unsuccessful. Anyways, it's always good to hear when someone wants to
get into musky fishing. When I first started musky fishing I was also
a college student, so I've been in the same boat as you.
As for reels, I'd suggest the Garcia 6500 C3. It has a 5.3:1 gear
ratio, and it can be used for pretty much everything. It should be
around 80 bucks, so it's a pretty good buy at that price. The 5.3
ratio lets you throw just about everything. Generally for the larger
crankbaits and especially bucktails(Double Cow Girls for example) you
want a lower gear ratio, such as a 4.7 or so, but the 5.3 also works.
For rods, I got started using a 6'2 gander mountain IM6 heavy action
rod. The length is kind of short, but for 50 bucks or so you can't
beat it. If you prefer a little bit longer rod, especially one that's
better at throwing bucktails, I'd suggest the 6'6 medium heavy IM8 rod
from gander mountain. That should be around 80 bucks if I remember
correctly. I've had no problem landing muskies on both of these rods.
What I really like about the 6'2 rod is that you can throw pretty
much anything with it. I had a little harder time throwing jerkbaits
w/ the 6'6 IM8 rod.
For line, I recommend using either Spiderwire Stealth or Cortland
Spectron. I like the 80 pound test myself. The 80 is still thin
enough to spool quite a bit of line, and the zero stretch is fantastic
for hooksets.
An "L" turn is when someone brings their lure in towards the boat or
shore, and instead of doing a figure 8 they basically turn the lure
90 degrees to run it past them to see if a muskie is following or not.
It's a rather lazy way to see if you have a follow or not. That
being said, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do a figure 8 after every cast no
matter if you see a fish or not. The biggest muskie I've caught(and
it was from the bank) was on a figure 8. I didn't see anything and
when I completed my figure 8 I saw a flash, so I started to do a
second one. When I was done w/ my second figure 8 the muskie came out
of no where and slammed it. If I only did an "L" turn there's no way
I would have caught that fish. Several other muskie fisherman can
probably tell you a simular story to mine.
Muskies generally spawn very early in the year when the water
temperature is in the low to mid 50's. Here in Illinois we don't have
a season for musky fishing, but I'd be willing to guess that musky
season is closed when they spawn in Wisconsin.
As for lure colors, someone can drive themselves nuts trying to figure
out what colors to use. Black and orange are usually a good color to
use on just about any lake, but the amount of muskies caught on black
and orange is related to the number of people who throw those colors.
In heavily pressure waters, I prefer to use louder colors such as pink
are purple. That being said, natural patterns are always a good bet.
If a lake has a large bluegill population, green and blue are usually
good colors. I also love throwing white. I've caught several muskie
and even my biggest walleye on a cisco colored 8 inch jointed
depthraider. Sometimes the simple natural colors are overlooked. Joe
Bucher said his best color he had was a white depthraider w/ a blue
stripe on top of it, and interestingly enough it was his worst seller
because it wasn't "flashy." Now it's not even made anymore because it
didn't sell that well.
Hopefully I've given you at least some insight to help get you
started. Musky fishing can be very frustrating when starting out.
I'd recommend trying to fish lakes where you have a better chance at
catching one than going for the trophy lakes. Muskie aren't called
the fish of 10,000 casts for nothing.
--- In fishingtheusaandcanada@yahoogroups.com, "loons1686"
<yngsn4103@...> wrote:
>
> Hi .. I have been fishing ever since i was little but now that im 21
> im starting to take fishing more seriously .. A friend of mine took me
> musky fishing and he caught one on my first time out .. I was hooked
> even though i didnt catch it i was excited .. I have began to purchase
> what i can for musky lures, rods and reels (on a college kids
> income) .. I have also been reading the musky hunter magazine .. Since
> i am new i have a few questions and was hoping this would be the spot
> to get answers .. i live just north of Madison Wisconsin .. and we
> actually from what I have heard have some nice musky lakes within 50
> miles or so .. a couple of the questions i have are .. What is an "L"
> turn? (i know of the figure 8)Also what does gear ratio mean ? the Abu
> Garcia im looking at has 5:3:1 is that musky, bass ect.. also when do
> muskies usually spawn? .. and finally colors .. i have been told
> orange and black but also have been told it depends on the water
> color.. any input? Any help will be greatly appreciated in my quest
> for my first musky.
> Thanks Nate
>
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