The adage that a tool is only as good as the hand that wields it is just as true in a workshop as it is on the water. In my mind, musky lures are not magical, mythical, or particularly mysterious. They are simply tools with an intended purpose and specific capabilities. Learning to understand those capabilities, and knowing when and how to apply them properly, is one of the biggest leaps forward a musky angler can make.
For most musky anglers, their knowledge of the tools in their tackle box begins and ends with what the spokesperson or the package says. While there is nothing wrong with that, in most cases it leads to underutilization and a failure to unlock their full potential.
To start uncovering what is really hiding in your tackle box, I recommend taking a few hours to truly investigate your lures. I promise the time spent learning them will pay dividends for years to come.
The first step is to hit the water with zero intention of catching muskies. Yes, I know that is a hard pill to swallow, especially when most anglers have limited time on the water while balancing life, work, and everything else that comes with it. But removing the pursuit from the equation is important because all of your focus should be on unlocking potential through dedicated observation.
While everyone’s tackle box varies and there are thousands of musky lures available, the observations below are universal and apply to all lures and lure categories.
To begin evaluating your tackle, observe each lure and study how it behaves in these basic scenarios.
Start by watching the rate of fall or rise. Rubber baits like the Menace or a Bulldawg should be dropped in free spool so you can see how they descend. Is it a fast fall or a slow fall? Does the bait drop head first or stay flat? Once you start mentally cataloging how a lure behaves in free fall, you gain a far better understanding of how it will react when paused during a retrieve.
The same observation should be made across every lure class. How do your spinnerbaits fall on slack line? When pulled underwater and left without tension, how do your crankbaits react? Do they rise quickly, rise slowly, or suspend? Do they come up head first, tail first, or rise flat?
Spending time in clear water simply watching your lures a few feet from the boat allows you to see their unique properties without outside influence. This alone is valuable because anglers often lump lure categories into broad generalizations and overlook the subtle details that actually matter. Observing your lures in this way will also help you better understand higher level concepts discussed in videos, podcasts, and articles such as hang time, rate of rise, or head up versus head down behavior. Suddenly those conversations make sense because you have seen it for yourself.
Whether it is rubber, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, or dive and rise presentations, learning the natural fall and rise characteristics of your lures is invaluable education.
The next test is to observe how each lure reacts to different retrieval styles. This is where you start breaking the mold of what can actually be done during a retrieve. In musky fishing, we have only a handful of ways to influence a lure. We can rip, sweep, tap, lift, drop, burn, slow roll, or simply leave the bait at rest. Each input changes how a lure behaves, and every lure responds differently.
Take a single bait and experiment. Rip it hard and see how far it jumps. Sweep it slowly and watch how much roll it produces. Add quick taps of the rod tip. Pause longer than feels natural. Speed it up, then abruptly slow it down. Pay attention to what makes the bait hunt, kick out, stall, glide or jump. You are not just learning a retrieve, you are learning the language of that lure.
While one could endlessly test lures and their capabilities, start by hitting the water and running these two simple tests with all of your baits. This alone will move you toward a deeper understanding of the tools in your tackle box. A couple of focused hours spent observing your lures will pay off later in inevitable eureka moments when conditions, cover, structure, and fish behavior line up and you realize the solution has been sitting in your tackle box all along.
The more time you spend observing these reactions, the more confidence you build. Confidence is what separates random casting from intentional musky fishing. Instead of simply throwing a lure, you begin selecting a tool because you understand exactly what it does and why it fits the situation in front of you.
That is the moment your fishing changes. You stop chasing magic baits and start mastering tools. When that shift happens, every lure in your tackle box suddenly has purpose, and you become a far more efficient and dangerous musky angler.