June 17, 2024 • 52 mins
Welcome back to another episode of Musky Gear Monday on the Team Rhino Outdoors Musky Fishing Podcast. This week, Jeff talks to Glenn McDonald about Canadian musky bait builders and their unique creations. They delve into the intricacies of musky lures, providing useful fishing and filming hints along the way.
Discover some Canadian gems in the musky bait world, the new topwater bait BigMakk from Livingston Lures, and learn about the upcoming collaboration between Team Rhino Outdoors and Musky Innovations for the Pit Bull. Jeff and Glenn also discuss the challenges of cross-border shipping and the tight-knit community of Canadian bait builders.
Additionally, they explore confidence in lures and how it impacts fishing success, highlighting various baits and techniques that have proven effective. Tune in to hear about Glenn's adventures and insights as he gears up for the musky fishing season, and get a glimpse of what’s to come on the 54 or Bust YouTube channel.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Music.
(00:06):
Welcome back to another episode of Muskie Gear Monday on the Team Rhino Outdoors
Muskie Fishing Podcast.
This week I'm going to talk to Glenn McDonald and we are going to talk to some
Canadian gems as far as muskie bait builders and then we just kind of have a
general conversation about muskie lures.
So we'll also drop a couple hints on you
(00:27):
know fishing and filming which we don't dive into real much
that's not really what we wanted to do on this podcast but if you're
looking for a couple hints and go check that part of it out as well
so this week if you're looking for gear
make sure you check out team rhino outdoors.com we have
the new big mac from livingston lures that dropped just
a week ago it's a new top water bait
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you can it's got like a cut or slit in
the in the mouth so as far as reeling it
in you can crank it as fast as you want to will not roll and
that's very nice it's got a rattle in
the tail and it also has a removable ticker so
if you want it to make a little additional noise just keep the ticker on it
comes in standard rate from right out of the box if you want if you want to
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be a little less noisy I guess I would say just take it off on split ring it
put that thing in your pocket and then you're good to go it'll be a little less
silent so check that those out this this week.
The other thing, obviously, we're still talking about the pit bull,
and that will be a collaboration between Team Rhino Outdoors and Muskie Innovations.
If you haven't signed up on our website, just do that.
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Use the Email Me When Available button. Click that.
Select as many or as few colors as you want to be notified on.
Hopefully, we'll have every single one of them available on release day.
And, of course, that is the question.
When's release day on the pit bull? And I believe it should be somewhere between
June 28th and July 4th is what I would say. So kind of mark your calendars for those.
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I'll let everybody know via social media when we actually have a firm release date.
Production is going well, but we're waiting for both production to be done for
our batch and for the batch that's going to go to Musk Innovations.
And that way we will both drop them on the exact same day so that's a if you
haven't seen it or heard about it if you've been living under a rock it's a
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new size bulldog between a mag and a reg weighted slightly different has a little
bit of different action a little different hop to it.
And pro harness and quite honestly things have been getting eaten a lot so cool
bait go check that out at team rhino outdoors.com and then also muskinnovations.com
i think we'll both probably
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have different colors I mean there might be a couple overlaps but
for the most part we both have different colors available and I
know people have been asking me hey are you gonna have this one and I'm like no that
will be a you know a muskie innovations exclusive but
I hope everybody's been on the water recently looks like
when you hear this podcast we're going to be in the beginning of a major
warm front and so hopefully it'll bring I don't
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know maybe a little stability to muskie fishing it sounds like things
have been a little up and down depending upon where you've been but hopefully
you've been on the water and you've been catching some fish and I
don't have anything else to add to this episode I'm just going to dial up our conversation I
had with Glenn all right my guest this week is Glenn McDonald many may know
(03:30):
him from the 54 or bust YouTube channel they've been putting out some amazing
content for how long Glenn you guys been doing it for two three four years time flies right,
This will be our third, going on our fourth full-time year.
And it's been a journey. I'll say that. It's been fun.
It's been hard work. It's been blood, sweat, and tears.
(03:53):
Anybody that kind of does any of the filming and the editing themselves, they'll know that.
But we approach it with the side that we're always trying to help.
And we've kind of found a little niche in that market where we try to showcase
lures and it ties perfectly in with this podcast.
(04:15):
And I was so happy when you brought this podcast kind of out from the mothball,
so to speak, because I think it is really cool just talking about specifically
the gear as opposed to the tactics or the lakes and stuff like that.
I think it, I think it was really good for you to bring this back because it,
I like the short, you know, duration of it and you get a different variety of guests.
(04:40):
And I think sometimes the bait builders themselves get lost on the regular content,
must be content podcast.
So good on you, Jeff. I really, really appreciate you asking me to come on and
I really appreciate you doing these.
Yeah. Well, I mean, thank you for that. I'm, you know, and Glenn,
this is a two Canadians in a row.
(05:00):
I can't say that I've ever done a podcast where we had two Canadians in a row.
And I'm sure you'll maybe talk about them tonight, but we talked to,
you know, Thatcher with Drop Time Tackle.
And I know you've been instrumental and he mentioned it in the podcast about
how you've been instrumental in helping their company.
And so it's great to highlight, you know, those baits because,
you know, they do kind of get lost in the shuffle sometimes.
(05:21):
I mean, you hear about a lot of the American baits and that's kind of what we
have on, you know, have you on tonight.
We want to talk a little bit about, you know, if people are coming up to Canada,
some stuff they should look at, But we also want to highlight,
you know, some Canadian bait makers.
And then we'll talk a little bit about the Odyssey up there in Canada,
because that's something that we haven't really ever talked about on any of the podcasts.
No. And when we went to Odyssey this year, maybe we'll just start there kind
(05:44):
of quick, Jeff, and that'll segue us into talking about some of the Canadian
bait builders and some of the Canadian baits that we use.
And maybe kind of highlight that little
bit of a divide between the southern ontario muskie
community and what i would say is the
midwest because i do think the southern ontario community is a lot closer to
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those eastern guys so the pennsylvania ohio new york just because of geographically
they're closer and i think they fish probably a similar style i'm guessing i've
I've never fished down there, so it is kind of new to me.
But being in northwestern Ontario, where I am, I feel that natural connection
(06:26):
to the Midwest and to the Minnesota.
Obviously, the guys that fish Vermilion, that's a shield lake.
It fishes a lot like our local lake here, you know, like Eagle or Lake of the Woods or Laksuil.
So there is a bit of a difference there. And when we went to Odyssey this year,
it's a really cool show in that it's one day, it's quick, it's in and out.
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And for all intents and purposes for the listeners, it's about a three-hour show.
It happens fast in the morning and after the big push, it really, really dwindles out.
But in Canada, a lot of the bait builders are the big crankbait builders.
So you see like massive crankbaits like
(07:10):
i just got one from clarky custom baits or
custom clarky baits and it's a 17 inch grandma style bait so that kind of that's
the extreme end of it but the southern ontario guys are really known for big
crankbaits and there's a really big market for that down there obviously with
the great lake stuff and a lot of trolling and i know people that
(07:33):
come from the Midwest or especially that Ohio and Pennsylvania area,
they see those big baits and it is shocking that they, you know, people fish with that.
So there is a little bit of a divide there, but there's so many great builders down there.
And I know that you've probably heard of some of them or, or met them through
shows because some of them probably have been to Chicago. I'm assuming.
(07:56):
Yeah, I've definitely met a few of them. I know, gosh, Gosh,
I want to say way, way back in the day that, is it Sean Hosebates?
I think his name's Sean, right? Yep.
I think he used to do the Chicago show, if I don't remember,
if I remember right. If he didn't do it, he was at least there.
