Fisherman Eric Peterson with a Minnetonka Muskie

The Forgotten Muskie Tactic: Jigs

It’s late October and it’s time to jig for muskies.

I’d like to say since I’m a jig fisherman at heart and I decided on my own to jig for muskie but I can not claim this fame. Jigging for muskie goes back quite a long time. The first time I remember it mentioned was before I even fished for muskies. I did some research and the tactic was briefly covered muskie guy Spence Petros in the late 70’s. And other Chicago area anglers make a claim to start the muskie jigging revolution in the 60’s. But the revolution got lost somewhere for me until I started working at Muskie Fever in 1992. Muskie Fever was a Thorne Bros mail order outfit specializing in muskie gear. This is when I was introduced to the revolution. This tactic, as far as I know, was perfected by a highly respected muskie angler and friend Gene Mahs. Gene taught this tactic to Chris Munchow who was also a Muskie Fever guy. Chris and I decided to modify the jigging tactic to fit our style of fishing and we caught muskies. Sometimes catching 3 or more muskie in a single morning. Just not as many fish as Gene did. I can remember a day meeting Gene at the boat landing of a favored muskie lake on a late fall morning. Chris and I had a great morning with 4 muskies landed on jigs. Gene is his ever subdued manner plainly told us nice day fellas. Of course we had to ask Gene how’d you do? In a simple matter of fact tone Gene said 8.

Chris Munchow and a Jig Muskie

This tactic was fairly popular in the late 80’s into the 90’s but it still works as I can vouch for it having jigged up a few muskies in recent years. And I know what your thinking…big muskies want big baits in the fall. Maybe, but I’ve witnessed numerous muskies over 45 inches caught on jigs.

Muskie jigging for me begins in the fall when the weeds begin to die. In the Twin Cities metro about October 15. The later in fall it gets the more I find fish in shallow weeds. Both green and fallen to the bottom. I also like rock bars. It isn’t uncommon to catch multiple muskie on a single rock bar or small weedbed.

Outlining the Method to Jig Muskie

7 inch Reaper

I fish a 1/2oz swim jig or bass jig tipped with a soft plastic. Large Reapers, Lizards, Mogambos are some popular plastics I carry to this day. I still have some older Nylostrand leaders and they still work as intended but in todays world I make muskie jigs with a product named Surflon Micro Supreme. This is a tie-able nylon coated stainless steel leader material. I use 40# in lengths of 24 inches or so. This product ties well. Tie the jig on one end and tie a quality ball bearing swivel to the other. You can make these quickly and I’d make 4 or 5 of them with a variety of jig styles and weights. I have a custom muskie jig rod, but a flippin’stick works well. On most occasions my reel is spooled with 14 pound mono. I favor Gamma but use what you like. You can use a superline but your drag setting becomes even more critical. My experience with superline is you get a great hookset. The downside is, with no stretch line the fish could pull a power move on you and rip the hook out. So, in that instance you need to free-spool or have a perfect drag setting. If you’re using superline be prepared to go to free-spool mode fast. Trust me on that.

Locations

Mike Fudali Deer Lake Muskie

Pockets of green weeds and flats of fallen weeds hold muskies. Work your jig really slow on or near the bottom just like walleye fishing. This method has produced many nice muskies for me up to 48 inches. I like the jig-n-pig type with a skirt, swim jigs and plain 1/2 ounce jigs with stout hooks.  Jigs are tipped with big plastic or a 5-7 inch sucker. Weedlines are a good starting point focusing on inside turns. Typically weedlines that are close to deep water produce the best.  An effective way to team jig fish is to have the angler in front cast the weedline and deeper and the angler in the rear casts over and through the weedline. Fish can come from 2 feet of water or 15-20 feet of water. Fish as slow as you can hopping and crawling the jig through the weeds and off the weedline. I do find that as you get water temps near 40 many muskie are in the shallow weed flats. This seems to be especially true on warm November days. I’ve witnessed muskie chasing panfish on a 55 degree mid-November day numerous times.

Most bites are subtle. If you can’t feel the bait, set the hook.

Rock bars can also hold muskies. I’ve caught muskies on shallow areas of rocks 6-7 feet and in deeper rock bars 15-20 feet. The rock bars we’ve been successful fishing have fist sized rocks. You can feel them while working your jig slowly. On one particular day jigging muskies with Munch we caught 5 muskies on a single rock bar in less than 2 hours! Of those 3 of them were almost back to back to back.

Weather conditions don’t seem to effect the fish much at this time of the year. These muskie have the feed-bag on. Jig fishing is fun. Good luck and as always release all muskie.

