Trolling advice

[redgoose99]

I have been considering musky fishing for a while now. I did go to the St Paul Musky show this weekend, which has got my interested piqued for giving this a try. I am considering trolling this summer for muskies and looking for advice on gear and lures to pull.

What would be a decent entry level Musky trolling rod? Could a musky rod double for other trolling applications? Could it double for pulling planer boards for walleyes as well?

What would be top 5 lures to look at. I have enough crank baits for walleye trolling, so I don't need to start another nasty habit. Just looking at a few lures to get me in the game.

Any other advice for newbie to the world of muskies would be greatly appreciated.

[K Gonefishin]

Many guys use dipsey rods for musky fishing, 8-10ft medium heavy or heavy's are popular which you could use for planer board rods and also run them straight off the sides for musky or off big or small boards. I purchased Ugly Stik Tiger rods but do use a set of dipsey rods for my long boat rods.

Lures- that's a can of worms. Baits that seem to work everywhere are like Boss Shads, Tuff shads,Musky Train, Wiley, Jakes, Depth Raiders, Grandmas, Jakes etc.

There are more musky baits on the market than walleye baits mainly due to basement and small batch builders.

Just FYI- it's a very nasty addictive habit, you'll be broke in no time. good luck!

[tewwbulltom]

Don't! Trolling is like making love to a "ten"with the lights off and ear plugs. Some of the best days on the water ive ever had are when I have follows, lots of them, and when the fifty explodes on a top water, when a monster suddenly appears out of nowhere and you never get a hookup. Shooting an deer ar 300 yds at a game farm vs 6x6 at 20 yds with a bow.

Now if you must...research how to ethically release Muskies. Have everything you need to do that, take the lure away from small fish and hopefully don't bring it on board. Does it really mater if it's 44" or 45"? I've been on Leech my whole life chasing the world record and my tackle matches a 70# fish, not bass gear w 30# braid.

It's like my dad always said "if you can't do the job right, don't do it" unless you don't give a ****!