I certainly remember talking to him, but gosh, this was, I mean,
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it was, it was a while back.
And, but the thing about it is, you know, fortunately with social media,
these, you know, we'll say these smaller Canadian bait makers,
they're, you know, more well known now than they ever were before.
But like back when I met him, it was like underground, you know, like.
Backpack type stuff you know he had to you know
like smuggle in baits or whatever it was and they were
(08:39):
still just as sought after then as what they are now it's it's
pretty incredible that you know throughout the course of the year
you know the years he's still been able to maintain that same
level of i don't know for a
lack of a better word hype right you know people rush into
his booth and they want his stuff and you know the hose fatty
is like a legendary canadian bait and it's
(09:01):
still just amazing that after all these years after how many baits he's made
even though it's small batches eventually you'd think that you know supply would
catch up with demand right but it certainly hasn't in his case and he's been
going strong for i'm gonna say 10 years but i bet you on you're shooting it
by who knows maybe even 10 years it's it could be that long yeah,
no i i seen it firsthand at the odyssey in 2019 the rush to the hose bait booth
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i actually had I had a really good talk with Sean at the booth this year and
we put up a time-lapse camera in his booth while we were at Odyssey and it was crazy.
And the other one this year that really, I think jumped out at everybody,
but was well-deserved was Landry Smith from Rover bait.
And he come up with a disco shad style beat specifically for the St.
(09:48):
Clair guys. And it absolutely took right off the lineup for the Rover booth
was as crazy as anything I've ever seen. We filmed from his booth a couple of times.
Landry's a great guy. We're going to try and get a couple of his baits to showcase
on our channel. And I think it's something that will obviously work on Shield Lake.
So yeah, it's crazy that some of these guys, they get this underground kind
(10:11):
of reputation is like almost like a cult following for some of these bait builders.
And it, it is a lot different. I think maybe going back to the early days of some of the U S you know,
kind of basement builders i wasn't around for
a lot of that but i've heard the stories of some of it so i
think it's very similar and then when you said smuggle baits and
(10:32):
toddly a party with leo lures was supposed to be at odyssey and apparently i
don't know the exact specifics but he couldn't get the paperwork all done in
time so he wasn't able to get across the border and i won't mention one of the
other u.s guys that did come across the border he just put his stuff in like a
Rubbermaid container and basically told customs that he was coming across to
(10:55):
go to a gear swap and he had stuff at the show.
So there's ways to make it work, but it still seems to be this.
It's almost like an underground kind of show when you got that U.S.-Canada,
you know, mix of stuff and the border complicates things.
As we talk about some of these Canadian builders, I don't think that a lot of
(11:19):
the U.S. anglers realize that the border and shipping can really be a pain.
And you can obviously be a test to that, right, Jeff?
Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, there's two ways, there's two ways for us to go about
it. We either go UPS or, I mean, it's good. It's honest.
It's a good thing you brought this up actually, because like,
(11:39):
this is a struggle that me as a retailer, I deal with every day.
Because we we do ship to Canada we have
a lot of stuff you know whether it be colors or products that
you can't get in Canada and so you know people shop with us
from Canada but you see you go UPS and
then they'll get there really quick right I mean I can get stuff to Canada I
could probably get stuff to you by so today is Wednesday we miss a shipping
(12:03):
deadline I could probably have it to you by Monday Tuesday maybe but once it
shows up in your doorstep your customs and duties
and whatever else they have onto there it's literally
could potentially be half of what you already paid for
those lures and and that's on top of you paying me to
ship it right so shipping is expensive and then you
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guys get charged like crazy amounts of duties on top of it but then you go the
other route we go usps and that'll go to you know canada post it'll swap over
in canada and from what i understand there is much less chance of getting charged
duties and And if you do, it's much lower duty amount,
but it can seriously take 21 to 28 days to get it there, you know,
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and, and we're not, we're not talking that far.
I mean, you know, you were at the Minnesota show. What does it take you to get
to the Minnesota show driving wise?
It's seven and a half, eight hours from, from home here.
So it is in all likelihood would have been easier to drive down there and pick
up something if you wanted. So, yeah, shipping is a big issue,
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and it's an issue that...
Canadian anglers face all the
time and i'll just bring up an
example that i know has been
brought up in the past is there's a company out
of winnipeg musky munchies jeremy wolf does some great stuff does a lot of different
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buck that bucktail style bait and he does a prop style bait which you could
compare to the kramer brothers or to like the trilogy style and And when he came out with that,
right away, people are like, oh, it's a copycat bait.
Well, on the surface, yeah, it looks like a copycat bait. It's different enough that it's not exactly.
(13:53):
But he was serving a market in Canada for people that it was impossible to get
one of those Kramer baits in Canada.
For a while, it was almost impossible to get them down there anywhere. work.
So again, it's a Canadian company trying to offer a solution to something that
is very hard to get in Canada.
(14:14):
And another one would be even just trying to get Supernatural Big Baits in Canada.
My wife stocks them in her shop.
Lake of the Woods Sports might stock some, but they're only going to bring in X amount.
And when those are sold out, that's it for the year. And to order one from Duff,
again, dealing with the shipping, if you're not proactive in ordering early,
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you may not get that bait for the season.
So some of these companies are building things that, yeah, they look similar
to other companies, but it's serving a completely different market.
And I think somewhere that gets lost in it as well.
I can't argue with that at all. I mean, there is that.
Let's talk about it a little bit, Glenn, for people that don't know him.
(14:58):
Outside of you know americans coming
over to fish what's like we'll call it the
you know the population like what's the muskie angling population like
in canada outside of us i mean are there a
lot of anglers in canada so i'll use my area so i live in vermilion bay so basically
the shores of the lake anybody that's familiar with the herbecks they got out
(15:24):
of andy meyer's that's literally five minutes from my house.
So that's kind of where we're situated.
We're in the middle of Lake of the Woods, Eagle, Cedar, Laksu,
Wabagoon. They're all within an hour.
And locally, I would wager a guess that we probably have...
(15:44):
Maybe a couple hundred anglers
that fish for musty on any kind of
you know regular basis and probably
outside of the guides that work at the camp there's
probably only 30 of us
that i would call hardcore that would
(16:06):
go out for musty only all season and
the guys that are like dedicated like you
know myself and my buddy dave it's probably
half of that and i don't think that's a
stretch you know and that's the vermilion bay dryden
kind of sulacoat maybe into canora
canora is a little bit bigger so i know there's a few more guys
(16:28):
on lake of the woods and down through where thatcher is
and nester falls but it's small it's a very
small population so it's you always
talk about it's a small niche but
it's like a big business i'm not sure how you word it there jeff
but it's like musky small but it it it's
a dedicated group of anglers right yeah for
(16:51):
sure like like you said there's a you know where there's
some hardcore rabid musky anglers and overall
it's i mean we're a drop in the bucket compared to you
know the the overall all you know fishing economy
for lack of a better word and you know
we're nothing but overall you know.
Like within our industry it's actually I mean you can
(17:12):
have a business and you can make money within the
you know the muskie industry there are you know there's
a handful of companies that call it you know their full-time gig there's
not a ton of them but there's definitely you know I guess I don't know how to
say it a reasonable amount like you can run a successful business in the muskie
industry because it's large enough for that but overall within you know the
(17:34):
the general scope of fishing it's peanuts right that's why you some of these
you know companies like we'll use the,
shimano tranks left-handed the 500 everybody wants a 500 in left-handed well
first of all there's not that many you know people that are using left-handed
reels and second of all there you know there's just not a demand for a 500 people
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you know reel in that thing i mean they're They're going to sell,
I mean, right off the bat, they'll probably sell a bunch,
but over the course of a year, they're going to sell hardly anything,
and companies don't care about that.
