The Muskie Hunt tourney on normal is rediculous AND unrealistic. You will need to
constantly adjust your drag to land the fish with any control. Activision should
have added a faster reel speed instead.
That said, try moving tention to 4 (and rarely 5) when the fish start swimming
toward the boat inside of 50 feet, where your line usually falls slack. Then move
back to 3 when the line gets tight again. Don’t listen to what the guide says on
how to fight the Muskie. Try to keep the fish on one side of the boat so when it
makes it’s run to the boat you have a much higher chance of landing it when it
gets close. As far as location and lure choice I just pulled up to the 3 post
marker that is close to your start location and throw toward the house to start
with and then left of the house, right of the house and repeat in no certain order.
When a Muskie „looks” at your lure slow down your retrieve. Also, they will bite a
t a higher chance when your lure is 35′ or closer to the boat. They will actually
bite better AFTER they look at it if you just bump the retrieve (one tick of the
reel). After you have 3-4 fish in the boat pull toward the house about 1/3 of the
way and repeat the same casts as before. I used the S Shad Rap (Super Shad Rap)
Redhead the entire time, 20 lb test finesse and medium 9’6″ tournament rod.
The Muskie will only bite from 1: 12 to 0: 50 so if you don’t have 6 by then start over.
When I figured out the system I actually caught 8 in the time limit. Just remember
to land the fish as soon as possible so try to figure out how to keep it on one side
of the boat and be ready for when it runs to the boat. Sometimes when it is very close
(within 10 or less feet) bump the drag back up to 4 and it will give you the added
pull you need to get it in. Hope this helps!
JD
