Late Summer Musky Tips – Dick Pearson on Suicks – Destroy an Outboard
Category: article
Aug 18th, 2021 by Keith Worrall
Modified Aug 18th, 2021 at 1:24 PM
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Late Summer Musky Tips
What do you do when you’re stuck in the office during a beautiful August day??
Obviously, dig up 11 year old musky fishin’ articles because you’ve read just about everything else that’s been written recently…. ????????
Well, I thought this 2010 Game & Fish writeup from Pistol Pete Maina had some good info you can put to use over the next few weeks.
Let’s pass it off to Pete, talkin’ late summer musky presentations:
“For steady weather, warming weather, and before and after frontal activity, active baits will likely work best.
Active baits = faster moving, less finesse-y baits….
“Structurally, the heavier the cover or the bigger the waves, the better the odds are that active presentations work best. Predators using heavy cover to hunt are ambushing prey and tend to just “react” rather than really inspect things over.”
On the flip-side….
“Finesse will be needed on the fish out in the open and visible, like on sand, gravel or rock flats, unless there is weather moving in to trigger them. The theory is that in these situations, the muskies are there for comfort and generally not actively feeding.”
Now let’s get into some baits…. first, when conditions are conducive to fish activity:
“That’s when I always consider a ‘maximum efficiency’ lure, and that means spinners. For shallower water, an in-line bucktail works best, while in deeper ranges, a heavier overhead spinner is the way to go.
“Spinners cover water very efficiently, and also provide very good hooking and holding percentages. Because of the efficiency factor, spinners will be my first lure in the front of the boat at the start of any given day — and if fish react positively, it will remain that way.”
He also mentioned he likes bucktails because ‘skies love to snap at ’em on the 8.
“Crankbaits are very versatile and rank No. 2 on the boatside triggering scale. Until you have patterned something successful for the day, continue varying retrieve speeds, cadence and pauses. When something works, pay attention and repeat.”
Next up, a toss-up between jerkbaits and topwaters:
“Topwaters hold great potential and historically have fooled many big fish during late summer and into fall. In larger waves, go with bigger, noisier baits. The only reason topwaters are down the list is because they score lower on hooking percentages, efficiency and at boatside.
“Jerkbaits are often very effective for triggering fish to strike right away, but they have low odds with fish that just follow the bait to boatside.”
And what about when the fish aren’t active?
“If I’m dealing with a nasty cold front, experience has shown that spinners no longer rate highly on the ‘likely bite’ chart. Generally, slower, more in-their-face finesse presentations will work best. These include standard big-fish jigs with soft plastics, neutrally buoyant crankbaits and slow-moving jerkbait gliders.
“Also worth a try are deep-diving crankbaits, slow-rolling spinnerbaits and ‘teaser’ topwaters. Teaser topwaters are very slow-moving baits that appear to be really struggling (creepers, Hawg Wobblers, etc.) Also very effective are glider topwaters.”
Thanks to Pete for the oldie-but-goody writeup!
I love how you can still get value from content that’s 10+ years old ????
A “bad” day of fishing….
…. is better than a “good” day at work.
Unless THIS happens on your fishin’ day:
Here’s the caption to go along with the post from JP DeRose:
“PSA…. Trim your motor up when trailering. ????”
Guessin’ most of you have left the engine trimmed down once or twice – and this is photo is an EXACT representation of how you think your lower unit will look when you finally remember….
Caleb Wistad left the perfect comment:
“Do you hear that noise?” “Nope, just turn the radio up if it bugs you.”
I wonder what the insurance claim looks like on this one….
Suick Tips
Suicks have been around for a LONG time…. and they still catch ’em.
And one guy who’s been crushin’ fish on them longer than just about anyone is Lake of the Woods legend Dick Pearson.
Here’s a few Suick fishin’ tips we dug up from Dick via an In-Fish article on how to work ’em:
“I work a Suick in one of three ways…. In clear water, I give it fairly long pulls, then pause. It’s sort of a mini sweep of the rod. Don’t forget to pause. Pauses can be one of the keys to provoking strikes with this bait.
