Steve Genson Tips – CPH (Casts Per Hour) – Kiddos with 'skies
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Vibration + Meat = Recipe for Success
Man, we had a REALLY good Insider PRO session with Steve Genson last week.
The two hour chat was jam-packed with a boatload of great info.
We wanted to share one quick tidbit from our talk here in the newsletter.
Steve likes to utilize vibrating baits this time of year to not only trigger strikes, but also up his catch-rates with livebait, too.
Here's his thoughts:
"For jigging, the Bondy Bait works really well, but around here (northern WI), the Fuzzy Duzzit, which is made by one of our local guides Fuzzy Shumway, works great. He designed this bait many years ago, basically as a way to keep his guide clients warm while fishing suckers late in the fall. And low-and-behold, muskies like to grab them.
"It's a metal blade bait that vibrates. You can work them efficiently in the strike zone, 2-4 feet off the bottom. You can get it deeper in the column where it's harder to get other lures. The fact that you can keep the lure in the strike zone for a longer period of time is key."
So he'll use the efficiency and triggering capabilities of the Fuzzy Duzzit to catch more 'skies this time of year, but one of the BIG benefits of this program is it actually enhances his livebait game:
"It's an attractor. I'll even cast it on days I don't necessarily want to. In late fall, I'm usually running suckers and trying to be very precise with my boat control. I like to cast when I feel like the fish want to follow. I'll have muskies follow in, then go to the suckers quite often.
"As the fish move deeper as we get into the portion of the season that we're in right now, I absolutely believe the vibration of both the Bondy and the Fuzzy Duzzit will draw fish to you. You may or may not get the fish to bite, but on certain days, it will increase the number of fish you catch on your suckers.
"There's definitely something to be said about maintaining some moving lures even if the muskies aren't biting them a lot. Getting fish to come to your boat, interact with your presentation, then see the livebait. It's a system that works well together."
That juicy info was just under two minutes of the full TWO HOUR session.
If you’re an Insider PRO member and missed the LIVE session, make sure to log in and watch it in the member's portal. If you aren't a member yet, you can click here to get your name on the waitlist!
What's Your CPH?
We stumbled on this OLD forum post on MuskieFIRST from back in 2007.
The author ("Top H2O") asked if anyone had counted how many casts they make each hour, and he shared a few stats of his own:
"Heres what my CPH is roughly, and yes I did count."
- Regular Bucktails: 53-54 Casts-Per-Hour
- Magnum Bucktails: 35-36 CPH
- Weagles: 25-26 CPH
- Jackpots: 30-31 CPH
- Prop Baits: 35-36 CPH
- Mag Dawgs:36-37 CPH
Donnie3737 replied: "I average around 600 casts in a 9-11 hour day. Depending on the baits....it could be a few more or a few less."
Leave it to a musky angler to dig this deep into the weeds. We're obsessive. 😅
That said, it would be quite a bit less tedious to replicate this same "study" nowadays, as you could simply set up your cell phone camera or a GoPro, film yourself fishing for an hour, then reviewing the footage after-the-fact.
This is a super random topic, but we thought we'd highlight it here in the newsletter, just for fun! Have any of YOU calculated your CPH??
Another key statistic to think about could be "CPM" (casts per musky) or MPH (muskies per hour). 🤔
Kiddos with 'Skies
Musky fishing is a hardcore activity, driving folks to fish for hours & hours on end.
Fishing through the night, through the storms. Spring, summer, and late into fall.
With that said, it's also very important to get the next generation involved in the sport we love so much. Here's a few awesome kiddo catchin' musky pics that were shared with us over the last year:
First, we have an A+ photo sent in by Joe Kraetke, featuring his daughter Lucy and her first 'skie. What a great memory for the mini-muskyheads to experience!
Love this shot that was shared by Michael Kainec. I also thought he described the experience perfectly:
"To catch a fish of this caliber with Charlie, and have it be his first musky encounter, is just too much to even ask for.
"His mix of terror and excitement when he saw this fish was exactly the emotions we all experience when we see a musky for the first time. So special! Thanks for sticking this one for Cha Cha, Anthony Miller."
Big congrats to Richard on catching his first-ever musky, while fishing with his dad Marty Vlietstra – love it!
Another awesome father-son moment, this one was sent in by Paul Kirby. That's his son Logan, with a beautiful northern MN 49.25 incher:
This Week's Mashup:
Mashup time!
#1 – Some very good information in this video from Ben Olson and Luke Ronnestrand. We were going to put this in the Quick Hitters section, but decided to "move it up" so more folks would see it. Enjoy!
#2 – Check out these Llungen .50 Cal cranks that Ezoko has in stock. 🔥
Colors from left-to-right: Kaiden's Bluegill, Walleye 2.0, Crappie and Ghost Shad.
#3 – Really, really diggin' this woodburning work done by Mark Usyk on yellow birch slabs. A hungry 'skie chasing down a fly!
#4 – Here's a fun throwback. The Angling Edge crew on Mille Lacs Lake back in 2008, talking about using the latest and greatest electronics technologies to catch more muskies during the Mille Lacs heyday. Boy, things sure have changed!
QUICK HITTERS:
– November on the Flowage (video) w/ Todays Angler
– 4 Day musky competition (video) w/ Cast & Conquer
– Some musky fishing action & humor (video) w/ Rut Daniels
– Fall musky fishing action (video) w/ 54 or bust
– Musky jig tips (video) w/ Rich Reinert & Angling Anarchy
– Ezoko's guide to making leaders (video) French w/ English CC
THIS WEEK'S MONSTER MUSKIES:
Wow, what an absolutely massive MONSTER musky boated by Scott Scarpelli! 👀
53.5 x 27" caught casting a Pro Mag Dawg on Lake Nipissing.
Props to Christina Truppe on boating her new PB tiger this week! 💪
Congrats to Ryan Hollar on catching this big 53-incher fishing with guide Jonah Deming on Tonka. The big gal fell for a CBJ 💣
Another lowlight topwater eater! This one ate Will's MK-65 Flap Tail up in shallow water, as the sun was hitting the horizon. Nice fall porker! #feedbag
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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