Anyone Ever Use Musky Lures For Big Bass?

[basslover12345]

How did it work out? How big were the bass you caught on it?

[.ghoti.]

Not on purpose. I have caught a couple of bass while muskie fishing. In my area not many bass will attack a real muskie bait.

[MarkH024]

You're more likely to catch a musky on a bass bait, then the other way around. I do recall someone recently showing a picture of a bass on a Poe's Giant Jack Pot. That's a big meal for your average bass. I've caught a bass or two throwing bucktails for musky, that's about it though. Snakey northerns will go after musky lures of all sizes.

[papajoe222]

On one lake I fish for muskie, I consistantly catch bass on my musky tackle. For the area, they are above average size (in the 4-5lb. range). The two must productive for both the muskie and bass are a DepthRaider and a 1oz. single willow spinnerbait. I've had a few follows on an 8in. swimbait by muskie, but seem to do better on pike with it. I think the lack of larger forage (perch and walleye) may tie into the equation.

On other lakes that I target, the musky prefer bigger lures and I've yet to catch a bass on one of them.

I use big hard baits on a regular basis in both the spring and fall for bass, but then I'm strictly targeting big fish. Mepps GiantKillers, Musky Jitterbugs and big spinnerbaits get the call most of the time, but I had good success with the bigger Storm pre-rigged swimbaits this spring.

[NoBassPro]

Pretty much what everyone else said, bass are few and far between on musky baits. Some of that may have to do with the fact there are few large bass in musky lakes, as I do know the giant tubes are a bit of a crossover bait. When it comes to incidental catches for me, it goes 1. Pike, 2. Walleye, and 3. Bass on average.

[mikey5string]

Bass can and will go after things 75% of their size. They don't know that it's a Muskie lure. I don't have any lures for Muskie s there not in CT but I have thrown bluefish plugs like 8" swimbaits and caught bass as small as 2lbs.

[deep]

No idea about muskies. but the AC Plug and the MS Slammer too (I think) were originally striped bass baits.

P.S. I'm assuming this is for an article? Contact Nate (the guy behind natesbaits). I'm pretty sure he fishes for muskies quite often, and he makes swimbaits for big bass. Pretty cool, no?

 

[BradH]

That was me and it happens frequently with the normal sized musky/pike baits, not so much with the giant stuff that is popular these days. In fact, on some days I'll take a break from pike fishing and do some bass fishing with bass sized baits only to catch fewer fish. Switch back to big stuff and get right back into it. Go figure. That squarebill is over 5" and 3 5/8 ounces.

 

[SirSnookalot]

To each their own...........I would never throw a heavy lure of any kind to target bass, I do not like using that heavy of a rod. It's non issue for me as we have no muskie in South Florida, but we do have fish some decent size fish most of which I catch on 3/4 jig or lighter, so a heavier rod is not required for me, mh spinner works.

[MarkH024]

The 5" crank doesn't surprise me as it's not insanely big. I read that a 16" LMB can eat another LMB or fish proportionate to that around 9-10". So yeah it's not surprising you get one here or there on musky baits. I was thinking more like the Double Cow Girls, Suiks, Bulldogs. Some of the big monster baits.

I think I've caught about 50% or better of my Musky on bass baits. I don't Musky fish nearly as much as I do Bass fish though. When I was in Canada one year, I was fishing a giant Tiger Tube for Musky and I caught about 15 20" or less pike on it. There is no way a pike of that size could even swallow it. Rather amusing however it tears them up pretty bad. I pretty much crippled all of them that I caught. I was giving an easy meal to the Brown and Bald eagles.

But as for the topic...I would never throw musky baits for bass intentionally. For one, it can get exhausting depending on what you're throwing. Maybe some of the big swim baits if I were out in Cali or Texas.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I've caught quite a few smallmouth this year throwing an 8" 4.5oz swimbait for muskies in the river.

I think the smallest one was around 15" or so.

I've also been with guys who caught bass on big Suicks.

[.ghoti.]

Muskie baits are not something you want to toss with a normal bass rod. Tie a 5oz bait on a normal MH bass rod, and you just might snap the rod trying to cast that big bait. If you're wanting to throw big baits, you need a big bait rod, and a reel that will hold a lot of heavy line.

[BradH]

Muskie baits are not something you want to toss with a normal bass rod. Tie a 5oz bait on a normal MH bass rod, and you just might snap the rod trying to cast that big bait. If you're wanting to throw big baits, you need a big bait rod, and a reel that will hold a lot of heavy line.

Exactly. Match the rod/reel/line to the lure, not the fish.

Even though I do catch a fair amount of bass on pike & musky gear I'm not sure I would go out and target them with it. It is a good workout if you want some exercise.

[craww]

I've got some 12" tubes that were made and marketed as a musky lure that has produced a few biggins. From what I've seen, the gliders and some of the of the "musky" lures don't have quite the action the bass want when I've thrown them.

[tomustang]

How did it work out? How big were the bass you caught on it?

You know the biggest gripe with musky anglers (besides the thousand casts) is catching more LMB than muskies

[North Ga Hillbilly]

I'm looking to transfur some of my bass fishing lures, swimbaits, into catching musky. But I would like to think that the noble bass is smart enough to not go after some of those ugly lures used for musky

NGaHB