March 23, 2025

Ronnestrand Mods - PMTT News - Tackle Tariffs

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New PMTT FFS Rules (Kinda)

The Professional Musky Tournament Trail recently made the following announcement on their Facebook page:

“The PMTT has concluded that going forward, the Forward Facing Sonar - Live Sonar and all other real time imaging like technology will not be allowed for use during any of the PMTT tournaments. These will be banned from use two hours before the start of the first day of the tournament until the end of the last day of the tournament.

THESE UNIT TRANSDUCERS MUST BE REMOVED FROM THE BOAT DURING TOURNAMENT HOURS.

Boat inspections WILL be completed prior to each day’s start.”

While the ban on FFS is not new to the PMTT, the part about removing your transducers is a new addition to the rules. It seems like a more sensible and enforceable option compared to the previous rule which “banned” FFS use but still allowed FFS transducers to be deployed in the water and connected to units that were powered on.

The comments section of the Facebook post got surprisingly feisty and eventually the ability to comment on the post was turned off. While some folks supported the new rule and even questioned why it didn’t exist from the start of the FFS ban, others jumped in protesting the rule.

While removing an FFS ducer is a short simple process for most, the anglers using multiple ducers and/or running their cables through rigging tubes weren’t too happy.

Then of course there’s the crowd that still hasn’t accepted the PMTT FFS ban to begin with and some of them couldn’t resist jumping into the comments as well. More “bad news” for that camp . . . Word on the street is a number of Muskies Inc. Chapters are planning to ban FFS use in their tournaments as well. We’ll try to keep you updated so stay tuned.

Ronnestrand Lure Mods

The musky world has seen huge advancements over the past 15 years—new lure designs, techniques, and patterns, plus the refinement of how we use cutting-edge technology like side imaging, AutoChart Live, and (like it or not) Forward Facing Sonar (FFS). Many of these game-changing innovations can be traced back to Lake Vermilion.

Vermilion is home to a unique group of cabin owners—highly experienced, well-traveled musky anglers, many with impressive tournament success (and not just on their home lake). It’s also become a vacation destination for top guides and competitive anglers from across the musky world. Add in the lake’s 40,000 acres of water, fluctuating musky populations, and invasive species like rusty crayfish and spiny water fleas, and it’s no surprise that constant innovation is key to consistent success.

Luke Ronnestrand and other top Vermilion guides are at the forefront of this innovation. Last week, in an exclusive Live Q&A for our Musky Insider PRO members, Luke and Josh Borovsky discussed this year’s innovations on the Big V. When two Vermilion guides start comparing notes and spilling their guts, you know the info is gold!

Here’s a few new lure mod nuggets Luke shared with our Insider PRO group:

✅ Clevis size matters - Luke often cuts apart his standard bucktails and rewires them with slightly larger clevises.

“I think when you’re using baits with two independent clevises there’s that click they make every now and again . . . I think that click is a little bit more noticeable.”

✅ Adding a leader sleeve below the clevis.

(The arrow in the image above points to the American Fishing Wire leader sleeve Luke added to this modified bucktail.)

✅ Adding a 3-way swivel to spinner baits.
Luke had great success last season—both in Canada and Vermilion—by adding a 3-way swivel with two blades to a CJ’s spinnerbait, as shown in the photo below.

Both twin #8 Colorados and mismatched #7 and #8 Colorado blades got the job done, and Luke also admitted he favors hammered blades. Definitely some fun ideas to experiment with this summer! 🤔

This entire session was packed with great insights. If you’re an Insider PRO member and missed the live version, log into the member portal to watch the full recording.

Not a Musky Insider PRO member yet? The window to sign up closes this Thursday… and check out what’s coming up next! 👇

Musky Fishing Rivers: Seasonal Movements & Strategies with Chris Willen

Speaking of Musky Insider PRO, we’ve got a live virtual class coming up Thursday, March 27th at 7:00 PM (CST).

Chris Willen is a full-time guide and a true nomad, specializing in river muskies. He spends most of his time guiding on Wisconsin and Tennessee rivers, but he’s put in serious time on rivers in the Virginias and beyond as well.

