Ferocious & Elusive - The KING of Freshwater

The muskellunge, most often called muskie or musky, is a special fish with legions of loyal fans that target them in their native and expanded ranges. They are the apex predator with the ferocious attitude to match while still remaining highly elusive. They don't call them "The fish of 10,000 casts" for nothing, and succeeding at catching them is a significant accomplishment some days, which is part of the draw for noted musky expert Pete Maina and Northwest Wisconsin fishing guide Josh Teigen.

Maina and Teigen fish for everything that swims, in open water and through the ice, but the musky holds a special place in their hearts. Both love targeting them and agree that the fall months are some of the best times to catch them.

Why Musky?

Maina, a well-known musky expert, also authored a book called Muskies Suck nearly three decades ago. His timeless story illustrates the allure of tricking these prized fish to bite.

"The single biggest thing about fishing for them is the mystique since they are generally low density in bodies of water and they are the top of the food chain predator," said Maina. "They are not for everyone because they are so tough to catch; you can go for hours or a full day without seeing one, which sometimes doesn't make sense why you are even trying. Then, all of a sudden, it's a great big fish with teeth moving very quickly and hitting right at the boat. When you see one like that, it scares you, and I still get shocked by them every time it happens, and no other fish gives me that reaction."

For much of September, Teigen is chasing musky with clients, and they do it for many of the same reasons. "The chance to catch the biggest fish that swims in our waters is amazing," he said. "It's also a major challenge because of how elusive they are, and there's no guarantee that you will catch one. That's part of the fun, it's the chase."

It's Prime Time for Musky

The chance to catch a musky is there every time you head out, but September and October offer a great opportunity. Both Maina and Teigen like the fall because of where the bulk of the musky population is located.

"When you get the shorter days and cooler nights, most of the fish species in deep water all summer will come to the shallows, bringing in the muskies," said Maina. "Instead of suspending in deep water, the musky will now be in shallow rocks and weeds, and it's a lot easier to target the fish by casting instead of trolling. Shallow fish are also more fun, in my opinion, because the techniques used are more visual, and the fights are more intense since they can't dive down to deep water. You get the fish shaking on the surface and leaping all over the place, which is much more fun."

Teigen agrees and likes the faster pace. "A lot of those fish that were out deep all summer start to slide up shallow, and since the water is starting to cool, the musky get more aggressive," he said. "They are more active, and you see more fish. It's also easier to 'run and gun' and fish rocks and weeds with faster-moving baits."

Shallow, to Teigen, varies based on the lake, and he has several key things he looks for when targeting fall muskies. "On clear lakes, we are generally targeting water between 10 and 15 feet deep, and on stained lakes, it's as shallow as 2 to 6 feet deep," he said. "I like to look for places with mixed vegetation, maybe some milfoil and cabbage growing together, and also for little holes in the vegetation, just something a little different. On clear fisheries, we'll drift big flats along the weed line in 10 to 15 feet of water and find fish there."

Targeting Fall Musky

According to Maina, an aggressive predator like the musky is susceptible to many artificial lures, and there are many options for catching them in the fall.

"The fish will still regularly hit topwater baits and fast-moving baits until the lakes turn over, which is usually when our surface temperatures reach 57 degrees at this latitude," said Maina. "Spinnerbaits and inline bucktails are great in shallow water, and one should be going all the time. Topwater baits can also be super exciting and effective until that turnover. Then, it's a little bit of everything, including soft plastics, shallow-diving jerkbaits, and crankbaits, which could all work on a given day."

Maina has many favorite lures and says the best one will depend on the day. "It's not logical to pick a particular one because it changes on the conditions," he said. "On calm days, I like quieter type baits, and that's why you can't beat the efficiency of a bucktail in steady weather conditions. I also use a lot of 7-inch topwaters like the Livingston Lures Big Makk on windier days. During cold fronts, I use a lot more soft plastics and jerkbaits."

Maina prefers an 80 lb Seaguar Threadlock Hollow Core braid with a short leader of 130 lb Seaguar AbrazX Musky & Pike Leader for all his artificial lures.

"The Threadlock is the best casting line I've used and has amazing strength and abrasion resistance," he said. "130 lb leader is my go-to for everything now, except when I want a super erratic side-to-side action. In those instances, I'll use a wire leader to give my glider or crankbait more action when I'm snap-twitching the bait."