No. And I think those things get, again, get lost in the conversation.
My wife runs a retail shop, Bobby's Sports Shop, and she'll ask me,
(18:16):
okay, what should we bring in?
I'm like, oh, you should bring in, you know, X, Y, and Z product.
And she's like, I've never had anybody ask for that. And I'm like, really?
I'm like, that's like the hot thing in the muskie industry. But locally,
or even with our American tourists that come up here,
and a lot of the tourists
that come to go muskie fishing they're they're
(18:39):
not the rabid diehard anglers they're the weekend anglers this trip to canada
might be their only muskie trip of the year so they might not be as well connected
in the industry as as we see ourselves from the inside and sometimes it's hard
to see you know the label of the bottle when you're on the inside and i I think
we get caught up in that a little bit,
but, you know, going back to the Canadian builders, I think something that really
(19:04):
sets them apart is they're a very small community, very tight knit.
And there's, there's not really a lot of competition between them,
even though they're obviously committed or, you know, some competition for dollars
and for people to buy their baits.
But it, But it's almost like it's that Canadian style of, oh,
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we don't want to cause trouble or, you know, we're sorry we're selling the same
bait as you, you know, like kind of the stereotypical kind of Canadian stuff.
But these guys seem to make a living, a side hustle, I guess it would be,
by selling these baits and keeping it small batch.
And very few of them ever want to take it to that next level.
So it is a lot different from a lot of the companies that I see in the States
(19:52):
or those medium sized bait builders in the States that are always trying to
take that one step to get, you know, a little bit bigger and be a little bit more well known.
Right. Well, let's, you know, let's highlight a few of these companies.
And one thing we want to talk about with some of the Canadian,
you know, bait makers, and these aren't necessarily, I would,
I would say this podcast isn't going to be very self-serving, right?
(20:12):
I don't have a ton of Canadian bait makers. I have a couple of them.
So let's talk about some of them that, you know, would be of importance.
That's, you know, if, if, you know, American anglers are looking to try to get
some of these, you know, Canadian, we'll call them treasures,
you know, what are some of them that they should be looking for?
Well i know you had excuse me
satcher on the other day from drop time and obviously
(20:35):
his growler little spinnerbait bit a
wide variety of musky anglers it
it looks small it feels small but it
casts big just because it has enough weight to it has a great thump it looks
great in the water and i think you could use it pretty well anywhere i know
you carry that one like that's obviously a stand hand out style of bait and
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looking at a few of the other Canadian companies.
We've done a lot with Adam from top line bait and he come out with a dipstick,
which is, it's, it's a modified dive and rise.
And it, it really caught a lot of fish for us a few years ago.
And again, we, not that we're taking credit for, for making it popular.
(21:24):
We just, We caught a lot of fish and we put it in front of a lot of people's
eyes through our YouTube channel.
And I know that drove a lot of demand. And Adam went down to the New York show
and had a lot of interest for it there, obviously at Odyssey.
So that's another one that I think is a real standout.
And that's the type of bait that I think, again, I don't want to speak for Adam.
(21:47):
Adam, but I think if you reached out to Adam, you could probably get a small
batch of those and test them with your market, Jeff, because I think it's a
well-known enough bait now that that's the type of bait that would work.
Going kind of through that Southern Ontario end, there's Noah Clark from Clarkie Custom Baits.
(22:12):
They build some amazing crankbaits. And those guys are small batch builders
and they do a lot of basically all they're selling from Facebook,
but they're accessible.
It's easy enough to get on there for anybody and get them.
Bryn Roach at BR Baits is another one just makes a standout.
Trolling bait, crankbait, casting bait. those guys
(22:33):
they they're best friends they fish together and they
we did a video from odyssey and
their booths are side by side and you can tell that they're they're
having fun you know being each other's competition and that that's that cool
aspect of the canadian side we've caught fish on both of their lures another
one that stands out to me is matthew chase from mad chase ace lures and he was
(22:59):
out of ottawa builds a lot of bucktails he's building a really unique.
Call it a boiler maker style of beat
but it it does a little bit more than
that that classic boiler maker where it will you can use it almost as like a
dive and rise style of bucktail and he's another one he's very accessible on
(23:21):
social media as a website and these are some of the guys that are kind of trying to break into,
especially that Chicago's area,
trying to break into that Midwest area, maybe not so much into Wisconsin and Minnesota,
but they have enough baits out there that people are starting to be a little
(23:44):
bit more familiar with them.
And we picked up a bunch of other.
Quote-unquote boutique baits at the Odyssey that were real standout.
So those are a couple right off the top of my head. And we can kind of mention
a few others as we go here.
But for you, Jeff, how do you look at what's the criteria for bringing in a
(24:07):
new bait for you from a retail standpoint?
I mean, really, it's about whether or not there's interest between both parties to work together.
That usually is where it starts off. you know some of these smaller bait
manufacturers they don't have any interest in dealing with me right they
can only make i don't know whatever let's just say it's
20 30 50 70 baits in a year and
they can sell them all themselves so like what's the
(24:30):
point of the extra exposure by coming through me right so there is that and
then i would say that's that's one of the first ones and then uh you know i
just want to make sure that we we do the best we can to carry quality products
right if i've never used it touched it put it in my hands i always want to get
my hands on one of them just to make sure that we're not, you know,
I, you know, we do sell some, you know, more mass produced baits,
(24:52):
but I would say the most of the stuff that we have in the shop is the quality stuff.
And so I want to try to maintain that, you know, that standard, I guess I would say.
And so those are like some of the criteria I have right there. You know, we're.
You know, we're also in some cases, I want, you know, some brands that have
a little bit of momentum behind them and we can give them a little bit more
(25:12):
momentum because I mean, I mean, you know, Glenn, I have a website and,
you know, it's mildly successful,
we'll say, and it gets enough, a fair amount of eyeballs every single day.
And so, you know, there is something to be said about our abilities to,
you know, I guess, push a brand in a sense, you know, I mean,
if we put it on the front page of our website and it's going to get seen a bunch of times, right?
(25:35):
So let's, so we can definitely help all brands that way as well.
And we just got to have an interest between both parties that,
you know, to work together.
That's primarily how it goes yeah and
that makes sense and i think coming from the
youtube world i think we look at it the same
way if we showcase a bait
and we put it in front of the eyes of our audience it
(25:59):
we can get it in front of more eyes than
just a single facebook post just
for example and then if we catch a fish on it
obviously that's going to help and same thing of
any of of these other youtube guys or guys that have tv stuff
or do a lot of video style content that stuff
obviously works and i know the boutique style
(26:21):
of builders they're they're always there's a segment
of them that want to grow bigger and then there's a segment of them that they're
happy just being small and i think there is part of that with this canadian
group of guys and we one One of the baits that we picked up this year was a
swim bait and it's from toddy tickle bait. And it.
(26:42):
I had no idea that this company even existed. And Todd Dowell is his name.
Super nice guy. We talked to him at Odyssey, and I've talked to him a number of times since.
We got his bait in the water. I had a little bit of trouble getting it tuned perfectly.
I messaged him. We got on the phone. He helped me tune it.
And like a lot of the smaller batch filters, they're going to make sure they
(27:06):
make it right, whether it's north of the border or south.
But I found this swim bait at Odyssey and we've built a good rapport with Todd
so much so that, you know, I'm sure we'll be getting more of his bait.
But that came from word of mouth of his fans reaching out to me through our
(27:28):
quote unquote fans and telling me that that's a bait that I needed to reach out for.
