New Muskie Lure

I fish for Muskies 1 week every year when I go to a rented cabin so am not even close to a seasoned veteran. In preparation for the trip I usually purchase some new lures. I recently ordered from 4 different companies and they began arriving this week. I was disappointed when the lure I dropped $50 on (first time I have even thought about spending this much on a single lure) had the hooks unattached in a separate bag. I was lucky to have a tool for the split rings but it was quite comical to see me trying to attach them. Split ring went flying across the room several times. Glad I was the only one around as I would hate to take the ribbing from my kids. Is this common practice to send the baits without the hooks attached. Gotta tell you I was a little miffed. Rant over, I feel better now,

Can’t say that I’ve seen it. Thorne Brothers has more muskie lures than I’ve ever seen anywhere else and some of them are quite expensive too. They all have hooks attached from what I’ve seen. Maybe they packed the hooks separately for shipping purposes.

Many folks choose to go barbless when fishing for Muskie. I suspect it would be easier to remove/disable the barbs (if desired) before the hooks are installed on the lure body. Just a guess.

It’s probably to protect the paint.

Sounds like a really lazy lure seller. Have bought a bunch of lures from many different places and have never had to my own hooks on. Pretty shoddy in my mind.

I have a lot of muskie lures and have always received them with hooks attached. Most of the time the hooks are tied up with rubber bands to keep them from scratching the paint. Might as well learn how to swap out the hooks for when you have to cut one on the boat and replace it in rough water.

Tom and Rodwork you nailed it here is the response from the manufacturer

having a set of split ring pliers is a must in the boat for times like you mentioned where you need to cut and replace a hook. The reason that we’ve bagged hooks separately for about 3 years now is that like you mentioned, the lures aren’t the cheapest and we’ve found that our customers prefer to put the hooks on when they get the lure versus having any potential hook rash on the lures from the multiple times they’re bounced around being shipped and handled before reaching the customer. Next time you order, feel free to add a note to the order that you’d like the hooks installed before shipping and we’d be more than happy to do that. Enjoy the baits!

What bait is it?

I’ve received some pretty interesting packages of muskie baits from private sellers – picture a bubble envelope with 7/0 hook points sticking out of it. Yeah mailman probably wasn’t happy about that one.

Split ring pliers are like $5 and I use them most days muskie fishing.

I’ve ordered lures w/o hooks because they can be cheaper that way and I can add the ones I want. Fishing for musky, or any larger predator fish, requires split ring pliers to swap hooks. If you have to cut hooks while a musky is in the net, you’ll need them to change out hooks. I have several of the small ones from BPS/Cabelas that work just fine.

Of all the Muskie lures I have purchased over the years, I’ve never received one without the hooks attached. That said if I did, I’d not have a issue with it at all. I’ve changed and replaced a took of hooks on lures over the years and doing so is rather quick and easy these day. Just curious, what Lure was it that came this way ????

It came from Chaos Tackle. Once they explained the reason why it made sense. I was forced to learn how to change out hooks and will help me in the future. Just goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks!

zoomer wrote:

It came from Chaos Tackle. Once they explained the reason why it made sense. I was forced to learn how to change out hooks and will help me in the future. Just goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks!

For Muskie fishing two important tools to have and know how to use are a good split ring pliers and a knipex side cutter. If you fish big fish long enough, you will probably end up with a hook in you or someone else at some point. We hand land 90% of our big pike in Canada. Those knipex have been put to use a fair # of times over the years

X2 Fishthumper.

Make sure to have good cutting tools and you keep them oiled. You never know when you will be in the middle of nowhere when a hook pops out when you are landing one. I still remember my brother trying to unhook a netted muskie when it jumped and they both had trouble hooks in them at the same time attached to the same lure. Every time the fish moved his face just got whiter and whiter. I would also recommend watching some videos on how to remove hooks though the gills. I have saved 4 fish doing this surgery.