“Muskie Fishing with Mepps and Erik Lennartz”

Part 3: How to Maintain Control

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, how do you handle a big muskie when it takes the bait while you’re performing a figure eight and then it dives under the boat?

Lennartz: I’ll often be using heavy braided line. When I’m fishing a lighter Mepps Bucktail, I’ll fish 60-pound-test braid line. With a heavier Bucktail, I’ll use 80-pound-test line. So, there’s a lot of power in that line to move the muskie. Too, you must use the right leader. I prefer a 9-inch-long leader. Generally, you can spot the fish, but sometimes you’ll get a deep strike and won’t be able to see the fish. If the fish takes the bait and dives under the boat, I try to push the rod away from the boat and down deeper in the water. Then my rod won’t touch the side or the bottom of the boat.

This way, I can control the muskie as it goes wherever it wants. If I’m fishing in the front of the boat, I’ll hold the rod out and move my rod around the bow of the boat to get the rod and the line on the same side of the boat as the fish.

Question: If you’re in the middle of the boat, and the fish dives under the boat, what do you do?

Lennartz: I’ll fight the muskie under the boat with my rod tip down and away from the boat. Then try to guide the muskie back to my side of the boat. I’ve actually had fish come from under the boat to take the bait and head for shallow water. When I was fishing with the lady I mentioned yesterday who caught her first muskie casting with me, her fish came from under the boat and headed for shallow water. I’m convinced that muskie was following the bait deep, and then when she did her figure-eight move, the fish turned around under the boat and came back to get the Mepps Musky Killer. So, when the muskie attacked, it came from under the boat and moved toward shallow water.

Oftentimes if the muskie is closing ground, it’s coming from shallow water and heading toward deep water. If the muskie attacks the bait from this direction, it will move from shallow to deep. But muskies are unpredictable and you don’t want your fight with a muskie to be a tug of war. That’s the reason I suggest you open the bail on your rod and put your thumb on the reel as you begin to make a figure eight. This way, if a muskie hits the bait, and you set the hook, you still can keep tension on the line and give the muskie the line it needs, while you play the muskie down and bring it back to the boat.

Remember, while doing a figure eight, make wide circles or big loops at the top and the bottom of the figure eight. Wide circles give the muskie an opportunity to turn-around and attack the bait. Often the muskie will be 30 to 40-inches long, and tight figure eights may pull the bait away from the muskie moreso than wide figure eights. With wide figure eights, the muskie has the opportunity to make its turn and set up the strike. That way, the muskie is much more likely to take the bait and less likely to miss the bait.

Question: When the muskie takes the bait, you’re using thumb pressure on the spool of the reel instead of the drag system in the reel, right?

Lennartz: That’s exactly right. If you don’t, a muskie often will put too much pressure on the rod and break it. I only use graphite St. Croix rods. If that rod loads up too heavy, there’s a lot of pressure on the rod. I’m not afraid to pull line out and give it to the fish if it’s running real hard. But the key is to use the rod and the line to control the muskie, instead of having the fish control you.

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.