So we went to Odyssey with the intent
of that was one of the baits that we were gonna you
know step up on and make sure that we paid whatever it was going to take to
get one and we did and it it's like going to the Minnesota show we found some
(27:48):
dates at the Minnesota show that I had never seen before and we showcased them
on our channel so it does happen north and south of the border I just Again,
I think sometimes these Canadian builders, they're building for the Canadian
market primarily because it is a lot easier to ship and get stuff around in Canada.
And some of the Canadian builders have the Shield Lakes in mind,
(28:13):
or they have the Kawarthas in mind, and they're building stuff specifically for a region where...
You know in the states i think especially the mass-produced stuff
it's not so much built for just a
region or built for a single application
so it might be a little bit different that way like maybe
i'm stretching that a bit well you
(28:35):
know what you know glenn you you mentioned how the
toddy tickle baits you you ended up a roundabout
way through your fans telling you about that well that's
kind of how the growler came about through to me i didn't
even know that existed and then i believe it i want to say
it was kevin vendor he's a customer of mine and i
mean i know him well but he's you know he shops with us
(28:57):
quite a bit and he he was the one that had him and
he's like have you ever looked into these baits and i was like never
have honestly and then he's like you should really look into
them it really seems like it's got you know a little bit different and it's
a really quality made bait and so that's how our our relationship came up came
about with the growler i and so i reached out to him and they're like oh yeah
sure we're definitely interested in it you know and then it kind of went from
(29:19):
there so it's kind of a kind of similar how how the story went with same as
you with uh you know the the toddy tickle baits,
Yeah. And I do think that, again, being that kind of small knit community.
Once you're kind of inside of the community, people always reach back and forth
and like, hey, have you tried this?
(29:40):
Or have you tried that? Or have you heard of this bait or heard of that bait?
And I know you and I definitely text back and forth about different things.
And it's the same with other people in the industry.
And I think for the casual angler, sometimes they They don't see that until
a little bit after the fact.
(30:00):
And I think like you had said with social media, nothing remains a secret for very long.
So it is a lot easier in today's day and age to kind of find,
you know, whether it's the hot bait or the hot bite.
And, you know, maybe I'll just touch on a few of them going into our opening
season here that for us, I think will be standout style baits.
(30:23):
And obviously the growler is
going to be a bait that we use year round up here that we
have a lot of confidence in and that's like let's face
it i must be fishing is everything right it's confidence it's whatever
you have confidence in like i honestly think
i could throw a 10 inch monster tube from this
saturday right until the ice is on the lake and i would have confidence that
(30:45):
i would catch on it but is that going to be the right tool every single day
well no it probably won't be but going into this season obviously as i kind
of load up the tackle box tomorrow.
You never know what you're going to get on opening season up here
i just did a little video with my kids we're going to do a preview of the season
and the weather's been really hit and miss and i know you've talked about it
(31:09):
you talked about it with john on on the backlash the other day the weather patterns
have been up and down we've got a lot of rain up here the lake levels are high
the The lake temps are fluctuating.
So it's really going to be a mixed bag up here. So you have to take some stuff
to go fish the sloppy weeds.
You got to take some stuff to fish that outside weed edge. You got to try some deep points.
(31:31):
I want to try some open water stuff and see if some of the bigger fish are out there.
So you really have to take a wide variety of lures.
And for us, it's always about,
taking those known confidence lures so if you're coming to canada you got to
have like a nine or ten inch weighted suic i mean that's that's just a staple
(31:52):
in any box up here it's gonna work basically from opener right till freeze up
you're gonna want to have a couple bucktails.
Pick your size again i don't we don't really buy into the you've got to go small
in the spring because for us, it's almost summertime up here.
So it's more of a, think of it as an early summer pattern as opposed to a spawn type of pattern.
(32:18):
So we pretty much go right into the bigger style bucktails, maybe like fluted
eights would be the smaller size for us in a lot of cases.
Yeah, guys will catch on like the little mep number five. You're always going to get that.
But for the most part, I think you can kind of start to get away from that.
And I think a pattern that gets so overlooked here early in the year is crankbaits.
(32:41):
And over the years, we've done so well on triple Ds, just twitching and cranking
them off of those outside weed edges or off of rock break lines.
It's crazy that people do not reach to crankbaits early in the season.
And it's not something that you typically see here until well into that developed summer pattern.
(33:05):
So that's something we'll be using. We picked up some Ridgeway Customs from
Matt Ridgeway this year.
He makes amazing bait, and we've just kind of started to adopt that into our style.
He's out, I believe he's out of Iowa, and it's a bait that'll fit in with us.
And some of the baits from Clarkie Custom and
(33:26):
BR from Southern Ontario they fit that
triple d style of mold so that's a
pattern that i think guys coming to canada should definitely
look into let's talk about you
know we've we've kind of been all over the place on different baits and
and stuff like that let's talk about you so you're at the minnesota
muskie expo was there anything that you've
(33:49):
picked up there that you know from american companies that you're hoping to
put to use this season it was or or was there anything you've gotten over the
winter maybe you ordered it that that you're hoping to put to put to use this
season so right off the top when we're at the minnesota show we're talking to
jvr at the lax booth and he's like,
you guys got to go check out haymaker lures and we walked over there talked
(34:13):
to justin and he makes some dive and rise and he makes what he calls a six inch
wake bait it looks like a modified hog wobbler.
And we talked to him and his wife. We come home with a dive and rise in this wake bait.
And we just actually showcased it on our channel like a week ago.
It looks absolutely amazing in the water.
(34:35):
It has a great tail kind of wag to it that like the hog wobbler is known for,
but you can use it a little bit quicker than a hog wobbler.
So I think it suits my style of fishing or our style where we don't really finesse fish anymore.
More we've kind of we've adopted that power fishing mentality
that i think a lot of people have these days but
(34:57):
it's the lure that will allow us to slow down but
yet still cover quite a bit of water so
that was one that really really stood out at
us and definitely gotta thank jvr for kind of putting that one on our radar
that one really i think is going to be one that i think when we look back at
the end of the year whether we catch a lot of fish on it or only catch a couple
(35:19):
i think I think it's one that we'll probably look back and say that was a perfect fit for us.
And then we picked up a couple of the smaller bucktails from Musky Addicts.
And they have that jointed style with a willow blade and a small Colorado.
Definitely a unique take on a bucktail. And we talked to John at the show.
(35:40):
He was really nice to talk to. I think at first, he didn't really know who we
were. And then we had bought a couple things.
And then before we left the show, we went back and talked to him a bit more
and then he either must've did research on who we were.
He was much more open with information. And I think their style of lure is very interesting.
(36:01):
We haven't had a chance to really throw them yet, but I think it's interesting
enough that it's going to be, it's going to have a place within,
you know, most people's arsenal because I think it'll be just different enough.
So those were a couple that really stood out at me.
You know, I know last year you guys got a sneak peek, so to speak, on the quad dog.
(36:22):
What do you think the application is going to be for that one for you this season?
And do you think it's going to be a staple in your arsenal?
I do. I think when we got it late last year and we caught right away on it,
basically kind of using it like a tube, like an oversized tube,
(36:42):
casting it out, kind of count it down a bit.
And then like hopping it back to the
boat it fits again it fits
my style of fishing i don't like that super aggressive
pop that a lot of the quote-unquote
wisconsin guys do with the medusa where they really rip and pop that over top
of weeds i've i just don't have confidence in that style so i think using the
(37:07):
quad dog in a slower kind of pull pause more like a bulldog or more More like
a Lake X Toad or a Red October.
I think it fits more with our style. And I think over the past two years,
we've learned to fit a lot deeper.
