Musky/ pike jigs??

[Jigmaker0421]

Anyone on here tie jigs for musky or pike? :huh:

 

[redman]

I have in the past. Make them big and bushy. I will try to find a few that I have tried in the past. They are big devils. I must say that the best luck that I have had with musky lures is with the big single blade spinners. On the lake that I fished for them it was brown and red. Brown buck tail and red hackle tails if that makes any sense. Best advise I can give you is to tie them big and bushy to look like the local bait fish of choice. You will find that the pattern that fits your lake may be unique to that lake.

In the lake I fished it was the yellow perch that was the bait fish of choice. Why the brown and red worked so well is not something that I can explain. It did and I tie hundreds of them for the local fisherman. One of the first state records was caught on one that I tied. Sadly it lasted all of about 10 days and then the record was broken again. Wild days when the lake started to produce big fish.

I will have to do some digging to get them out of the stash.


Redman

 

[LedHed]

Welcome aboard from SoCal Jigmaker0421.

Don't do big jigs like I use to. Mostly for saltwater fishing - up and down Baja. We use to fish big swimbaits & bucktails - still have the molds.

 

[Fatman]

Haven't tied a pike or musky jig since High school. Used to use 3/4 to 1 1/2 oz. ballheads with heavy hooks. Did alot of Red/white Red head white bucktail or white head red bucktail or all white with red thread neck - that was probably one of the last times I every used epoxy on my thread collars.

I'd bet alot of the bright steelhead jigs would work fine. In-Fishermans Pike book has a chapter on jigs.

Welcome aboard from Vermont!!!!!!!

 

[Pup]

I'm thinking about tying something "feathery and flashy" at some point. The reservoir located just a few minutes from my home is on a program to receive musky stockings.

Ultimately, I believe that I'd rather design buzz baits similar to the Marathon Bait Co. Muskie Hawks of the 1940's or 1950's. I have a few of them and would love to create a similar lure. I've read that it's "work" to start them buzzing. Those who are lucky enough to own them also continue to fish them. So, they might be worth a little "work".

 

[smalljaw]

Pup makes some awesome creations that would slay muskies and pike, all he would need to do is upsize the hook a bit but if you check out the hybrid bait section here you will see what I mean. BTW, Welcome aboard!!!

 

[jiggerjohn]

I've always thought that today's muskie men go way overboard on size of jigs and bucktail/flash spinners for ole "esox". My friend Red Denmark, featured on the "jig fishing" section below, sees quite a few really big muskies each season on his home Pymatuning reservoir and nearby Conneaut Lake (which has long held the PA record at 54 pounds), often hooking them on just his wool/satin crappie length jigs! In fact he was working Conneaut for nice sized crappies along the weedline one day, and had a 45" tiger muskie grab the 2 1/2", 1/16 oz morsel ;played him carefully with 4# test mono,followed him around, to finally carefully release him at boatside. The very next day, same spot, same jig, he got a 45" northern pike! That incident must have prompted a friend to forego his big plug muskie gear, and just troll Pymatuning with a slightly heavier version of Red's jig -he promptly took 2 muskies, the biggest a 50 incher!! One thing Red tells me that he can't quite figure out -if he takes his basic crappie jig and tips it with a 1 to 2" piece of nightcrawler, northern pike ,for their own peculiar reasons, go absolutely bonkers over it!

Just today,though, I asked Red what he would build if he was going specifically, exclusively after muskies. In his early years he did a lot of muskie fishing ,so built around that along with many recent encounters, concluded that a fairly thick wool body built on a 4/0 jighook (1/4-1/2 oz head), surrounded with long bucktail, plus a stinger hook tied a few inches back with a wool body, surrounded by marabou and a bit of satin would do the job.Red said this would come to about 6 to 7" total length, with thickness of body from the bucktail and an action tail from the marabou trailer.

 

[Jigmaker0421]

I've always thought that today's muskie men go way overboard on size of jigs and bucktail/flash spinners for ole "esox". My friend Red Denmark, featured on the "jig fishing" section below, sees quite a few really big muskies each season on his home Pymatuning reservoir and nearby Conneaut Lake (which has long held the PA record at 54 pounds), often hooking them on just his wool/satin crappie length jigs! In fact he was working Conneaut for nice sized crappies along the weedline one day, and had a 45" tiger muskie grab the 2 1/2", 1/16 oz morsel ;played him carefully with 4# test mono,followed him around, to finally carefully release him at boatside. The very next day, same spot, same jig, he got a 45" northern pike! That incident must have prompted a friend to forego his big plug muskie gear, and just troll Pymatuning with a slightly heavier version of Red's jig -he promptly took 2 muskies, the biggest a 50 incher!! One thing Red tells me that he can't quite figure out -if he takes his basic crappie jig and tips it with a 1 to 2" piece of nightcrawler, northern pike ,for their own peculiar reasons, go absolutely bonkers over it!

Just today,though, I asked Red what he would build if he was going specifically, exclusively after muskies. In his early years he did a lot of muskie fishing ,so built around that along with many recent encounters, concluded that a fairly thick wool body built on a 4/0 jighook (1/4-1/2 oz head), surrounded with long bucktail, plus a stinger hook tied a few inches back with a wool body, surrounded by marabou and a bit of satin would do the job.Red said this would come to about 6 to 7" total length, with thickness of body from the bucktail and an action tail from the marabou trailer.

Thanks so much guys for the responses, the reason i ask is cause i was fishing for smallies the other day with a zonker jig i tied, it was about 4" long total length and i saw a monster following behind it and i was trying to get him to take but he wouldn't commit to it. If i were to guess i would say he was a 40"+ fish. I was curious if i should go bigger and what other styles would work.

 

[jiggerjohn]

JM0421, I think you're on the right track with a zonker tie for muskie! Just tie it a bit thicker and longer,maybe build a bit of a wool body to instill "meatiness"! My biggest muskie ever nailed one of my fatter,longer (8-10") zonker jigs, and pike flip over these eel like ties! I firmly believe that the current crop of "muskie fly fishermen" create the best stuff going (easy to turn a fly into a jig!) and the best is made by world renowned tier/expert Bob Clouser. On his website ( www.clouserflyfishing.com) ,under "freshwater flies",check out his new "big fish terminator half & half" and his "fur strip suspender" (especially if you enjoy tying with rabbit). By the way, his fur strip is essentially rabbit strip + wool, and easy to whomp together. Bob was telling me, when he first put it together, a local landowner had a big pond with lots of little bass in it and exactly 20 lunker largemouth. Nobody in years could ever catch the big bass,so he called Bob over.Clouser described the fly's snake like action being irresistable in the big pond,he himself not sure if it looked more like a big baitfish, snake, or eel. "So how did ya do on those "impossible" bass that evening?" I asked. "Caught 5 on the first 5 casts, and nailed every damn one of the of the twenty before I left!" he chuckled. Later he went to a fly-in Canadian lodge and destroyed the northern pike on the big fly!

 

[Fatman]

Thanks for the link!!!