“Patricia Strutz – Ms. Muskie – with Mepps”

Part 2: Me and the Figure Eight

Editor’s Note: Patricia Strutz of Eagle River, Wisconsin, muskie fishing guide and operator of “A Blond and Her Boat” guide service, is passionate about teaching women, children and first-time muskie fishermen to enjoy the sport she loves. Strutz has caught and boated 50-inch muskie and can compete with the some of the best muskie fishermen in the nation. This week, Strutz explains how she fishes for muskie and how she teaches her clients to fish for muskie.

Question: Patricia, most people have difficulty remembering or learning to perform a figure eight at the ends of their casts when muskie fishing. How do you teach newcomers to perform a proper figure eight at the end of all of their casts?

Strutz: After I teach my customers how to cast a No. 5 Aglia on a bait-casting reel without getting a backlash and how to retrieve that lure, I teach them to perform the figure eight. Initially, newcomers will become discouraged and think they’ll never learn this technique. But within minutes, they’re casting like pros. I teach them to cast with the wind and not into the wind.

Once my client gets the lure up to the boat, every time he or she brings-in a lure, I’ll show them several times how to make the figure eight. I’m like a drill sergeant barking orders to their troops. I want my clients to correctly learn to perform the figure eight, whether or not they see a muskie. Because our muskies often show-up from the depths in dark water, you often will never see the fish before it takes the bait. I coach people until their figure eights become as natural and automatic as bringing their rod tips back behind their heads to make their casts.

Question: What’s it like when a newcomer does a figure eight close to the boat, and a big muskie comes out and grabs the bait?

Strutz: I teach my clients to free-spool their reels and to use their thumbs as their drags when they start doing figure eights. This way, when the fish grabs the Aglia, their thumb can meter-out the line, and there’s not a huge jolt to the rod, the reel and the angler when the muskie takes the bait. When I first started guiding, rods frequently were jerked-out of my clients’ hands when muskies took the baits because my fishermen weren’t free-spooling. After losing a few rods and reels, I decided to make a change in my teaching technique. Since I’ve begun coaching my clients to free-spool and meter their lines with their thumbs on the reels, we haven’t lost rods, and my fishermen have caught more muskies.

Question: How do you teach clients to set their hooks and then meter the lines out with their thumbs?

Strutz: Usually a beginner will pull a lure away from the muskie’s mouth when an angler sees a big muskie coming-up with its mouth open, ready to take the bait. I tell my clients not to set their hooks until I start screaming at them or until they feel the fish on the line. I instruct my clients to then set their hooks so hard that they try to break my rods.

People are excited about fishing for muskies and catching them, so 90% of the time they have no problem setting their hooks. To meter the line on the spool with your thumb, let the line steadily pull out, and it will come out smoothly. If there’s too much pressure on the spool, the line won’t come off the spool. If there’s not enough pressure on the spool, you’ll get a backlash. Most clients can learn to effectively use thumb pressure on the spool instead of the drag on the reel.

To fish with Patricia Strutz, visit www.ablondandherboat.com.