And sitting over top of 50 feet of water and casting to 25 or 30 and getting
(37:33):
suspended fish that are sitting in 15 or 18, that doesn't bother us anymore.
We're comfortable with that.
And the quad dogs, the style of lure, And I think we'll put more weight on the
head of it and we'll be able to get it down there.
I'm, I'm very surprised that the quad dog, I know it did good on show season,
but I'm surprised that the hype of it kind of seemed to dwindle off or,
(37:58):
or people just kind of mark it up as just another,
you know, another rubber bait, because I do think the guys that use it in the
right way, I think are going to have a lot of success with that bait.
Yeah. Well, I think part of it, you know, is like, as musky anglers,
we all need to rush out and get the latest and the greatest, right?
(38:19):
And then, like, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to,
you know, coming back around on the reorder phase.
So I'd say maybe the hype is somewhat died off because, you know,
early season, I'm assuming, I thought the bait ran a little deep.
I wouldn't say a lot deep, you know, but it ran a little bit deep.
And so i would say that more anglers are probably
(38:40):
focused on that you know that i don't know shallow water and
they're probably not putting the quad dog to use quite
yet i'm i'm just guessing i'm hypothesizing and so once you start to see some
catches on it it'll it'll start to refire you know all it takes is a few people
to start catching on it and then they're you know then other anglers are like
oh man they're catching fish on that i should actually use that bait instead of just collecting it.
(39:04):
So I think that could be something that, you know, spurs that as we move forward here into the season.
Yeah, I think you're exactly right on using it for the right time of season.
Get your take on another bait that I'm really looking forward to getting in
my hands, which I'll have next week when my buddy from Minneapolis comes up,
(39:26):
is the Bowfin from Bam Bam Bait.
And I know it's got a lot of hype over the winter, and Brady's done a really good job with that.
And I think, like you said, the proof is in the pudding.
That thing's catching all over the muskie range already and
we're hoping to have them here by like next thursday so
i'm hoping by next weekend i'll be able to try that
(39:48):
out and i think that's another bait that
right now seems to be like the
hot bait and it's one that i
see everywhere on social media which always
seems to be you know that that's a good thing
right oh for sure i mean as a bait maker that's what
you want right you want it you want people to be using it you want people
(40:09):
to be catching on it you know it's yeah and
i i picked one up i didn't i picked
one up in wasa i didn't throw it yet because i mostly because i haven't musky
fished a ton you heard about it on my on the last episode of backlash podcast
about my i mean that was tripled quadrupled the amount of time i had on the
water was over those two days mostly miserable cold fronts but we managed to
(40:32):
or not cold fronts necessarily,
just front after front managed to get the job done.
But so I haven't put it to put it to the test, but yeah, that was one.
And, you know, we were, we had that conversation about, Hey,
you know, what is it, how is it you decide to put something in the shop?
And that was one that I reached out to him in Wausau. And I said,
Hey, just so you know, if you're ready, I'm ready.
You know, unfortunately for us, he's, you know, he can't build them fast enough. Right.
(40:55):
You kind of described it. I mean, they're, they're obviously catching muskies
and And they're, they appear to be a great bait.
I couldn't tell you the differences, you know, I couldn't tell you what it does
differently, but you know, sometimes it is, maybe it doesn't do anything differently.
Maybe it's a confidence thing. Maybe it's a similar to, cause it's got the twin
fins on there and maybe it's similar to a double dog, but you know,
people are catching on it.
(41:16):
So then they're, you know, it's, it's a feed into the hype thing, right?
More people use it. Is it self-fulfilling prophecy?
You know, more people using it, obviously they should get bit,
right? Right. I mean, it's kind of like, I don't want to bring up the pit bull
all the time, but we were using that over the shoot, you know,
a couple of weeks back or last week.
And we used it more than other baits and we caught fish on it.
(41:36):
Now, would those other baits have caught muskies?
Maybe. I don't know. You know, like it's just kind of one of those things too,
right? I mean, what came first, chicken or the egg kind of a thing?
Well, I hear you. And I know we have a couple of pit bulls and we'll be putting
them to use over the next couple of weeks up here. and I'm pretty sure we'll
be some of the earliest ones on Shield Lakes here to have them.
(41:59):
And I think just because of that additional weight,
And that little bit more of a nose drop, I think it's almost a perfect style
of bait for a shield lake.
And to me, the size might be a little bit small.
That's why we like the MagDog. But I love the idea of the weight placement being slightly different.
(42:21):
And I think that, again, those small differences or small details can really make or break a bait.
And to kind of wrap up the Canadian thing here a little bit,
Jeff, I'd be totally remiss if i didn't talk about dads and
blade baits and you kind of brought up what comes
first right the chicken or the egg and we catch a
(42:41):
ton of fish on dads and blade baits everybody that follows
us knows that and so much so
that it it's almost a running meme with us at this point that it's oh it's caught
on another blade with no name and people can't get them and they're hard to
get that's part of that boutique bait builder thing right like it is hard to
(43:02):
get some of these baits but it goes back to the confidence.
And if I threw other baits, would I catch as many fish?
I would probably catch just about as many fish, but I have so much confidence
in that bucktail that that's almost all I throw.
So that's where the majority of my fish on bucktails come.
Like you say, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it always comes back to confidence.
(43:26):
And anybody listening to this, when you find your confidence bait,
And in some cases, for the weekend angler that catches four or five fish a season,
and they catch three fish on a Medusa, that's their confidence bait.
So when you go out the next time, you have to start there.
It's easy to lose confidence when you're not catching, but it's amazing when
(43:51):
you see somebody with confidence in a boat and see how well they fit any lure.
Because when they're confident in it, they put so much more effort and energy into it.
And that's my biggest piece of advice for anybody coming to Canada.
And I have clients coming up here this weekend is bring your confidence bait.
(44:13):
It may not be the right bait for this time of year, but let's start there.
That's where you're going to have your best success at giving yourself an opportunity.
And then if that's not the right bait, Well, then you can move on from there.
But coming to Canada for a week is not the time for anybody to start experimenting
(44:33):
with new bait, new rods, new lures, new techniques.
You're going to lose time on the water. Start where you have confidence and
then work your way out from there, not vice versa.
Well, it's, it's funny you talk about confidence because I mean, not, not funny.
I guess like I went out whenever, so we've been getting a lot of pictures of
(44:54):
people catching fish on the pit bull.
And like my reply to him is always like, thank you for having the confidence
to throw the lure because I mean, granted it's a bulldog, right?
Bulldogs catch muskies. So it's not like we reinvented the wheel.
And I said that way back in the day, like we didn't reinvent the wheel.
We just made a change to it.
And, you know, it was always like, thank you for having the confidence.
I got a picture from Becca.
(45:15):
She has one because I sent a couple to, we'll call him a friend of TRO.
And so I sent him a couple because I knew he was fishing and I'm like,
here, you know, tell me what you think of these.
And, you know, he got a bit a few times, but he never put it in the net.
And then he said that, you know, his wife was using it or wanted to use it.
And it fit her style because she could throw it all day long.
(45:37):
It was a slightly, you know, and that's what we did, right? We wanted a bait
that had a little larger profile that anglers of all types could throw.
And so she had the confidence to continue to throw it. And she manages to put
her first, I believe it was her first muskie in the net just a couple of days ago.
I mean, you can see the smile on her face. I mean, she's super happy that she got this muskie.
And my reply back was, you know, thank you for having the confidence to throw
(46:01):
that lure because that's, you know, you talked about it, Glenn, right?
You could have probably caught those fish on different bladed baits,
but you have confidence in this lure. So that's what you're catching it on,
right? And it makes sense.
