2016 Lure Checklist

[Scott McKee]

6.16.16 (better late than never (maybe)) - I spent a good portion of last night organizing my lures and picking the lucky ones who will spend the summer in my tackle box and not on the shelves of misfit lures in my office.  This organization process takes quite a long time for me.  Let me put it this way, when you were a little kid cleaning your room or closet, did you wind up playing with your old toys before doing any actual cleaning?  I did.  “Clean your room and put away that old race track and train set” was uttered on more than one occasion by my mom when I was a kid.  Organizing lures is a very similar process for me.  Hard-bodied baits invoke memories.  Fish caught and lost come to mind.  I am not ashamed to admit I spent hours looking at my toys.  Sure I was inspecting hooks and split rings, but primarily I was just remembering.

My tackle box is a 16-year old Lakewoods with the hanging-lure-guts ripped out.  It holds 9 3730 boxes, 1 3700 box, a 3630 box and 2 sections of vinyl gutters for larger lures or quick access to recently productive baits.  The utility boxes are labeled to make finding a particular lure a breeze for me and those fishing on my ride.  A little over the top? You bet it is.

So after much internal debate and struggle I weaned myself to the least lures carried since I started musky fishing locally in 1999.  I am rolling really light this year.  I believe I’m only carrying 81 hard-bodied baits.  I’m pretty sure that’s a slow week of deliveries for Jojo’s mailman.  (The poor guy’s back must be killing him after this past off season.)

Each musky season has its lure casualties.  Whether to Davy Jones or breakage, if you are fishing near the bottom you come out in the red after most seasons.  I suffered a catastrophic loss last year when we (team sport after all) dumped my Niagara Walleye Believer, a lure responsible for almost 20 muskies.  I broke a few Perchbaits in the net, including my bad ass Rudd.  I removed several heavy hitting Depth Raiders from the mix since I fish only two of them; my dear old friend Black Perch with orange bill and my chewed up Niagara Walleye.

I rarely buy lures anymore, directly at least.  I rely on Lady Luck to resupply my tackle box by way of our raffles.  The first lure that gets wet this year I won at our banquet; a super groovy Riley Himmrich lure in orange belly firetiger perch.  Another major award making the starting line-up is a Mr. Toothy Twitcher in an ungodly purple spots over silver sparkle.  This poxed flasher will be my first cast in ’16.   Scott Kitchen was generous enough to give me a sexy copper glitter Mr. Toothy that is just begging to be pulled, at our last meeting.  This copper beauty will be the first lure to crush bottom.

Each season I try to psyche myself up to jig more, but each season I seemingly jig less.  I’ve moved several gooey baits – a few ROBs, Bondys and the Lacko Smart Dawg (at least that’s what I call it (it’s a Bull Dawg with the hooks on the top of the bait (Musky Innovations should be embarrassed they don’t offer a version like this ingenious design))) – into my Lakewoods from my goo box which usually winds up buried in a bow locker under PFDs, bumpers and old sandwich wrappers.  If out of sight is out of mind, maybe seeing these soft plastics regularly will make me snap one or two on this year.

So, if you are interested, bored to tears with absolutely nothing better to do, or just nice enough to indulged me in my yearly exercise in narcissism, click on the attached file: >>>>2016 Lure Checklist

[John Miller]

Nutty

[Scott McKee]

John, to say the very least...

[Jay Nannen]

Madness??

Or Genius??

[Frank Stachowiak]

For those who would ask: "ain't you got nothin' better to do?"; the answer is "Hell, no!"

What better way to spend some time than to remember great times past and think about great times to come.

[Stephen Glassic]

I'm surprised you don't have sort options with the muskies addresses and phone numbers, sex, nationality, weather conditions, dates and time of day.

[jojo wilczewski]

Good day Jayman
If he is either I must be both
A INSANE MAD GENIUS...
Shmo's, ROBs, dawgs, Hemmerichs, Lackos,
Toothy's, Candies, Believers, DKs, Mattlocks,Headlocks, Kodiaks, Millers, Johnstons, Joebos, Robinsons, Raiders,
Marlins, Hughes, Cobbs, Bakers, Grandmas, BWBs, Blitzens.....
I NEED A BIGGER BOAT

[jojo wilczewski]

Brett's
, Infamous, Legends,Wiley's...,

[Scott McKee]

You need an intervention!

[carl schenk]

2 perchbaits, 1 hrt, 1 depthraider. 2 tubes in dark and light, 2 swimshads, 1 twin 10. sometimes trim that down.