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For various reasons I haven't had the time or motivation to do my usual spring striped bass chasing. I guess the main reason is I'm getting old and waking up at 3 am and driving 5 hours round trip to pedal 10+ miles for a chance at a couple fish just doesn't seem worth it anymore. I tried scratching my spring fishing itch by chasing stocked trout, but that just didn't do it either. I needed to hook something BIG.
I have a few lakes within a 40 minute drive of my house that are pretty full of muskies according to PA biologist reports. I convinced one of my buddies to start musky fishing with me a few weeks ago and I think we have made 7 or 8 trips so far. We have learned a ton and combined we have landed 5 muskies from the kayak, hooked and lost at least that many, and made visual contact with over a dozen more.
Having never really targeted muskies before, we started out thinking we had to throw big goofy musky lures like all the other musky guys on the lake. But when we talked to fishermen, the guys who were hooking them (and getting bit off) were using small bass lures. We started throwing smaller jerk baits like X-Rap XR10s and 4-5" glide baits from Savage Gear and Phantom and immediately started catching fish.
The first musky I got was a small boy, around 30" and very skinny. This was the motivation I needed to keep going. The next two, including my new PB from yesterday, have been 40"+ fish and a whole different animal. We learned that the essential kayak musky kit includes most importantly a fishing partner to help with unhooking, 11" pliers, jaw spreaders, bolt cutters and some kind of puncture/cut resistant glove.
The biggest challenge with this kind of fishing is staying motivated and confident. You go hours and hours and hours with no action, no sightings no nothing and its easy to quit or switch to crappie fishing. I started only bringing one musky rod and a handful of lures to help stay focused, and I use a TA clip on the end of my leader so I can keep rotating lures every 30 minutes or so. The payoff is that there is NOTHING like the rush of a big musky taking a lure just below the surface after 6 hours or even multiple days of not seeing one. You almost convince yourself that its never going to happen and then when it does its insanity.
I am officially addicted and don't know if I can fish for anything else. I always had a 40" musky on my bucket list, but now I need a 45" or bigger. I don't know if I can realistically get one from my local lakes, but I'm sure gonna keep trying.
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I have a few lakes within a 40 minute drive of my house that are pretty full of muskies according to PA biologist reports. I convinced one of my buddies to start musky fishing with me a few weeks ago and I think we have made 7 or 8 trips so far. We have learned a ton and combined we have landed 5 muskies from the kayak, hooked and lost at least that many, and made visual contact with over a dozen more.
Having never really targeted muskies before, we started out thinking we had to throw big goofy musky lures like all the other musky guys on the lake. But when we talked to fishermen, the guys who were hooking them (and getting bit off) were using small bass lures. We started throwing smaller jerk baits like X-Rap XR10s and 4-5" glide baits from Savage Gear and Phantom and immediately started catching fish.
The first musky I got was a small boy, around 30" and very skinny. This was the motivation I needed to keep going. The next two, including my new PB from yesterday, have been 40"+ fish and a whole different animal. We learned that the essential kayak musky kit includes most importantly a fishing partner to help with unhooking, 11" pliers, jaw spreaders, bolt cutters and some kind of puncture/cut resistant glove.
The biggest challenge with this kind of fishing is staying motivated and confident. You go hours and hours and hours with no action, no sightings no nothing and its easy to quit or switch to crappie fishing. I started only bringing one musky rod and a handful of lures to help stay focused, and I use a TA clip on the end of my leader so I can keep rotating lures every 30 minutes or so. The payoff is that there is NOTHING like the rush of a big musky taking a lure just below the surface after 6 hours or even multiple days of not seeing one. You almost convince yourself that its never going to happen and then when it does its insanity.
I am officially addicted and don't know if I can fish for anything else. I always had a 40" musky on my bucket list, but now I need a 45" or bigger. I don't know if I can realistically get one from my local lakes, but I'm sure gonna keep trying.
IMG_9953.jpg
IMG_0586 2.jpg
IMG_0060.jpg
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