zach

that was a quick trip larry.

what did i fly by you? i will be happy to explain. the terminators were mostly trolled behind in-line weights out west of here. flat lined they will be silimar to a wiley. maybe around 6 feet down w/ 60 feet of line at 5mph? they should handle speeds well and are good trollers. one those terminators he left the belly screw eyes long and keep them that way if you are interested in keeping them for collectables. this keeps hook rash to a minimum. compared to a 90% of other musky lures, terminators are way better. is that clear enough? don't be afraid to put a chunk of lead in front of those skinny trolling lures also. alot of times i put a 4oz weight off the swivel on my long trolling leader. the fish don't mind and you can run shorter lines and follow weedlines and breaks way better. have always thought about painting those in-line weights but have yet to do it. last weekend at chaut the only 2 hits i had were on 4oz and 40 back on 7" jointed slashers.

terminators came out about the same time as the wiley's in the 1980's and were hot on st clair. imo rocketman copied the wileys but shhhhh. the terminators are made from silver birch and it is heavier than cedar. about 1 in 5 have that wandering action that comes standard on wileys, lokes, slashers etc. very nice paint jobs and tough lures but alot of people say his wood is on the heavy side. since they aren't made anymore they go for big $ as a collectors item like lokes. the terminators have more of a snakey motion instead of a hard thump imo. i personally wouldn't use it, but then again i have been using mahogany 8" tuff shads this year which i should have saved, but oh well. they are nice lures but they have some quarks like any other lure. i most likely am the only person around other than maybe larry that has any experience w/ them. now if you were getting some bk lure les chubbies (not made anymore, very nasty plug) i would fish it everyday. anyone got a chubbie for sale anywhere? nope, everyone is fishing those until they self destruct. chubbies were the nastiest baits. did i help at all? now if we compare that to a baker "lil sweetie". lmao. bob- i second you on the plows.

pickles aren't picky, pike aren't to picky, muskies are so picky it isn't even funny so not every esox will hit the first thing that goes by them. it could be the right bait but wrong color or whatever for muskies. pickerel could go extinct today and i wouldn't care.

stockin' em deep and selling em cheap.

do you want to buy any of mine? not really using them and have some good colors if you want some of them? i think i have 10 of them and 6 rigs. baby musky both sizes, green goblin both sizes and pumpkin both sizes are up for sale if you want them, most are already rigged. have twisted heads, casting heads, and the 2 and 3oz vertical heads. i will sell you mine cheaper than gander would. doesn't look like i am gonna do much fishing this month and just work on lures and fixing up the boat.

larry jones mentioned one time that if you could get a original tuff shad in a round lip it out performs a coffin lip 3:1. got me thinking. bob- i foiled a newman trolling plug just to have my son drop it on the floor breaking the lip off. it must have been plexiglass b/c lexan wont break like that. lappers also have very brittle lips. lexan all the way here. i also talked to dale wiley who was also trolling the south end saturday and i asked him about why such a light clear coat on his lures. he explained the thicker the clear coat the more action you take away from the plug. i plan on doing an e-tex clear coat on these and it could be made tougher w/ devcon but etex is 1/2 the weight. i always thought the tuffs were good but over weighted and maybe this along w/ a round lip will get them bouncing and throbbing. just built a new turner just for the etex. i am thinking waneta and south basin chautauqua would be the best areas for these lures. bob- think jim reynolds would let me come over and let him watch work alittle? i am sure there are tons of tricks to learn.

good luck old man- this year i switched from power pro to suffix braid and am really happy with the stuff. fished all day saturday in the south end trolling and it was really slow for me- only 2 hits and lost one of them- only one 32" for 11 hours trolling. boring- hot, lots of floating weeds and not much action, i knew i hated fishing in august. didn't see any other fish caught either but tons and tons of bait just south of the 86 bridge. now i want to make lures for the rest of august. anyone need any tuff shad copies? will have around 100 of them and plan on trying this whole lure thing out. thats right 100, spent all day sunday cutting blanks and cut 98 in one day. lots of sanding, sealing and priming to come. should have some ready in about 2-3 weeks. i want to give one away to each local musky fisherman to tell me what is good and what needs improvement. pm me if interested and let me know your favorite color. solgrande and muskylips- i know what color i will do for you guys already. nitro and gustofson let me know. old man- want to cast a crank? i would be happy to send you one also.

anyone going this weekend? gonna do my best to get there saturday am. south end is my destination.

thanks larry, have a long way to go before you and i could ever compare #'s though , you have helped me become a better fisherman and you are the reason i give info so freely.

