Do Any Of You Pour Baits For Muskey?

[Mudd Butt Baits]

I was wondering if any of you pour baits for muskey, I have never fished for them.  I have a few guys saying my new bait would be a great muskey bait if it was a lot bigger.  Sounds fun, but what type of hook would I use, do you put it in the bait before pouring, do you rig it like the bass bait, can I find hooks big enough to use, is it worth trying?  The bait should float and work just fine, but just don't know how how to go about it.  Getting the mold made is the easy part. Thanks for your imput.

[Anglinarcher]

I don't do it personally, but it is done quite often.  Larry Dahlberg created the Mr. Wiggley, just now becoming available through River2sea.  He used a single treble hook with a through line design so the bait slides on the line after the hook-up.  He has shown several videos on how he created the bait and shown us how to create our own version of it.

 

Mike Faupel of Alumilite has been doing some with imbedded hooks. He too has provided these videos. 

 

The commercially produced Bull Dawg uses imbedded hook harness.

 

A lot of factors are involved in determining how to place and size hooks and I don't propose to even know how to cover all options. But.....I can provide you a link to where the videos are located so you can look at them at your leisure.

 

http://www.makelure.com/HowTos.cfm

 

I hope that some of what you can find in the huge video library can help you.  I have complete confidence you can make your lure for Pike or Muskie and find a way to install proper hooks for your target species.

 

Good luck and great pouring.

[Mudd Butt Baits]

great link, thanks a lot.

[CNC Molds N Stuff]

No, but before I quit selling baits I had a guy catch pike and musky on my Curly Buzz Frog.  The pike didn't surprise me, but the musky was a huge surprise.  

Edited April 27, 2014 by Bob La Londe

[Mudd Butt Baits]

I am not sure how to hook it once it is made.  It is the bait that is in the video I post the other day. Getting it to float with a huge hook may be the issue?

[Bassinfool]

With a hook that heavy and large it may not be feasible, possibly just too much weight to overcome. But with a bigger floating bait that's more surface area so it may offset the weight of the hook to the point it still floats. There's so much physics involved between the surface tension o the water, surface area of the bait, weight of the bait, buoyancy of the bait, weight of the hook, etc you would really have to sit down and crunch some numbers to really find out if it would work or not.

[Mudd Butt Baits]

I have my bass baits floating, so I would just use what I mix with that and make them work.

[patrick reif]

I've caught exactly one musky in my life, so I'm no expert.  I did catch it on a homemade bass sized spinner bait.  I have friends that catch muskies off of my bass sized swim baits.  Some of the more productive baits for catching river muskies is a common bass sized 4" tube bait or a 3" grub or a 5" fluke.

 

I heard of a kid catching one on a piece of night crawler on a #2 Eagle Claw hook and 8# mono.  Don't you know that was a ride. 

 

You don't have to go bigger to catch a musky.  They're predatory and opportunistic feeders.  Any bait that looks like it's in trouble may be if a musky is watching it.

 

Once again, I'm no expert, but I have helped land several muskies caught on bass baits.  Food for thought 

[pat28]

All predator fish will sometimes grab small lures. They do work. However, if protecting the ressource is also a concern, then small lures cannot be used on a go-to basis as they get inhaled by the fish, and reduce release success significantly. Moreover, smaller lures mean smaller terminal tackle and hardware, and the mighty musky is known for testing equipment very seriously. I have seen three 6/0 trebbles open straight on a number of occasions. I normally use lures between six and twelve inches in length for muskies. You may adapt your lure to make it bigger.

Pat

[Anglinarcher]

If clear soft plastic is not a requirement, I often add softener and then microballons to the mix to get the soft plastic to float heavier hooks.  It takes some experimentation, and often I need a somewhat larger body to displace enough water, but.......

 

I really do believe with some experimentation you will figure it out.

[aulrich]

I can't say I agree with small lures increase mortality, sure they do inhale it but you usually have room to work, I have had more trouble with hammer handles getting ambitious and inhaling a bait they can barely fit in their mouth.

[Fish_N_Fool]

I make a 10" version of my popular Sink-N-Fool bait that I fish for pike and muskies as well as big bass and I use this 11/0 worm hook from owner
 

OVERSIZE WORM HOOK

Oversize worm hook, with a heavy-duty forged shank, is the ideal choice for
rigging king-size worms for big bass. Features include worm holding Z-Lock
shoulder bend, Cutting Point® and black chrome finish.

 

Size   part #   quanty   cost

7/0    5110-171     5    $8.50

11/0   5110-211     4    $8.50

 

Edited May 1, 2014 by Fish_N_Fool