The “bucktail”, nicknamed for its use of a whitetailed deer’s natural tail hairs as a skirt or tail dressing, commonly adorns most big spinner style lures sold today. Historically, it has been one of the all time great musky producers – perhaps the greatest of them all. Yet, the term “bucktail” is really a misnomer in my view, since it applies generically to all large musky spinners many of which do not contain any deer hair dressing at all. In fact, many of today’s as well as yesterday’s most popular bucktails donned everything from chicken feathers to tinsel, with only a few adorning true natural bucktail hair. Yet, we still call all of them a “bucktail” and probably always will.
A much more appropriate title or classification of this lure would simply be a “spinner” since the blade is the real attractor and producer. In fact, this is what it is correctly called in smaller versions. To prove this point, how successful do you think any one of these lures would be without the spinner blade? Take the spinner blade off any one of these lures and it is rendered nearly useless. Most anglers even discard such a lure if the blade breaks off during a trip. Yet, the same lure is still very effective without any tail dressing at all! In-line spinners containing absolutely no tail dressings, once so ever, can actually be even more effective in some instances. At the very least, a “hairless spinner”, as they are often called by the pros is a far more productive lure than a bladeless one. However, the industry will never change this name of this category to “blades” or even my term “in-line spinner”, so we’re stuck with the old traditional term bucktail.
My attempt at describing the lure called the “bucktail” was important since it is important for all Musky Hunter readers, especially newcomers to the sport, to understand what this lure really is all about. It’s the spinner blade that really makes a bucktail, not the tail dressing. Of course, the tail dressing as well as the other components of any typical bucktail lure all do have a limited function and bearing on the productivity of the product, but none are equal to the importance of the blade. This includes the importance of color, hook style and size, and overall weight of the lure.
Anglers from all over the world have had a fancy for spinners of all sizes, and they’ve fished these lures for all kinds of species dating back over a century. Spinners not only catch muskies, they are equally deadly on bass, trout and pike. But, if you really take a close look at the many spinners that have produced over time, no matter what the size or shape, the lure’s blade is usually their distinguishing feature.
As a boy, I remember my grandpa’s tackle box being full of such names as Mepps, Shyster, Roostertail, and Panther Martin. These were all spinners. They all caught fish including muskies. Any of you reading this that are older than 45 (years), are sure to recognize and remember all of these gems. What was they’re most distinguishing characteristic? Their unique blade shape and style. In fact, most experienced anglers can look at these lures from distance and immediately identify them. The oval shaped double stamped blade is a “french blade” popularized by Mepps. The long thin blade with deeply stamped horizontal ripples in it is surely the Shyster. The minnow scaled stamping on an elongated blade is easily identifiable as the Roostertail. Anytime a spinner lure has the wire shaft running through the actual blade, it is automatically associated with the Panther Martin design. Even the large oval shaped fluted blade, so popular today on the majority of musky bucktails sold, is actually a take off of the original Skinner Spoon. My own lure, The Buchertail, is a hybrid of this earlier musky catcher.
The point is, the blade has made these lures what they are, and it is their most distinguishing characteristic. These legendary blades have been mounted on a wide variety of lure bodies that include various lengths, colors and configurations. All of which, have surely caught many fish. In my opinion, it is their unique configuration and character that has made them such great fish attractors.
It is arguable that on any given day, muskies might prefer one blade style over another. But the real key is to recognize that one blade style is likely to do the job better in certain situations. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the blade.
The raw shape and physics of a blade have everything to do with its performance. This is
the key thing to learn and recognize about spinners in general. Here’s a few general guidelines to follow when looking at various spinner blades. This, in itself, will help you determine which spinner lure to chose for a specific task. The more you know about blade dynamics and spinner function, the better it will all serve you on the water. Once you know the true physical function of these various blades, it will make all these choices much easier.
Essentially, large rounded blades produce a lot of “lift” resulting in a lure that quickly rises up towards the surface as retrieve speed is increased. The faster you retrieve a big bladed bucktail, the shallower it will run. Consequently, if you’re fishing high weeds, typical by late summer (August & September), you can’t go wrong with the ever popular large fluted blade musky bucktail like the original Buchertail. The large fluted blade is very unique in that is also creates the most current around the blade and lure itself. This is a very important asset to consider anytime you are fishing thick weed growth. The large fluted blade mounted in front of a single treble hook bucktail lure frame will be surprisingly weedless in this instance. No other blade mounted on an in-line fashion can physically provide this asset. The large fluted blade actually wards off the weeds around them as it revolves creating a sort of force field. If the treble is mounted close to the blade itself, it will go through high weed cover amazingly well. This is one of the key reasons behind why I designed the original Buchertail the way I did. It was totally related to developing a bucktail for this function – fishing overtop and through high weeds.
The key thing to remember about large round shaped blades is lift. Lures sporting big Colorado blades offer a similar function, and they provide the additional option of what I call “high bulging”. This is a tactic that can be very productive on late summer muskies overtop high milfoil. It is also a super deadly tactic right after the wind dies on any hot summer evening.
