working weedy areas there are Johnson Silver Minnows, Weedless Dardevles and Northland makes a 3/4 oz trailer bodied spoon too. The Dardevle’s cousin, the Red-Eye is another good choice. Spoon weight go as high as 3 oz to as low as 3/4’s of an ounce. This is one case where black wont be seen in my spoon tray. Give me blues and whites, coppers, silvers and golds, red/white, greens and yellows. Think I even have a pink or two in there.
Shallow cranks are used mainly for casting, but they can be trolled and jerked as well. Thats the cross-over. Lots of baits can be used for another tactic. Look at the big Original Floating Rapala, it makes an excellent jerkbait in shallow conditions. Perch and bass colors work here, brighter colors can be seen or noticed at long distances. Holographic scale stickers have been applied to lots of crankbaits lately for that extra flash in the water.
Jerkbaits are a fav of many muskie anglers, with good reason, they catch fish. I have more Suick Muskie Thrillers than any other brand. Some are weighted so they suspend in deeper water, but all come in sucker, black, perch, cisco and firetiger. There is a Mania Burt that is another example of a crossover bait, it has that large twister tail attached to the end . That blue mackerel Mag Rapala is an example of a shallow crank being used as a jerk.
These two all plastic baits are the next generation it seems in muskie baits. You can also employ large swimbaits that are available in suspending models. The Witch on top, and the Eel on the bottom come in many colors, can be retrieved or jerked. Go for natural colors in bright days, and brighter colors in stained water as well as overcast days.
Large crankbaits range in size from 8 inches all the way up to 14″. Some like the Believers (made in Toledo, OH) have dual eyes, one for running shallow, and the other for deeper waters. I like natural colors that reflect baitfish like perch, pike, bullfrog, ciscos and walleye. On the other end of the spectrum, metallic finishes really do catch the fish’s attention from a long way off. In the middle you have redheads, clowns and other colors that dont look like much of anything, but still produce fish on a regular basis.
The chicken, bucktail or spinnerbait, whatever name you want to give them, just call them one thing in your tackle, you cannot do without. To be so versitile and effective, while coming in such a wide range of colors and styles, is really amazing. You can retrieve slow or burn ‘em, churn them just under the surface or let them sink to reach the depth of the fish. Favorite color combinations with blades are white and silver, black and silver, or black with gold blades. Bionic Bucktails with their holographic baitfish image blades like those on colorado’s made for walleye fishing really flash. Then you have your bright colors, greens, yellows and oranges that highlight the lure.
Just like a Ford, although black is a classic no matter how you twist it, those other colors work!