Musky Opener

[The Outlaw TJ]

Hey Herbie,

I can't hold back any longer. The recent warm weather and the recent posts about an early ice out has me pacing around my house like a caged lion.

My crew is coming to Eagle lake for the musky opener. I realize that a lot can change in 3 months but if the predictions hold true of an early spring and ice out, would the conditions for late june render the usage of regular sized cowgirls, top raiders, 8 inch jakes and bigger musky lures or will I still be forced to use smaller bucktails, showgirls, glide baits and doc/jackpots?

We were up last year at the same timeframe and caught a few muskies but really couldn't get much action on those bigger baits.

Thanks for the insight.

TJ

[Steve Herbeck]

tj,
i hear ya man!!
gett'n the itch too.
what we now call small was normal sized baits 5-10 years ago.
also last year was a very late spawn for muskies,colder water,etc. on opener in some areas of the lake they hadn't even completed spawning yet.
if it does go into a season as predicted spawning is usually completed by 1st 2nd week of june,thus the 3rd sat in june opener. this season maybe even sooner which would mean fish further into the total recovered mode and you very well could be using bigger baits with success but regardless there's alot of big fish caught all season long and have been for generation upon generation on reg fluted #5-7's,harrassers,#8's,smaller/med sized jerks/minnow baits,med dawgs,etc.
on the other side,if you're really after a big fish,there's no bait you can physically throw that is to large for big hungry gal or one with an attitude..
generally if they aren't really geared up yet due to spawning rigors and recovery,colder water temps and fronts,smaller/med baits are first options to try however when it comes to big baits the ones that have reactionary/injured properties to them like jerkbaits/twitchbaits seem to have the more actual positive results vs just slow lazy follows. they don't have to be hungry,instinctively they just want to kill it because it's injured.
it's fish'n man,ultimatly you got to make choices,experiment, let them tell or hint to you what they want and make hopefully intelligent adjustments from there.
herbie