TOPRAIDER TERRIFIC!

This past weekend, Spence Petros and I had a blast catching muskies on topwater. No doubt, it is the most explosive and exciting way to catch muskies by far. When it comes to musky TV shows, nothing is as good as a topwater strike. While a lot of really good topwater lures are available today, and they all catch their share of muskies, nothing compares to the TopRaider for overall performance, durability and reliability. It is simply the best musky surface bait made. Period. I am sure Spence Petros would completely agree with this claim. That’s why hundreds of musky anglers across North America register big musky catches on this lure year after year. It’s simply that good.

Tackle matchups for TopRaider muskies is a simple one. I’d suggest fishing a high speed baitcaster like Abu Garcia’s Revo Toro 60HS. A large capacity, big game series baitcaster with its extra large capacity spool size will really buzz a TopRaider thru the water easily. The big advantage of a high speed version for this style of fishing comes after the strike. Topwater muskies get ignited like a runaway missile after the strike occurs. The high speed reel enables you to keep the line taut no matter what the fish does.

A low stretch heavy weight floating braid is always the best choice for topwater lures. My personal favorite is Stren’s Sonic Braid in 80 # test. You always want to keep that line on the surface so the lure works well, and your hookset response is instantaneous. A floating super braid in the larger pound tests insures that the line is on the surface so it will instantly explode up and off the water on the hookset.

My favorite TopRaider rod is a St. Croix Legend Tournament Musky Split Grip “Top & Tail” LTM80MXF. The advantages of the extra long rod are many, and there are few disadvantages. Most of all, the 8 foot rod is far superior at the boat. Anyone who has done any amount of musky fishing knows that the figure 8 is a huge part of the technique. So many muskies follow to boatside. Getting even a small fraction of them to hit at boatside is a big plus. Long 8 footers simply do superior figure 8 patterns with your lures at boatside. The figure 8 can be made bigger, and deeper if necessary. Plus, after the fish is hooked, the additional rod length and rod bend is more apt to keep the fish hooked and not tear out the hooks.

Extra long rods also sweep the hookset better from long distances. An extra long cast with a topwater lure is usually a plus. It enables you to cover more water, but also provides added distance for a following musky to commit to the strike. Long casts with shorter rods result in poor hookups. The extra length of the 8 footer helps to set the hook solidly from very long distances. Finally, it also affords the angler the ability to steer the lure through lanes in weeds as well as create more pronounced changes of direction throughout the retrieve. Any change of direction is liable to trigger a follower to strike.

As far as the actual retrieve cadence goes, I do like a fairly steady pace for muskies, but I’ve seen the fish respond better at times to a lure that occasionally rips or spurts forward. Always crank a prop style topwater lure extra fast initially in order to get the prop spinning good and to pick the line off the water. Then back off to a medium fast retrieve once the bait’s prop is churning with a strong plopping sound. With lures like the TopRaider, you’ll often notice a perfect speed that creates a loud deep gurgle. This deep gurgle, for some reason, is highly desirable to muskies.

Finish each retrieve with an underwater figure eight, since many muskies follow to boatside. A few may even take the lure on the figure 8; particularly in rough wavy conditions. If you spot a follow, don’t panic. Just keep crankin’ steady. Try to maintain a constant even cadence with the lure at all times. Some expert topwater anglers like to keep the lure on the surface and never submerge it on the figure 8. They make extra large, wide turns on their figure 8’s, but always keep it on top. I can’t argue with this tactic if it works. But, I’ve taken some of my biggest trophies with submerged figure 8’s on a topwater lure. Try both and see what works best for you.

Be careful not to set the hook until the fish actually grabs the lure solidly. One of the biggest mistakes often made while topwater musky fishing is to set the hook as soon as the fish strikes the lure. This rarely works well with muskies and usually results in a missed fish. This is where nerves of steel win the game. Concentrate on maintaining a steady retrieve until you actually feel the rod bend and the weight of the fish on the end of the line. A delayed reaction on the hookset nearly always results in more hookups. Also, try to make all your topwater hooksets with one single sideways sweep. The natural tendency is to lift up on the rod, but you’ll hook way more fish with a sideways sweep that keeps the overall pressure low to the water.

Once your rod is bent, never drop off the pressure and never set twice. Keep hard solid pressure on the fish. If your rod tip is up, sweep it down and to the side as soon as you can. This is usually the key to keeping them hooked. If they are running at you on the strike, try stepping back a few steps on the hookset. This is also where the high speed reel comes in handy.

