Muskie Fishing | Carolina Rig Crank Baits

If you aren't using Carolina rigs when muskie fishing, you should. Big muskie are inclined to stay deeper, even on the bottom, far more than smaller muskie. Plumbing the bottom for giants may be the least explored part of muskie fishing, the last frontier, so to speak. With bigger muskie, speed control plays are rather significant roll. Burning lures or zipping presentations thru the water may not entice a giant. That requires a fish to expend far too much energy. The ability to work slowly, making it easy for that slob musky to grab a nice meal is so important.

So, the million dollar question is, if the big fish position themselves down deep, how do you get lures down where they are and keep them there? To establish bottom contact with your presentation and maintain it for extended periods of time can prove valuable.

Trolling may seem like a logical answer. Bottom bounce trolling will work, you say. Well, not really. With trolling, the lure is always in motion. You give up a lot of speed control, which with big fish is far more critical.

I'm also not talking about weighted craws or something else that sinks and stays on the bottom, as you drag it along. These have their time and place. Being able to get a lure down that will rise and fall with darting action can be desirable.

You could use large billed crank baits that run deep. The problem here is that you can only cast so far and are relegated to dealing with the dive plane of the lure. What the heck does that even mean? Let's think about this. You cast your lure, it hits the water and you start cranking. The lure begins to work its way down to a given depth. Most lures dive to very specific depths. Once you reach that predetermined depth, you only have so long before the lure starts its upward path back to the boat or your wherever you happen to be casting from. Huh. How do you get a lure to stay on the bottom, even suspend just off the bottom?

If you wanted to suspend a lure just off the bottom and keep it there for a given length of time, how would you execute on that? What if you then want that suspended lure to bump along the bottom, all the way back to the boat? A Carolina rig is the most obvious choice.

Cory Allen is a fisherman that is well outside the box in his thinking. His muskie fishing mind has been honed from years of catching big fish, really observing their behavior and constantly calibrating and recalibrating his approach. He is a musky fisherman that is never satisfied with what he knows. His thirst for understanding is rarely quenched.

What Cory does in this video is articulate his thoughts on using common musky crank baits near the bottom. He explains the Carolina rig and why using it in tandem with buoyant crank baits opens up a whole near area of muskie fishing. He will share several of his favorite lures for use with the Carolina rig.

Listen to Cory Allen's thinking. Open yourself up to the possibilities. Learn something new. Having the willingness to try new tactics can put you on some really large fish. Get down to where the big fish are lurking and stay there. Fish smarter.

Watch other Muskie Fishing Videos featuring Cory Allen and other accomplished fishermen.

Total time: 28:12
Views: 212
Favorites: 0