I've told the story on every podcast I've ever been on. I don't believe that
I've ever caught a fish on a Medusa.
It's partially because I don't throw Medusas that much. Like I grew up on Bulldogs,
(46:23):
so I had confidence in Bulldogs.
When I started musky fishing, there was no such thing as a Medusa.
So I'm going to catch them on Bulldogs, and I'm going to continue to throw Bulldogs
because that's what I've caught them on.
I've thrown Medusas for a little while, and then of course
self-fulfilling prophecy right if you take the medusa off
and you put a bulldog on and then a window opens up or you
(46:44):
come across hungry fish you're gonna catch it on a bulldog but my
daughter on the other hand you know she's got a more of an open mind than i
do she's caught fish on medusas lost a lot of them on medusas unfortunately
just hit hitting wrong spots and whatever i mean it's the nature of the beast
when you're fishing rubber but she's she's plenty confident in a medusa so it's
it's kind of one of those things right it's always about
(47:04):
confidence but it's also like you can't catch them on something that you're
not that you don't have confidence to throw,
No, that's right. And to spin it back around to Becca, if she goes fishing with
her husband, what is the very first lure that she's going to grab out of the box?
Guaranteed bar none, she's reaching for that exact same pit bull and that instills confidence in her.
(47:26):
And she's going to fish better the next time she's out because she feels confident.
And as a bait builder, as a guide
as somebody that runs a youtube channel that's
all we can do is try and instill confidence in
people and encourage them to keep getting out
there and keep fishing because the only way to
(47:46):
get good in this game is to put
the time in and catch the fish and if you spend all
summer and you only catch two fish and you get frustrated you're
going to give the sport up pretty quickly and if you
go out and you spend all summer and you catch 20 fish and
you start to gain confidence in three or four lures all of
a sudden you have a completely different outlook on this sport and i just think
(48:11):
that again we need to try and instill that confidence in whatever the bait whatever
the technique whatever it is that we can help other people you know learn or or adopt adopt.
I think that for me, that's the goal of 54 Bucks. And I think a lot of bait
builders, that's what they're trying to do as well.
Absolutely. So Glenn, as I anticipated, we've blown way past the half an hour mark on this podcast.
(48:38):
Typically we try to keep them, you know, half hour, 35 minutes, anywhere from 20 to 35.
So if people, and I'd love to get you back on sometime, cause I feel like we
can continue to go on and on.
When you get too passionate and musky English, just talking about random topics,
things can, uh, they can go on and it on forever.
We could probably go two hours in this one if we needed to, but let's for people
that don't know about 54 bus, they want to learn more about what you up to and check out your content.
(49:00):
Cause you know, I'll give you a tip of the cap. I don't watch a ton of musky content.
I sent you a text. I actually try to stay away from a lot of social media stuff for the most part.
Uh, yes, I do scroll Facebook every day, most of the time when I'm doing business,
but you know, like I'm, I'm not, I try to stay away from a lot of that stuff
at one point in, you You know, my TRO career,
(49:23):
I paid attention to everything and it actually, I think it was just negatively
affecting my, you know, mental state.
And so I try to stay away from much of it, but I do pay attention to your content
because I do think that you guys do a great job, you know, not only with, you know, the editing,
the educational, when you guys are running, you know, baits,
(49:43):
you have some awesome underwater footage and stuff.
So if you can, please let the listeners know where they can find 54Bust.
Well, the easiest way is just go on YouTube, type in 54Bust,
and you'll find us. We're right there.
And we are dedicated to muskie content.
And like I said earlier, we've kind of found our niche in the underwater footage.
(50:07):
And we've had a great deal of support from the muskie community and the muskie industry.
And the fact that we're able to showcase a wide, wide, wide variety of lures
and give very unbiased opinions about them.
And even though we might be sponsored from company A, we can show a lure from company B.
(50:32):
And we've been able to do that in a way that we always try to bring as much
value and entertainment inside of that to our viewers.
So that's kind of what we do socials you
can find me 54 bus or glenn mcdonald you'll be
able to find some links and my phone number and my email i
(50:53):
do do some guiding i usually take 10 to 12
days a season i think i'm at 14 or
17 already so i'm pretty much tapped out
of what i can take for guiding for this year on my my
regular job and helping my wife out but i get
messages every day about the channel from supporters from
quote-unquote fans i always feel harsh
(51:16):
saying that because i don't feel that you know we're worthy of fans but i appreciate
all the support and i appreciate all the support from the greater muskie community
and that's guys like you jeff and i know we've talked a lot via text and you're
somebody that i i would call a friend now and And I truly appreciate that.
So yeah, just reach out to us anytime, 54 a bus, you'll find us everywhere.
(51:40):
Absolutely. Well, Glenn, I want to thank you for your time tonight.
I know that we're a smack dab and you getting prepped up to get your season started.
So I appreciate your time. I hope that you have yourself a amazing start to the musky season.
I'm sure we will see those adventures on your YouTube channel.
And so I just want to, you know, wish you the best of luck this,
you know, I'm sure we'll be in touch, but you know, I want to wish you the best of luck.
(52:01):
And i want to thank all of our listeners for tuning in for another episode this
week i don't know exactly who we're going to talk to next week but i'm sure
i'll find somebody that's willing to pick up the telephone and have a conversation
about some sort of musky gear so with that being said i hope you all have a
great you know fishing season and we'll have another episode again for.
Music.
Music.
(00:06):
Welcome back to another episode of Muskie Gear Monday on the Team Rhino Outdoors
Muskie Fishing Podcast.
This week I'm going to talk to Glenn McDonald and we are going to talk to some
Canadian gems as far as muskie bait builders and then we just kind of have a
general conversation about muskie lures.
So we'll also drop a couple hints on you
(00:27):
know fishing and filming which we don't dive into real much
that's not really what we wanted to do on this podcast but if you're
looking for a couple hints and go check that part of it out as well
so this week if you're looking for gear
make sure you check out team rhino outdoors.com we have
the new big mac from livingston lures that dropped just
a week ago it's a new top water bait
(00:48):
you can it's got like a cut or slit in
the in the mouth so as far as reeling it
in you can crank it as fast as you want to will not roll and
that's very nice it's got a rattle in
the tail and it also has a removable ticker so
if you want it to make a little additional noise just keep the ticker on it
comes in standard rate from right out of the box if you want if you want to
(01:11):
be a little less noisy I guess I would say just take it off on split ring it
put that thing in your pocket and then you're good to go it'll be a little less
silent so check that those out this this week.
The other thing, obviously, we're still talking about the pit bull,
and that will be a collaboration between Team Rhino Outdoors and Muskie Innovations.
If you haven't signed up on our website, just do that.
(01:34):
Use the Email Me When Available button. Click that.
Select as many or as few colors as you want to be notified on.
Hopefully, we'll have every single one of them available on release day.
And, of course, that is the question.
When's release day on the pit bull? And I believe it should be somewhere between
June 28th and July 4th is what I would say. So kind of mark your calendars for those.
(02:03):
I'll let everybody know via social media when we actually have a firm release date.
Production is going well, but we're waiting for both production to be done for
our batch and for the batch that's going to go to Musk Innovations.
And that way we will both drop them on the exact same day so that's a if you
haven't seen it or heard about it if you've been living under a rock it's a
(02:26):
new size bulldog between a mag and a reg weighted slightly different has a little
bit of different action a little different hop to it.
