It’s no big secret that I like to cast. Whatever I’m fishing I prefer to be in contact with the species I chase. There is nothing wrong with trolling. It’s a great way to cover a bunch of ground and go after aggressive fish, but for me casting is the most exciting.

There is nothing like have a 50-inch musky blow up on a top-water bait. I would challenge anybody to not find that over-the-top exciting.

There are as many ways to cast for musky. Years of experience have shown me that 5-foot, 10-inch to 6-6 medium heavy to heavy rod works best. With large stick baits, the heavy action rod works best. The medium-heavy action rod is great for top water and bucktails.

Over the years there has been one bait that has made a huge splash in the musky world — the bucktail. It’s easily the best musky lure ever invented and accounts for a large majority of the muskies in my boat each year. I’ll just go ahead and jump to the obvious bucktail of choice, a cowgirl. Since its creation this lure has boated more monster muskies than probably any lure on the market. It simply catches fish, and big ones at that.

There are several versions of blades and they need to be with you at all times, because they each have their place. They are the cowgirl, cowgirl junior, super model and silly girl. How, where and when to use these lures will determine your luck with them. When choosing a bucktail, it’s all about the blades, size, design and color.

The cowgirl is my go-to bait and can be fished slow, fast and anywhere in between. When I’m is shallow water I will burn it. Running it this way will burn the forearms, but it will cover water and triggers a strike. If I’m fishing an outside weed edge or deep water, I’ll consider the super-fast retrieve or the super slow retrieve. If you watch almost any angler on the water, they are likely reeling the same middle ground speed at all times. During the heat of the summer I slow the bait down depending on water temperature. The cooler the temp the slower I run them. The higher the temp the faster.

The showgirl — a smaller version but don’t let the size fool you — will boat some nice musky. This little fella has boated some monster fish for me in the past. I choose to use this lure when I want to work my upper arm muscles before a hot date. Just kidding on the date part, but serious about the upper-body strength. If you can’t burn it, you might as well leave it at home. The best reaction strikes you will ever witness can come from this lure. There is no such thing as too fast. Depending on the lake, I’ll burn it over shallow sand, rock or weeds. There is something about the speed this lure kicks out that make the fish eat. I’ll be honest here; the Showgirl is just one of a few bucktails that I use this technique on.

The original Mepps musky killer is another great choice, or something similar. Despite popular belief, I’ve caught muskies all year long on this technique. The speed triggers the reaction strike and it’s not always about their attitude. With that said, the warmer water does tend to trigger more fish and I’ll catch more in August than June. If you can withstand the pain of screaming the lure in, odds are that you will get bit.

Muskies will follow baits more times than not and oftentimes all the way to the boat. What we do at the boat will increase your success. When running the bait slower, history has proven that over half our strikes come at the boat. This is when your figure eight technique comes into play. There is various technique to the figure eight. Tone that I usually teach is when you do your figure eight place your rod tip in the water. From looking in the water up to the surface, the musky is seeing your bait and just above it a bunch of action. Hence your rod tip is making water bubbles, which looks like bait fish.

Muskie fishing is a lot of fun and very addicting. Over the years I watched die-hard bass or walleye anglers selling all their tackle and switch over to musky tackle/fishing.

Muskie are a very viable resource and should be taken care of. The majority of all musky caught today are safely released back into the lake. There are several different ways of doing this, but the best way to do it correctly is practice and watching somebody who knows what they are doing. YouTube has some great videos to get you started in the right direction.

This past week, sportsmen in New York State lost a good friend, true conservationist, sportsman and outdoor writer Will Elliott. Will was the outdoor columnist for The Buffalo News. Next week I will be sharing some stories of my time with Will. Our prayers go out to Will’s bride, Jean, and the rest of his family.