Finally, always keep the hooks on all your topwater lures extra sharp. You’ll notice that Spence and I made a big point about that on this recent TV segment. Sharp hooks are essential on any musky lure, but arguably even moreso on topwater plugs. Before you even make that first cast, check those hooks for sharpness. Test each hook point on your thumb nail by lightly dragging it downward. It should catch or bite in slightly. If the hook point slides off your thumb nail, it is not sharp enough. A few quick strokes with a good quality file is all it takes to keep your TopRaider is tip-top running shape. Take the extra time to sharpen your TopRaider hooks before fishing a really good spot might make the difference between a missed opportunity and a well hooked lunker.

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THE BUCHER BURN!

If you watched my TV show this past weekend, you no doubt saw Spence Petros and me wuppin’ up on the muskies with a high speed, run & gun spinner technique we nicknamed “The Bucher Burn”. A somewhat dead day of fishing suddenly turned on in the late afternoon with some very hot musky action. Some of it was due probably to an overall movement of muskies, but some of it was also due to our retrieve technique. Here’s the scoop.

The main lure involved in this technique is, of course, my own big in-line tinsel spinner – The Buchertail Mag Tinsel. This lure features a big 9 to 10 inch flashy profile and sports two giant # 10 fluted blades. It’s a bear to throw and a bear to crank. That’s why you need the right tackle and technique. The tackle: 80 # test Stren Sonic Braid (green), a St. Croix Legend Tournament Musky LTM80MXF, and this terrific new baitcasting reel Abu Garcia Revo Toro Winch 60, and you are set to “burn”.

Summer muskies really turn on to a super fast retrieve speed with these lures. The entire concept rests on maintaining a high riding, close-to-the-surface presentation with a strong visual (eye on the spinner) at all times. This takes some physical effort as well as concentration. It also requires specialized tackle including a low- geared baitcaster and long rod. A synchronized reel engagement that is timed precisely with the splash entry of the lure is the first trick. This is followed by an immediate “burn” (retrieving extra fast) while lifting the rod tip upwards simultaneously. The combination makes a big spinner bulge water right away and run ultra shallow.

About ten cranks into the retrieve, lower the rod tip to a point where there is no rod tension on the line at all. I call this “zero rod drag”. Zero rod drag eliminates much of the wrist, hand, and arm fatigue associated with retrieving this lure for hours on end.   Master this technique and you will last a lot longer.

Back off on the speed a bit more at mid retrieve and initiate periodic quick-bursts of the reel. This keeps a following fish guessing and triggers them to strike. In fact, jumping the speed with these quick-bursts seems to trigger a lot of mid-retrieve strikes that might not otherwise occur.

The grand finale is a very aggressive figure 8 that involves a final speed burst to the boat continuing into that first figure 8 turn. The first turn (of the figure 8) should be as wide as possible. In fact, it should actually be a large outward circle. As soon as the turn is complete, the lure should be pulled up a bit shallower out in front of you so you can spot the follower (musky). If the fish is still following, back off on the speed abruptly allowing the bait to actually fall back into the fish’s face. Quite often, the strike occurs right at this moment. If not, repeat the process with a vigorous hard pull into the next turn of the figure 8. This seems to excite a big musky the more you do it.

BURNING HOT SPOT!

Muskies inhabit a wide range of areas depending upon the type of water you are fishing. One of the best patterns I’ve locked onto the past few years is “rocks, wind & waves”. I’m basically referring to rock studded points and islands (with points) that had some wind and wave action pounding into them. Shallow submerged rock reefs are also good; particularly the ones with a hazard buoy on them. This is a staple pattern on the lakes I fish during the summertime. However, steady winds and wave action are key. Any time a wind blows for a few days from the same direction, it really set muskies up on predictable rocky spots.

Most of these rocky areas are easy to recognize and decipher at first glance. Flat rock surfaces might hold a fish or two but are not nearly as consistent as broken rock areas. If the spot has projections and pronounce points with broken rock, it is even better. Add wind blowing into this spot with nice wave action and it will probably hold a musky. Once you’ve caught a fish or two of a spot, keep it in memory. It is likely to produce time after time when the conditions are right.

Once in a while a pattern is so good that it simply has to be written about, talked about, and dialed-in for future reference. This whole aspect of burning “big blades” over shallow, wind-swept rocky areas in during the heat of midsummer is sizzling hot right now. If you haven’t tried “big blades” for summer muskies, you might want to consider it on our next trip. It’s hot. Burning hot!

