Good stuff from the Muskie Expos
Wow, I can’t believe the last of the muskie expos ended this weekend and the countdown to muskie opener has begun. This post is a review of some of the new stuff from the shows that looked good. I don’t get much time to walk around around and browse at the shows, so this is just the stuff that caught my eye and isn’t a comprehensive list. Feel free to jump in if I’ve missed anything. As always, it was great chatting with all the people at the shows. Catching up with folks I’ve fished with in the past and meeting new people is always the best part of the expo season
Here’s some good stuff I saw:
Waterwolf Lures has added a few new Shadzilla colors for the 2011 season. Anyone who followed my posts last year knows that this has been the best new lure for me in a long, long, long time. In 2010, the Shadzilla accounted for more fish in my boat that any other lure – by far. The last I heard, Waterwolf is still planning to soon add a 13 or 14 inch model for the 2011 season. It isn’t yet shown on their website, but it looks like they’re updating their site so I hope it shows up soon. You can get Shadzillas directly from Waterwolf, but shipping is a bit slow and expensive from Canada; the best way to get them with fast, cheap shipping is through Big Wood Musky Lures, the sole American retailer. You’ll be missing out on an outstanding new lure if you don’t have some Shadzillas in your boat this year.
http://www.bigwoodmuskylures.com/lur...make=WaterWolf Lures
http://www.waterwolflures.com/musky/
Slammer has a couple new lures that look great. I’m especially excited about the new 16” crank that just came out. I think they only had an unpainted prototype at the Chicago show but had finished lures at Milwaukee, so it’s really new. This new Slammer is big and has the thickest lip I’ve ever seen. It has a very, very thick trapezoid lip, fairly deep profile, and it is BIG. I’ll be running this thing a lot this fall, if not sooner. I was told the dive profile is about 13’ down with 50’ out. Slammer also has added a new twitch bait to their lineup. It’s a 7” model with a trapezoid lip that runs 4-6 feet deep, depending on how aggressively it’s worked. I’ve used the bigger one (10 inch?) with a trapezoid lip with a lot of success, and the small 6” with the rounded lip has saved the day for me on some of those days when nothing else would work. I’ve been getting more and more into twitch baits the past few years and this new 7 incher will get plenty of use in my boat this year. Neither of these new baits has been added to their website, but they should be showing up at Thorne’s and other retailer that carries Slammer.
http://www.slammertackle.com/index.htm
I stopped at the Stealth Leader booth and Chicago and Milwaukee and a couple things grabbed my attention. Stealth has a new night fishing leader that should be outstanding. The leader has a small tab of glow material fastened by the swivel that is the same glow material used by Glowin’ Outdoors for planer boards, trolling motors, etc. I’ve used the Glowin’ Outdoors tape on my trolling motor, footpad, and boards for years and love it. The small piece on the leaders is small enough that it won’t make a difference during the day and it’ll give off light longer than you need it to at night. This leader will work better than the glow beads, glowing Lindy Rig floats, and many other things I’ve used in the past. I should have thought of it myself. I was also impressed by the Muskie Bumper board. I think this board has been out for a while, but this show season was the first time I’d seen one. I already have a premium bump board, but the Muskie Bumper is a lot better and it’s the one I should have bought.
I bought a year’s supply of 150# fluoro leaders and a bunch of trolling leaders. Stealth is the only leader I use.
http://www.stealthtackle.net/
There are a couple cranks from Muskie Train that I’ll be using this year. I was turned on to these baits by Jeff Hanson, who is one of the big sticks on the Madison chain. Jeff got a couple of the first 50s that were ever caught from the Madison chain. The Diesel is a small crank with a coffin lip that can be worked on a straight retrieve or twitched. I’ll probably use it both ways but I especially like its potential for twitching. It’s small and runs deeper that a lot of the other twitchers I’m currently using. The MX9 is a trolling and casting crank bait that has a St.Clair-style design with a pronounced side-to-side wander. I love that in a trolling bait. Jeff Hanson also used the straight model MX9 for casting last fall and said it did even better than large plastics. There’s no way I’ll set aside my plastics in the fall, but I’m willing to give it a try. This should be an awesome trolling bait summer and fall. Jeff also raved about the Diesel. The guys from Muskie Train have about 25 years’ experience building baits, but the company is fairly new. They’re growing so fast they’re having a difficult time keeping up, so their lures must be putting fish in the boat.
