Further North

Yup. ...but the teeth are no fun either. I had a 40" zig when I zagged a couple years ago, and she left a nice scar on my thumb.

Great add on. A big enough net is critical, and the rest of the tools are must-have and well. I'd add a hook cutter. I use Knipex mini-bolt cutters because they're the best, but anything similar will work.

Maybe they work OK when trolling. My experience with casting both conventional gear and fly fishing for big esox tells me wire is the better choice - tieable wire in particular. It is both more resistant to cutting and more flexible than heavy fluoro.

He said his dad can't use a baitcaster... Yep - that'll be the more likely problem, particularly now that the water has warmed up. Big esox don't handle warm water well in a fight...the good news side of that is that they are also unlikely to eat if the water is too warm. That was a gift from the fish gods without a wire leader. 20-30 lb. fluoro is no where near enough - I've seen 50# cut like it wasn't there...and by the time we get to fluoro that's strong enough, it's so stiff it hinders lure action. Tieable wire is a much better choice. Go to Heavy, or Extra Heavy. 30# is nowhere near heavy enough...and 60# probably isn't either. Go to wire, not fluoro. The best way is get tieable wire and tie it right into the braid main line with a Alberto or FG knot, then tie in a clip (swivel optional, depending on the lure) at the business end. Those were gifts from the fish gods. Most dedicated musky anglers use 80# and up. I've seen as heavy as 130#. 30# is asking for a bite off.

We have river fish to chase all summer, so it's good here.

Yep. Used them yesterday.

We routinely catch bigger bass (for Wisconsin) on big musky flies- 8" -12" flies.

A "weightless Texas rig" or whatever that is called is my version of a wacky rig, and often makes the day here. Yesterday was the inverse, with most fish wanting something more active.

Big net, long pliers, good jaw spreaders and big hook cutter (I use Knipex, spendy but worth it). Barbless hooks (crushed barbs) make a huge difference - I can typically just grab the hook shank and rotate the hooks out while the fish is still in the water on an easy 80% - 90% of the fish I catch...and if a thrashing fish manages to stick me, it hurts and bleeds a bit, but the hook is out in seconds rather than a trip to the hospital, which can easily be a day-long ordeal in NW Ontatio.

Same. Not how I want to fish.

That's another serious downside of heavy fluoro - it's too stiff. Most of my intentional (as opposed to unintended) musky fishing is done with fly rods and big flies...we count on the line/leader to be flexible enough for the fly to kick on the pause...and havey fluoro just doesn't work for that.

I use tieable wire leader on any bait I think a pike or musky might eat, or that's worth any serious money. I still catch a ton of smallies. This year I am experimenting with Knot-2-Kinky 7 strand nickle titanium leaders and so far, I'm really happy with the results. It is available in line weights from 6 lb. to 25 lb., is super flexible, ties great knots and is nearly invisible in our tannin stained water. The wire is dark, and not shiny, and has no coating to flak off, and I have never seen any of it kink in over 10 years of using the single strand version. I have the packages tucked away for a river float tomorrow, or I'd grab the line diameter for you, but it's absurdly thin...I'm thinking that even the 25 lb. is about 0.015"...you can imagine how thin the 6 lb. is. Here's the leader diameter for the single strand version: I have been using the 6 lb. 7-strand on my bass popper fly rod, and it's light enough to have no negative impact on popper performance. Link to company website: https://aquateko.com/products/knot-2-kinky-7-strand-leader-wire EDIT: I found the diameter in mm, had do a conversion: I've even seen 50# get cut twice. I'm a wire guy, all the way.

I don't. ...but I put being able to get hooks out of me and fellow anglers quickly without a trip to the Doc at the top of my list...the bigger the hook, the greater the reason to debarb, for me. Sticking an 8/0 hook in yourself - or someone else - can end a day's trip really fast, and it's a considerable problem on a river float where the take out is hours away. ...and I've never lost a fish because a hook didn't have a barb on it. I've lost fish for lots of other reasons, but not that one... Great post, good content...and thanks!

That's why all my hooks are barbless...

That should make you happy!

One key thing about fishing for trout: Big trout eat little trout.

I enjoy catching muskies...but I'd rather catch pike. Catching big pike is harder than catching muskies, and they're more savage, and harder fighting most of the time.

I've done BFS flipping and pitching...but not for trout. I can't see why it wouldn't work...better accuracy than using a spinning rod.

Gear ratio matters less than inches of line per turn of the handle. I have a big Abu Garcia with a 6.3:1 ratio that picks up line faster than a smaller Shimano with a 7.1:1 ratio.

Looks pre-spawn.

Weird - I've never seen anything like that. My leaders are all 12" - 18" long and tied directly into the main line with either an FG knot, or an Alberto knot (I dislike having hardware at the top of the leader.)

We've had plenty of years here where there's still plenty of ice on the fishing opener the first week of May. I don't think we'll have that this year, but who knows...that's the joy of NW WI.

You seem like you want to argue. I'm not going there. I think it's dumb, you clearly don't care. Neither view matters even the tiniest amount. I'd suggest relaxing, enjoying the post,and not looking for something to argue about.

Glad you got out...but I'll trade your long cold winter for ours any time. 😉 It'll probably be at least another month until we have open water, and it's June 1st before we can fish for muskies.

Does it matter? Probably not. Makes them look not-terribly-bright to anyone familiar with how bullets work.