In this class, Chris will break down river musky movements and strategies throughout the entire season, followed by a live Q&A for Insider PRO members.

🚨 Not a member yet? You can still sign up and join this class live—but don’t wait! Registration closes at 5:00 PM (CST) on Thursday.

A PRO membership also gives you access to:

✅ 24+ hours of class recordings
✅ 80+ hours of recorded Q&A sessions
✅ Upcoming monthly Live Q&As
✅ Tackle discounts
✅ Exclusive custom baits
✅ Pink Day predictions & big fish analytics
…and much more. Learn more and sign up here.

Tariffs Gettin’ Real in Fishing World

On March 13, 2025, the Canadian Government imposed 25% tariffs on $29.8 billion in products imported from the U.S. including fishing rods, hooks, nets, and other tackle, according to the announcement posted on the government website.

From the looks of the website, it appears as though these new tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. eliminates its tariffs against Canadian steel and aluminum products. Negotiations between the US and Canada are ongoing, so there’s hope trade tensions might ease, but the tariffs remain in effect for the time being.

At the time of this writing, we couldn’t find any info indicating that President Trump plans to impose tariffs specifically targeting fishing tackle imported from Canada into the United States in retaliation.

However, we did find this USA Today article entitled “Donald Trump says tariffs coming April 2, more layoffs in the works:Recap” written by John Bacon, Sara D. Wire, and Francesca Chambers.

And this excerpt caught our attention . . .

“The president said the tariffs and trade controls would be ‘reciprocal’ so that whatever rate a country charges, the U.S. charges them the equivalent.

‘Whatever they do to us, we do to them,’ Trump said.”

We also noticed some Canadian bait makers are holding “Beat the Tariffs Sales” scheduled to take place before April 2nd.

We typically try to steer clear of politics in the newsletter unless it’s directly related to musky management or musky populations. But, we thought this might be a good heads-up for our American readers in case anyone needs to make any last minute purchases from Canada . . . Just in case. 😉

This Week's Mashup:

Mashup time!

#1 – “I’ll wear them for a week and see if they hold up,” says Dave Kormanyos of DK Musky Lures about these custom-painted kicks. Check out the musky, firetiger, and brook trout patterns! 👀 Word is, he’s taking requests for a limited time, and everyone wants a pair. 😍

#2 – Our friends at Ezoko now have the new Shimano TranX 300B in stock! This reel features a CoreSolid one-piece aluminum frame for added durability and Shimano’s SVS Infinity MD Tune system, allowing for quick, on-the-fly adjustments via an external dial. Check out their preview video here.

#3 – Check out this 25” cedar carved tiger by Christopher Gintner. 👀 He carves one every year for the C&R Musky club in Appleton, WI.

#4 – This custom show colored Nutbuster JR by Llungen Lures named “firecracker” looks extra tasty! 🧨

QUICK HITTERS:

– Cisco Eaters in Minnesota (video) w/ Mayhem’s 10,000 Casts

– 54 minutes LIVE with Steve Heiting (video) w/ 54 or bust

– Flowage Small River Outlets (video) w/ Keyes Outdoors Musky Hunting Adventures

– EAGLE LAKE MUSKY FISHING!! - And Exclusive Rusty’s Customs, Navins, and Medussas! (video) w/ Angling Anarchy

– Thorne Bros. | How To Build A Musky Bucktail! (video) w/ Thorne Bros. Custom Rod & Tackle

This Week's Monster Muskies:

This Cave Run chunkster took a 13” glider fly presented by Rylan Moore. Nice work Rylan. 👊

Nolan Shortt popped this Kawartha lake shark jigging a walleye colored Bondy Bait. Way to go Nolan! 🔥

Nothing like catchin’ ‘em boatside to get the juices flowing. Congrats to Chelsea Birmingham for sealing the deal on the Figure 8 and landing this tank! 💪

Check out the paint job on this tiger caught by Travis Sawyer. What a beauty!👀

Wanna be featured in Musky Insider? Send in your recent trophy musky photos by replying to this email. You might just see your pic in next week's newsletter. 🤙

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