Michigan Muskie Alliance

Hey Guys,
Looking for some rig setups for trolling live bait. I use a large bobber 10 ft from the bait 4oz of weight 3ft from the bait a quick strike rig and a 7-9in Sucker. I drag it about 35ft behind the boat at 2mph.

My opinion is... at that speed you're better off trolling a lure and not a live sucker. Suckers are best at slow speeds when they can move around and run away from a curious muskie to trigger a strike. There's not much very appealing about a sucker being dragged along by it's nose. On the other hand drag a 10 or 13" Believer along at 2 mph and you've got something a muskie would eat.

Thanks Will, I'll have to put a trolling plate on my boat to see how slow I can get. Otherwise I'll try a believer. Looking forward to this weekend.
Thanks again

W e got a 40 incher yesterday on Osterhout. We had the sucker down about 6 feet and out a rod length from the boat. We watched the fish eat it. Very cool. We drag them around while casting always have one live bait rig out this time of year. As we move along the break the sucker trails us on the deep side to keep it out a little from the Weeds. Works like 10. Mike and Michelle

Soaking suckers is a BLAST!

The clicker screaming is music to the ears!

I hear naming stripper names is fun too, hey Will.

One option....

7.5' heavy action rod with Abu 6500C4 with "bait clicker feature "on"" in a holder placed 90* from the boat. 80#PP 8-? feet straight down to a big swivel. Lower hole of the swivel has two things attached, the weight and the bait. The weight is a teardrop lead sinker connected with a rubberband to the lower eye of the swivel. The bait is either a sucker or bullhead on a homemade quick-strike rig (lively bait, sharp hooks, double-crimped sevenstrand wire, beads and a small colorado blade). Bait size dictates weight size, goal is to cast both sides of deep water breaks and either bring a fish to the live bait or just let the live bait to bring her in.

The "bait-clicker"feature is essential for this set-up, it allows the fish to swim off with the bait (or hits the bait, drops, swims away and comes right back and slams the bait for good.....be patient, this is like a black-powder rifle hang-fire deal, just stay focused.)

I fish from the back of the boat and, if I can get it right, the live bait is about 6' straight below where I do my 8's, swimming along with the boat jjst at the transome, side-to-side, slow side-to-side.

One time I went into an 8 and looked down to see 2 mid-30" fish, both about 2' from the sucker. Just sitting there, the sucker going sorta nuts. Both fish wandered away, no strikes. Very cool to watch but my sucker died of a heart attack.