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Wake ’Em Up!
When you’ve got multiple anglers castin’ from the same boat, does it matter which lure goes first?
Musky Insider’s Josh Borovsky has traditionally approached bait order with a tiered, analytical system, which he covers extensively in one of our Musky Insider PRO classes, “The System: An Analytical, Adaptable Approach on the Water.”
In Josh’s system, that usually means the fastest-moving, highest-percentage hooker gets first crack at the fish, followed by progressively slower, more erratic presentations.
It makes sense. Why risk losing or missing a musky on a bait that’s harder to hook ’em on when you could put a high-percentage hooker like a bucktail in front of its face first?
But a while back, Musky Insider PRO instructor Dan Wojtusik brought up an interesting idea during one of our Live Q&As:
What if that first bait’s job isn’t necessarily to catch the fish?
What if its job is to wake it up? 👀
It’s an idea Josh has continued kickin’ around with other PRO instructors ever since, and Minnesota guide Matt Seifert shared a fascinating example during his recent Live Q&A.
Matt was reminiscing about grindin’ through a brutally tough stretch on Lake Vermilion when he started experimenting with a loud Globe-style topwater in the front of the boat.
The strange part?
The muskies weren’t following or striking the Globe.
But they started eatin’ the bucktail behind it.
Put the Globe in front, and they’d contact and catch fish behind it.
At first, Matt figured it was probably a coincidence. But the pattern kept repeating.
Put the Globe in front, and they’d contact and catch fish behind it.
Take the Globe away, and the action dried up.
Matt started deliberately changing lure positions and experimenting with the sequence. The phenomenon continued for roughly five days.
He even passed the idea along to another angler, who started catchin’ fish behind the Globe, too.
Does that prove the Globe was “waking up” those muskies?
Maybe not. But for roughly five days, the same baits fished from the front of the boat, or with other presentations ahead of them, produced little to nothing. Put the Globe in front and suddenly they started catchin’ fish behind it.
Coincidence? Maybe. 🤷♂️
But it sure makes ya wonder.
We naturally give all the credit to the bait hangin’ from the musky’s mouth. But what if another presentation passing by 10, 20 or 30 seconds earlier helped put that fish into a catchable state?
It’s another example of why the sequential order of the baits being fished through a spot can matter.
Josh shared another way he likes to experiment with this.
When a bait starts gettin’ hot in the “one hole” at the front of the boat, he’ll typically move that proven bait back to the “two hole.” Since it has already demonstrated that it can catch fish without another bait in front of it, it can now act as somewhat of a control.
From there, different presentations can be rotated through the one hole. If the control bait keeps contacting fish from the two hole, but the baits in front of it aren’t getting any love, Josh keeps experimenting and swapping out the lead presentation.
The goal is to find something that can convert those fish before they ever get to the proven bait behind it.
But there’s a flip side to that experiment.
When the second or third bait in the boat gets bit, should you immediately change the presentations in front of it because they “didn’t work?”
Or did one of those baits actually help wake up the fish that eventually ate?
There’s no easy way to know for sure. But that’s exactly why paying attention to lure sequencing can be so important.
Most anglers put plenty of thought into what baits they’re throwin’.
It might be worth putting a little more thought into what order they’re throwing ‘em in.
You might discover that sometimes the most important lure in the boat isn’t the one catchin’ the fish. 🤔
And That Was Just the Tip of the Iceberg…
Matt and Josh covered a pile of other topics during the full Musky Insider PRO Q&A, including:
✅ September location changes as the weather cools
✅ Finding wind-generated current most anglers never notice
✅ How water clarity on different parts of the lake can impact your success
✅ How to identify productive sections of weed beds
✅ Ways to stand out from the crowd to get bit
Enrollment is now open again for Musky Insider PRO!
Members get immediate access to Matt Seifert’s complete Live Q&A, along with The System class, 120+ hours of past Live Q&As, 40+ hours of PRO classes, and our complete library of in-depth instruction from some of the most accomplished musky anglers in North America.
Musky Oddities
We’ve seen our fair share of funky-looking muskies over the years, but apparently Mother Nature still has a few tricks up her sleeve. 😂
Let’s kick things off with this absolute freak show that popped up on Brick Outdoors’ feed.
We’re not exactly sure what happened to this poor dude, but somehow it’s still out there swimmin’, eatin’ and doing its thing despite whatever the heck is going on upstairs. 😳
Definitely not winning any beauty contests, but you gotta give this ol’ warrior some serious survival points!
