Alternative Live Bait Tactics

It was the full moon of August 2003, I had recently graduated from college, and was trying to make a living in my home town of Ashland WI.  Of course, trying and doing are never the same thing.  I was cooking at a local restaurant, about to be a substitute teacher, working on some articles in hopes of being published, and of course fishing.

My dad and I had headed out fishing for the morning.  Unfortunately, I was due in the kitchen that afternoon.  Our destination was the Pike Chain in neighboring Bayfield County.  We would fish one of its lakes in our row boat (I was in between motors at the time).  We rowed from spot to spot on the lake.  As we went along, we moved a few muskies and caught a few panfish.

As we exited a shallow bay and into deeper water, we started drifting across a 25’ weed flat (yes the water is that clear).  My dad started catching some larger bluegills, but I still couldn’t get a musky to commit.  Amidst some of the larger bluegills, my father also caught some smaller bluegills, some of which were inevitably hooked too deep and not making it upon release.  Winds were slight, our drift was slow, and near the boat a few of the less fortunate panfish flopped on the surface or just beneath.  I was retrieving a cast when I noticed a good musky suspended 5’ beneath the surface eyeing up a struggling bluegill.  As my lure came in, I figure-eighted in front of it, only to watch it sink back into the depths.

I scrambled to get a rig together.  I pulled a treble off my crankbait, tied it directly to the line on my other rod, put a few big splitshot above that, grabbed a fresh bluegill from my dad, and hooked it just in front of the dorsal fin.  I dropped it down about 18’ and it wasn’t a minute before I felt it get nailed.  I didn’t want the musky to get hooked deep or even get the hook too far inside of its mouth since I wasn’t using a leader.  So I set right away and brought in a beautiful WI clear water musky.  I caught another one the same way 30 minutes later.  I knew I was onto something, and over the years I have further developed the approach and caught a good number of muskies using it.

This is a cool, little known musky tactic that is very under-utilized.  Of course, I am not the first to use this tactic.  Decades ago, live bait was the most common tactic used for muskies.  Naturally, other gamefish caught on hook and line were an easy source.  As the years passed, this technique fell out of favor with most anglers, but some kept the fire burning, and I’m sure it kept them warm when times got tough.  Over the years I have heard such tactics briefly mentioned here and there, but I had to see it for myself to truly believe.  At certain times, muskies have a tendency to get very specie specific when it comes to what fish they have a taste for.

Using line caught gamefish as bait for muskies is not legal in all states and sometimes the wording is tricky in the regulations so you must examine them carefully.  Many times it will state something to the effect that using gamefish as bait is illegal unless they are caught by legal means, meet any applicable size regulation, and are considered part of your daily bag limit.  This means that it is legal as long as the fish you’re using are legal to keep.

Most of the time, I like to use bluegills and sunfish.  This method is extremely effective while the panfish are spawning.  Muskies often target panfish protecting their nests at this time because their location is predictable and they will not run far from their nests when chased.  My favorite way to do this is to pick a few big brightly colored males off of their nests, rig them on light live bait rigs made by Chequamegon Tackle Company, and work them directly adjacent to these spawning areas.  Sometimes, it is amazing how many muskies are working panfish in such areas.  Panfish spawning areas directly adjacent to the main lake and/or deeper water are more likely to be used by muskies than those in the back ends of shallow bays.  It doesn’t get any more natural, it is a real “match the hatch” presentation.  Another good time to use bluegill and sunfish is during summer when thick panfish schools move to deep weed edges or suspend over deep water.

There are some challenges to using panfish as live bait.  One of the most prominent is that they are not as hardy as suckers.  They don’t live as long in a bucket and they don’t live as long on the hook, and once they stop struggling on the hook they are pretty much useless even before they fully die.  When catching your bait, try to hook them lightly in the mouth.  To accomplish this, use a small light wire hook or jig and set the hook as soon as possible.  Do not let them swallow the bait.  Don’t crowd your live well or bucket, you can always go and get more if you run out.  Also, if you don’t have an aerated live well, use a five gallon bucket with water from the lake to keep them in.  Use a white lid to keep the sun from heating up their water and use oxygen tablets to keep them livelier longer.  Adding a little ice from time to time also keeps the water from heating up.

Panfish also drag to death quite easily if fished on too heavy a rig and worked through the water too quickly.  This is a finesse presentation, the baits must be worked slowly on light rigs.  I make rigs specifically for this type of fishing.  Hook panfish lightly through the meat of the back between the back of the head and the front of the dorsal fin if you are fishing them in a stationary manner.  If you plan to work them through the water, hook them through the upper lip only.  If you hook them through both lips, they will drown much more quickly.  Tying them to single hooks using line threaded through their nostrils also works very well, but this is a little trickier than just hooking them.  Jigging them off of deep breaklines is also very effective.

Single hook rigs no larger than 2/0 are best.  At this time I will specify that a single hook rig can also be a quick strike rig if the hook is set immediately.  Make sure you don’t wait more than 20 seconds to set the hook as even large panfish are quite small and are swallowed fairly fast.  Make sure your baits are fresh and active and trade them out as they get sluggish.  The great thing about this method is that you can later cook your bait that a musky hasn’t eaten.  Just put the used panfish on ice as you get done with them, trying to release them will be very ineffective as they will be too exhausted to live.

Larger gamefish will work as well.  I haven’t used walleyes much but I have had huge muskies make 2’ pike look like a tooth pick in their mouth.  In lakes that are over run by hammer handle pike, muskies often target them heavily.  Hook these larger fish very lightly on heavy quick strike rigs.  Their boney structures make it difficult to get the rig off of their bodies and into the mouth of the musky.  Crappies are excellent as well, but only when hooked through the back.  Their papery mouths are tough to keep a hook in.  Nostril ties are necessary when pulling crappies through the water.

Where legal, using gamefish for bait can be a very effective method.  Also, adding a fresh tactic to your arsenal is always a good time.  Remember though to tread as lightly as possible on fragile panfish populations.  On the other end of the spectrum, this a good way to relieve an ecosystem of excessive numbers of hammer handle pike.  Muskies love little pike.