Lipless cranks catch plenty of muskies during spring, summer and fall for sure but the key to catching ‘skies in the very early cold water spring season on these lures often involves a unique retrieve trick. I stumbled onto this secret many years ago while targeting bass and walleyes, and consequently stumbling onto an occasional musky. I have since then refined this into a high confidence method for me in any cold water situation.
Lipless crankbaits are preferred here because they sink like a rock and vibrate super tight. This makes them (lipless cranks) perfect for bottom tight ‘skies. Mistakenly, most anglers simply cast lipless cranks out and crank them in quickly and steadily. While this tactic is sure to bag active cruisers, it will not score on bottom tight fish. These bottom huggers are less active cold front fish.
Spring muskies as well as big walleyes, pike and bass tend to hang around hard bottoms such as rocks, boulders, and gravel as well as sandy bottoms with scattered debris such as logs and brush in cold water. Particularly after cold front. All of these substrates can be targeted easily with the sinking lipless vibrator. Simply cast the sinking crank out, burn it with your reel a few turns and then let it sink all the way to the bottom. By the way, you will easily know when the bait touches bottom because the line will suddenly go slack. As soon as you see the line slacken lift up on your rod tip while resuming the retrieve for 4 to 5 cranks. Then repeat the stop & drop process until the line goes slack. Continue this crank, stop & drop process all the way back to the boat. Often times I even do better by simply crawling the crank steadily all the way in once it reaches bottom on that initial drop.
Strikes are apt to occur at anytime, but more seem to come while the lure is plummeting (toward the bottom). This is why a semi taut line during the drop is beneficial — strike detection. A taut line transmits strike or bite detection thru the line and to your rod. However, rarely is this kind of strike what one would consider hard or strong. Instead, it is often a tick or a bump. Sometimes, it is a surprising line jump or a confusing lack of a slackening line during the stop & drop. Either way, any tick, bump, or jump should be met with an immediate hookset.
Lure size is often critical to success with cold water muskies. While larger lure sizes and lengths are generally far more popular with musky anglers, smaller versions in the 3 to 4 inch range often work better in the cold waters of early spring. Additionally, line size and composition can greatly affect lure drop speed. Most of the time, I tend to fish these lures on 50 to 65 pound braid with a short 7 to 9 inch braided wire leader that features smaller hardware. A long nine foot lighter action rod seems to work best at keeping muskies hooked once they strike.
Finally, colorwise I have had exceptional success on muskies with perch-like patterns, but have also had hot bites on flashy chromes at times. I tend to keep my eyes cued on the lookout for signs of any baitfish activity in the area while casting and moving thru an area. If I spot silvery minnows, I grab a chrome pattern. Striped minnow sightings make me shift quickly to perch imitations.
Lipless cranks catch plenty of muskies during spring, summer and fall for sure but the key to catching ‘skies in the very early cold water spring season on these lures often involves a unique retrieve trick. I stumbled onto this secret many years ago while targeting bass and walleyes, and consequently stumbling onto an occasional musky. I have since then refined this into a high confidence method for me in any cold water situation.
Lipless crankbaits are preferred here because they sink like a rock and vibrate super tight. This makes them (lipless cranks) perfect for bottom tight ‘skies. Mistakenly, most anglers simply cast lipless cranks out and crank them in quickly and steadily. While this tactic is sure to bag active cruisers, it will not score on bottom tight fish. These bottom huggers are less active cold front fish.
Spring muskies as well as big walleyes, pike and bass tend to hang around hard bottoms such as rocks, boulders, and gravel as well as sandy bottoms with scattered debris such as logs and brush in cold water. Particularly after cold front. All of these substrates can be targeted easily with the sinking lipless vibrator. Simply cast the sinking crank out, burn it with your reel a few turns and then let it sink all the way to the bottom. By the way, you will easily know when the bait touches bottom because the line will suddenly go slack. As soon as you see the line slacken lift up on your rod tip while resuming the retrieve for 4 to 5 cranks. Then repeat the stop & drop process until the line goes slack. Continue this crank, stop & drop process all the way back to the boat. Often times I even do better by simply crawling the crank steadily all the way in once it reaches bottom on that initial drop.
Strikes are apt to occur at anytime, but more seem to come while the lure is plummeting (toward the bottom). This is why a semi taut line during the drop is beneficial — strike detection. A taut line transmits strike or bite detection thru the line and to your rod. However, rarely is this kind of strike what one would consider hard or strong. Instead, it is often a tick or a bump. Sometimes, it is a surprising line jump or a confusing lack of a slackening line during the stop & drop. Either way, any tick, bump, or jump should be met with an immediate hookset.
Lure size is often critical to success with cold water muskies. While larger lure sizes and lengths are generally far more popular with musky anglers, smaller versions in the 3 to 4 inch range often work better in the cold waters of early spring. Additionally, line size and composition can greatly affect lure drop speed. Most of the time, I tend to fish these lures on 50 to 65 pound braid with a short 7 to 9 inch braided wire leader that features smaller hardware. A long nine foot lighter action rod seems to work best at keeping muskies hooked once they strike.
Finally, colorwise I have had exceptional success on muskies with perch-like patterns, but have also had hot bites on flashy chromes at times. I tend to keep my eyes cued on the lookout for signs of any baitfish activity in the area while casting and moving thru an area. If I spot silvery minnows, I grab a chrome pattern. Striped minnow sightings make me shift quickly to perch imitations.
Joe Bucher