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If you are interested in pike or musky fishing, regardless of your experience level, you have come to the right place. Esoxhunter is a well established website with many excellent anglers from all parts of the world visiting and contributing. We welcome both fishermen with questions and answers alike. In addition to a large collection of articles which educate and entertain, the website also features an excellent chat board. The chat board offers members the ability to ask questions, provide information, and to make fishing friends. Unlike other chat boards, the members respect the opinions and comments of others so no one ever has to be a afraid of asking a question or stating an opinion.
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It is very difficult to find hot spots to fish in big water situations. I do three steps to find the huge trophy fish in these waters.
The bigger a water, the bigger the pike and walleye (zander here) grow in most situations. But how shall we find them – a secret, which is known only by a few specialists. By employing these secrets they consistently catch some monster fish each year. If there is a new
In my opinion, you have a chance to find some better producing spots within short time. You need a boat with fish-finder and GPS-instrument and of course some patience. I will tell you, how I in very short time, caught some record fish in the first year of fishing some big water.
Step 1
If you are standing in front of a water with a surface of many square-miles, you can be disillusioned very fast. Maybe you can get a chart with depthlines to get a rough idea of the underwater-structure. Maybe you have some information from local anglers as to where to fish. Be careful: Most of these tips are available to everybody and often you would be fishing in a high fishing-pressure spots and areas if you followed them.
Normally I start fishing by trolling – that means in most German waters rowing. In our freshwater-lakes motors are mostly forbidden! Trolling for big fish gives you a small opportunity to make a “lucky punch” and catch some fish. Without knowing the water, it´s not very productive, but for me it´s very useful, because I can locate fast interesting structures, fish-holding areas and maybe I will get my first bites. I can then go back later using more efficient methods to thoroughly fish the location.
I am not a trolling-angler, but I am able to fish while searching using this method. It beats just spending time searching! Here in my region one of the difficult lakes is “Möhnesee”. I learned, that fish move very far within a day and the season. The colder our water becomes, the deeper the pike move there. In early spring we find the fish in shallow water, where the sun warms it up faster and attracts small fish and of course pike.
Step 2
Of course you could continue trolling, if you found fish-holding areas, but in my opinion it´s less interesting and efficient than other methods. As an active angler I prefer keeping my fishing-rod in my hands while fishing and casting allows for more possibilities in influencing the running of you lure.
Mostly, the fish-holding areas are still very big. There is still a big surface to work on. Here I start drifting with a “drift-sock”. Drift-anchors are a great instrument to fish bigger surfaces continuously and precisely with your casting-rod. These helpful socks can be fixed in different spots of you boat. If I am alone in my smaller rowing-boat, I fix it in the middle of my boat to reach it better and being able to move a bigger fish around it. If the
While fishing, I frequently check my fish-finder and GPS, because here I am not only in search of a bite, but also in search of smaller, interesting structures and maybe better fish-holding areas. Drop-offs, weed-beds, stones on the ground and many other interesting fishing-spots could be found in this way. As soon, as I see some interesting spots on the screen or I get bites on my casting-rod, I set a waypoint on my GPS-plotter. If you have no GPS, you can throw a marker-buoy or you need to remember landmarks like trees, houses etc. Finding your way back to good spots is one of the most important things in fishing big waters.
My favourite fishing-method, while drifting, is casting a softbait (shads of 6-12 inch length) or a jerk-bait like “Zalt-lure” in not so deep waters (dives only up to 8 feet).
I don´t know, if two rods are allowed in your fishing-area, but we can use a second rod and I do also using a heavy soft-bait. The shad on my second rod must have a very heavy lead-head to hang straight over the bottom. Sloping
Step 3
Of course, we want to really work the hotter spots. If you have marked them on your plotter or with a marker buoy, you can come back and put your boat-anchor (with line on the bottom, this time not your drift socks!) slowly into the water. Please take note, that you don´t drop it on the heads of your prey, but in a comfortable casting-distance to your buoy. Often, if the spot looks good, it is useful to cast from different directions to a spot. I learned, that pike very often prefer attacking a lure only from one direction! With a fixed boat on a hot spot, you can try many different lures and methods to tease also the really big ones. Sometimes, it´s only a question of time before your lure gets on their nerves so that they bite. You will be astonished, how many really unknown hotspots you can find in a big water! Good luck for your next trip!
