Casting

Casting as a technique in muskie fishing is in many instances the most efficient method when you are confronted with extremely heavy cover. When the muskies are using stump flats or dense weed growth with very irregular edges, casting allows a pin point placement of your lure that would be impossible using trolling methods. If the particular body of water you are fishing is extremely shallow or has numerous small structures as opposed to very large structures, casting would allow you to comb the water most thoroughly.

As described previously, bucktails are without doubt the number one choice as a casting lure. They are very easy to fish. One of their great advantages is that when a muskie strikes there is nothing but hair and hooks and getting a good hook set is relatively easy. In the warm summer months, simply cast bucktails along the edge of the weeds and reel as fast as you can. If the weeds are extremely thick use a safety pin style; my current favorite is the Fudally Stump Hawg because it uses two single hooks instead of trebles and is therefore much more weedless. If you are fishing deeper water or during a cold front use a straight shaft and allow it to sink to the depth that you wish to fish and retrieve it a little slower than you normally would.

If using jerk bait, remember that you have to create the action by jerking the rod while retrieving the lure. This jerking action causes the lure to dive or move from side to side in a very erratic manner. Muskies seem to think that these baits are injured or in trouble some way and they really go for them. There are two drawbacks to jerk baits: because of the erratic movement the fish tend to miss the bait on the strike; and because jerk baits are usually large and made of wood, it can be difficult to set the hook if a muskie sinks its teeth into it. As a result, most jerk bait fishermen agree that you probably lose 60 percent of the fish that hit. For a long time this statistic made me shy way from jerk baits but I now know hat they attract fish, and the big ones at that, more than bucktails.

Casting will increase your catch although the average size of the fish you catch will probably be smaller. In southern Ontario where trolling has exerted most of the fishing pressure, many lakes and rivers are good for casting. Conversely, in northwestern Ontario, where most of the pressure is due to casters, trolling for deep fish is probably the best way to catch a real trophy.

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