Musky Identifier
Features and behaviors of Musky
Muskellunge or Musky Identifier will help you understand one of North America’s largest sport fish. They are known for their large size and aggressive behavior toward bait; they challenge anglers at every cast. Their popularity has made them a sought-after game fish, providing a challenging catch for many anglers.
To catch a musky, you need to use heavy tackle, large artificial lures like buzzbaits (Baby Buzzbait) bucktail spinners, jerkbaits, or large crankbaits, and fish in areas with dense weed lines, drop-offs, or near boat docks, casting your lure close to cover and retrieving it with a variety of erratic motions, often using a “figure-eight” retrieve to entice the fish to strike; remember to use a wire leader to protect your line from their sharp teeth, and be prepared for a powerful fight when you hook one.
Muskellunge or Musky Identifier
Musky have a large, duckbill-like snout filled with canine-style teeth on both the upper and lower jaws. Below their jaw are sensory pores that can be counted to help correctly identify them from pike and pickerel species. When the jaw is viewed from below, muskies have six or more pores along each side of the underjaw.
Diet:
Musky are the apex predators in almost all environments. Their growth capabilities and large diet enable them to eat most fish species around them.
Fingerling-sized musky feed on plankton immediately before moving to insects.
The juvenile stage: they feed mainly on smaller fish species like minnows or shad.
Matured musky will have a diverse diet of frogs, crayfish, ducklings, snakes, small mammals, and any fish species they can consume.
Habitat:
Muskellunge live in freshwater lakes and rivers in the northern and northeastern United States and Canada. They prefer cool water, clear water, and areas with lots of weed beds.
Angling:
For me, walking down the aisles of musky lures in a tackle shop must be what its like a for a gambling addict walking down the Las Vegas Strip. There are so many types of lures of various shapes and sizes, all with enticing colorations and patterning. Musky lures catch far more anglers than they do musky.
START WITH THESE FOUR: For anyone getting started out musky fishing, I suggest making a purchase of these 4 different lure types.
CRANKBAIT FOR DEPTH – Make sure you have at least one crankbait that can target at least 6-10 ft of depth, if not more. This will be handy to target musky sitting low at transitions and/or at the edges of weed beds. If targeting suspending musky at deep depths, much deeper lures will be needed.
8”-12” INLINE BUCKTAIL SPINNERBAIT – Most musky are caught on this lure type. They are very simple to use—it’s just a straight retrieval. The blades on the bait create a lot of thump (pressure waves) and flash (reflecting light).
¾ – 2 ½ OZ SAFETY-PIN SPINNERBAIT – When working in and around those weed beds, these mostly weedless baits will play wonderfully (assuming there are no treble hooks.) These lures can be played in open water too. Slower retrievals will keep the bait deeper.
TWITCHBAIT/JERKBAIT – These lures are fun to play and productive. By gentling sweeping or twitching the rod during retrieval, a more enticing action can be given to these lures. Often these baits only go to 1-3’ depth and suspend. Most of these lures have great straight retrieval action as well.