If you want to chat more about jigging for fall muskies reach me at pete@outsidepwr.com of PM me on Facebook.

Muskie on a Jig. This tactic still works in 2024.

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Fishing Minnesota Bass Shallow in September

Both largemouth and smallmouth will use shallow weed pockets in the fall.

It’s fall and time to get psyched for fall bass fishing. The one thing that tells me to move shallow in fall is a steep drop in water temperatures. When the water temp goes down 8-10 degrees it’s time to think about going to shallow weeds for bass. By going shallow I’m talking 4-8 feet and I look for areas with pockets of weeds. I avoid weedlines and flats of weeds. This might mean putting your trolling motor in high and looking for these areas.

I like to fish light gear with jig worms, it’s fun and effective. In the video you see below I am casting jig worms into pockets of weeds. These pockets can be very small…barely bigger than my boat and both largemouth bass and smallmouth bass use these areas after the water drops to the low 60’s. There are many lakes in central Minnesota that offer this opportunity as well as Western Wisconsin and both of the Dakotas. So if you are looking to catch many bass on light gear the days after a good cold front can be the best time to give it a try.

Smallmouth and largemouth in the same habitat.

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Understanding Fish Behavior

I had a made a deal to rig an underwater camera to the RCA input on my 8mm camcorder and I recorded this.

So you see fish on your flasher but they don’t seem interested? That was the truth on this day back in the early 2000’s. Fish were tough to come by and because I could see fish on the flasher I wasn’t giving up easily. So after trying the numerous lures, baits, altering presentation speeds, using low diameter line etc etc it was time to use my contraption to get the scoop. I lowered the camera and I found visual truth that these fish didn’t give one rats behind about eating with the exception of one bluegill who did give a minnow a slight kiss before wandering off. Even the pike didn’t want the  minnow! Sometimes the fishing doesn’t work out but an underwater camera can provide some action nonetheless.

The Reluctant Fish

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40 Inch Muskie on a Bass Rod and Crankbait

Go Small for Minnesota Muskies

The fish that strikes fear in swimmers puts a crushing blow on your crankbait right at boat side. She head shakes, bulldogs and power rolls in a monumental effort to throw the lure from the side of her face. The fish of 1000 casts right? Well the fish above ate a bass size crank within the first hour of fishing. To top it off this fish was caught using a bass rod with a bass lure.

It’s generally thought that big baits catch big fish and in general I believe that’s true. However I also believe it’s true that you will catch more muskies on small baits. Yes they may be smaller but you’re still talking 36-44 inch fish. Thinking about this for a bit has me calculating my personal experience in reference to muskie size and as memory serves me I’ve seen numerous muskie over 45 inches on small baits and many, many more smaller than 45 using bass size lures.

Fishing Mpls/StPaul for muskies is not a difficult task. You don’t even need traditional muskie gear and lures to boat muskies. Personally, I fish with smaller baits more often than all of my fellow muskie fishing fans. Why? The answer is simple. First, I can fish faster with bass size lures such as Rapalas, flatbills, 1oz spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits. Second, I’m presenting lures that muskie do not often see.  Third I can cast these smaller presentations all day (I’m old) with no fatigue.

Let’s break this down a little further. Fishing faster often produces strikes that are pure reaction. Muskie don’t like things moving at high speeds zooming right in front of their face. Plus, it’s much easier on your arms to retrieve smaller baits fast. Now, think about what lure selection your fellow anglers are using to target muskie. Chances are most muskie guys are casting big baits, Bulldogs, Jackpots and Cow Girls. Our metro area lakes are generally small lakes and the muskies that live in them see so many lures it’s incredible. Some of the best spots we know have a virtual train of anglers hitting them. At times I’ve seen muskie anglers bunched up like walleye fisherman on a rock pile. So show the muskies a different lure, a smaller faster moving lure that you can cast all day long and you’ll see good results.

Your equipment should be a beefy baitcasting bass rod or lightweight muskie rod spooled with 30lb superline. I also like14lb mono in some situations . Most importantly make sure you are using a straight wire muskie leader of great strength. I recommend using .051 wire with a 175lb  swivel. Your lure selection should include: 1 oz spinnerbaits with a willow blade, Rattletraps, 4-6 inch shallow diving crankbaits, and bass size topwaters such as Zara Spooks and buzz baits. 

