Figure 8 Muskies!

The vast majority of seasoned musky anglers believe in finishing each cast with some sort of boat side maneuver.  The most common technique is known among musky anglers as the "figure 8".  Basically, at the end of each cast, as your lure approaches the boat, you lower your rod tip into the water and keep the lure moving in the pattern of an 8, making each turn and pass as wide as possible.

If I can put one fish in the boat like this one each year because of my efforts performing figure 8's, then it's worth it.

Muskies tend to follow lures for long distances, often just curious, but a quick change in direction or speed on the retrieve could tempt a curious fish and make them bite.  When you reach the end of your cast, your technique at boat side could put a fish of 10,000 casts into the boat.

Muskies are supreme predators in most of their range.  They don't have a whole lot to be afraid of like other fish.  And they don't seem to fear boats all that much either.  In fact, they often use the boat as cover on a follow and drift with the boat, making the figure 8 even more important.

Does it have to be a complete 8?  No, but that's up to you.  Everyone that musky fishes on a regular basis will do some sort of movement at the end to provoke a strike from a follower, either seen or unseen.  In gin clear water, maybe an L pattern would suffice.  If you have a hot fish following, you would be served to keep trying the eight or something to keep the lure moving to get the musky to bite.  Sometimes, muskies will chase though many turns.

Ed Lewandoski performing a nice figure 8 in anticipation of that ferocious boat side strikes that muskies are known for.  Notice how deep he's plunging the lure into the maneuver.  That's about a nine foot fishing rod.

In my case, I've been targeting muskies for two years now, so I'm far from a veteran.  But, I fish with some really good, experienced musky anglers and am a quick study.  I've been doing figure 8's or other boat side lure maneuvers religiously for my entire musky fishing experience.

For the past two years, however, the muskies didn't reward me with a single fish on a figure 8.  Yet, I still do figure 8's regardless of how tired I am and on every single cast.  I've been in the habit of not stopping at one either, often doing two or three if I know that the spot that we're fishing is a good spot.

Although this male musky didn't strike during a figure 8, he did strike right at the boat.  I never saw this fish either, so if it didn't hit when it did, a figure 8 would have been a good possibility to get him.

On many occasions, I've had hot muskies follow through several figure eights, gills flared, nosing the lure, swiping at it and even launching over the lures while missing completely.

Two weeks ago, I was fishing with my friend Ed, an avid and especially skillful musky angler, and we were having a relatively uneventful day.  We had fished all morning through very productive holes without even a sniff.  We hadn't seen a fish.

We were working some deeper water on a pretty good fishing hole while Ed and I had a discussion about figure eights.  Such discussions are common when the action isn't.  And at the end of that bit of talk, I said something to the effect of, "I've had plenty of follows from hot fish through multiple figure eights, but never even a strike, much less a fish."

At that time, I was tossing a walleye color Jake crankbait.  I'd crank it down, jerk it a few times back to the boat, and when the lure was close enough, I'd reach down and poke my rod tip deep into the water and perform a figure eight.  Several casts later, after one cast while still chatting, I was performing a figure 8, and was actually through my second one on that cast, and I felt a jolt on the end of my rod.

The chatter stopped and I set the hook and yelled, "Fish!"  All hell broke loose as the fish went ballistic and launched out of the water.  I saw that the fish wasn't all that big, so I kept full pressure on the fish.  I knew that if it was a big fish, that I'd have to hit the thumb bar and be ready to feed her line.  After a short fight, my friend Ed sealed the deal by putting the fish in the net.  The fish wasn't big, but fat for it's size.  But that's not what made it sweet for me.  For me, it was my first fish on a figure 8!  This was a momentous occasion that I'll never forget!

This was my first ever fish on a figure 8, a fat male 34 inch muskellunge.  What a thrill!

Now, here's the interesting part about that fish on the eight...I never saw it.  It came from the depths.  Whether it followed or drifting over a fish while doing the figure 8 occurred or not, I'll never know.

Some guys hit the thumb bar during the eight, but I'm a bit nervous about doing that.  My fear is that a resulting backlash could occur and really put me in trouble.  Perhaps over time, I may change my approach.  But, because of my musky fishing friends, they have me in the good habit of doing a figure 8 every time.  And it finally paid off.

How productive could it be?  Some guys claim that they get a fairly large percentage of their fish on figure 8's, and I certainly believe them!  And think of it this way, if you pull that lure out of the water, you can't catch that fish that might have been there.  If it could put one more fish in the boat for me, it's worth it.

Here's Ed with a really nice musky.  Ed has a knack for catching these toothy critters at boatside and has caught several fish on the 8.

Here are a couple more tips that I've learned from my musky fanatic friends.  You really can't do them too deep, unless of course you're in shallow water.  Make sure that you keep the loops of the eight as wide as possible and cover as much water as your arms and boat allow.  If you have a hot fish near the boat, don't give up.

On a recent trip, one of my friends had a hot fish and did about six full figure eights, and as he pulled his lure out of the water the fish launched out and tried to munch on it.  After that many figure eights, you'd think that the fish had given up, but maybe not always.  Consider doing one or two more as you think about stopping.

When I'm on my boat, I sometimes follow the eight around the front of the boat to the other side and back.  You can do this at the back of the boat too, like a giant U. Why?  I don't know, but why not?  I don't think the fish know what an 8 is, but they do think that our lures are prey.  And you can't catch them if your lure isn't in front of them.  Keep the lure moving, keep it deep, and eventually work it back to the surface.

On that same trip, as it turned out, I was lucky enough to land a 39 1/2" musky later on a glider.  So, the figure 8 not only gave me a fish, but also a multiple musky day.  During our earlier conversation that day, Ed told me about a musky fishing celebrity that once claimed that he'd make a machine to constantly do a figure 8 at boat side if it was legal!

So in summary, if you fish for musky and aren't trying to tempt them with some sort of boat side maneuver, please consider doing figure 8's.  They might just put the fish of a lifetime in your boat.