Muskie Baits That Burn

Variations on a Theme

But it doesn’t end with Harassers, French blades, and Screamers. It has long been assumed that a speed system requires an in-line bucktail that’s compact, easy to cast, easy to burn. Muskie spinnerbaits, by comparison, have mostly been associated with lifting and dropping, slow-rolling and grinding through the base of weedbeds, and fluttering into weed pockets. But during the last decade, at least two spinnerbaits have earned a place among the traditional speed bucks.

The first one is the Ruff Tackle Rad Dog, a spinnerbait built on a compact heavy-wire frame and sporting a silicone rubber skirt combined with hackle feathers and Mylar. This combination of elements doesn’t hang up in the wind. The Rad Dogs cast just as well as compact in-lines.

CJ’s spinnerbaits remind me of Rad Dogs (compact heavy wire) but they’re tied sparely with short hair. Combined with a single #7 Colorado blade, Rad Dogs and CJ’s are both easy to burn.

Make no mistake, muskie spinnerbaits like CJ’s and the Rad Dog add a measure of versatility to the overall system. These baits are nearly weedless. By maneuvering your rod tip, you can steer them through reeds and drag them over rocks and obstacles that would snag an inline.

For every lure I’ve mentioned, there are many more that are perfectly suited for the system. Lures like Fudally’s Musky Candy and Musky Candy Spin have produced muskies for anglers for years. Buchertail Minis, Dorazio Baby Marabous, many Mepps models, the Rizzo Wiz, Shumway’s Little Chicken (caught my first muskie of ’07 on one), the Lil’ Eagle Tail, Windels Harasser Jr.—and on and on.

We have entered the era of Giant Flashers and Double Cowgirls—big lures by every standard. Today, I suppose even standard Flashers and Musky Mayhem’s double Showgirls, each sporting two #8 Colorado blades, might qualify as speed bucks for the young and athletic.

Whichever lures (tools) you use, the Windels system of covering water quickly, making rapid-fire casts and burning retrieves while covering more water than everyone else, can still put you in contact with more muskies than any other system. Apply the system and make more frequent muskie contact on good trophy water—and, well, the math has already been done.

*Jack Burns is a veteran muskie fisherman who has written extensively for Esox Angler and In-Fisherman.

Contacts: Jacobson’s Frenchies, 763/784-7660; Ruff Tackle Rad Dog, 320/2563-3261; Shumway’s, shumwaysmusky.com; Windels Tackle, 218/586-2226.