Great Northern

Congrats Zac! You're building a Musky Dynasty. Good luck!

Great Post Chad! I couldn't agree more with your recommended technique for spring time DEAD Stickin'. They need it real slow in spring where the water temps are lower. I think of the figure-8 as more a summertime technique when the fish are more aggressive and mobile. The figure 8 is a very swift action, which doesn't really pair well with when you are moving the bait slower with little taps and pauses. At the boat, all you need is that one last little quick movement to make instinct kick in, as it thinks the bait is attempting to escape as it's pinned against the boat...IMHO I was in my boat about 100 yds. from you guys last night and can attest to effectiveness of the technique. I was running jerk/glide baits in a very similar fashion. I was using slow taps and pauses and dead stops a few yds from the boat. That last tap is when they would strike. I caught a few beauties utilizing this technique. As a reminder though to all, boat-side strikes should be free spooled immediately following hook set, as the fish is so close to the boat and she has all her energy for the fight. Otherwise the fish will thrash violently and many times get tangled in the leader/line. And many times this can break the line and potentially damages the fish. And lastly and more importantly, we can't have these beautiful fish swimming around with large lures embedded in their jaws for who knows how long. I learned that one the hard way on Conesus last year with a decent sized Tiger lost after a boat-side strike and broken line. Made me sick! Keep up the good work Chad! Season is heating up....see you on the water p.s. Loved the pic of Katie 7 mos. pregnant holding a beauty! I'm hoping that will be hung in baby Lapa's Nursery next to the crib! Cheers, Tim

Hey Dennis, the swivel and snap serve a couple purposes and in my experience should always be used. First, the swivel: the main purpose of the swivel is to allow the leader and lure to rotate freely. This will prevent the main line, leader and lure from twisting up and running foul. I prefer a good heavy duty ball bearing swivel. The snap is really for ease of use when changing out lures. If you tie directly to the lure, you will have to re-tie every time you do a lure switch out. Regarding Titanium, I haven’t really heard good things about using it. I prefer Fluorocarbon, usually 80-100lb when fishing for ESOX species. Fluorocarbon has a neutral buoyancy, light passes through it, and is extremely strong. Regarding fishing knots, I like using the Palomar, Clinch knot, or improved Clinch knot. Both are very strong and reliable if tied correctly. Hope this helps. Good luck! Tim