http://www.muskietrain.com/
The St. Croix Big Nasty is the rod to buy if you’re in the market for the best rod ever made. I was lucky enough to fish with this rod awhile last season and it is amazing. The Big Nasty is from the Legend series and it’s without a doubt the best rod I’ve used. Ever. This is the first 9 footer from St. Croix (finally), but they really got it right. It’s available in a standard or split-grip model; I favor the split-grip because the handle is an inch or two longer and it feels so natural and comfortable to grab that bottom grip with my left hand. I picked one up at the Minnesota show and it just made me smile and look forward to the opener and I’m not kidding – it’s that good. I plan to have a few of these in my boat for the 2011 season.
http://www.stcroixrods.com/product/l...-walleye-musky
Another very interesting discovery from the show season was the RubberHairy Twisted Tullibee. I think this bait has already been out for a year or two, but it’s new to me. I saw this in the tank at the Milwaukee show and really like the way it looked. The tails are wide and supple and really have a lot of action. The weight is fairly concentrated in the nose so it swims with an up-and-down, jig-like action. It doesn’t glide like a Bulldawg. It only weighs about 4 ounces, so it’ll be a very comfortable bait to throw – believe it or not, there are a lot of people who don’t want to throw a 9 ounce Mag Dawg for very long. I really like how this thing creates the illusion of a larger size and has so much action from the tails in a lure that weighs only 4 ounces. I was told by Eric Larson, the guy who makes them, that it runs a bit on the shallower than other soft plastics I’ve used and is most effective down to 6-8 feet. It could be run deeper than that if it were counted down a bit. I guess I’ll find out, I haven’t fished with the Twisted Tullibee yet, but I’m already certain that I’ll like this bait and it’ll be used a lot in my boat. In fact, I’m sure enough that I’ll be starting the season with about 30 or so. There’s also a large version, but I’m not sure of the weight – 9 or 10 ounces maybe. Like the smaller one, the larger version looks bigger than 9-10 ounces and has a huge amount of action from the tails. I’ll try this one in situations where I’d normally run a Pounder, but it runs shallower and more jig-like. The RubberHairy site is under construction and doesn’t show the Twisted Tullibee. The best place to see this thing is on the Big Wood Musky Lures site where there are photos of all the colors and a few videos.
http://www.bigwoodmuskylures.com/lur...ke=RubberHairy Tackle
At the Minnesota show I was in a booth next to the Just Big Muskies guys, Erik Jacobson and Brian Hanson. Their new video, “The Inside Line”, is well worth buying. Once again, these guys put huge fish in the boat including the 57” whopper that was caught by David, Erik’s 8-year old son. That segment is priceless and there isn’t a better piece of footage that captures the spirit of the catch-and-release conservation ethic. This video should be mandatory viewing at all Muskies Inc. meetings, and if I had my way I’d make sure every member of the Minnesota legislature saw it too. Though only eight years old, David is a well-recognized new face on the muskie fishing scene and he autographed a picture for me, which was pretty cute. In this video, Erik and Brian share a lot more information about what they’re doing to catch their fish. The filming and production quality is much improved compared to their earlier work, not that those videos were bad either. Look for this video wherever muskie gear is sold.
http://www.justbigmuskies.com/
Good stuff from the Muskie Expos
Glad ya'll were able to get out and ketch a few... I had to watch it all from the air as my bride and I were returning from Indianapolis visiting our youngest and her son and hubby. There is a bunch of water standing in fields around your country. It will not take a big rain to get it going again
Good stuff from the Muskie Expos
Im really bummed because I was planning on going to Good Friday service tonight and Im unable to go. Its a very somber event it feels like youre going to a funeral.