The Ol’ Snub Nose
We’ve featured a few of these over the years, and they never disappoint. 😂 Other than being a little short in the schnoz department, this one looks plenty healthy and apparently had no trouble finding Dan’s bait.
Not exactly a face only a mother could love… but it might be close. 🤣
Mother Nature Forgot to Hit “Blend”
John Wall sent us this funky 49” Lake of the Woods ’skie from August 5, sporting one heck of a two-tone paint job.
We’ve featured a handful of these split-personality muskies over the years and even dug into the science behind ’em. Biologists told us the strange pigmentation can be connected to the nervous and endocrine systems, with stress, trauma or developmental abnormalities among the possible explanations.
Whatever caused this one, it looks like Mother Nature got about halfway through the paint job and called it a day. 😂
One-of-a-Kind Tiger
And we’ll finish with an oddball that definitely doesn’t belong in the ugly category.
Check out this absolutely wild piebald tiger musky! 🤯
The finished replica was pieced together from four different musky blanks, with the head lengthened and widened to match the proportions of the original fish.
Between the crazy body shape and that one-of-a-kind paint job, this might be one of the coolest musky oddities we’ve ever stumbled across.
Ugly, goofy, freaky or flat-out gorgeous… you just never know what’s gonna show up on the end of a musky line. 😂
Championship Season Is Here
Big congrats to Will Fleck and Brian Forsberg, who brought home the hardware at the 2026 Minnesota High School Muskie State Championship on Lake Vermilion!
Thirteen teams hit the water, with Mother Nature throwing ’em an early curveball when some nasty weather rolled through after the first hour.
Will and Brian fished right through it, and before long they went to work…
About 15 minutes after a heavy rainstorm passed, they pulled into the corner of a sand flat and Will’s bucktail brought a fish screamin’ in from nowhere. It smoked the bait on the first turn of the figure 8, putting a 39.75-incher on the board at 8:16 AM.
A few hours later, it was Brian’s turn.
At 11:45 AM, they were fishin’ a hump on Vermilion’s west end when a musky followed a Mohawk to the boat but wouldn’t commit.
Instead of bailing, they kept drifting the spot and switched things up. Eventually Brian connected with a 41.25-incher on a white tube way out on the cast, giving the boys two fish and enough points for a decisive win. 🏆
Only four muskies were registered during the event, with Zach Jacobs and Gabriel Shimanski taking second with a 34-incher and Jack Wolf and Ben Johnson finishing third with a 27.5-incher.
Congrats to Will, Brian and all the young sticks who qualified for this year’s State Championship! 👊
Speaking of Championships…
We’ve got another BIG one right around the corner…
Next week, 48 of the top teams on the PMTT will head to Lake of the Woods for the World Championship, marking the first time the big dance has ever been held on the legendary border water. 👀
The three-day event runs September 17–19 out of the Northwest Angle, and there’ll actually be two major titles on the line.
Along with crowning the 2026 PMTT World Champions, the season-long Top Gun Team of the Year race will be decided.
Four-Horse Race for Top Gun
Heading into the finale, four teams have separated themselves from the pack:
1. Josh McDunn & Sean Boland — 469 points
2. Rob Ornberg & Bob Chitty — 452
3. Carson & Gary Lehnherr — 427
4. Jarod Donar & Peter Blicharz — 423
Those are the only four teams that have put fish on the board at every PMTT event this season, which is a big reason they’ve separated themselves in the standings.
McDunn and Boland have built a solid lead, but this thing ain’t over yet. Top Gun points are based on where teams finish at each event, with each place worth one fewer point. A team that blanks gets only 10 attendance points, so a big finish (or a big ol’ goose egg 🪿) could shake things up in a hurry.