High bulging is the art of retrieving a bucktail spinner at a level that actually creates a noticeable visual bulge above the lake’s surface, yet the lure never actually breaks the surface. Large Colorado bladed baits are the only version that can really make this work effectively. This is retrieve trick is best accomplished by using a thick diameter line for added buoyancy and a long rod for additional lift and angle, and a high speed reel. Make certain you engage the reel a split second before the bucktail actually hits the water, and then “gun” the reel hard while lifting the rod simultaneously until you see the bait pushing the bulge. Then, gradually level off your rod angle while matching your retrieve speed to maintain the bulge throughout the entire retrieval. When the water is clear and the weeds are real high, you can’t beat this tactic. It’s particularly productive the last hour or so of daylight.
On the other side of the blade spectrum are long thin configurations commonly called willow leafs . Basically, the thinner the overall surface area common to this blade, the less drag and lift it has. That is why such lures run so much deeper by comparison (to large round bladed models). That is why this style of spinner is so effective over deeper structure such as rock humps and low growing grass beds. Mepps Giant Killers and Windell’s Harrasser are two of the most recognizable bucktails in this category. I designed a lure a few years back called the WillowBuck that also fits into this category. They are all superb choices for any deeper situation, and I particularly like them over top rocks.
Willow blades can also be superior “speed bucktails” for hot weather since the angler can generate excessive retrieves often necessary to trigger hot weather muskies with less fatigue. Less drag surface enables the angler to “burn” the bait, and still maintain depth. This style of bucktail is also a superb choice for hunting deep open water suspended fish in the mid summer. The deeper running nature of this bait makes it a better choice for this situation since suspended summer muskies are likely to be at a depth greater than eight feet – a depth range that is perfect for a weighted willow bucktail.
Perhaps the most under used tactic with this bucktail lure style is something I wrote about in my original book “Bucktail Fishing For Muskies” back in the late 1970's that I called “crawling”. Simply stated, the angler casts the lure out over a deep hump, let’s it sink all the way to the bottom, and then slowly crawls it back to the boat. Obviously, a heavily tail-weighted willow blade bucktail is the best choice here. It will sink fast and maintain depth on the retrieve. Most bucktail fisherman simply don’t have the patience for this tactic, but the few who do have scored big consistently. I know of two guys in northern Wisconsin who regularly “tear ‘em up” on North Twin doing exactly this. In fact, they use two rods each! They cast one lure out, put the rod down and let it sink, while picking up a second rod to the same thing. While one lure is sinking, they pick up the other rod and begin crawling the bait back. Their bait of choice is a big #8 Shyster (ripple) blade mounted on a Buchertail style frame with very heavy tail weight. It’s simply deadly on big muskies in clear lakes. These guys have gone virtually unchallenged for years with this trick. Frankly, I don’t think anyone else has the patience.
In between these two extremes (in blade shape and style) are the many other models. Does this make them any less attractive or applicable to fishing situations? Certainly not. In fact, quite the opposite is most likely the case. Medium sized blades, and the frames they are often attached to, probably are easier for anglers to use than the extremes on either side. The classic Mepps #5, for example, is a deadly bucktail spinner on any given day and is likely to catch big muskies as well as numbers under most shallow water conditions. Lures with blades in this size range are easily the easiest to fish effectively. Casting and retrieve such like lures for endless hours is as close to effortless as it gets in the musky fishing world. The blades on these baits spin dependably, and they perform most tasks effectively. It’s tough to beat such a lure for overall performance in the average hands as well as the seasoned musky hound.
Personally, I am most apt to use medium sized blades, such as the #5 french, over weed growth that isn’t too high, but isn’t too deep. For example, many mid lake humps will typically have developed good weeds by mid summer, but rarely do these weeds top off any higher than six feet from the surface. This is perfect for medium sized blades. I will also occasionally fish a #5 or # 6 french blade on one of my traditional #7 Buchertail body frames whenever I’d like to initiate more speed on the bait over higher weeds without the lure running “too high”. The marginal lift on this combination provides minimal drag (at the reel) yet it allows me to “burn” the bait overtop higher weed growth. This can be a great tactic on clear water muskies that see a lot of lures. Extra speed is often necessary to trigger an actual strike from such muskies.
For some odd reason, the french style blade is also super deadly on shallow rock muskies – anytime muskies are hanging around such spots. I can distinctly remember two monster Wisconsin muskies, both over 40 pound class, caught off the same ultra shallow rock bar around the 4th of July a few years apart back in the late 1970's. One was 54 inches long and weighed 43 pounds. The second was 55 inches long and weighed 41 ½ pounds. The common denominator = burning a #5 Mepps over the top. It’s a deadly tactic no doubt. It also catches everything else that is apt to be swimming over shallow topping rocks including magnum bronzebacks!
I left out talking about bucktail colors, hair densities and overall size of the bait only because I wanted all of you to think more about the blade and how important it is to overall performance of the bucktail lure. Do I think these other factors are important? Yes, and I plan to write about them specifically in a future MHM article. But, there’s no question in my mind that the blade is the most important element of any bucktail spinner, and quite often the one that is most overlooked and not very well understood. The basic physics of a blade and how it relates to lure performance should be the #1 factor to consider before snapping on any bucktail for any given situation. Hopefully, I’ve shed a little new light on this for all fellow MHM readers. Remember, it’s the BLADE that counts most!