On 1/21/2024 at 2:43 PM, Hulkster said:

for me it was my IMX Pro 7'6 MH Mag Bass rod with my curado 200i, 12 pound text Sufix Siege and a #5 Mepps Black Fury in line spinner in red and black. Caught my first muskie with this rig oh yeah 

You better hope the muskie guys don't see this. 😅

8 hours ago, NorthernBasser said:

You better hope the muskie guys don't see this. 😅

ya i took a quick pic then released him, he took off like a rocket. I post the pic of me holding the fish on the muskie boards lol 

 

people would overreact and freak out saying he's dead etc. but thats not true at all. 

 

 

Just now, Hulkster said:

ya i took a quick pic then released him, he took off like a rocket. I post the pic of me holding the fish on the muskie boards lol 

 

people overreact and freak out saying he's dead etc. but thats not true at all. 

Yeah, guys are pretty sensitive when it comes to muskie. I get in certain conditions you wanna release them ASAP. Especially biguns. But some guys act like if you have them out of the water for more than a minute the world is gonna end. You definitely wanna hold the 40+ inchers horizontally. It's fine how you're holding that fish. 

Cashion 7'4" xtra Heavy. Tatula SV TW . 50 Lb Maxcuatro and various Hollow body frogs

7’5" MH Dobyns Xtasy rod, Abu Garcia Zenon MG-LTX 8.3:1, 15lb Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon, Dirty Jigs 1/2oz Scott Canterbury Flipping Jig in Dirty Chartreuse with a SK Rage Bug in Summer Craw. If the Dirty Chartreuse combo didn’t work, I used same jig in Black & Blue with same trailer in Blue Bug.

 

Have spent very little time on the water the past two years.  Fish catching expectations were very low where I fished in PA.  Mostly used a spinnerbait as I don't like losing lures when I know the chance to catch a fish is extremely low.  Various Medium (with mostly 8# mono or co-polymer) and MH (with mostly 12# mono or co-polymer) rods with a variety of reels.

 

When visiting Florida I use an unweighted 10 inch ribbontail in Junebug and occasionally black probably 90 percent of the time.  MHF rod.  40# 832 braid mostly on a version 1 STX-L or older Patriarch XT.  Like using spinnerbaits and my largest two bass over the years visiting Florida were caught on a 1/2 oz. spinnerbait.   Also the largest crappie I've ever seen.

 

Either an F-11 Rapala or 3/8 oz. squarebill were the most used after the worm and spinnerbait.  For these I liked the 7' ML Redbone.....before my drug addict brother-in-law stole all the rods I kept in Florida.  Normally with a purple Alphas or Primmus HS Xi mounted on it.

I had good luck with both senkos and #3 Mepps bucktail.  The rod was a SC Legend X 610mlxf spinning rod with a 2500 Shimano Vanford.

I had a lot of success with the toxicbaits whippersnapper in a gill color scheme! Had 50lb braid on a shimano Exsence dc paired with a 13 fishing swimbait rod (forget the model). Ended up selling my Exsence last year, which I regret, I miss that reel. Had a lot of luck crawling it back to my kayak parallel with the bank. 

I got on quite a roll in September-October with an Owner Flashy Swimmer 3/16oz. 3/0 with a white paddletail - the Strike King 3 3/4” Rage Swimmer, the XZone 4” Swammer and the Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper were good producers - all in white or something close to it.  Several good fish, including my PB 5.35# on the Swammer. 👍🏻

 

This one’s not my PB, but I like the photo more.

 

I’ve got 3 stand outs. 
bellows stick , 745 dobyns hp 20# flouro 

 Jerkbait  702 dobyns hp 12# flouro 

a rig 794 dobyns 20-25# 

all shimanos 70-200s 

As usual Devilshorse in spotted ape was my highest producer, tatula spooled w/12lb big game, 5'6 Phazor for accurate casting

Ned rig - 1/16oz Owner Blockhead, Mr Twister Ned Ringer in Green Pumpkin. Ultegra 1000 on Mojo Bass 6'10" ML/XF. 10# Sufix 832 in Hi-Vis Yellow to 8' of 6# InvizX.