Musky America Magazine September 2024 Edition

surface. But you also have to consider things like lure balance and castability. A buck-tail that is weighted too "nose heavy" tends to flip over and foul its rear hook on the leader during the cast. At the same time, excess weight in the tail end often makes for a bucktail in which the blade doesn't "start" easily. A very light bucktail may be very easy to bulge over shallow weeds, but the lack of weight can make it almost impossible to cast on a windy day. Quick changes in bucktail weighting can be accomplished in several ways. If you are going to disassemble the lure and reassemble it on a new wire shaft you can use different size egg sinkers, beads, and lure bodies to make weight changes. However, quick and easy changes can be made by attaching clip-on style bell sinkers to the rear wire loop or by simply wrapping on an appropriate amount of solid core lead solder. COLOR AND VISIBILITY There are still a few Musky fishermen who believe that any color bucktail is fine just as long as it is black. The fact is, that if you are not occasionally trying several colors, you are probably missing out on some Musky action at certain times. Over the last few years many Musky anglers have had tremendous success with really bright flashy colors, especially in stained water and under low light conditions. I think there are two main reasons why brighter colors are effective at times. First and most obvious is lure visibility. A Musky cannot strike what it cannot see, and these brighter colors are often more visible to them. The second

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