Wind, Waves, & Musky Location

If you caught my TV show this past weekend, you noticed Spence Petros and me discussing wind direction and its subsequent wave action – and how to predict probable musky location via this information. It’s a fairly simple formula, and here’s basically how it works: Wind and wave action creates current. Wind induced current pushes volumes of water in one direction or another depending upon the specific wind direction at any given period of time. The result of this wind induced current are waves. The stronger the wind, the larger the waves . Of course, this is also why some shorelines are calm while others contain wild white caps.

A boat flows in a specific direction due the wind. Fishermen commonly call this a “drift”, due to two forces: 1) wind, and 2) water current. It is the wind that initiates the water current on inland lakes without a major river inflow or outflow. This wind induced current has a strong influence on fish movement and location, too.

Wind induced current (waves) moves water around structure differently depending upon its direction and velocity. Predator gamefish as well as baitfish are completely reactionary to current no matter how much or how little there is. As soon as there is current of any kind, fish like to turn and face into that current. If they are a dominant predator like the musky, they usually like to move up current along a structure until they come to the upper most front edge of the structure—where the wave action is first touching the actual spot. Some like to call this the “upwind edge” of structure. A dominant active musky will most certainly want to be in this spot. The dominant fish simply wants to be first. The more ideal the conditions, the more often various muskies suddenly appear in the same precise upwind spot.

So, what happens if the wind suddenly switches? In a nutshell, the hotspot suddenly goes completely dead. It no longer has current flow to that precise spot to attract a dominant predator fish. This same dominant fish might still hang out in the same locale, but more often it seeks out a new ambush site in accordance with the new wave pattern and its subsequent current. This seems particularly true of rock oriented muskies. They are really wind sensitive. They follow wind direction around like a compass. Always be very aware of this when you are on a good rock pattern with muskies. Wind direction and subsequent wave action usually plays a big role in musky location on rocks.

Weed related muskies react similarly to wind direction and wave action depending upon the spot. I have seen muskies suddenly turn on along the upwind side of a thick wall of weeds that was dead a few hours earlier. Usually, when the wind pounds steadily into one portion of a weed bed, whether it is in a bay, off a point, or any other type of weedy topography, a dominant active musky is apt to be positioned on the very tip of the upper most edge of it. This is also true of most other big gamefish species such as northern pike, walleyes and bass. They all basically relate to wind induced current the same way. When there’s more than one musky working a large weed bed, don’t be surprised to find the most dominant fish on the best looking spot, but lesser sized ones nearby on secondary points in the weeds or a very unique large clump of thicker weeds near an upwind edge.

However, don’t neglect to check the lee side of a weedbed; especially when it is situated off of a productive saddle between a point and an island. In real strong winds, I have seen the lee side of a thick weed saddle, or the “backside as Spence likes to call it, out produce the front side containing all the wind induced current and strong waves. Sometimes you discover a particular area on a weedbed is simply the best spot no matter what the wind is. Many spots we fish contain a specific pinpoint spot-on-the-spot that is a far better producer than the rest of the area. This may be due to better cover options, deeper water nearby or something else that you simply can’t see from the surface. This spot-on-the-spot phenomena overriding wind direction is more predominant on weedy spots than on rocks. But weed related muskies still do work this upwind pattern with a good deal of predictability so I would always check it first.

I’ll bet you’re wondering now, what happens when there’s no wind. Well, common sense pretty much explains the answer. If wind velocity creates wind induced current and subsequent wave action, which in turn, triggers a reaction from fish, no wind does just the opposite. In other words, when there is no wind, there is no reaction from the fish. There is no pattern. Musky location simply becomes far less predictable. With no current along a specific rock structure, for example, there’s no reason why a musky must position itself on one particular spot. Nothing is drawing a fish to one specific spot, so they are free to roam and feed where ever they want to. Again, there simply is no pattern when there’s no wind.

Summarily, if you are observant, you can often predict with some degree of certainty where an active musky is most apt to be on any given spot simply by looking at how waves slap into it. This is never a total slam dunk guarantee, but it actually works with amazing regularity. I learned this trick long ago as a teenage bass fisherman and later as a full time walleye guide, and it still serves me well today as a musky hunter. Always check out a good looking area thoroughly; especially if it has produced fish for you in the past. However, when rocks are the dominant substrate, it’s almost a guarantee that the active musky will be on the upwind side of the structure. Try predicting a musky’s location on your next outing by closely reading the wind direction and wave action. Wind direction dictates fish positioning on structure. It’s a simple fact.