Muskie fishing can be tough. You can easily go several full length days without a fish in the boat.


It's a good trick to use bucktail in-line spinners (around here black...and black/red really seem to work well for muskies) and "bulge" the surface. The lure doesn't come out of the water, but pushes water up over the lure on the surface. I do it like this: As soon as the lure hits the water, pull the rod to the side to get the lure's blades spinning and moving. As soon as this happens, start reeling in fast to get the slack out of the line.

I've never heard of splashing the water with the rod.What you want to do with your rod is do a figure-8 at boatside. After you retrieve your lure but before you pull it out of the water, stick your rod about ½ way into the water..and make very wide (but fast) figure-8 motions. Try not to slow down in the turns, but rather attempt to speed it up.

Muskies are very picky eaters, and will follow your lure all the way to the boat quite often...especially if you reel the lure straight back to the boat. If you see a follow, never slow or stop the lure down...they will lose interest instantly. Instead, do random quick jerks and irratic motions with the lure. Wear a good pair of polarized sun-glasses..and constantly look behind and/or under your lure for their long/dark body.

Bulldawgs are great lures...you'll want to try those if you can. Believers, SS Shads, and Kickin' Minnows have worked great for me this year too.

BTW, where will you be fishing at?