Two Dutch anglers landed a boatload of giant muskies on Eagle Lake with simple Euro tactics. Here’s how

#5  APPLY THE LESSONS

There are so many important takeaways from the Dutch duo’s muskie mastery that it’s hard to know where to begin. The most obvious, at least for me, is the realization that on most waters, fish are bombarded daily by the same steady roster of baits and lures—often in the same colours—so they quickly become conditioned to avoid them. So, any time you can be one of the first anglers to show fish a new bait, lure, tactic or technique they’ve never seen before, do it.

The pair also showed how it can actually be a huge advantage when you’re on an unfamiliar lake. That’s because you’re less likely to target community holes or spots that have produced in the past, and instead find all-new fish-holding areas. Just as much as they trolled a different section of the lake each morning to catch fish, they were also on the lookout for subtle bottom features, which they would return to in the afternoon to meticulously pick apart with their hybrid jerkbaits.

Muskie anglers are obsessed with bigger baits, but Biemond put on a clinic casting his smaller offerings. In short, his modest, bite-sized jerkbaits produced more fish because he could retrieve them much faster and more erratically. But above all else, he demonstrated once again that after depth control, speed control is the most important part of the presentation.

Finally, and I can’t emphasize this enough, always fish to your strengths. You may hear, for example, that double-bladed bucktails are the ticket on the lake that you’re fishing. If you’re like Biemond and have more confidence and skill ripping a jerkbait, however, it’s probably your best option. And on that point, I will give him the last word.

“I tried a lot of new-to-me muskie lures and techniques in order to figure out why they were being used, and how they were supposed to be presented,” he says. “I was trying to understand why they were successful. Then I took that knowledge and tweaked my normal style of fishing.” And judging by his success, that strategy certainly worked.