Muskie quickset rig.

Questions about Freshwater Fishing

Muskie quickset rig.

Postby Gilbertson » Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:28 am

Hi Larry. I'm a Wisconsin muskie fisherman and I still haven't found a great quickset rig for fishing with suckers. I prefer trolling with the sucker dropped straight over the side of the boat as opposed to using a bobber...lets me feel what's going on down there. I've lost a lot of fish (including a 55+ inch pig) because of the way they hang on without ever having the hook. I have better luck with 14"-16" suckers than with the smaller bait, but this means there's lots of room for the fish to grab the bait without getting a hook. Any suggestions?

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Postby dahlberg » Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:57 am

Hi G,
IMO there are no good quick-set rigs for large live suckers. They were designed in Europe for dead bait, and when you put too many hooks, no matter how small, into a live sucker it really destroys it's ability to swim and react naturally and thus greatly diminishes it's fish attracting ability.
If you're using a 16" sucker, try attaching the sucker directly to the wire with no hook or the smallest you can get away with, and put your "main" hook about 17" AHEAD of the sucker. That way, even if the musky has swallowed the sucker the hook is still in it's mouth rather than in it's throat or buried in the head of the sucker.
If you snell the hook to the wire, sometimes the "crack" between the leader and the point where it comes off the hook gets caught on the fishes jaw, and prevents the hook from getting in the fishes mouth. A few wraps of floss around the leader to make it follow around the bend of the hook solves this problem.
good luck,
L
Larry Dahlberg
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