"Fab 5" Spring Musky Lures: Part 1

Confidence baits. Money lures. Call them what you will, every seasoned angler has a few select offerings in the ol’ tackle box that seem to produce when the going gets rough. Wisconsin’s musky season in the Northern Zone (inland waters North of Hwy. 10) opens this Saturday after what has been a below average (temperature) spring, and conditions facing musky hunter should be a bit more challenging than in some recent Memorial weekends due to the subsequent lower water surface temperatures. Does this mean the muskies are uncatchable? Absolutely not!

While I’m sure my wife does not always agree with me on this point, in my opinion, one can never have too many musky lures. That being said, like any hardcore musky hunter, I have specific favorites based on time of year, water and weather conditions, and body of water. I present to you, in no particular order, the “Fab 5” - a collection of lures that perform as all-stars, especially when facing cooler spring-like water conditions on an opening weekend.

Mepps Musky Killer: In this age of giant double-bladed behemoth bucktails, smaller baits like the Musky Killer are often over-looked and under-utilized. While I religiously use “big hair” a good portion of the season, it’s the smaller statured Mepps Musky Killer that is so dynamite for me during a cool early summer. On the Wisconsin River system, a gold or copper blade and black or brown squirrel tail is a solid producer on darker cloudier days, while a hot orange/orange or hot chartreuse/chartreuse combination is deadly during brighter conditions. I always attach a “hitchhiker” to my bucktails and screw on a Mister Twister Double Tail or Split Double Tail grub to act as a trailer, ultimately eliciting more strikes. Although smaller than a good portion of the bucktails I throw most of the season, Mepps Musky Killers will cast almost effortlessly with a 7’-8’ MH St. Croix musky rod. Lastly, large deep figure-eights are always a must when musky fishing, but especially so this time of year – discipline yourself to do so after EVERY cast!

Musky Innovations Bulldawg: Although relatively newer on the timeline of the musky annals than some of the other all-time producers, the Bulldawg has already confirmed itself as a legendary musky producer. As with bucktails, I am a big baits=big fish kind of guy. I thoroughly enjoy tossing the largest lures my St. Croix rods can handle, which include “pounders”; however, when conditions dictate a smaller more subtle approach, it’s tough to beat a regular-sized Bulldawg. ‘Dawgs work excellent when twitched and jerked over newly emerging weed beds, down weed edges, and around other structural elements, including those man-made – be sure and vary your cadence and let the fish tell you what retrieve they want. One of the keys to being successful with catching fish on Bulldawgs is to realize that strikes are frequently not of the bone-jarring variety. A basic rule of thumb when fishing with ‘Dawgs is this: if it feels different, even only a “bump”, set the hook!

Tight lines,