Catch the muskie of your dreams this month

As the nights cool this fall, anglers toss and turn, dreaming of muskies – giant, muskies.

When targeting muskies this fall, from Lake Vermillion to Minneapolis metro lakes, this seasons anglers go-to baits will be Storm’s Giant FlatStick crankbait and Blue Fox’s Vibrax Super Bou, a big bucktail. Cast the latter over the last green weeds of the season. The former, troll fast over shallow rocks.

Fall is often even better for muskie fishing, because cooling water triggers a natural instinct in the fish to feed heavily.

“All they’re thinking about is eating,” Ben Brettingen a muskie guide, outdoor writer and IDO videographer explains. “They’re trying to bulk up, like any other animal would, for winter.”

It’s anticipating the onset of the fall feeding frenzy that’s been keeping Brettingen up at night lately.

“It’s been a weird year so far, following the late spring,” he says. “The patterns were thrown way off and guys were having a tough go at it. But now things are really starting to home in…. Pretty soon, it’s going to transition and it’s going to break loose.”

A versatile bucktail like the Vibrax Super Bou is the perfect tool to target giant muskies over green vegetation.

The new “go-to” bucktail is a tandem-blade Vibrax Super Bou. In the Vibrax chamber – a feature unique to Blue Fox baits – a free-turning brass gear emits a sonic vibration and a rattle when it rubs against a bullet-shaped bell. Combine that with the amount of water these blades are pushing and it causes a ruckus.

Along with the Vibrax feature, the Super Bou’s unique combination of marabou, hackle feathers and flashabou fibers gives it an edge over other bucktail baits.

“There’s just something about that marabou,” Brettingen says. “It just moves and pulses in the water and it’s quite seductive.”

Fellow muskie hunter Jeremy Smith agrees.

“My favorite combination for the fly on the back of the bait has been a combination of marabou, saddle hackle and flashabou and Blue Fox nailed this pattern to a T,” says Smith, a former muskie guide and current contributor, on camera and off, to Lindner’s Angling Edge TV program.

More impressive to Smith however, is that he caught a 52-inch muskie on a Super Bou shortly thereafter, on “one of the first trips out with it!”

Both Smith and Brettingen throw a size 8 Super Bou when the fish want a bait burned over cover, and the larger size 10 when slow-rolling is triggering more bites.

“They’re very versatile baits – you can work them high in the water column with speed, or you can slow-roll them down to 30 feet,” says Brettingen, who will throw Super Bous through November.

Another bait in Brettingen’s fall arsenal is Storm’s Giant FlatStick. He likes the big crankbait’s shear sides, which elicit water-moving action and a lot of flash.

More often than not, he will troll a Giant FlatStick. And fast – up to 5 mph.

“I love casting, but if I want to purely put a fish in the boat, I’m going to start trolling,” Brettingen says. “When you’re trolling you’re covering more water, you’re putting your bait in the strike zone constantly for more aggressive fish.” Trolling for muskies, “a classic pattern in fall,” he says, is usually effective on Vermillion, Lake of the Woods, Mille Lacs, and most big-water Upper Midwest fisheries.

He trolls his Giant FlatStick on 80-pound-test Sufix 832 Advanced Super Line with an 18-inch, 150-pound VMC fluorocarbon leader. “You don’t want to skimp in the leader department, because it’s that connection between a trophy fish being in the boat and losing it.” When casting it, he shortens his leader to 12 inches. He ties his braid to the leader’s heavy-duty snap swivel with a Palomar knot, which he says holds much better than a Fisherman’s Knot for muskie fishing.

Bart Rosen is a big fan of the Giant FlatStick’s “little brother,” the FlatStick Jointed – and not just because he’s on Storm’s product-development team.

“It’s responsible for two different 50-pound fish that I’ve caught in the last three years,” Rosen says. “It’s one of the best big crankbaits that’s out on the market right now.”

Rosen often casts and trolls the FlatStick Jointed over large rock reefs.

When casting, he starts by cranking it slowly, just trying to gauge the mood of the fish. “Nothing’s happening? Speed it up a little bit, then slow it down again,” he instructs. “We’re really looking for something that will trigger those fish.”

Another technique is to incorporate a series of sweeps in your retrieve – one big long sweep, two short ones, changing angles, up and down.

“To the predator fish, this appears that the bait is fleeing away,” Rosen explains. “By sweeping the bait… it increases that speed and nine times out of 10, that’s when they close the gap and they hit that bait.”

The FlatStick Jointed’s namesake “joint” gives the tail a wide, rolling action. A loud, multi-ball rattle calls fish in. It comes in a 6 1/4 inch model and a new 7 1/2 version. Although those measurements might seem short compared to some other muskie baits, don’t assume bigger is always better.

“This bait might look a bit smaller, but I tell you what, it’s a lot bigger than it looks,” Rosen says. “And it’s stronger than almost any other bait that’s on the market.”

I think I just may do that this month Greg!

