By Steve Heiting For four days it was more of the same. I’d work my way to the rocky shelf during the day and cast either a glider jerkbait or a crankbait — it didn’t matter — and the big musky would follow slowly and deeply, not showing any more of itself than a long,… Continue Reading
By Larry Ramsell, Field EditorOn November 28, 2008, at around 5 p.m., there was a monumental occurrence in the musky world that proved outsized giants truly exist. Dale MacNair of Ottawa, Ontario, fishing with his girlfriend/fishing partner Julie Cashaback and friend Sal Rotolo on the St. Lawrence River, captured and released a muskellunge of epic… Continue Reading
By Steve Heiting, Managing Editor Among the benefits of teaching the University of Esox Musky Schools is the longterm friendships I’ve developed with a number of the students. And seeing the students take the information shared with them and then succeeding at musky fishing — either during the school or, sometimes, years later — is… Continue Reading
By Steve Heiting, Managing Editor One of the most interesting artifacts in the main lodge of Monument Bay Lodge on Lake of the Woods’ Northwest Angle involves a huge, ancient, mounted musky. While the musky is certainly a giant, it’s not the fish mount that I find so interesting but the lure hanging in its… Continue Reading
By Steve Heiting Musky fishermen can be extremely slow to change because they are seldom willing to risk time on the water to try what they perceive as an offbeat method. The soft plastic revolution that is occurring right now in their sport underscores that statement. It was about forty years ago when a group… Continue Reading
By Steve Heiting, Managing Editor Some of the most fun and successful musky fishing I experienced last year was also some of my most frustrating. Let me explain. On a week-long trip to a water I’d never before fished, my buddy Kevin Schmidt and I found ourselves questioning almost every move and every lure selection,… Continue Reading
By Steve Heiting Just moments earlier, the huge musky stuck its head out from the swaying milfoil and ate the big bucktail as it rode a wave over its head. Now, the battle almost over, Charlie Buhler’s biggest musky of his life was just a net job away from having its picture taken. On its… Continue Reading
By Steve Heiting, Contributing Writer Fall is considered by musky fisherman as the time for trophy fish. Large female muskies putting on the feedbag to sustain their developing egg mass are on the prowl, hunting suckers, ciscoes and whitefish. If you hope to catch a musky that’s truly heavy for its length, fall is the… Continue Reading
By Steve Heiting September 10, 1998, will forever stand out in my memory as well as my musky catch records. I hope to experience another day like it, but I doubt that I’ll ever enjoy such a great day again. On that day my buddy, Kevin Schmidt, and I caught 16 muskies ranging in size… Continue Reading
By Steve Heiting, Managing Editor West Virginia may be far removed from the musky-crazed Midwest, but when it comes to lure manufacturing, it’s at the forefront. Cranes, Cobbs, Amma Bammas and Hughes Rivers, among others, are handcrafted there, musky baits which have transcended their home state to become staples in tackle boxes everywhere. To Bill… Continue Reading