“In shallow water, I think shorter pulls and pumps—especially in weeds—get fish more jazzed up. Pump-pause. Pump-pause. My friend Mark Windels cranks it up a notch—and he’s a master with a Suick. Whap-whap-whap. Make short fast pulls with a brief pause between each sequence. Do this right, and muskies eat you up.”
It’s funny that someone can say “whap-whap-whap” and you know EXACTLY what they are talking about…. ????
“A third retrieve works best in the evening. Pump the Suick 12 to 14 inches. Pause until it breaks the surface, then pump it again. Fish sometimes like to eat it right on top.
“With all these approaches, working a Suick is a feel thing. And it takes practice. Pump—feel the lure with your hands and rod tip as it swims and dives. Feel the line as the lure rises. It’s a subtle swimming-diving-rising action that lots of anglers today don’t understand. But it’s always clicked with muskies.”
The article also had some A+ tips from Jeremy Smith on using Suicks in the weeds:
“I make short casts, visually picking out lanes through which I can work the bait. I use shorter pulls to make the nose dive down and don’t let the bait rise too much.
“When the nose hits a stalk, I lightly pull on the rod to move the cabbage a little. I’m pretty sure this is the movement that compels a muskie to swim over and find out what caused the plant to move, because it’s exactly what happens when a preyfish flees the area. If the lure doesn’t shake free on the initial pull, give it one snap, which is when it often gets eaten.”
The true peak of #SuickSZN is coming – get out there and put these tips to use!
A Meaty Mashup:
Some possibly graphic, musky-related stuff we found on the interwebz – enjoy!
⚠️ *You might wanna skip this section if you’re easily grossed out…” ⚠️
#1 – Look what Liam Whetter (Gord Pyzer’s grandson) found while fishin’:
Also lovin’ Gord’s caption on the pic:
“This has to be the skinniest muskie Liam’s ever caught – it was just skin and bones!” ????
#2 – Here’s the aftermath of a mid-30’s musky trying to snack on a 20.5 inch sucker – let’s just day it didn’t work out great for either party!
Thank to @creekhawgbaits for posting:
#3 – This extra-nasty photo is from the LOTW In-Fish writeup above. Hate to see wasted bycatch from irresponsible commercial netting operations – whether it’s muskies, big pike, walleyes, etc.
We’re not gonna share opinions on netting here, but we can all agree this kinda shhtuff is unacceptable….
QUICK HITTERS:
– Thorne Bros expanding shop + fresh new look (link)
– 6 miles lines to the US/CAN border this week (link)
– River musky fishin’ action w/ Burnin’ Eights (video)
– WI musky fishing w/ Rob Manthei & Jason Mitchell (video)
– Topwater musky chasin’ w/ Angling Anarchy (video)
– Nice river musky catch from shore (video)
– Nice June muskies in Minnesota w/ Fishcamp (video)
– Nice northern WI musky on topwater w/ Todays Angler (video)
– Musky action north of the border w/ 54 or Bust (video)
– First Time Boat Owner Parody (video)
This Week’s Monster Muskies:
Big congrats to Dierks Opatz on catching his first musky over 50 inches – she was a true Leech Lake beauty! He was fishin’ with LOA guide Toby Kvalevog ????
Speaking of Leech Lake…. sounds like the MN Musky School at Agency Bay Lodge went extremely well. They posted a bunch of pics online – looks like they got into them good!
This bruiser is one of four 50+ inch fish Chase Gibson has put in the boat on a 13/10 Detonator bucktail this year. #killinit
Musky Insider reader Bill Buchholz caught this 52.5 inch tanker fishing’ with guide Bob Benson in northern MN. Thanks for sharing, Bill!
Nighttime is the right time! Props to Ryan McMahon on boating his biggest Wisconsin musky to-date (49.5 inches) fun fishing with his good buddy Pete Rich.
Bonus points for catchin’ her on topwater (Lake X Fat Bastard)! ????
Wanna be featured on Musky Insider? Send in your recent trophy musky photos by replying to this email. You might just see your pic in next week’s newsletter. ????
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