Fall Weight-Add Mods – Musky Views & Sounds – Another DIY Box
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Fall Suspendos
Gord "The Doc" Pyzer had a good writeup in Outdoor Canada this week.
He talked about bluff wall fishin' and how adding weight to your dive-and-rise baits can be lethal for fall muskies.
That's the recipe that he used to put this 'skie in the boat:
Gord: "When I was presenting [my grandson] Liam’s weighted Bobby Bait to the fish the other day, I was able to sweep it down deep, and then let it suspend, quiver and rise for so long in the water column that I could have taken a bite from my sandwich or a sip of tea, before making the next twitch. As it happened, the muskie smashed the bait on the second or third twitch, as it wiggled up slowly."
A mistake folks make this time of year is not getting their baits deep enough in the water column. That's ONE of the reasons why rubber can be so good in fall.
Here's a look at the Bobby Bait mod from Gord's grandson Liam:
And here's step-by-step of how he executed the modification:
"To weight a jerkbait using Betsy Pearson’s method, I like to first fill a pail with water and then take walleye or bass jigs of three or four different weights. Typically I use ones where I’ve dulled the hook point too much to ever sharpen again, or worn off the paint."
Gord shares more deets in Outdoor Canada about how Dick & Betsy Pearson influenced the bluff locational strategy and bait mod systems in his writeup. #OGs
"I’ll tape each one to the top of the wooden lure, and then drop it into the pail, and monitor how it floats, sinks, suspends and rises. When I find the perfect weight jig that gives my bait the attitude I am looking for, I’ll snip off the line tie, and bend the hook shank straight. Then I snip it off behind the barb, so the result is a lead ball with a straight wire shank.
"Then, I’ll take a drill with a bit that is the same size (or just slightly smaller) than the lead head, and drill a hole behind the first hook hanger that is just deep enough to accommodate it (above).
"Next, I’ll take an even smaller bit—the size of the wire shank—and drill it all the way through the bait so it exists out the top. I’ll fill the large hole with epoxy and push in the lead head, so that it’s flush with the bottom of the bait, and the shank is extending up through the small hole. Finally, I’ll let it dry overnight and then tap down the wire shank so that it lies level with the top of the bait."
I know many of you are already playing with weights/mods for your dive-and-rise baits, but thought we'd share for the folks who aren't!
Flip Your Perspective
It's easy to forget that muskies see and hear things from a totally different point of view than us.
For example: Sounds travels around 4x faster in freshwater than it does above the surface. That's a stat some of you might have heard before. It's certainly something to consider, especially for big predator fish like muskies.
We stumbled on a few good videos recently that examine this topic.
The first is from Smith's Fishing Outdoors, where they analyze the sound of various bucktails:
It's cool seeing/hearing the underwater footage + Rich Reinert had some great bonus tips for each bait.
They shot a similar video last year lookin' at topwater tweaks & sounds.
Next, we have a video from 54 or bust, where he attempts to see through the eyes of a musky with some underwater views of lures in different water clarities at a couple different angles:
Something to think about!
"The fish that attracts self-torturing anglers...."
You guessed it – they're talkin’ about musky fishing 😂
Here's the full quote:
"The fish attracts self-torturing anglers to drag a large spinner behind the boat for not just hours but sometimes weeks just to get a strike."
Sound familiar?
This Week's Mashup:
Mashup time!
#1 – Since we're on a DIY lure storage kick right now, here's a video posted this week by VANBEAST with a pretty slick box build:
#2 – The GOT fans in our community might enjoy this musky-themed throne from Todd Berge – he calls it the "Throne of Broken Dreams" 😂
#3 – REALLY cool boatside shot from Adam Bricco:
#4 – Sweet 'skie carving – made outta curly maple wood – from Mark C. Donovan:
QUICK HITTERS:
– Northern WI topwater musky w/ Todays Angler (video)
– Pete Maina on his musky arsenal around turnover time (video)
– Fall musky fishing w/ LOTW Sports Headquarters (video)
– Big fall Canadian musky w/ 54 or Bust (video)
– Fishing the Nestor Falls Musky Cup w/ Lisa Marvin & Dave Winters (video)
THIS WEEK'S MONSTER MUSKIES:
Nighttime is the right time! Sweet 54.5 x 25" monster from Max Delisle. That big girl is built like a cruise missile!
Another fall fatty from Parker Butler – great fish dude!
This bulbous Canadian white whale from Vanessa Toews has been slammin' down the baitfish this fall 🐷 #porker
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