I’m not sure what happened this fall. I used to be able to catch these things.
My first run-in with one of these fish was 35 years ago when my friend Ron and I went to Lake Harriet on a muskie hunt. Our version of a muskie hunt involved loading whatever gear that we had that could pass for muskie tackle into his dad’s Toyota and heading north from Burnsville after school. I had a baitcasting rod and matching reel, spooled up with 14 lb Trilene. [Yes I do remember what line I had spooled on a reel 35 years ago]. What to use for a lure? We didn’t know much, and I figured that a red and white Dardevle would be as good of a choice as anything. We waded out thigh-deep somewhere along the south shore and started casting towards the downtown skyline. Not sure if it was the first cast, but definitely not more than the second or third cast in, I felt a “tick” and then nothing, as though my lure had picked up a weed. I snapped the rod tip to pop the weed off, this resulted in three feet of olive backed muskie cartwheeling out of the water to the left, and my trusty spoon flying to the right. The muskie didn’t stay hooked. I did.
It would be a couple more years before I actually caught one. In 1986 I worked at Camp Fish near Walker, and like most of the other staff I spent as much time as I could chasing muskies. A lot of casts, a few missed opportunities, but come September I had yet to get muskie smell on my hands. That fall my friend Mike and I got wind of an “undiscovered” muskie lake by Bemidji. Our first trip there resulted in 5 muskies boated, and the seal was broken. It became relatively easy after that. As long as I put in my time, kept my hooks sharp, they would bite.
I ended up working at Thorne Brothers for a bunch of years. Although I was a designated “fly guy”, I still spent a good portion of the summer and fall slinging big baits at muskies. I never fell into the trap of buying hundreds of lures, I instead stuck to trusty favorites. I would sometimes fish with guys who brought 200 lures with for a 3 hour session on a local lake. These guys typically change baits every 5 casts. How else are you going to figure out which one is the hot lure for the day? Every time you change up, I make 3 more casts. More casts=more time with your lure in the water=more strikes=more fish caught.
Suick. Bobbie. Hawg Wobbler. Bagley Crankbait. Eagle Tail. M&G Spinnerbait. The classics. These were my “go-to” baits way back then, and I still use most of these today. Couple of each, not every color and size.
This Hawg Wobbler was retired many years ago. 
Since I had a background in fly tying it was natural that I would make my own muskie bucktails. My early ones worked fine, they were mostly modeled after the Windell’s Harasser, a good bait then and now.
Some of my early bucktails. I caught two on the buzzbait thing one evening on Leech in 1987
Sometime in the early 90’s, someone gave me some pieces of tanned coyote hide. The hair on it was fairly long, up to 4” with great coloration of mottled black, brown, grey, and tan. The first moment I saw these patches of fur I knew I would make a muskie lure out of it. It was a few years before I actually did tie one up. It really got the attention of the other guys at the shop, and ultimately led to me building and selling “Hans-tail” muskie lures. A Hans-Tail is not a “magic lure”, but guess what—they work really well. The natural hair hold water like marabou, has action like marabou, but is more durable than bucktail. The color of the hair is nicely complimented by a gold blade, but I use other blades too. The design allows long casts, and the thick blade I use gives a unique “thump”.
For a few years I was selling all I wanted to make, which turned out to be around 300 per year. I caught a lot of muskies in those years on my baits, and so did a lot of others. I remember one night when Scott Struif and I caught 6 in about 3 hours, all on Hans-tails. Another time I was commissioned by a local photographer to procure a big muskie for a photo shoot. It took me an hour to catch a 45” specimen. Also on a Hans-Tail. A trip to Lake Vermillion produced multiple fish. All on-you guessed it—Hans-Tails.
One of several from Lake Vermilion in 1997, notice the hair. On the lure and the angler.
This was the same time frame I was the winner of the local Muskies Inc. chapter annual contest. That means I caught more muskies than everyone else in the chapter that year. I donated a few baits for the raffle at the awards banquet. The President of the chapter gave my baits a glowing endorsement when he said “I hate to admit it, but your baits are pretty good.” Hate to admit it? Really? Well I don’t hate admitting that I think you’re a douche.
For some reason I lost interest in making them and eventually quit them all together, probably coinciding with when my overall interest in muskie fishing backed off in the early 00’s.
A friend convinced me to revive the Hans-tail brand last summer. I was able to procure a tanned coyote hide from my supplier; I was relieved he was still in business. It was late summer before I got a couple dozen put together, and I was pleasantly surprised by how many people wanted to buy one or two. I was pleased with the way they turned out, and although I hadn’t made one in 15 years it came back pretty quick.
I figured it would be good for business to get some video footage of me catching a muskie or two on them. So most of my angling this fall involved me fishing for muskies on favorite local lakes with camera rolling. I fished hard. I made a lot of casts, and for the most part I had good fishing weather. These are lakes I am familiar with and have caught plenty of muskies on before. Over the past decade I haven’t caught a lot of muskies, mostly because rather than long weekends of frothing the water as was typical back in the day, I mostly limit my efforts to windows of an hour or two, still managing to capture one of the elusive beasts often enough to keep me thinking that I know what I’m doing. This will be a cinch, I thought.
Here is a breakdown of eight sessions I put in this fall
Independence: 0 follows, 1 pike- 6 hours
Forest 1st Lake: 3 follows, many pike-4 hours
Forest 3rd Lake: 0 follows, many pike-6 hours
Forest 1st Lake: 0 follows, many pike-4 hours
Bald Eagle: 2 follows, 0 pike-3 hours
Rush: 0 follows, 0 pike – 6 hours
Forest 3: 0 follows, 0 pike -6 hours
Independence: 0 follows, 0 pike-6 hours
How’s that for a glowing endorsement for my fish catching ability, as well as for Hans-Tail Lures? I would have bet a thousand dollars that I could catch a muskie in 30+ hours on favorite lakes. Not one muskie caught, didn’t even get one to hit.
I used the same lure for most of the attempts; on last the Lake Independence trip water temps were low-mid 40s so I only threw muskie jigs, and had similar results, a big fat zero. On this day, even the guys on the suck-bob train weren’t catching either. [The suck-bob train is what I call the big time muskie guys that once October rolls around forget how to cast and drag live suckers under bobbers around behind their $60,000 boats. Around the lake they go, one right behind the other.] Maybe these lakes have gone to shit, and I’m just fishing for memories. Maybe it’s just me, although I never saw another angler catch a muskie while I was out.
I looked through some old photos for inspiration, one thing I noticed is that I sure seemed to catch more fish when my hair was long. Maybe like a version of Samson, my muskie catching ability diminished when my long hair went away.
Based on what I see on Facebook, etc. somebody is catching them. Seems like after each unsuccessful trip I am greeted on every form of social media with photos of happy anglers with dinosaur sized muskies.
Lakes are freezing over, time to tuck the boat in for the winter.
Hans-Tails really do work. Really. Wait until next year. I’m going to spend some time of different water next year. Leech? Cass? I’m open to suggestions.
Oh, I almost forgot…since I had camera rolling much of the time I was fishing I ended up with a bunch of video of me catching pike. Click on it…it’s only a minute long
Click here——PIKE MONTAGE