After stumbling upon this website and seeing the photo's of some big tiger muskies, I have been biteing at the bit to hit the water. I hit the water this morning at 5:00 AM in a little 9' Pontoon "float tube type" boat. I have a customer building a home on Bankers Island, so got his permission to park my vehicle and get in the water there. After reading many posts from this forum regarding tips for finding tiger muskies, I started looking for cover near deep water. I could not find any areas with weeds / lilly pads so the only cover was boat docks, many of which are still mostly out of the water. Came up goose eggs after several hours, but finaly found a small inlet that went in about 1/4 of a mile . Here the water looked deeper and there were many large docks built out over the water, and several boats and large inflateables sitting in the water. This brought me my first experience with a tiger muskie. Was only 26 to 27 inches but it seemed like 1/3 of the fish was all mouth. Make that mouth filled with teeth. That is when I realized had forgotten to bring some kind of pliers or hook remover. Luckily I was using one of those "Storm" soft fish baits with a built in single hook. I can't imagine removeing the hook from a fish twice that size with my bare fingers.

Water was very calm with only one other boat "fishing" sighted before noon. Around noon some personal watercraft started coming out, so I went in.

I will now be looking to find what part of the lake has typical weeds / cover and where I can toss in the pontoon boat without having to kick around flippers forever to get there. I am also looking forward to learning the right techniques for bass out of Lake Tapps

TSULLY31

6/21/2007 10:12:00 PM

Try the drop shot rig for bass, I've been doing real well for smallies at tapps with it. Stay with small plactics designed for drop shoting and fish it with a slow retrieve right on the bottom. good luck

Kenster

6/21/2007 11:41:00 PM

Craig saw your forum post. Congrats on the Musky! (start taking your camera, there nothing better 2 years later) Are you only able to fish in the mornings on the weekdays or can you hit it after 4pm? If you'd like to fish from the boat I'd meet you for a day on the lake. Thought I read your from Sumner. We're practically neighbors. IF YOUR GAME I ALSO BRAVE THE WEEKENDS WITH THE SKIERS.

CraigVM62

6/22/2007 1:25:00 PM

Ken,
With a few days notice, I can fish anytime. Fishing from anything motorized would be great. Using oars or leggs "flippers" gets very old fast .
I did take a couple of pictures before releasing. Left the digital camera at home and only had my old 35mm point and shoot with me. Would love to catch him again after he has put on 20 pounds. Let me know anytime you have room for another. I would insist on bringing food and drink and paying for fuel / launching fees.

TSULLY31,
You know now I am going to have to go online and look up what a "drop shot rig" is haha .... Though I am an avid fisherman, it has all been for salt water species or salmon / sturgeon in the rivers. Last time I fished for bass was from a small pond as a 10 year old with a worm, hook and bobber. I just did learn how to tie up a "Texas Rig" plastic worm thanks to Google. Now I am trying to catch as many Bass Fishing shows as I can on TV for pointers. So far I have only come to the conclusion that you need a $40K+ fishing boat, wear shirts & hats with tons of fishing company logo patches and talk with a southern accent. :)

Thanks for the replies
Craig
CraigVanMeter@juno.com

TSULLY31

6/22/2007 10:01:00 PM

Craig
Here's a link to a video that will get you started with the drop shot. Also the guys at Auburn Sports And Marine can be real helpfull wit ideas.
<a href="http://hobbies.expertvillage.com/videos/advanced-fishing-drop-shot-rigging.htm">Drop Shot Rigging in Fishing: Advanced Angling Techniques</a>
Tim
PS Nice job hooking a TM the first time out. I'm just learning the ins and outs of tiger muskie fishing, and like you have gotten inspired to tap this fishery after seeing the pics on the website. Hope everyone practices catch and release on this species so they will continue to get bigger and flourish. Salmon fishin just ain't what it used to be and I really like to hook big fish that can test the nerves.

Kenster

6/27/2007 12:28:00 AM

Craig sent you a PM not sure if those work but was wondering if your ready for Saturday Morning at 6AM Lake Tapps? I know you'll get this!

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