Me and acouple of guys at work are discussing the upcoming season openings and got to the musky subject of what would work for opener. I was told what works good was decoys, suicks, and bucktails. Wondering what everyone use’s for opener and have had success. Opener just around the corner I see!
Tiger Tube, Bulldawg, Dunwright Lifelike Panfish. Not necessarily in that order. But that is what I will be throwing.
Dont get caught up on what everyone else is doing or the stereo typical baits or suggestions. I know one common theory or pattern is throwing small baits around opener. I will be trolling 14″ Jakes, casting mag dawgs, large harrassers. As we know, alot of muskies prefer something i believe it was 1/4 or a 1/3 or their own body size. Get some large profiles in the water or a large amount of vibration and get the big muskies movin 
Quote:
Dont get caught up on what everyone else is doing or the stereo typical baits or suggestions. I know one common theory or pattern is throwing small baits around opener. I will be trolling 14″ Jakes, casting mag dawgs, large harrassers. As we know, alot of muskies prefer something i believe it was 1/4 or a 1/3 or their own body size. Get some large profiles in the water or a large amount of vibration and get the big muskies movin
Just out of curiosity, does anyone else run big baits early in the year. Topwaters, sure, but how about big cranks or jerks 
I’ll run the “standard” size baits, weather permitting.
I remember a few years back on a hot opener and warm spring. Fishing French Lake in Faribault. We had a “neutral” fish that was pushing mid-50″ and just a tanker. The “ONLY” bait she would “FOLLOW” was a standard size Bulldawg.
Nothing…….I mean nothing in my tackle box would get her attention (I honestly hooked up everything I had)……Go back to the Bulldawg and she would follow right up to the boat. We had her at the bow of the boat, not 3 feet from us, 5 different times.
I see the bank fellows are still in the office. I like a bucktail for early season or a plastic I can fish shallow. I think you are best served by fishing weeds this time of year. I start pulling cranks a little later on. Best I ever did on an opener was on a live chub drifted over weeds.
My favorite go-to “lure” for getting any species of fish is a stick of dynamite.
Aren’t ski’s just coming out of spawning around this time? From what i’ve seen they usually hang in the shallows. Do they roam the deeper water spots with 10-15′ reefs right away after? Have not tried targeting deeper bodies with reefs during opener before, but curiosty lurks. Have not hit muskys hard yet but I believe this season seems bright.
The goto for me is mepps!
Forgot to mention I have also heard that throwing odd baits after opener works good too. After the hard pressure of opener, different presention works good. Any inputs?
My goto lure for opener has always been the Blue Fox Musky Buck. They are great bucktails, and if the water is fairly warm, I just dont think that they can be beat. Small, fishable, and deadly. I will also throw just about everything in the box for hair. Eagletails, Harassers, Mepps Maribou, etc, but the Musky Buck is THE go to. As for jerkbaits and topwaters, i will throw the same arsenal that i use the entire season. Probably throw more Suicks and Bobbies, letting the rise slowly between jerks. Docs and Jackpots are my favorite topwaters and I have hooked up with fish on them as well on opener. I believe that the biggest key is to throw what you feel comfortable using and have confidence in! 
Quote:
I believe that the biggest key is to throw what you feel comfortable using and have confidence in!
Amen to that one!! 
Spoken like a true Scolar.
I also believe that one should also get comfortable with failure (I’ve struggled with this one, myself) It’s hard to maintain a positive muskie attitude when you pound the water day in and day out with nothing to show for it. 
We should also not be afraid to try new things, because you may stumble upon or refine a technique that produces for you. 
As our opener happened yesterday, small cranks (Baby Shallow Raiders, Jakes, Shallow Raiders) were the ticket. I had two guys in the boat that are friends of friends and one had never casted a muskie baitcaster before. Well of course he is the one in the first fifteen minutes that has two fish at the boat. He was cranking the bait really sloooowwwww!!! No twitches or pauses. With the first one he asks what do I do??? I know that I still hadn’t been able to give the fig-8 lesson yet, so we start messing around with that, but before he gets that down, he has another just over legal fish at the boat. Oh well, of the two boats we were the ones that saw fish, but no takers. Fun day for all.
Mark
Quote:
I believe that the biggest key is to throw what you feel comfortable using and have confidence in!
Agreed!
And use your head as to what you choose to throw. Read the weather, the lake, the type of structure, and the barometer.
Know your color patterns for:
clear water/clear skies
clear water/dark skies
dark water/clear skies
dark water/dark skies
Know if you should throw a bucktail, a jerk, a crank, a topwater, or plastic……Once you know these things, then the CONFIDENCE is in play……Then, you are going to stick a fish! 
Hey Gary What is the general rule of thumb on these when it comes to Muskie fishing. Thanks 
clear water/clear skies
clear water/dark skies
dark water/clear skies
dark water/dark skies
P.S. Also was going to pick up some small bucktails, because you guys have been buzzin about the Blue Fox Vibrax and the windalls harrasser just wonderin what colors to grab. Thanks again. 
Just a “general” rule of thumb, but not to put yourself into a “rut”…….
Clear water/clear skies: more neutral colors of blue, purple, whites with silver blades. You want to “match the hatch” here for a starting point. “Silver flash” is common to see sparkling in the water when baitfish scatter, right? (firetiger)
Clear water/dark skies: Start blending colors or color blades on nuetral color hair. Greens, blues, blacks, yellow, browns. (firetiger)
Dark water/clear skies: Again, start adding more color and look at brass blades. Color constrast can be good! Black/orange, black/red, chartruese/black, browns, yellows. (firetiger)
Dark water/dark skies: gold, orange, black, chartruese. Gold blades or colored blades. (firetiger)
Yea, I said firetiger a lot, didn’t I? Point is, Firetiger has caught fish for me in every water color/sky condition for me.
Mostly though, don’t be afraid to match the hatch.
Basic sucker patterns, walleye patterns, smallie patterns, crappie/sunnie patterns, and mostly PIKE color patterns. (people forget this pattern).
Again, don’t get caught up in the rut of color, but put yourself in the right “mode” to build your confidence.
Quote:
Yea, I said firetiger a lot, didn’t I?
.
Thats hillarious. 
Any way thanks for the insite
Opener provided a 45 on a jack pot for me. Nothing on crank baits or magdawgs. Few follows on large harrassers and Cowgirls. Pretty slugish.
Quote:
Opener provided a 45 on a jack pot for me. Nothing on crank baits or magdawgs. Few follows on large harrassers and Cowgirls. Pretty slugish.
Nice start…any photos?
Yeah its good to on the board. Tried to hand bomb it and it flopped from my bros hands. I came all the way out the water, missed the lure, a few more pumps and came back and crushed it. It was alot different opener this year (the fish were not shallow, suspended off the break in 15 to 20ft) We tried everthing and just got the one on a pot. Ready to rock for Mn opener! 
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
