[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/making-muskies-commit\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/making-muskies-commit\/","headline":"Making Muskies Commit","name":"Making Muskies Commit","description":"I recently listened to a Joe Bucher seminar presented by Minnesota tackle company Thorne Bros.\u00a0 Listening to seminars by experienced...","datePublished":"2017-07-13","dateModified":"2018-06-12","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/author\/hagosto\/#Person","name":"Hector Agosto","url":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/author\/hagosto\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7bfedbdc5ef3ed8f8df91eb37e1ffbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7bfedbdc5ef3ed8f8df91eb37e1ffbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Legendary Whitetails","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/logo-legendary-whitetails.png","url":"http:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/logo-legendary-whitetails.png","width":522,"height":226}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Dave-With-Musky-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Dave-With-Musky-1.jpg","height":1071,"width":935},"url":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/making-muskies-commit\/","about":["Fishing"],"wordCount":1020,"keywords":["Fishing","Tips"],"articleBody":"I recently listened to a Joe Bucher seminar presented by Minnesota tackle company Thorne Bros.\u00a0 Listening to seminars by experienced musky anglers is almost always informative no matter what level you’re at, and Joe Bucher is one of the best.\u00a0 This particular seminar was on how to get muskies to commit.\u00a0 One of the great things about musky fishing is these fish will often follow the lure to the boat, giving anglers a chance to see the toothy giants, even when they\u2019re not biting.\u00a0 While the sight of a 40+ inch fish following your lure can be exciting, it can also be darn right frustrating! Bucher\u2019s seminar gave techniques for enticing bites instead of just follow ups, and as you\u2019ll read shortly, put one in the boat for me on my last outting.Bucher started out the seminar by saying he doesn\u2019t want you to be the one making the most or longest casts.\u00a0 He wants you to be the one making the most effective retrieve on every cast.\u00a0 He breaks the retrieve down into the following three parts:Part I:Lure splashdown and the start of the retrieveThis can be a key moment in the retrieve, but it is often mishandled.\u00a0 Bucher expects 25% of all muskies caught to be hooked within seconds of the lure hitting the water.\u00a0 Muskies are the apex predators in their environment, and they will often respond to the surprise of a lure crashing down above them by quickly striking.\u00a0 Bucher\u2019s advice for this early part of the retrieve is to start the retrieve immediately once the lure hits the water.\u00a0 For right handed anglers who cast right handed, this usually means switching hands before the lure hits the water.\u00a0 You should also reel in the fastest during this early part of the retrieve, and keep your rod tip up to eliminate slack in the line.Part II:Between the splashdown and the boatAfter you get the lure going quickly, you\u2019ve got all the water between the lure\u2019s landing zone and the boat to entice a bite.\u00a0 Bucher expects another 25% of all muskies caught to be hooked in this large area of water.\u00a0 The key during this part of the retrieve is to avoid getting in a rhythm.\u00a0 It\u2019s very easy when you\u2019ve been fishing for hours to get into a rhythm of cast, retrieve, cast, retrieve.\u00a0 Even with a jerk bait, it\u2019s easy to get into a cadence of jerk, pause, jerk, pause that will make the bait look unnatural.\u00a0 Bucher suggests making changes during each retrieve \u2013 speed up, slow down, pause, change directions, irregular jerks \u2013 anything to make the lure behave like a living creature.Part III:BoatsideThis is where Bucher expects half of all fish caught will bite.\u00a0 The higher percentage of fish demonstrates the importance of this part of the retrieve.\u00a0 Every musky angler knows you finish each cast with a figure eight.\u00a0 The first key to an effective figure eight is the transition from the retrieve into the figure eight.\u00a0 You want a nice smooth turn that maintains the speed of the lure.\u00a0 This is easy to do until you see a large fish following your lure.\u00a0 Then the excitement of the moment can cause you to choke!The second key is to make large, sweeping figure eights.\u00a0 Bucher suggests long rods (8 \u2013 9 ft) to easily make big figure eights. Also, alter the depth of the lure during your figure eight \u2013 shallow when the lure is far away from you and deep when it is right under you.Making It CountWith these techniques in mind, I headed out to a popular musky lake here in Southeast Wisconsin after work with fellow Legendary Whitetails angler James Crawford. \u00a0The conditions were not ideal – with an extreme cold front rolling through the region earlier in the week and severe storms the night before.\u00a0 We got out on the water by 5 PM under heavy west winds.\u00a0 I like a nice wind chop on the water when I musky fish, but the two foot rollers made fishing in the middle of the lake quite unpleasant in my small boat.Soon after arriving, we had a follow in about 15 feet of water.\u00a0 The fish was deep and so far behind the lure I didn\u2019t see it until I had already made a few sweeps in my figure eight.\u00a0 I was fishing a Bulldawg, which is a large rubber jerkbait.\u00a0 Usually this type of bait will trigger strikes in the middle of the retrieve rather than during the figure eight.We continued fishing for another couple hours without any more signs of fish.\u00a0 Around 7:15 PM we found ourselves fishing a weed edge in about 15 feet of water.\u00a0 I was remembering Bucher\u2019s advice and jerking my Bulldawg as erratically as possible.\u00a0 Long pull, pause, short jerk, short jerk, medium jerk, pause, long pull.\u00a0 As I started my next jerk I felt a heavy weight on the other end.\u00a0 I immediately set the hook and felt the fish on the other end thrash.\u00a0 After an energetic, but fairly brief fight, James netted the fish."},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Legendary Whitetail's Blog"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/community.legendarywhitetails.com\/blog\/making-muskies-commit\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Making Muskies Commit"}}]}]