And pro harness and quite honestly things have been getting eaten a lot so cool
bait go check that out at team rhino outdoors.com and then also muskinnovations.com
i think we'll both probably
(02:47):
have different colors I mean there might be a couple overlaps but
for the most part we both have different colors available and I
know people have been asking me hey are you gonna have this one and I'm like no that
will be a you know a muskie innovations exclusive but
I hope everybody's been on the water recently looks like
when you hear this podcast we're going to be in the beginning of a major
warm front and so hopefully it'll bring I don't
(03:09):
know maybe a little stability to muskie fishing it sounds like things
have been a little up and down depending upon where you've been but hopefully
you've been on the water and you've been catching some fish and I
don't have anything else to add to this episode I'm just going to dial up our conversation I
had with Glenn all right my guest this week is Glenn McDonald many may know
(03:30):
him from the 54 or bust YouTube channel they've been putting out some amazing
content for how long Glenn you guys been doing it for two three four years time flies right,
This will be our third, going on our fourth full-time year.
And it's been a journey. I'll say that. It's been fun.
It's been hard work. It's been blood, sweat, and tears.
(03:53):
Anybody that kind of does any of the filming and the editing themselves, they'll know that.
But we approach it with the side that we're always trying to help.
And we've kind of found a little niche in that market where we try to showcase
lures and it ties perfectly in with this podcast.
(04:15):
And I was so happy when you brought this podcast kind of out from the mothball,
so to speak, because I think it is really cool just talking about specifically
the gear as opposed to the tactics or the lakes and stuff like that.
I think it, I think it was really good for you to bring this back because it,
I like the short, you know, duration of it and you get a different variety of guests.
(04:40):
And I think sometimes the bait builders themselves get lost on the regular content,
must be content podcast.
So good on you, Jeff. I really, really appreciate you asking me to come on and
I really appreciate you doing these.
Yeah. Well, I mean, thank you for that. I'm, you know, and Glenn,
this is a two Canadians in a row.
(05:00):
I can't say that I've ever done a podcast where we had two Canadians in a row.
And I'm sure you'll maybe talk about them tonight, but we talked to,
you know, Thatcher with Drop Time Tackle.
And I know you've been instrumental and he mentioned it in the podcast about
how you've been instrumental in helping their company.
And so it's great to highlight, you know, those baits because,
you know, they do kind of get lost in the shuffle sometimes.
(05:21):
I mean, you hear about a lot of the American baits and that's kind of what we
have on, you know, have you on tonight.
We want to talk a little bit about, you know, if people are coming up to Canada,
some stuff they should look at, But we also want to highlight,
you know, some Canadian bait makers.
And then we'll talk a little bit about the Odyssey up there in Canada,
because that's something that we haven't really ever talked about on any of the podcasts.
No. And when we went to Odyssey this year, maybe we'll just start there kind
(05:44):
of quick, Jeff, and that'll segue us into talking about some of the Canadian
bait builders and some of the Canadian baits that we use.
And maybe kind of highlight that little
bit of a divide between the southern ontario muskie
community and what i would say is the
midwest because i do think the southern ontario community is a lot closer to
(06:06):
those eastern guys so the pennsylvania ohio new york just because of geographically
they're closer and i think they fish probably a similar style i'm guessing i've
I've never fished down there, so it is kind of new to me.
But being in northwestern Ontario, where I am, I feel that natural connection
(06:26):
to the Midwest and to the Minnesota.
Obviously, the guys that fish Vermilion, that's a shield lake.
It fishes a lot like our local lake here, you know, like Eagle or Lake of the Woods or Laksuil.
So there is a bit of a difference there. And when we went to Odyssey this year,
it's a really cool show in that it's one day, it's quick, it's in and out.
(06:50):
And for all intents and purposes for the listeners, it's about a three-hour show.
It happens fast in the morning and after the big push, it really, really dwindles out.
But in Canada, a lot of the bait builders are the big crankbait builders.
So you see like massive crankbaits like
(07:10):
i just got one from clarky custom baits or
custom clarky baits and it's a 17 inch grandma style bait so that kind of that's
the extreme end of it but the southern ontario guys are really known for big
crankbaits and there's a really big market for that down there obviously with
the great lake stuff and a lot of trolling and i know people that
(07:33):
come from the Midwest or especially that Ohio and Pennsylvania area,
they see those big baits and it is shocking that they, you know, people fish with that.
So there is a little bit of a divide there, but there's so many great builders down there.
And I know that you've probably heard of some of them or, or met them through
shows because some of them probably have been to Chicago. I'm assuming.
(07:56):
Yeah, I've definitely met a few of them. I know, gosh, Gosh,
I want to say way, way back in the day that, is it Sean Hosebates?
I think his name's Sean, right? Yep.
I think he used to do the Chicago show, if I don't remember,
if I remember right. If he didn't do it, he was at least there.
I certainly remember talking to him, but gosh, this was, I mean,
(08:18):
it was, it was a while back.
And, but the thing about it is, you know, fortunately with social media,
these, you know, we'll say these smaller Canadian bait makers,
they're, you know, more well known now than they ever were before.
But like back when I met him, it was like underground, you know, like.
Backpack type stuff you know he had to you know
like smuggle in baits or whatever it was and they were
(08:39):
still just as sought after then as what they are now it's it's
pretty incredible that you know throughout the course of the year
you know the years he's still been able to maintain that same
level of i don't know for a
lack of a better word hype right you know people rush into
his booth and they want his stuff and you know the hose fatty
is like a legendary canadian bait and it's
(09:01):
still just amazing that after all these years after how many baits he's made
even though it's small batches eventually you'd think that you know supply would
catch up with demand right but it certainly hasn't in his case and he's been
going strong for i'm gonna say 10 years but i bet you on you're shooting it
by who knows maybe even 10 years it's it could be that long yeah,
no i i seen it firsthand at the odyssey in 2019 the rush to the hose bait booth
(09:26):
i actually had I had a really good talk with Sean at the booth this year and
we put up a time-lapse camera in his booth while we were at Odyssey and it was crazy.
And the other one this year that really, I think jumped out at everybody,
but was well-deserved was Landry Smith from Rover bait.
And he come up with a disco shad style beat specifically for the St.
(09:48):
Clair guys. And it absolutely took right off the lineup for the Rover booth
was as crazy as anything I've ever seen. We filmed from his booth a couple of times.
Landry's a great guy. We're going to try and get a couple of his baits to showcase
on our channel. And I think it's something that will obviously work on Shield Lake.
So yeah, it's crazy that some of these guys, they get this underground kind
(10:11):
of reputation is like almost like a cult following for some of these bait builders.
And it, it is a lot different. I think maybe going back to the early days of some of the U S you know,
kind of basement builders i wasn't around for
a lot of that but i've heard the stories of some of it so i
think it's very similar and then when you said smuggle baits and
(10:32):
toddly a party with leo lures was supposed to be at odyssey and apparently i
don't know the exact specifics but he couldn't get the paperwork all done in
time so he wasn't able to get across the border and i won't mention one of the
other u.s guys that did come across the border he just put his stuff in like a
Rubbermaid container and basically told customs that he was coming across to
(10:55):
go to a gear swap and he had stuff at the show.
So there's ways to make it work, but it still seems to be this.
It's almost like an underground kind of show when you got that U.S.-Canada,
you know, mix of stuff and the border complicates things.
As we talk about some of these Canadian builders, I don't think that a lot of
(11:19):
the U.S. anglers realize that the border and shipping can really be a pain.
And you can obviously be a test to that, right, Jeff?
Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, there's two ways, there's two ways for us to go about
it. We either go UPS or, I mean, it's good. It's honest.
It's a good thing you brought this up actually, because like,
(11:39):
this is a struggle that me as a retailer, I deal with every day.