Maina's leader length is generally around 12 inches, and he says this is to get the best action out of his lures when making a "Figure 8" motion near the boat to entice followers. "You have more control over your lure with a shorter leader, and even 18 inches can be too much for some baits," he said. "When you make your turns and corners with a bucktail or spinnerbait, the shorter leader keeps the blades spinning, which is important to get strikes."

Teigen follows much of the same thinking but will utilize two different setups depending on lure size. His guide clients fish many different topwaters, bucktails, and soft plastics like Whale Tails, with black being a favorite color for all of them. He sticks with natural colors like black, silver, and gray in clear water situations and brighter pinks and whites in stained water.

"You can fish fast with topwaters like the Livingston Lures Big Makk or Double 8 or Double 10 bucktails and rip through the weeds, which is when you get a lot of your strikes, right when they make contact," he said. "I like to run two different setups, an extra-heavy rod with 100 lb Seaguar Threadlock and 130 lb Seaguar AbrazX Musky & Pike Leader for the bigger plastics and bucktails and a heavy rod for smaller 6 and 7-inch twitch baits, smaller topwaters, and single bucktails. It's a layered approach, and I like the 65 lb Seaguar Smackdown braid for the lighter rod with a leader of 80 lb AbrazX."

He uses a simple barrel swivel and prefers a short leader when connecting the two lines. "I'll run the leader length around 8 to 10 inches long so you can make wider 'Figure 8's' if you get a follower, which happens often with baits that come in with a straight line," he said. "The shorter leader gives the bait the best action, and the change of direction on the first or second turn of your '8' is where many of them will hit. For baits with a more erratic action like jerkbaits and walk-the-dog topwaters, more strikes will come further from the boat."

Tiegen appreciates the AbrazX Musky & Pike Leader's abrasion resistance and says it holds up to these toothy fish, no matter how they strike a lure.

"The biggest thing is the abrasion resistance, both from the fish and when you are bumping your lures into rocks and wood," he said. "It doesn't get nicked up from cover, and even when a fish' head hunts' a bait and eats it from the front, it will stand up to their teeth."

Mixing in Live Bait

While lure fishing is a fun and effective way to catch musky, live suckers have saved the day plenty of times for both anglers. Maina said they are particularly effective around the fall turnover. He'll rig up suckers between 14 and 15 inches long on a homemade Quick-Strike Rig that features two hooks and breaks away from the bait when a fish strikes. Generally, he's trolling them to cover water.

For live bait fishing, Maina prefers 100 or 130 lb Threadlock with a four-to-five-foot leader of the same 130 lb AbrazX Pike & Musky fluorocarbon leader material that he uses for artificial lures.

"I like to troll my suckers and purposely make contact and bounce them into rocks to get a musky to bite, and the AbrazX holds up very well," he said. "There is no situation that's a bigger test to a line than a Quick Strike Rig because the musky will hit the bait from the head to kill it, clamp down on the line, and start moving away as fast as they can. I've never had a fish cut my line in that situation, which is a huge testament to how abrasion-resistant it is."

Towards the end of September and any time the water temperature dips below 60 degrees, Teigen will have one or two suckers rigged on the two-treble hooked versions of the Shumway Fuzzy's Clip-N-Go Sucker Rig in the water behind the boat. It is an extra chance at a musky as his clients cast lures, but he says it also excels when they get followers.

"I'll have one dragging about 50 feet behind the boat on a bobber, and one dipped in the water right behind the boat," he said. "Sometimes, we'll get one coming in following our lures, and it will hit the one right behind the boat. The one on the bobber also gives us another chance for fish we may have floated over and not seen."

Fishing for musky is something that must be experienced to appreciate fully. The appeal of these apex predators is hard to match and right now is a prime time to experience it.

Seaguar Threadlock braid is available from 50 to 200 lb tests in white or blue in 600- and 2500-yard spools.

Seaguar Smackdown braid is available in high visibility Flash Green and low visibility Stealth Gray. It is available in 150- and 300-yard spools in sizes ranging from 10 to 65 lb tests.

Seaguar AbrazX Musky & Pike fluorocarbon leader is available from 80 to 130 lb tests in 25-yard coil bags.