The true fisherman for Musky is not the guide, not the resort owner, not the feature writer, it’s you. You are the only one who is going to be able to measure your successes and failures. Half the fun in tiger muskie fishing and catching the mighty Musky is the preparation and follow through that you’ll put into each and every trip. Throughout this site, we hope to teach you how to catch muskie.

Learn How To Catch Muskie

There will be days of musky fishing when you have covered a lot of water and made a lot of casts, only to come up empty handed. Then there will be days when you will be successful when you least expect it. Of course, the best reward is when you put that cast exactly where you want it. And, on the retrieve you watch and feel that massive energy climb up the end of your fishing line all the way through your muskie rod and into your hands and wrists waiting for your instant reaction of setting the hook. While learning how to catch muskie, patience and understanding your prey will be the most successful tools you’ll have at your disposal. But you’ll also have to have skills and luck on your side.

Here is something to consider while you learn how to catch muskie. The most successful lakes, the lakes where the most Muskies are caught, generally have an average population of fish that are the same size; whereas other lakes, lakes where Musky are scarce but are still there,  those lakes have larger Muskies on average. That’s where the trophies lie. This is due to the competition for the food source. The more Muskies there are, the less food per fish, so the competition for food is high. In lakes that have fewer Muskies, the competition is less, so they eat better and grow larger.

How To Catch Muskie: Select the Proper Bait and Stick With It

Watch the surface of the water for activity. One of the things you will learn quickly is that if there is a Loon in the water, swimming about and actively diving below the surface, then you can rest assured that there will be no fish in that area. They dive below the surface, look around, and then come back up. This disturbs the larger game fish and they quickly vacate the area. You will notice Loon chicks traveling on their parents back. This is because they are great bait for the huge fish.

Don’t keep changing baits! If you have confidence in what you’ve chosen to use, and have chosen the muskie lures by following our steps as to sky conditions, water conditions, etc., you be able to keep with it, tossing that lure for longer periods of time. Some anglers may make ten thousand casts before they get their first muskie strike. When they do hook onto a tiger Musky it is not uncommon to lose a fish because the line breaks or the knot releases on the lure or swivel, especially when first learning how to catch muskie.

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How To Catch Muskie: Deep Water And Steel Leaders

Don’t be afraid to try tiger muskie fishing in deeper water. You don’t have to constantly fish by casting up against the shore line. Yes it is true that Musky will cruise the shore line looking for a meal, but if they are feeding on perch as they do in Lake St. Clair in Ontario Canada, they will also search and feed in the perch schools. Try musky fishing in fourteen to sixteen feet of water and use crank baits that looks like a perch. The crank bait will usually dive down about six feet or so. If the lake you are fishing in allows trolling, then these baits are ideal to troll with.

Use a wire steel leader when muskie fishing. If you are going to use smaller bait lures, like crank baits, and the tiger Musky is of any size, when the fish strikes he will most likely devour the entire lure. Without that leader, your line will surely be severed. And no one wants to lose that trophy fish, especially if it is your first one and you are just learning how to catch muskie. If you are going to have to lose a fish, make sure it was because the fish was smarter than you and not because of a mistake you made.

How To Catch Muskie: Proper Drag Setting

One of the things we have not mentioned here is line drag. Every muskie fishing reel has a drag setting. Fishing line is sold in tensile strength, meaning, how many pounds of force does it take to break the line. The drag on a fishing reel is designed to provide resistance against being pulled off of the reel. The fish will feel this force and will apply the opposite force to that resistance. The musky thinks that the food in his mouth is trying to escape. It is also designed to make the fish tired or take the fight out of him. Fish exert a tremendous amount of energy when they have been hooked. So much so that if you think of a Muskies anatomy, they have a huge mouth, and very large muscles along each side of its back running from the back of the head all away down to the end of his tail. The larger the fish, the stronger that muscle is.

So how much drag should we apply? The recommended amount of drag is 25% of the lines breaking strength. A good way to measure that is by using a fish scale and the following formula where x is the line strength and y is 25% and the drags setting is Z. Here is the formula to be used: X/Y= Z. So if the line is a twenty pound test line then 25% of the line strength is five pounds. The drag should be set to five pounds. To do this properly, tie one end of the line to the end of a fish scale, and attach the other end of the fish scale to a stationary object. Once force is applied, adjust the drag setting so that no line is allowed to come off the spool until the scale reads five pounds.

Now that this is completed you should never have a line break because of the drag. As the muskie fights against the line and the flexibility of the rod, when the five pounds of force limit is met, then line will be let out. Now keep in mind that if you are using a bait casting reel, as opposed to a spinning reel, that there are two drag settings. One is for when you are fighting the fish, and the other one is when you are casting. What this second drag is for, is to apply tension to the reel spool when casting in order to control the free spooling, and therefore limiting any kind of backlash and line tangling on a reel. I am sure we have all done that before. The more practice you have with casting and getting to know your equipment, the better chances of success you will have.

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How To Catch Muskie: Always Be Ready

You should also always be ready with a good quality musky net, like one of the Frabill musky nets for sale. Also, it’s important to keep your musky lures organized is the best musky tackle box for sale.

The last thing to remember when learning how to catch muskie is to always be ready! It is always when you least expect it that a Musky will hit your lure. Good luck!!!

Remember, our main goal here at TigerMuskie.net is help you to learn how to catch muskie. While we do have a lot of experience in this area, we admit that we don’t know it all. If you have any tips, tricks, or advice to share on how to catch muskie, feel free to contact us.