Locating the local muskie is also relatively simple. Find the outside weedline and fish it. In most of our local muskie lakes the weedline is visible and appears in 5-15 feet of water. Turns and points in the weedline are excellent places to concentrate your efforts. Weed flats are also good place and you can cover lots of water fast. As always, stay alert for following fish and finish your cast with an “L” turn at the side of the boat. Many strikes occur at boatside!

After you have landed that beauty muskie please release it in the kindest manner possible. You should carry a long-nose hookout, a jaw spreader that is attached to a rope, which in turn is attached to your boat (in case you drop the fish in the water it does not swim away with a jaw spreader holding it’s mouth open) and a bolt cutter. When unhooking the muskie if you have any doubt about your safety or the muskie’s cut it free with the bolt cutter. The fish will survive and you won’t be making a trip to the hospital.

Muskie fishing is the most exhilarating freshwater fishing experience you can have. Muskies jump, bulldog and power roll like no other fish. Your knees will shake and the perspiration will flow in anticipation of a following fish eating boat side. Lightweight gear allows you more opportunity to cover water and present lures that are not often seen by muskies. Incorporate this method and you will increase your muskie catch! Good luck.

Effective Bass Baits for Muskie

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By Pete Riola

I own many fishing rods. Probably over 30 with most being spinning rods.  If I could only use one fishing rod the rest of my life it would undoubtably be my 7′ ML Extra-fast action Predator, a creation of Lonnie Murphy at Thorne Bros. This rod, in the simplest word: fantastic. Fantastic in terms of sensitivity, speed, cast ability and weight. The rod is rated for 4-10 pound line and 1/8-3/8oz lures.  With this rod I’ve fished plenty of 1/16 ounce jigs plus weightless sinking worms and swim baits too. And it’s tough enough to deal with the occasional over-sized fish. I’ve hooked and landed many fish over 15 pounds with this rod so I can attest to that. Though my Predator is a super-fast ML it has power when you need it. Did I mention the rod is just plain more fun to fish! It’s not that my other rod selections aren’t in the boat, it’s just I’m picking my top jig rod in this article.

Being a jig fisherman at heart I truly believe this Predator fishing rod has helped me detect more bites and get hooksets that keep fish pinned with a mere flick of the wrist. In addition to the speed in the blank the sensitivity is outstanding. The Predator is mostly a jig rod for bass and walleyes but it can double as a panfish rod too. In addition to jigging you can fish sinking worms and swim baits or cast weightless plastics with wide gap 4/0 hooks.

This rod is made with a St Croix SCV blank and I let Lonnie pick the guides. I’m old, I still prefer a Tennessee Handle. For some reason I think I get better feel with the Tennessee handle. If I were to pick a different grip I’d go for the hidden hood. They’re sweet.

My Predator rod is super-fast and sensitive allowing me to detect the most subtle bites.

This rod makes me a better jig fisherman.

This is the Predator 7′ ML Extra Fast vs 40 inch pike.

In the video below I’m using my Predator to fish walleyes. I’m posting this video so you can see the speed of this rod. In particular the hookest on the second walleye is just a quick flick of the wrist.

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Nice Reel, No Real Drawbacks

I needed a couple of reels for some new rods. Rods as in multiple rods. This meant I needed to make a good decision on what reels to buy. I love the Stradics I have but I’m not in a place to buy three reels in that category. And the Symetre reels, I have love-hate relationship with them. So I made a different choice. I purchased a few Pflueger President XT’s, mainly because of greenback supply and perceived quality. I’d never fished a Pflueger reel in my life. I was impressed with the build and fluidity of the C30 model.

Putting XT’s to the test over a considerable period has me believing this: They’re darn good. XT’s cast well. They load line like a champ with minimal line twist. My models are all size 30’s. Lightweight, 10 ball bearings, fast enough gear ratio for fishing bass and walleye. Thousands of casts later and many many fish caught these Pflueger President XT’s to me are proven quality reels. The drag has never let me down. Even catching over-sized fish like northern pike over 20 pounds the drag on the Pflueger XT performed as expected. Smooth and trouble free.

If you’re in the market for a reel Cabela’s has this $100 reel on sale a few times a year for $60. Stock up on them.

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Big Pike in Quetico

Big Pike Eat Plastic Worms

This 40 inch pike was caught while fishing for smallmouth bass in 10 feet of water. Shield lakes often produce large northern pike and are often hooked and landed while casting jigs for smallmouth bass and walleye tipped with soft plastics…Culprit Worms, Kalin’s Grubs, Keitech Swim Baits etc etc.

It may sound crazy but we catch more pike over 36 inches while fishing for smallies and walleyes than when we cast lures specifically targeting big northern pike. That said I mostly fish for smallies and walleyes.

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