Heavy Bass Setup for Muskie Fishing?

[Boomstick]

6 hours ago, blakebrown71 said:

I appreciate the suggestions! I was originally thinking about getting a heavy rod, but after researching the Veritas 2.0 quite a bit it sounds like they run pretty stiff.  I decided to go with the medium heavy in hopes that it has more backbone than typical medium heavys like most people seem to say they do.  I just didn't want to get a $100 broomstick as my most expensive rod to date haha, hopefully it works out fine

 

I honestly think the MH will be fine. Plus, if there is one bass rod I will use more often than any other, it's a MH fast action rod.

[gim]

I don't know where somebody decided to throw "pike" or "catfish" into this equation but mixing those in with pure strain muskies isn't going to work.  I don't claim to be a catfish angler more than once a year but I would never use that setup which usually just sits in a rod holder with a big hunk of live bait to cast giant bulldawgs and bucktails for muskies.  As for the pike thing, they just don't grow as big and are a lot easier to catch, plus around here they're a nuisance.

 

A MH bass setup with 50 pound braid will work to start off with.  Just make sure you have a leader.  If you hook into a tanker, you might have trouble, but muskies are very difficult to catch regardless of their size so bring along a lot of patience.  Occasionally I will target lakes that have tiger muskies instead of pure strains and since they don't get as big as a pure strain, the set up works better than a big beefy 8 foot muskie rod with a Calcutta on it anyways.  I understand not potentially wanting to fork over hundreds of dollars for dedicated muskie rods/reels/tackle.  The cost of that kind of equipment is pretty steep.

[Further North]

On 6/26/2017 at 9:41 PM, gimruis said:

I don't know where somebody decided to throw "pike" or "catfish" into this equation but mixing those in with pure strain muskies isn't going to work.  I don't claim to be a catfish angler more than once a year but I would never use that setup which usually just sits in a rod holder with a big hunk of live bait to cast giant bulldawgs and bucktails for muskies.  As for the pike thing, they just don't grow as big and are a lot easier to catch, plus around here they're a nuisance.

Big pike - I've caught them well into the 40s, and had a buddy catch one just shy of 48", are not any different from muskies in terms of gear.

 

I've caught muskies to 48", and pike to 45" on gear, and to 42" on flies...I'll take all of those "nuisance" fish I can catch. 

 

On 6/26/2017 at 9:41 PM, gimruis said:

A MH bass setup with 50 pound braid will work to start off with.  Just make sure you have a leader.  If you hook into a tanker, you might have trouble, but muskies are very difficult to catch regardless of their size so bring along a lot of patience.  Occasionally I will target lakes that have tiger muskies instead of pure strains and since they don't get as big as a pure strain, the set up works better than a big beefy 8 foot muskie rod with a Calcutta on it anyways.  I understand not potentially wanting to fork over hundreds of dollars for dedicated muskie rods/reels/tackle.  The cost of that kind of equipment is pretty steep.

That said, we agree 100% on the gear.  I don't see the catfish right you describe as being particularly useful for big toothy fish, and I catch plenty of pike and muskies on what a lot of folks would call heavy bass gear.

[blakebrown71]

Just wanna say thanks again to everyone for their help, IT PAID OFF!!! Can't believe it but I actually caught my first musky last week while I was up in Eagle River, WI.  Had fished morning, afternoon, and night every single day last week without much luck at all for anything. One decent walleye, a good smallmouth, and a few blowups on frogs but that was it all week long until literally my last cast of the vacation.

 

My fiance and I were night fishing out at different spots on the lake Friday night, had no luck at all and finally decided to head back to the dock.  She said let's just fish about 20 yards out from the boat house for 5 mins before we head in (since that's where she caught a few small walleye that afternoon).  I agreed and was casting a #5 Mepps Musky Killer on my new setup you guys helped me pick out.  We were getting eaten alive by mosquitos so she finally said she was done.  I had just cast and said alright let me just get this back in....then he hit it.  I'm getting goosebumps typing this, it was my coolest fishing experience to date and even cooler for me because I've only been fishing for about a year and this was my first week ever trying for Musky.

 

Unfortunately I was too excited and also focused on getting him unhooked to think to measure him, but my guess is somewhere around 36".  He wasn't very big but I don't care, it was awesome  He was hooked really deep, had to spend 10+ minutes working the lure out but I was thrilled that he slowly swam away after.  It definitely would've ruined the fun for me to see a fish I caught roll over and float away, that's never the point.

 

Just wanted to say everyone's advice paid off and I'm thrilled to be part of the Musky club!  Now that I'm back home away from good Musky waters...time to keep searching for that 5lb+ bass

[WRB]

Congratulations, having your wife along makes for good memories and retelling about your 1st legal size musky.

We suggested tackle that is suited for properly presenting big lures, sometimes musky have their idea what they want to eat. I have spent hundreds of hours casting big musky lures catching lots of muskies. My PB musky I caught with my wife while using light bass tackle with 1/4 oz jig fishing for smallmouth bass. Thank you for sharing your catch.

Tom

[soflabasser]

Congratulations on catching your first muskie and welcome to the muskie club.

[Further North]

Nice fish, Blake!