Now that you have mastered the flat one piece mold, it’s time to advance to a two-piece mold.
Two-piece molds are used to create full-round bait with no flat sides. There are pros and cons to a two-part mold. The pro is that in some cases you get a more realistic lure that is shaped on all sides. One of the cons is that you have to pour in one end of the mold and you are at the mercy of gravity to fill the cavity. For instance, a bait with a curly tail like a large twister tail. The tail becomes a large curly “J” shape and as you can envision, the plastic will only fill the bottom of the “J". Unless you have some means of injecting the plastic under pressure you will get short-filled tails. I have tried putting the fill spill on the bottom of the “J” and pouring upside down with little success.
But for straight tailed baits and things like swim baits it works great.
So for our example, let’s start with a pike sized swim bait.
As in a one-part mold, find a suitable sized container and mix up enough plaster to fill about half the mold. Pour the plaster in the container on a level surface.
Now, here is the trick!
You have to carefully place your master exactly halfway into the wet plaster. I say that this is the tricky part because if you put the master in too soon, it will sink into the plaster. If you wait too long you won’t be able to get it into the plaster without making the plaster bulge around the edges.
I can’t give you a magical time to wait. Every batch of plaster is different and it’s an acquired “feel” for the material. Don’t be disappointed if you mess up a batch. Plaster is cheap!
Let that half of the mold cure overnight.
The next day you will be able to pour the second half of the mold. So that the two halves line-up correctly, you will need pins or deformations in the first half. My favorite method is to make cone shaped divots using a counter-sink bit. Drill them in the unused portions of the mold. Two or three spots are enough.
Now you are ready to apply a release agent to the face of the mold so that the two sections will separate. Simple petroleum jelly is all you need. Rub a thin coat over the entire face of the plaster and the master. Make sure everything is covered thoroughly.
Now mix up enough plaster to fill the remainder of the mold. Mix this batch up a little more watery than normal. This allows any air bubbles that may be in the mold surface or around the master to release and float to the surface. It also insures that plaster gets into every nook and cranny. You may even need to tap the sides a little to help the bubbles pop free.
Let that cure overnight.
The next day you can unmold the mass from the container. Gently separate the two halves. If you have the petroleum jelly on correctly, you should be able to get a good grip on each half and pull them apart. If you have trouble, you may need to slide a thin putty knife in the edge and gently pry them apart.
Remove the master and let both halves cure for several days before you start applying the epoxy sealer to the lure cavities. The procedure is the same as the one-piece mold except do not get the epoxy on the faces of the mold. This could cause the two halves to fit together improperly. Apply it to the lure cavity only.
Before you start epoxying you will need to add a pour spout to the mold. I use a round or half round file till you make a hole large enough to pour into. This pour spout or sprue will also need the epoxy coating.
Once you have three coats of epoxy (thinned with acetone) on the mold, you are ready to pour some full round baits.
Mix and heat up the plastic as previously described. Hold the two halves together with a rubber band. Pour the plastic slowly until the mold overfills slightly. Wait 10 or 15 seconds and top off if needed.
Have a place where the mold can stand upright till it cools. When it cools, (2-5 minutes depending on the size and volume of the bait), remove the rubberbands and remove the bait.
Each two-part mold will have a personality of its own. Some baits pour best holding the mold straight up and some on a slight angle. Some need a small relief air path cut in and many don’t. This can be done on one half of the mold with a hacksaw blade.
All in all making a two-part mold may be a little more complicated, but pouring them is very easy.
Good luck and enjoy making soft-plastic baits.
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Esoxhunter visitors come from all over the world. I recently discovered a website where I could establish a map for Esoxhunter and have people post a pin in the map for their location. You can additionally post pictures and leave what is called a "Shout" (short message). After we get enough pins in the map it will be interesting to see where the concentrations of musky/pike fisherman are. So just click the "Add Yourself" at the top of the map below, to be added to the map..
Here are some of the areas where you might be interested in the local weather. For further detail and forecast, just click on the city for all the information. If you are a frequent visitor and would like a city added, simply drop me an e-mail and we'll see what we can do!.
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Last updated on ...December 8, 2007