Sounds like fun to me too! Trying to figure out now how to mount a reel on my wife’s broom stick …

Thanks for the interesting article. Hope the fall pattern starts this weekend since I have a week at the lake.

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I think I just may do that this month Greg!

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Don’t forget to remove the no roll sinkers and circle hooks!

I’m actually thinking the same!

Well Greg, thanks for the inspiration!

I can understand why people become muskie fanatics AND why the Advil stock prices keep rising.

Although I didn’t catch this fish, I was witness to the excitement in the boat when it was caught. I think that was just as much fun had I hooked it myself!

I’m ready to do it AGAIN!

Woo hoo!

Good times, BK.

Not my typical fall pattern, but I like some of your ideas. I love that storm flatstick, great action. Hope they come out with a 10″ version soon.

I want to know where, water temp, structure, depth, speed, etc… sounds like someone’s promoting a couple baits…

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I want to know where, water temp, structure, depth, speed, etc… sounds like someone’s promoting a couple baits…

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Where, when, speed and depth:

Throw a size 8 Super Bou when the fish want a bait burned over cover, and the larger size 10 when slow-rolling is triggering more bites. “They’re very versatile baits – you can work them high in the water column with speed, or you can slow-roll them down to 30 feet,” says Brettingen, who will throw Super Bous through November.

Where, Structure:
When targeting muskies this fall, from Lake Vermillion to Minneapolis metro lakes, Brettingen’s go-to baits will be Storm’s Giant FlatStick crankbait and Blue Fox’s Vibrax Super Bou, a big bucktail. He casts the latter over the last green weeds of the season. The former, he trolls fast over shallow rocks. …

Because green weeds release oxygen, they attract baitfish, which in turn, draws muskies. A versatile bucktail like the Vibrax Super Bou is the perfect tool to target this vegetation. “The key with the green weeds is you have to stay over them,” Brettingen explains. “A lot of times, that cabbage is tickling the surface, or hanging just under the surface, so you only have a few feet to work with. …

Speed:
“They’re very versatile baits – you can work them high in he water column with speed, or you can slow-roll them down to 30 feet,” says Brettingen, who will throw Super Bous through November. As fall temperatures cool, Brettingen will run the Super Bou more slowly, even over weed cover. “In the mornings, I’ll slow roll it over the weeds, so it’s just tickling the tops of them,” he explains. “As the sun starts to come out, I’ll pick up my presentation a little bit.”

But he usually won’t burn it like he would in the summer – unless the fish indicate that’s what they want. “If you’re not getting the fish to trigger, I wouldn’t hesitate burning those Vibrax Super Bous right over the top,” he says.

Where, structure:
While weeds get much of Brettingen’s attention when he’s got a Super Bou tied, on, he targets shallow rocks as well.

“Rocks can be amazing in the fall,” he says. “I’ll burn them over the rocks, I’ll slow roll them. I’ll even troll them behind planer boards.

Speed:
More often than not, he will troll a Giant FlatStick. And fast – up to 5 mph.

Where:
Trolling for muskies, “a classic pattern in fall,” he says, is usually effective on Vermillion, Lake of the Woods, Mille Lacs, and most big-water Upper Midwest fisheries.

Speed:
Even when trolling as fast as 5 mph, a Giant FlatStick will run true, with its signature wide wobble, and won’t “kick out,”

Where, cover:
Brettingen often runs the Giant FlatStick about 100 feet behind a large planer board, to prevent spooking fish. He’ll target the edges of flat breaks as well as really steep breaks.

Where/structure:
Rosen casts and trolls FlatStick Jointeds, most often over large rock reefs.

Speed:
When casting, he start by cranking it fairly slowly, just try to gauge the mood of the fish. “Nothing’s happening? Speed it up a little bit, then slow it down again,”

Where/cover/structure:
In northern lakes, muskies forage mostly on ciscoes, which in fall quit roaming, suspended, in open water and move to shallow rocks to spawn.

“You get up north, shallow rocks now are king,” Brettingen says. “The ciscoes are going to move up on top of the rocks and some of those big shelves, and the muskies are going to hang right around that area. And they just go bananas – they’re just trying to eat as much as they can.”

Where/cover/structure:
In the Minneapolis metro, where Brettingen works and lives, the muskie forage base comprises suckers, perch, and sunfish, which move in the fall to inside weedlines as well as shallow rocks.

“Fall gives you a really good opportunity to know where the fish are and their feeding pattern. You put two and two together and you’ve got giant muskies in the boat.”

Just wanted to support the article and state that the feeding machines have begun already. I didn’t get to take any photos because I couldn’t seem to finish the deal last Sunday but I did score a pair of hookups thinking along these same lines. Different lake size and overall makeup but feeding time is feeding time and finding what TRIGGERS a fish is always the difference. Patterns are patterns but sometimes you need to adapt and think outside the norm. TRIGGER…… your fish. MAKE…… your day.