“Wisconsin Muskie Fishing with Brian Long”

Part 1: Stained Water Muskie Fishing

Editor’s Note: Brian Long from Glidden, Wisconsin, owns and operates Brian Long’s Muskie Guiding and has been guiding for muskies for 40 years.

Question: How did you become so involved in muskie fishing?

Long: My grandfather was a resort owner and a guide in Vilas County, Wisconsin. I learned my love of muskie fishing from my grandfather and from my father, who was also a muskie fisherman for several years.

Question: How do you catch muskies in stained water?

Long: The water in our dark lakes is relatively shallow, usually 30 feet or less. Therefore, the main feeding is primarily in shallow water. In the shallow water in which we fish, most of the time we’ll be fishing over stumps or weeds. When the muskies move into that shallow water, they usually come in, feed, and then pull back out to deeper water. Therefore, if you go after the feeding muskies in the shallow water, your chances are much higher for catching them.

Question: Okay, so when you’re in the shallow water, how are you catching them?

Long: I like to fish a bucktail with Colorado blades like the Mepps Musky Marabou. Because of the Colorado blades, you can keep the Musky Marabou higher in the water than you can with the other lures that don’t have Colorado blades. Now, the real secret to fishing this lure is that as soon as it enters the water, you want to immediately engage the reel and start the lure coming back to the boat to get the blades turning.

As soon as you get the blades turning, you ought to swim the bait just under the water, so that it causes a bulge on the surface. The Musky Marabou is fairly weightless, and when it makes that bulge on the surface, it’s making a path that the muskies can follow to the bait. The Musky Marabou is a great muskie attractor.

Question: What color of Musky Marabou do you like?

Long: In dark water, I like the black marabou with ether the orange or the chartreuse blades. I fish it on 80-pound PowerPro test line with St. Croix rods and reels.

Question: How many lakes do you have in your area that have stained water?

Long: Here in Ashland County where I fish, there are 33 stained-water lakes. I also fish Price County and Iron County, so I have about 60 lakes to fish. Another reason I like the Musky Marabou in stained water is that you can see the wake that the muskie throws off as it come after the Marabou. You’ll see what looks like a torpedo under the water coming after the lure. Once I see the muskie following the blades, I tell my customers to keep the muskie coming toward the boat.

When the muskies get to the boat, I encourage my anglers to make a big circle in front of the boat before they start doing a figure-eight. I have found that teaching my fishermen to do a circle before they start doing a figure-eight allows them to learn to keep their rods in the water and keep the baits moving when the baits get close to the boat. I’ve learned that teaching fishermen to do a circle first before I teach them to do the figure-eight is a much easier maneuver for them to learn to do once the bait gets closer to the boat.

A big muskie is like a freight train. It can’t turn quickly, so by turning in a big circle before starting a figure-eight, the muskie has more time to turn around and start looking for the bait than if you immediately go to the figure-eight. Also by teaching my customers to start with the circle, I teach them to do the same speed when they do the circle and the figure-eight as when they’re retrieving the lures.

Question: What happens when the muskie grabs the lure?

Long: All hell breaks loose (grin). When the muskie takes the bait close to the boat, you’ll usually set the hook straight up on the top of its mouth or further back in its mouth than you’ll set the hook if he takes the bait while he’s retrieving it.

Question: When your customer has the rod deep in the water and a big muskie attacks, what prevents the muskie from pulling the rod out of his or her hands or breaking the rod?

Long: When the muskie attacks the Marabou, the customer gets an overwhelming shot of adrenaline, and then he can set the hook hard. Besides, those St. Croix rods just don’t break.

Question: How do you get the muskie out of the water, if the muskie takes the bait and then dives under the boat?

Long: In those situations, you’re pretty much at the muskie’s mercy for a little bit. I run my boat from the rear, and I have my customers fishing at the front of the boat. So, when the muskie goes under the boat, really all the fisherman has to do is to move his rod around the front of the boat, so once again he’s on the same side of the boat as the muskie. I run a tiller motor, so if the muskie runs for the back of the boat, I raise my tiller motor and get out of the way. Then my fisherman can come to the back of the boat to fight the fish. One of the real thrills of muskie fishing is that, every time you hook a fish, you don’t know what’s going to happen.

To learn more about muskie fishing, contact Brian Long at 715-264-4974, or email him at brianlong@centurytel.net.