T-Billy

I only use a leader when fishing deep rock to make breaking off easier. I mostly use Sufix 832 in low-vis green. You can absolutely spool your spinning reels with braid.

Roger that. He's definitely more diversified than any other musky angler I've met. He's also a dedicated angler who spends a lot of time on the water, and crafts a lot of his own tackle. If the water isn't hard he's out there. He showed me a bait he made similar to a Little George tailspinner. His was a flattened teardrop shape chunk of lead about the size of a goose egg, with soft plastic molded around it to look like a shad, and a big ol honkin colorado blade on the tail. He said he strokes it like a blade bait over deep structure during the cold water months. Said he had a 17 fish day on it in Feb. a few years back. He told me he occasionally catches a giant smallie or saugeye on it too. I was more than a little suspicious of his claims until I talked to a couple other local musky guys who knew him. They told me, if he said he caught 17 in one day, then they had no doubts about it. He whoops them and takes their money on a regular basis.

Straight braid will work well for you for alot of presentations Katie. It's tailor made for the shallow weedy waters you fish. I HIGHLY recommend Sufix 832. It's very reasonably priced, and handles very well. That Gore fiber gives it some body. It's not as wispy as most other braids, and you'll get less tip wraps. It's also very abrasion resistant for a braid. Most will recommend 50# in cover, but I've found 40# to be plenty strong, large enough diameter to prevent line dig from being a problem, and it casts further than 50.

I catch more on accident than alot of them do on purpose. LOL. Mostly spring and fall when the water's cold. The musky move to the wood and shallow flats. I catch 'em while chasing bass. Meanwhile most of the musky guys are trolling main lake basins, or they're elbow to elbow in the backs of a couple bays casting giant baits. I tell 'em I'm catching them on the wood, or seeing them cruising the banks up shallow, and the vast majority shrug me off and stick with what they're doing. I talk to one musky guy at the ramp when I see him, and we've discussed this. He fishes them pretty much the way I bass fish in the spring and fall, but with appropriate gear, and cleans up. I've mentioned him to a few other musky guys in ramp discussions, and it seems he's not very popular. They ask, black Lund? Yep. That's Dave. Seems he wins most of tournaments he enters. They all think he's a ****. I have a different opinion of him. He's been very friendly and happy to share info with me, being I'm a bass guy he's not fishing against for $$$.

Ironically enough, I've been bitten off a few times the last few weeks on straight 40# 832, so I was running a titanium leader on my chatterbait rod all night with a green pumpkin chatterbait, and a 30# mono leader on my lipless rod. I wasn't catching anything, so just as it started to get light, I picked up a rod with a white chatterbait on straight braid and caught the musky. I got lucky, it almost took it deep enough to bite me off. The blade and line tie were the only part of the bait outside it's mouth.

LOL. You have me confused with @TnRiver46. ? It was down in the high 30's though. That hat is really warm and really comfy.

Hit the water at 3am today for probably my last night trip of the year. Water's down to 58 and the saugeye haven't returned to the shallow flat like I'd hoped they might as the water cools. Only managed one dink LM before daylight. Once again a musky smoked my chatterbait and provided me with some excitement though. The LM provided me with pretty steady action pitchin bushes once the sun came up. All under 2# though with the exception of this nice 4.09.

I for one will be missing your fishing reports until spring comes to Maine Katie. They're always a joy to read. You're great attitude and enthusiasm for the sport always shine through.

I'd use it. It might cause you to act like a fool when you catch a fish though.

My hilljack taxidermist is fond of canned muskrat. Might be good, but I have no interest in finding out. Elk steaks are the best wild meat I've ever had, but my local whitetails are pretty darn tasty in their own right, as are saugeye, and wabbits. Grouse are awesome but we don't have many left around here anymore.

40# Sufix 832 or 131.

This has been my experience as well. I've had a few special days at 38 degrees. Never done well below that.

Snelled flippin hook.

I'll echo what dodgeguy and NavyToad said about the BB1, and add, mine's every bit as smooth and precise feeling as my curados and scorpions. It's found it's forever home on my primary chatterbait rod. I have a few of the Super Duty G models and they've been great, but no experience with the 300 series.

The colder the water gets the more it matters. I often still start early when the water's in the 40's but the afternoon bite is consistently better. I love to fish and don't mind working for 'em through the morning.

Ohio state record is 14.04#.

#STRAIGHTBRAIDBRIGADE!!! ? I've tried a bunch of brands and sizes and settled on 40# 832 for all my fishing in cover. All the strength I could want, enough diameter for good abrasion resistance and preventing line dig, and it handles better than any other braid I've found. That Gore fiber lives up to the advertising hype. 40# is only .001 larger than 30#. The difference in handling and casting distance is negligable so I opt for the extra 10# rating. I use 20# 832 on casting reels with shallow braid spools for open water, light to moderate cover, and light weights. Give 832 a try next time you spool up with braid Captain Phil. I think you'll be impressed. It handles much better than power pro, is smoother, rounder, quieter, and more abrasion resistant.

7 speed works for me. My 7 speed Tournament MB handled rig duty just fine last spring. I don't have a problem winding slow with it, and the rig doesn't require a lot of torque reeling in. The rod matters much more. The long handle on a 7'11" is a big help lobbing that sucker out there vs a 7'6" or shorter. My Ark Tharp Guntersville flippin stick works great, it's a stout rod with a fairly parabolic tip. There's lots'a wood on the bottom where I fish and the rig will snag any piece it gets within 10' of it seems. I throw it on 40# braid so I can get it back when it does.

We'll see how Berkley Blue Label does. I ordered a spool of 30# XT. Couple Yum Flash Mob Jr's too. The surface temp is down to 62 and the weather man says the cooling trend should continue. I'm gonna start spending some time with the A-Rig next week.

Yep. 40# 832. Toothy critters have taken two lipless, and a chatterbait from me in the past month. Had a good one on a chatterbait come unbuttoned at boatside this morning before daylight. Not a monster, but over 40".

I'll use a mono leader when fishing bottom contact baits on deep rock. Makes breaking off a whole lot easier. Now that's funny right there.

Now that we're into fall and the water is back down into the mid 60's here, there's not much in the way of weeds left, just pads and broad leaf pond weed. Shallow brushy tangles like this will just keep getting better and will hold bass until winter draw down. Then it will be all about sun baked laydowns for me. This pine tree top is in 9' at full drawdown level and produced a 6# and a bunch of smaller LM for me last December when the water was low 40's.

Yep. Blue Heron. They remind me of some people I know. All they do is, eat, poop, and squawk alot. ?

How did I know this was coming? ? Same here. There's some seriously good sticks out there who have the talent, but aren't inclined to chase the national circuit for various reasons.

Maybe they're just good?