September 26th report

[Ty Sennett]

We had a fun morning yesterday. Joe and Lane were out with me and at the second spot we had a big fish come up and chase our sucker around by the boat. I thought it was about a 48 incher. After a minute or so the fish shot out from under the boat and nailed the sucker just under the surface. Joe set hard and the front of the rig broke free but one of the trebles stuck in the sucker and we lost the fish. After rigging a new sucker on one of the new clip-n-go rigs(which by the way is the coolest rig I've ever seen) we dropped the sucker back down and kept casting. A couple minutes later right behind the sucker there were a bunch of big bunches of air coming up so we knew the fish was back. We sat there for about en minutes and watched the fish chase the sucker around until it finally grabbed it again. This time Joe put the boots to it on the hookset several times and we got the fish. It was a big fat 49 3/4 inch fish. It had a 23 inch girth. I'll make sure to get some pictures up quickly. At the next spot I had about a four foot fish follow in a Suick slowly. That one was definitely not aggressive. A little further down we had a fifty inch or bigger fish going nuts on our sucker. The muskie was rubbing on the sucker and pushing it around. The best was when the sucker took off and was swimming on the surface away from the boat and the muskie had it's tail out of the water going after it. That would have been cool to get on film. It lasted about ten minutes before we got a little too close to weeds and I started the trolling motor and scared the fish off. Then a few minutes later an old beat up 45 incher grabbed the sucker and Lane about ripped himself into the lake on the hookset. Not too shabby to get two nice fish in an hour and see two other really nice ones. We went in for lunch right after that and never saw another fish all afternoon. We had some good visuals to carry us through the afternoon though. There's just something about watching fifty inch fish chase suckers around for what seems like forever that gets your heart pounding.

As aside note, the new sucker rigs we are using are so smart and effective that I cannot believe I have been wasting my time with rubberband rigs for so long. It's called the "Clip and Go" rig. Fuzzy Shumway makes them and without going into great detail they are so simple to rig that I actually don't dred the cold weather coming in October and freezing my hands off rigging the stupid suckers. All the stores in Hayward have them so far but I'm sure they will be in more stores soon. Not sure if there is a website or picture anywhere. Maybe I can get some pictures today.

Good luck,

[fuzzy]

Tye, nice fish! Glad to hear those Clip N Go rigs are working for you. Everyone should know that a good customer of ours Pat O'Brian of St Paul MN. designed these clips and gave some to us to use 5 years ago, and we've using & testing them ever since. Thanks to Pat this rig takes a lot of hasssle out of live bait fishing. You can see them at our new products pagewww.shumwaysmusky.com/pages/new-products.php
Hope you get old 57 soon! Good luck! Fuzzy

[Lund4Fishing]

Ty, You can take this for what its worth, but I've heard from of couple reliable sources, one was a bait shop owner, that he has heard of suckers coming off those rigs from several different people. Obviously the only trouble you've had is them coming off in big fishes mouths. Keep us informed if you run into any trouble with them. I was going to pick up a few.

[noURsnagged]

prolly not rigging it right. I will buy any rig that doesn't force me to put a sucker between my legs, one step away from beastyality .

[Dave Hardy]

I took a look at the Fuzzy Rig and cannot figure out how it connects to the suckers nose. I see what appears to be a mini-jaw spreader that comes close to the nostrils, but don't see how it holds the suckers nose. Any help?

[Ty Sennett]

Lund4fishing, you have to baby the sucker a little but the hookups are so much better that it's worth it. I hate to think how many absolutely huge fish I could have had using these rigs years ago. Whoever is having trouble with the rig might be using the rig over and over again. At some point when you keep stretching the rig out it will get soft. I figure with as much as we spend on lures and don't catch any fish on them, if I catch a fish or two on one of these new "Clip and Go rigs" I'll throw out the old one and buy another to make sure I catch the next fish. A little preventative maintenance if you will.

noURsnagged, that is one of the funniest posts I've heard in a while.

Dave, the rigging is really easy. All you do is poke the tag ends of the rig into the sucker's nose and you are good to go. It is incredibly easy and incredibly successful.

[Brad L.]

Sounds like a great trip. Can't wait to see the pictures. The new sucker rigs sounds pretty interesting. I will have to pick one up in October.

[Lund4Fishing]

Thanks for the rig report. Sounds good enough for me. Will definatley try them.

[mullet4sennett]

Ty, you're awesome!

[Ty Sennett]

No you're awesome!

[Esox Chaser]

Hats off to Pat aka Smoothie for designing these rigs and sharing them with the rest of us poor us "Sucker Draggers" and to Fuzzy for being willing to market them. Another excellent product from Fuzzy/Shumway Baits. This will take a lot of the frustration out of sucker rigging!

[Ty Sennett]

I heard Pat designed those rigs. As much sucker fishing as he does that doesn't surprise me. Tell him I said thanks a ton for making my life easier.

[Frazier]

Hi Ty --

Pat O'Brien (a.k.a. Smoothy) is fishing the flowage this weekend, and you might be able to catch him and say "thanks" in person. Those of us that have fished with him for years, (you know, the guys in the old Lund guide boats), think the whole "clip-n-go" thing is ironic, since we've been using these rigs for years! It was awefully nice of Smoothy to share his design with Fuzzy, and we can only hope Smoothy gets the credit he deserves.

--Frazier

p.s. Hope to see you October 28-31 when I'm up there.

[Ty Sennett]

Hey Frazier, I heard all about Pat making those rigs but never got a look at them until this year. If I see him I'll say hi. See you guys in a couple weeks.