Dahlberg Tips - Bust a Move - Kickin' it Old School
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Old-School Tactics for Pressured Muskies
Bob Landreville has been guidin’ ’skies on Leech Lake since 1987 and the lake has gone through a lot of changes in that time frame including the introduction of Eurasian milfoil, rusty crayfish, and zebra mussels.
However, the most recent change Bob has had to deal with is the significant increase in fishing pressure on Leech due to many MN musky anglers shifting their focus from the diminishing musky populations of stocked fisheries toward the more predictable and seemingly stable populations of lakes with native, naturally reproducing muskies.
Like most other fisheries, when the fishing pressure gets high, the muskies tend to get finicky in terms of what presentations they are willing to eat. That’s exactly the situation Bob was in last year. The fish were relatively easy to find but it was really tough to get ‘em to snap.
Here’s what Bob did to fire them up: 🔥
“Sometimes when things get tough, I go into my shop and look in the rafters. All my go-to baits from the old days are hanging up there. I think we all forget that most of the baits we use today are adaptations of, or were inspired by, the previous generations of baits we used and guess what . . . They still work! Except now you might be the only boat on the water throwing the oldies.”
“Last season we had shallow fish pinned down and couldn’t get them to go. I pulled out my old Fudally Stump Hawg Spinnerbait and Musky Candy bucktail and it didn’t take long to score.
That inspired to me to dig deeper and I found an old Rizzo Wiz, but the tube skirt was pretty trashed. I had a pack of larger salted bass tubes laying around and decided to wire up my own version of the Rizzo Wiz with the salted tubes and some extra weight so we could really turn and burn.”
“Not only did they work, it was kind of crazy how bad they wanted those salted tubes retrieved at warp speed. I don’t know if it was the speed, the salted tubes, or the single blade, but we caught a pile on ‘em.
MN Expo Vendors Bust Out The Moves
When we saw this Instagram reel from Team Rhino Outdoors filmed at the MN Expo, we knew it had to make the newsletter. 😂
First, we have some double pumps from Jeff of the TRO crew to kick off a good ol’ fashion dance-off.
Insider PRO Instructor Mike Kramer of Kramer Bros. Tackle shows us that he’s much younger than the rest of us with some actual dance moves. 🕺
Looks like he’s preppin’ for next year's halftime show for the big football game.
We get some sass in our sarsaparilla with this head turn from Jeff Schulte of Bomb Squad Baits.
Check out Insider PRO Instructor Chase Gibson giving us his best impression of “wacky waving inflatable tube guy.”
Yeah… it’s pretty close.
Last up, we have Brad Hoppe from Musky Mayhem Tackle. We’re kind of gettin’ the vibe Brad might be that guy you’re not getting on the dance floor at the wedding reception.
There’s too many moves to squeeze in the newsletter so you can check the whole reel out right here.
Dahlberg Tips from the Archives
Anyone else been playin’ in the lure makin’ lab lately? 🙋♂️
Yeah, us too . . . It had us reminiscing about the writeup we did with the original musky bait mad scientist Larry Dahlberg.
Still some great info, so thought we'd pull it from the archives and blow off the dust.
It’s easier NOW than it’s ever been to pinpoint muskies – either with your eyes or with your electronics. It’s on YOU, the angler, to make ‘em eat.
We picked the brain of fishin’ legend Larry Dahlberg to get a few tips on how to catch ‘em once you know where they live. He knows his stuff and has a pretty dang clear mindset when he’s targeting a found fish:
"It is my contention that if I have all the tools I need at hand and I’ve visually located a musky, I can catch it regardless of the conditions – so long as I do everything correctly in that situation. (except in one case in regards to fish body temp in relation to water temp).”
So how does Larry up his odds once he’s ID’d a ‘skie???
1. Think before you fire!
“Avoiding detection is critical. When you’re casting at a fish, try to stay as far away from your target as possible. Making a long distance bomb cast provides the fish with plenty of real estate to follow and commit before reaching the boat, giving you more time to unleash your bag of fish triggering tricks.
”That said, if you can get close enough, or elevated enough, to see the most subtle cues from a stationary fish without spooking it, your odds of catching it go up. Subtle cues include dorsal and/or pectoral fin movement, gill movement, etc. The trick is to make the musky think the lure is reacting to the presence of the musky, often without removing the offering from the musky’s zone of awareness."
2. Pave new roads
“If you want to up your odds of catching a musky, try showing them something they haven’t seen before. This might be a challenge on intelligently pressured waters where anglers have tried just about everything, but it’s well worth the effort.”
Larry is no stranger to the road less traveled when it comes to making and experimenting with unique musky baits.
The best way to guarantee a “unique” presentation is making your own “one of a kind creation”, which is something Dahlberg is both skilled at and passionate about (as most of you know).
Oh, and don’t forget to check out Larry’s sweet lure making videos on the Tube.
Wish I could get a glimpse of what Larry’s cookin' up in his lab right now. 👀
This Week's Mashup:
Mashup time!
#1 – Wanna get your hands on a Wirth Flaptail ? Our friends at Taps & Tackle are going to be at the Wisconsin Musky Expo with this Wirth Flaptail that they’ll be raffling off for the Odgen Syndrome Foundation. For those who don’t know, Matt only makes a few of these each year and donates them for fundraisers. Rules for the raffle and link are here.
#2 – The 22nd Annual Intermediate & Advanced Muskie School, put on by the Capital City Chapter of Muskies Inc. is happenin’ March 22nd at Waunakee High School. They’ll have rodbuilding, fisheries info, poolside lure demos, many speakers, and more. Check out the full lineup here.
#3 – Check out this fantastic piece of art painted by Bob White titled “One Last Look.”👀
#4 – We’re diggin’ the paint job on this St. Lawrence tiger! John Anderson shared this throwback photo while speaking at the Muskies Canada Gananoque 1000 Islands Chapter. It sounds like tigers are becoming more of a rarity on the Larry due to invasive gobies eating the eggs and fry of both muskies and pike in the spring. Now the main contributor to Esox populations on the upper St. Lawrence is stocking efforts.
QUICK HITTERS:
– Scouting New Water (video) w/ Keyes Outdoors Musky Hunting Adventures
– “Building Confidence” w/ BIG GUY BAITS, musky fishing tips & tricks (video) w/ 54 or bust
– FISHING BUCKTAILS for HUNGRY MUSKIE (video) w/ Matt Vavroch Fishing
– BIG TOPWATER MUSKY - Greatest Musky Memories Vol 3 (video) w/ Todays Angler
The mighty St. Lawrence gave up this impressive reef-runner to Jon Sleeman while fishing with Pat Briere.
The first ‘skie of 2025 for Ryder Dziak was a good one. Way to make it happen with boots on the ground!
Joey Baemmert at the young age of 8 caught his first musky trolling Green Bay with the help of Kenny Dorsch, who’s doing the heavy lifting for his picture. All smiles in this boat!
On the last day of a Green Bay trip, Will Zeichert popped this fiddy while slow rolling Spanky blades.
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