🏆 The Championship Field
Here’s the full 48-team field, listed in their Day 1 takeoff order based on the season standings:
- Josh McDunn & Sean Boland
- Rob Ornberg & Bob Chitty
- Carson & Gary Lehnherr
- Jarod Donar & Peter Blicharz
- Alex McLean & Trevor Seis
- Keith & Kevin Strasser
- Benjamin Peterson & Jack Myatt
- Ethan Smith & Ty Sennett
- Ethan Rogers & Mike Brister
- Josh Borovsky & Keegan McIntosh
- Thomas Rizzio & Dave Jack
- Alan & Bob Landreville
- Mark Lijewski & Ryan Wallis
- Jace Loge & Darian Rubner
- Ken Trail & Michael Handlogten
- Mark & Mick Murphy
- Christopher Baldridge & Rick Labuda
- Theodore Pierce & Adam Hagen
- Troy & Robert Beyer
- Richie Doyle & Kris Schlosser
- Charlie Ridgway & Andrew Yamilkoski
- Steven Duessel & Rodney LaCaze
- Michael Gorman & Jason Stock
- Taylor & Nathan Andrews
- Jason Summers & Dan Wojtusik
- Gregg Thomas & Rick Hoover
- Paul Frautschi & Tom Bayer
- Kyle Sorensen & David Leslie
- Bob & Jackson Harris
- Fred Lederer & Vlad Neko
- Alec & Dan Germann
- Amanda Wilson & Megan Steinmetz
- Eric Peterson & Ladd Wildeson
- Stuart & Sheri Sorenson
- Mike & Dan Raczynski
- Chris Blicharz & Tony Sigl
- Kevin Nash & Derick Ostrander
- Ron Haynes & Joe Glasgow
- Kory Kosek & Jess Kokesch
- Tracy Crail & Shane Akin
- John & Gino Valasek
- Jeff Blanck & Leo Hauser
- Grant Blumreich
- Duane Landmeier & Mark Rue
- Dick Heckel & Rory Tuff
- Jeff Miller & David Hood
- Rob & Chris Kahl
- Heather Acker & Bryan Wiitala
The field also includes six Musky Insider PRO instructors, so we’ll have plenty of familiar faces to keep an eye on.
Forty-eight teams, three days and a whole lotta Lake of the Woods water to choose from. 😳
It’ll be interesting to see how this one shakes out…
This Week's Mashup:
Mashup time!
1 – Musky anglers will use their baits for just about anything. 😂 Forgot the utensils? No worries, the Manta’s pulling mayo duty and putting the finishing touches on lunch. Nicole Lynn only delivers after moon though.
#2 – New to Ezoko, the Shallow Cruiser from BIM Tackle looks like it was built for trouble. Running high in the water column with a big, wandering profile, this thing looks ready to get absolutely freight-trained in the shallows.
3 – What a cool release shot by Erika Beehler. 😎 A front row seat as this big girl catches her breath, gets her bearings, and prepares to disappear back into the depths.
4 – Now THAT’S a paint job. 🎨 Warren, Ohio, went big with “Mo’ Musky,” a 100-foot mural overlooking the Mahoning River painted by local artist and fishing guide Aaron Chine. Not a bad way to give the river’s apex predator a little curb appeal. 😎
QUICK HITTERS:
– Musky Paradise - Lake Of The Woods - 2026 - Part 1 (video) w/ Todays Angler
– WE WENT BACK TO THE OLD BOAT… AND THIS HAPPENED! | A Musky Fishing Film (video) w/ 54 or Bust
– GREEN BAY MUSKIES WITH BRIAN KLEIN (video) w/ Smith Fishing Outdoors
– MUSKY FISHING EAGLE LAKE 2026 OPENER!! - Muskies Love Red October Tubes! (video) w/ Angling Anarchy
– Early August Muskies in Northern Wisconsin! (Topwater Strike at DARK) (video) w/ Musky Mastery
– In Search of Sunset Country Muskies (video) w/ The New Fly Fisher
This Week's Monster Muskies:
Yet another brute courtesy of a new proto from Angling Revolution… 👀 Jack Bollman and Josh Borovsky recently had an absolutely bonkers day, finishing 6/10 as Jack smashed his PB with this 51 ¼”.
Oh yeah… all four of Jack’s fish—and 7 of their 10 bites—came on the new Angling Revolution prototype. Safe to say they might be onto something. 🔥
Can’t hide the sheer size of this 52” LOTW tank Jordan Guck pulled from his home waters. 😳 And when wifey tells you to throw a tube… you throw the damn tube.
Talk about setting the bar high! Tracy Honsey kicked off her musky career with this 51” Vermilion beast while fishing with her son Noah. Not a bad way to make your musky debut. 🔥 Way to go, Tracy!
Thomas Farrell put the hammer down on this thick 50 ¼” Lake St. Clair beauty. Moonrise and sunset lined up, the dinner bell rang, and this big girl came out to play.
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