Suick Figure 8's

[mofferman]

I Was fishing in Ontario for the opener and had more follows than I have ever had in a single week of musky fishing in my life. Majority of my follows came on either a suick or a jackpot, which both are difficult and have minimal action when doing a figure eight the same way one would do with a bucktail or shallow raider. Some days I had a follow on every single spot I stopped. In a weeks time I would guess I had between 80-100 follows. Some real fast, some real slow. I have never successfully hooked a musky on a figure 8 with a suick or jackpot and was wondering what kind of boatside manuevers have worked for some of you. Do you try to mimick the same type of motion as when you retrieve the bait, or do you do just a straight figure 8? I turned some of them quite a few times at the boat but could never induce a strike. Some of them I should have easily hooked as they were charging extremely hard but have no confidence in the correct manuever boatside with those baits. I ended up doing a straight figure eight by the end of the week with some interest as they would turn a couple times, then bail. We boated some nice muskys but I feel I should have boated quite a few more. I am heading back in 2 weeks and would like to be better prepared as the old timer that frequents the lake swares by a blonde suick and blonde suick only. I started using the blonde suick and he was right, but i never had a chance to ask him about figure 8's. Any info would be appreciated.

[wallygator]

When I do figure 8 with a suick I do a jerking kind of motion and leave a little longer line out so you can jerk it and keep moving..
Some days you get the fish...other days they just pi$$ you offf.
Good Luck
Wally

[HoosierDaddy]

When I do figure 8 with a suick I do a jerking kind of motion and leave a little longer line out so you can jerk it and keep moving..
Wally

Would agree with what Wally shared. I have a couple of hook-ups on the '8' with both weighted and non-weighted Suicks. Short pops or jerks started as you come out of the 'L' a little out from the boat prior to making a wide '8' or oval. I prefer the wieghted and put a little umph into the pops... put a little bit of a wiggle while you 'pop' the turns. With some practice you can make an acceptable target boatside and stick a few of those followers. Good luck and a great season!

[Steve Heiting]

I would rather catch these fish away from the boat rather than at the boat, because they're looking up and at you. The closer they get the less chance you have of catching them. A prolonged rise 20 feet from the boat may work with a Suick, and the deadstick technique will also catch some of these fish.

With Jackpots, the "hover" move will work sometimes, in which you make wide swings with your rod tip with lots of slack line so the bait pops but simply flops back and forth and mostly stays in place.

Going into an 8 with a Suick, I've had my best success with a simple, straight, no-twitch-or-jerk figure-8. Last year I caught a musky on a minnowbait by switching from a figure-8 to a deadstick as I was pulling the bait AWAY from the boat (so the fish was looking away). The fish didn't eat after a couple turns, so before I hit the far turn I simply stopped and let the bait float to the surface, where the fish grabbed it. I mention this because I think it would work with a Suick, too.

There is no good way that I know of to catch a Jackpot fish when you run out of room at the boat. A couple times I've tried using the trolling motor to move the boat and lure without retrieving line (where it was legal to troll), and all the fish did was continue to follow.

[williamdugan]

I had a similar instance to Steve happen to me fishing the Three Lakes chain in Northern Wisconsin, except mine wasn't on purpose. I was working a suick about 30 yards from the boat when my partner tripped. I reached out a hand to help him up and as I was doing so, I stopped working my lure. I was just turning back to start again when I heard a big splash and could not see my lure. I promptly set the hook and ended up boating a 36 inch musky. It was very similar to the deadstick technique and I now use it to try and catch following fish on a suick.

[0723]

Try i call it a figure "I" with the jackpot,just reverse direction and get the walk the dog motion going.Suick bert dead stick twenty feet is best advice i have caught some with a quick pitch instead of a figure eight but not much luck on an eight with a bert or suick.0723

[mofferman]

Thanks for the replys fellas. Somethings i will definentaly try next week, will let you kno if any of these tacticts workd for me

[mofferman]

Did well last week up on LOTW. had 3 boats totaled 32 muskys. Our boat got 23(We fished a little harder than the others). Start of the week Double tens dominated. Had little to no action on suicks or Jackpots from musky, many pike tho. End of the week double 8's and double maribous's or even Mepps musky killers were the hotter ticket. If you weren't throwing the right color there was minimal action. 12 of the 23 we boated were on figure 8's. largest fish were 47.5,47,46.5, 2x 45's, and 10 between 40-44. Also caught a bonus 43 inch northern and about 30 from 35-40 inches. Another Great trip up in the northwoods.

[lelekb]

Did well last week up on LOTW. had 3 boats totaled 32 muskys. Our boat got 23(We fished a little harder than the others). Start of the week Double tens dominated. Had little to no action on suicks or Jackpots from musky, many pike tho. End of the week double 8's and double maribous's or even Mepps musky killers were the hotter ticket. If you weren't throwing the right color there was minimal action. 12 of the 23 we boated were on figure 8's. largest fish were 47.5,47,46.5, 2x 45's, and 10 between 40-44. Also caught a bonus 43 inch northern and about 30 from 35-40 inches. Another Great trip up in the northwoods.

Just curious, what was the right color?

Brian

[mofferman]

Chartruese, white and chrome and also fire tiger. All 23 were caught with some form of those colors.