“Muskie Fishing with Mepps and Erik Lennartz”

Part 2: Keep Your Cool to Catch a Big Muskie

Editor’s Note: Erik Lennartz, owner and operator of Tactical Angling Guide Service in Heartland, Wisconsin, once guided for several-different species of fish, but after landing his first muskie, he was hooked. He’s been a muskie fisherman and guide ever since.

Question: Erik, tell me about one of your best muskie trips.

Lennartz: On a recent trip, I took out a lady who had trolled for muskies before, but had never really casted for them. I taught her how to cast Mepps lures and do a figure eight when the lure was close to the boat. She asked, “Erik, do I have to do a figure-eight by the boat each time I bring in my lure?” If you’ve never caught a muskie with a figure eight, then doing a figure eight with your rod tip after each cast seems almost foolish. I stressed the importance of doing a figure eight before she took her lure out of the water every time.

She was fishing with a black-and-orange Mepps Musky Killer. About 30 minutes into the trip, she had a deep follow by a muskie below the bait. When she began doing a figure eight with her rod tip, the fish came out of the grass, took the Musky Killer and smashed the bait. This was her first muskie casting. It was a 37-inch muskie, and she had a similar fish follow her bait later in the day. We had an exciting day, and she caught a nice fish.

Question: Many people don’t do figure eights each time their lure is by the boat. Why do you insist your anglers use this technique?

Lennartz: People who don’t do figure eights beside the boat after each cast are missing half the muskies they can be taking. Muskies are very curious fish. They’ll often follow the baits up to the boat in deep water, and you’ll never see them. Then they’ll approach the baits and strike. This is why I ask all my anglers to do figure eights at the ends of every cast. You can’t always see the muskies that are following your bait. Oftentimes you won’t spot the muskie that actually attacks from deep water. Sometimes this type of muskie fishing can be tedious work, but we’ve caught a lot of fish we would have never seen because we always assume there’s a muskie following our bait. If we do the figure eight beside the boat, the muskie will come up and take the bait.

Question: How much line do you have coming from the tip of the rod when you begin a figure eight?

Lennartz: I start to make the figure eight as I’m reeling-in the lure. I want a smooth transition between my retrieve and the figure eight. I don’t want my lure to suddenly speed-up or slow-down as I move into the figure-eight pattern. Occasionally I’ll help the lure make a wake on the surface. This isn’t an easy task with the Mepps Giant Killer, but it’s easy to do with the Musky Marabou, since it has a Colorado blade.

Both the Musky Killer and the Musky Marabou are very productive when you’ve got the bait close to the surface. I’ve had several really aggressive follows where the bait is 3-inches in front of the muskie’s nose before I start to perform the figure eight. I’ve also had a lot of lazy follows where the fish have been further behind the bait.

I’ll slowly bring my rod tip up, so the lure will bulge the water. As the lure comes up, I’ll have 1-foot of line from the tip of the rod to the line tie on the leader. I try to make the transition from retrieving my cast to starting my figure eight really close to the boat. I keep my rod tip in the water a couple of inches under the surface once I begin doing a figure eight. I open the bail on my reel. Then when the fish attacks, I can feed it line quicker and easier when I set the hook. I keep my thumb on the spool, so when I set the hook, I can monitor the pressure on the spool with my thumb as I let the muskie take the line.

Too, with the figure eight, after I come out of the top or the bottom loop of the figure eight, I’ll speed up the bait on the straight-aways, until I begin going around the next loop. One of the hardest things to teach anglers to do is to stay cool when they see the muskies and begin the figure-eight patterns. Many people will yell and scream about the big fish close to their bait. However, this action will spook the muskies before they even eat the bait. I know keeping your lips zipped and your emotions intact isn’t easy when you see a big muskie inches from your lure. But if you spook the fish, you won’t catch it.

For more information about fishing with Erik Lennartz and to find out his muskie-fishing tactics, call 262-227-3093, or email him at tacticalangling@yahoo.com, or visit www.tacticalangling.com.