i am no master but by far the hottest plug i own is the 7" jointed foiled perch w/o rattles. second is the custom painted sucker that if you ask him he will do for you. between those two baits i have had 22 have hit the net this year for me from semi-local pressured waters out of 9 times out so far this year. i know some of you guys in pa like bigger baits so he is also sending some 10" rockets to try that aren't on his website yet. I have never been a fan of rattles or firetiger patterns but that is just me. it has probally cost me some fish at times but i like non- ratteling lures in semi-clear to clear water. if you have an idea for a paint job feel free to ask him, he will do almost anything for you which is awesome since most companies don't give a darn about your ideas, they just want to mass market lures instead of making each plug one by one for their customers. is jointed is better than straight? depends on the day. i think you could take that foiled perch and sucker pattern to almost any lake that muskies swim and do well. just remember i am no master and this is only what has worked for me. you might find the oppisite is true in your own tryings. start w/ 1 or 2 and see if they are worth your hard earned money. all i know is i have alot of other $25 baits that have never caught a fish. these rockets do for me. i might have been a little excited in that last post but thats 'cause i was, i am sure most people would be if it was for the first time in their life they got the hook up. i wasn't looking for this and i didn't whore myself to get those lures. he said he needed someone in this area to try his lures and give feedback. since then we have worked out a deal. please don't take my excitement for cockiness since thats not me, i give my info to attempt to shorten the learning curve of musky fishing since i never had anyone really help me in the past, i had lots of trial and error and lots of wasted $ on inferior products. this was before everyone got so free w/ info on the internet, today with some research you can go almost anywhere and do fish, years ago it was toughter imo b/c of very limited info. i just am trying to let people know about the very first musky lure i have been happy with after trying tons of them from all over and i felt that way before all this snowballed into what it is. once again, i am "no master", so please don't refer to me as that. you can call me zach. i compare these to a wiley on steroids that will last. rodney who makes these plugs has had some over 10 years that he still runs and they still hold together just fine. "ray j" aren't you the one who posts on larry's website also? i think so, if you want i will be more than happy to talk to you in person at the next tournament if you want.

that article is funny but thats nothing- i have been doing that for years. i even have an elastic measuring tape that starts at 30". ha, ha, ha... and to think i have got you guys on this long. lol. ever see my fake plastic midget hand i put next to the fish in the water pics? makes them look billy fucillo "HUGE".

waneta has smaller fish no doubt on average. waneta also has fewer fish imo. so if i would guess the average of 10 from each water. waneta somewhere around 34"-35", chaut- 38"-39" but there are always exceptions. only a guess from my experiences on both waters. bty, if anyone (semi-locally) wants to borrow a lure or two this year feel free to contact me and i will let you try any rocket/ hey cisco( coming out w/ a 6" in addition to his 9" ciscoes) you want for the day or a weekend just don't lose 'em. i will also have some of his prototype deepdivers ($80-$90 each, ouch) and a new bait like a super nice tuff shad w/ a round lip. i got so many lures b/c i have to go around to the shops and show them and try to get them to carry his lures. some are to fish w/ and some are for just for show. everywhere from baits shops in pa to the 1000 island baitshop on the larry i have to stop by and try to promote his baits and get them to carry them. i am also most likely (98.497% sure) doing the winter shows (4) in this area for muskymaniacs. after talking about his rockets on muskiefirst, mike king who makes the slashers says he has a so called "better bait" and wants me to compare his new prototypes to the rockets, so thats how i got those free. i guess mike king has a new lure that is alot more like a les chubbie than his thinner slashers. fished waneta last night,just myself and the red lowe boat guy were out there. everything was in shallow for me, 12fow was my deepest hit last night. all trolling and all on the lucky foiled perch muskyrocket that has been so good to me all year (14 now on that one). horrible cell pics so i won't put any more that are even more blurry. all fish at sunset and after. fished 7pm until 1am. the bait has moved around alot from where i was finding them earlier. the water temp is dropping finally and i had 75 degrees water temps last night w/ alot more surface activity (splashing) than i have seen lately.

yes, after all these years of boycotting firetiger i finally jumped on the band wagon w/ a couple of those ugly lures- i just have always thought that firetiger was the most common color thrown in just about any body of water so i always stayed away from it thinking everyone else was throwing it and the fish have already seen it. bob 5.5mph ain't WARP speed imo its everyday summer trolling speed, at that speed they don't have to be hungry imo, they just get turned on by the speed of a lure wizzing past them. i am surprised that depthraider went that fast and tracked okay. i hear all the chrome falls off those baits too in only a few times out also so i have stayed away from them. last time out i got one running over 6mph and it hit the outside rod on a turn. the lure was traveling even faster than 6mph most likely closer to 7mph. good to see you finally sped up and i fully believe there is a time to go fast and also slow. low light i go slower than i do at 10 am. when they aren't feeding is when i go fast and when i feel they are gonna hit and feed i go slower. bob, bob, bob- you are making this too difficult. imo there is no need for leadcore, wire, or riggers at waneta. just choose differant baits for those depths. i can only think of 2 times i would want to run a rigger for muskies. 1 would be in the 1000 islands and the other would be to troll bucktails. i can fully hit bottom w/o any help in any spot in waneta w/ the right lure trolling. there you go bob13 thats some info. just remember it takes a special lure that is "super tuned" to go warp speed. i have some that hold true over 7.2mph. can't wait until i get all my new lures in. i am getting a ton of musky rockets/ hey ciscos soon and even am having some 8" jointed slashers being sent to me for free from mike king. i am getting almost every color and style rocket and hey cisco made and even some custom deep divers that look like bigger perchbaits but should be even better (mr. jones who makes the musky rockets is sending me close to $3,000 in free lures) wow! mike king and rodney jones want them run in NY and both want feed back from me about how they work around here and i have to post my results after giving them some time by the end of the year. cool i think. i am getting the hook up from 2 companies now! but don't think i am trying to be some hot shot b/c that is as far from the truth as possible. i just talk to these people and they have offered this to me and i am rolling with it. talk about pressure to produce fish but the rockets haven't failed me yet with them getting at least 2 fish for me every single time out for me this year w/ two differant 5 fish days on them. i fully believe these rockets are by far the best made plugs. p.s. ever see how lamoka is loaded w/ pickeral and waneta has very, very few? am i the only one that has noticed this? i do have a pickeral colored lure coming just for this idea.

