bigpoppabass

Abu C3 reels have been the goto beginner musky reel for generations. Dunno why they are not popular with the bass folks. Drags have been improved, cast well, and need almost no maintenance.

I got a stash of pink baits but haven't gotten around to using em. They say start with a zoom fluke and you will get it.

Baby wake would be my choice. Also consider large keitech grubs and easy shiners. I hated the easy shiner at first but now the larger sizes are a fav.

Can I have that rbt slammer with gold tail? Looks a little weathered you prob won't miss it. Haha. Great write up.

You still have to match the hatch. A new to me water with coontail edges begs for slammers and yet the biggest fish we have caught there hit jigs and rattletraps. Place has a stunted baitfish population for some unknown reason and no golden shiners. No big bait around. And if there is no clarity, I usually won't throw swimbaits anyway.

Not to hijack, but fallfish should be on your list. I still haven't found a decent imitation, except at certain times of the year they have bright pink and red cheeks and look sort of like rainbow trout.

316 baby wake in perch. Use like a rapala minnow swimming and twitching it. Avoid walking the dog with it cuz and the promotion of that ability early resulted in bait being tucked away in tackle boxes as a non producer.

Check utube there is a shore walker from Caly who does well with it. It is a tough sell, has very little action it is not a confidence maker during a test cast.

That happened to me talking to a fella at a ramp. Bald eagle tried to snatch it in front of us.

Good job getting the cadence down. Took me a while to get there. I prefer pitches to structure rather than bomb casts.

I have not had to replace a shower curtain since I put vinegar in a spray bottle. I have gotten fancy and now do 1/8 bottled lemon juice splash. Should work with a boat cover. I would spray it and leave in a crash can to marinate overnight.

The old polywood hi fin creeper is the American standard. Musky market baits built to rarely need tuning, a general weakness of the style. Still worth searching on ebay. They have bright orange eyes. Wood ones are decent but the polywood models are the unicorns.

1. Weed treatments have changed the swimbait game imo. They are getting very effective at removing weed edges. 2. Fishing Pressure: I went to a tiny pond and there was an 8 kayak torney on it. They are supposed to get permits but don't since they are generally just online groups. Senko slingers do their damage too. 3. MBTE: this chemical used to make car emissions cleaner seems to end up in deeper stretches of most lakes where there would be a thermocline. Every big sm I have harvested being the torney donee for dead fish has had cancer. Every big lake has a giant that utilizes the deep basin as its home. That fish is usually never seen ever except maybe during the spawn.

That fella stole my name for a swimbait. Haha.

Bill Siemental is a big fan and mentions them many times in his classic swimbait book. Might want to get a copy. It I recall correctly, he fished them as bait ball imitations.

I tried that but when my golf gloves got wet the dye stained my hands. I loved the fit tho.

Surprised by mention of crawlers, not even close to top of my list. The regular sized buzzjet is my goto on rivers followed by a plopper. The hybrid popper and walk the dog baits are also excellent, especially during early morning fog.

Luv Baby wakes. Use as a retrieve and twitch bait. Yes, it was marketed as being able to dog walk too but I have never caught a fish doing that.

Uni to uni is a great knot. Easy to tie and strong, easy to eyeball if it is done right. I would go as far as to say it is pretty. It is also my standard braid knot.

Crawlers allow you to listen for bites. Most have a distinct sound. Also, my decision would be impacted by what prey I think are available. If there alot of muskrats and beaver around, rats look like babies. On the other hand, a creeper is a bait "that looks like nothing in particular going nowhere fast." Quote from Steve Heiting Musky Book. PS. I have specials rigs for my fav crawler and rat baits.

Rof 12 is a must have since you can fish it like a jig. I have never gotten mojo on rof 5s. You get alot more tasters and followers on rof 5s than you do on rof 0 and 12s. I tend to see the fish more on rof 5s and they are usually not in attack mode.

This year I have upgraded my ego to longest deep rubber available. Their traditional design is a smaller net that can stretch with fish weight. That design doesn't allow you to rest and to recharge fish between pics. The new hoop upgrade wasn't cheap, but now I have two sizes of nets I can insert into handle.