count me in larry- will send $$ when i can. zach +1.

count me in larry- will send $$ when i can. zach +1. trying to get the old man motivated to fish w/ me on this one.

better than work!

thats musky fishing for ya- look back in the archives here on this site and we have posted lots of info on this subject for lots of people.

i saw a ton of fish on bottom and went deep after them and nada. i thought nitro knew something i didn't when i saw him going out. i was skunked for the first time there all year on the tigers ! some of those fish on the bottom looked good size at least according to the graph.

"a homemade double 10" is a big 10" bucktail with twin #10 colorado blades on the front and alot of skirt material in the rear, they are pretty easy for everyone to make at home w/ huge 6/0 trebles in the back. no dumb questions here buddy. you think i always knew what a "dcg10" was? no, someone told me. you think i always knew how to short-line? no, someone told me. what the hell is a "wiley" i used to ask? "how do you catch them out in the middle of the lake in no-mans land"? yes- someone told me that one also. why those damn long 4 foot trolling leader? someone told me too. the big bucktails pull very hard (like a 5lb clump of grass on the end of your line) and even w/ 6oz trolling weight 4 foot in front of them, i bet you a dollar i never got deeper than 10 feet down while trolling around 4.0mph. nitro and sol- all work and no play makes for unhappy boys, get out fishing. it has actually been nice being the only boat out there a few nights this year but i don't need to rub it in anymore than i have. good luck everyone that is lucky enough to get out musky fishing. sol and nitro- don't worry your time will come, i will be jealous reading about you guys crushing the fatties come october and november when i am hunting and not fishing. so it will all come around full circle. P.S. ray- keep the comments coming, i really think you have an amazing sense of humor and i laugh after reading most of your posts. keep it up, i love it! "the fashion police of corning" . this was actually the only picture i took b/c the i wasn't gonna take that expensive camera out in the rain. this was the first fish i got right when i started. 39"

not posting any pics this time but waneta lit up last night. i was watching the radar at work yesterday morning and told boss man i had musky fever and had to leave work. a storm was going to push through waneta last night and i had to be there. i took off from work early and got down at 3pm and by 3:15pm i had a thick 39" in the net shortlining shallow weeds! towards evening the storm came through, the light switch flipped on for the fish and the heavy feeding began. bam, bam, bam, bam. the muskies went crazy before the storm and stayed that way until after dark when i left at 10pm. all hits were high up in the water column on "bigger" bright baits trolled slowly ( slow for me ). ended up w/ a 34", 37",39", 41" and a solid 43" while losing another fish before i could grab the rod it came off. an hour before sunset it was totally pitch black because of the rain clouds, there was lightning all around the lake, real high winds and you could feel the electricity in the air. i had my headlamp on my head and needed it by 8pm. crazy times and i am at 23 muskies for the year. i am getting spoiled but the tough months of august and september will set me straight. all fish were caught trolling in the top 5-10 feet of water no matter how deep the bottom was. all fish and hits came from the same "general" southern area of the lake. the fish were so hot i even got one to hit a trolled homemade double 10 w/ 6oz of weight in front of it. bty i am not condoning fishing during hostile weather as it could be dangerous.

thanks very much "ice legend"! i just finished an article from indiana that talked about during warmer conditions they use billgills alot. it said that it is common for almost every boat to have "a few" hanging off them while the anglers cast. thanks again!

can any tell me if this is legal? i hear of indiana musky guides using bluegills and crappies for livebait while they are casting muskies during the warmer months when suckers die too quickly. question is, if you catch a bluegill or crappie on the same water you are musky fishing and don't transport them to another lake can they be used as livebait? if you can't use 'gills or crappies- are there other types you can use?

dont forget to get that rod wrap if you want your handles to last.

just tie on a leader, troll and wait to hear the clicker go off. larry runs 50lb and long line sets to get the lures down. would wire be a better option?