Because we we do ship to Canada we have
a lot of stuff you know whether it be colors or products that
you can't get in Canada and so you know people shop with us
from Canada but you see you go UPS and
then they'll get there really quick right I mean I can get stuff to Canada I
could probably get stuff to you by so today is Wednesday we miss a shipping
(12:03):
deadline I could probably have it to you by Monday Tuesday maybe but once it
shows up in your doorstep your customs and duties
and whatever else they have onto there it's literally
could potentially be half of what you already paid for
those lures and and that's on top of you paying me to
ship it right so shipping is expensive and then you
(12:23):
guys get charged like crazy amounts of duties on top of it but then you go the
other route we go usps and that'll go to you know canada post it'll swap over
in canada and from what i understand there is much less chance of getting charged
duties and And if you do, it's much lower duty amount,
but it can seriously take 21 to 28 days to get it there, you know,
(12:49):
and, and we're not, we're not talking that far.
I mean, you know, you were at the Minnesota show. What does it take you to get
to the Minnesota show driving wise?
It's seven and a half, eight hours from, from home here.
So it is in all likelihood would have been easier to drive down there and pick
up something if you wanted. So, yeah, shipping is a big issue,
(13:10):
and it's an issue that...
Canadian anglers face all the
time and i'll just bring up an
example that i know has been
brought up in the past is there's a company out
of winnipeg musky munchies jeremy wolf does some great stuff does a lot of different
(13:31):
buck that bucktail style bait and he does a prop style bait which you could
compare to the kramer brothers or to like the trilogy style and And when he came out with that,
right away, people are like, oh, it's a copycat bait.
Well, on the surface, yeah, it looks like a copycat bait. It's different enough that it's not exactly.
(13:53):
But he was serving a market in Canada for people that it was impossible to get
one of those Kramer baits in Canada.
For a while, it was almost impossible to get them down there anywhere. work.
So again, it's a Canadian company trying to offer a solution to something that
is very hard to get in Canada.
(14:14):
And another one would be even just trying to get Supernatural Big Baits in Canada.
My wife stocks them in her shop.
Lake of the Woods Sports might stock some, but they're only going to bring in X amount.
And when those are sold out, that's it for the year. And to order one from Duff,
again, dealing with the shipping, if you're not proactive in ordering early,
(14:36):
you may not get that bait for the season.
So some of these companies are building things that, yeah, they look similar
to other companies, but it's serving a completely different market.
And I think somewhere that gets lost in it as well.
I can't argue with that at all. I mean, there is that.
Let's talk about it a little bit, Glenn, for people that don't know him.
(14:58):
Outside of you know americans coming
over to fish what's like we'll call it the
you know the population like what's the muskie angling population like
in canada outside of us i mean are there a
lot of anglers in canada so i'll use my area so i live in vermilion bay so basically
the shores of the lake anybody that's familiar with the herbecks they got out
(15:24):
of andy meyer's that's literally five minutes from my house.
So that's kind of where we're situated.
We're in the middle of Lake of the Woods, Eagle, Cedar, Laksu,
Wabagoon. They're all within an hour.
And locally, I would wager a guess that we probably have...
(15:44):
Maybe a couple hundred anglers
that fish for musty on any kind of
you know regular basis and probably
outside of the guides that work at the camp there's
probably only 30 of us
that i would call hardcore that would
(16:06):
go out for musty only all season and
the guys that are like dedicated like you
know myself and my buddy dave it's probably
half of that and i don't think that's a
stretch you know and that's the vermilion bay dryden
kind of sulacoat maybe into canora
canora is a little bit bigger so i know there's a few more guys
(16:28):
on lake of the woods and down through where thatcher is
and nester falls but it's small it's a very
small population so it's you always
talk about it's a small niche but
it's like a big business i'm not sure how you word it there jeff
but it's like musky small but it it it's
a dedicated group of anglers right yeah for
(16:51):
sure like like you said there's a you know where there's
some hardcore rabid musky anglers and overall
it's i mean we're a drop in the bucket compared to you
know the the overall all you know fishing economy
for lack of a better word and you know
we're nothing but overall you know.
Like within our industry it's actually I mean you can
(17:12):
have a business and you can make money within the
you know the muskie industry there are you know there's
a handful of companies that call it you know their full-time gig there's
not a ton of them but there's definitely you know I guess I don't know how to
say it a reasonable amount like you can run a successful business in the muskie
industry because it's large enough for that but overall within you know the
(17:34):
the general scope of fishing it's peanuts right that's why you some of these
you know companies like we'll use the,
shimano tranks left-handed the 500 everybody wants a 500 in left-handed well
first of all there's not that many you know people that are using left-handed
reels and second of all there you know there's just not a demand for a 500 people
(17:55):
you know reel in that thing i mean they're They're going to sell,
I mean, right off the bat, they'll probably sell a bunch,
but over the course of a year, they're going to sell hardly anything,
and companies don't care about that.
No. And I think those things get, again, get lost in the conversation.
My wife runs a retail shop, Bobby's Sports Shop, and she'll ask me,
(18:16):
okay, what should we bring in?
I'm like, oh, you should bring in, you know, X, Y, and Z product.
And she's like, I've never had anybody ask for that. And I'm like, really?
I'm like, that's like the hot thing in the muskie industry. But locally,
or even with our American tourists that come up here,
and a lot of the tourists
that come to go muskie fishing they're they're
(18:39):
not the rabid diehard anglers they're the weekend anglers this trip to canada
might be their only muskie trip of the year so they might not be as well connected
in the industry as as we see ourselves from the inside and sometimes it's hard
to see you know the label of the bottle when you're on the inside and i I think
we get caught up in that a little bit,
but, you know, going back to the Canadian builders, I think something that really
(19:04):
sets them apart is they're a very small community, very tight knit.
And there's, there's not really a lot of competition between them,
even though they're obviously committed or, you know, some competition for dollars
and for people to buy their baits.
But it, But it's almost like it's that Canadian style of, oh,
(19:28):
we don't want to cause trouble or, you know, we're sorry we're selling the same
bait as you, you know, like kind of the stereotypical kind of Canadian stuff.
But these guys seem to make a living, a side hustle, I guess it would be,
by selling these baits and keeping it small batch.
And very few of them ever want to take it to that next level.
So it is a lot different from a lot of the companies that I see in the States
(19:52):
or those medium sized bait builders in the States that are always trying to
take that one step to get, you know, a little bit bigger and be a little bit more well known.
Right. Well, let's, you know, let's highlight a few of these companies.
And one thing we want to talk about with some of the Canadian,
you know, bait makers, and these aren't necessarily, I would,
I would say this podcast isn't going to be very self-serving, right?
(20:12):
I don't have a ton of Canadian bait makers. I have a couple of them.
So let's talk about some of them that, you know, would be of importance.
That's, you know, if, if, you know, American anglers are looking to try to get
some of these, you know, Canadian, we'll call them treasures,
you know, what are some of them that they should be looking for?
Well i know you had excuse me
satcher on the other day from drop time and obviously
(20:35):
his growler little spinnerbait bit a
wide variety of musky anglers it
it looks small it feels small but it
casts big just because it has enough weight to it has a great thump it looks
great in the water and i think you could use it pretty well anywhere i know
you carry that one like that's obviously a stand hand out style of bait and
(21:00):
looking at a few of the other Canadian companies.
We've done a lot with Adam from top line bait and he come out with a dipstick,
which is, it's, it's a modified dive and rise.
And it, it really caught a lot of fish for us a few years ago.
And again, we, not that we're taking credit for, for making it popular.
(21:24):
We just, We caught a lot of fish and we put it in front of a lot of people's
eyes through our YouTube channel.
And I know that drove a lot of demand. And Adam went down to the New York show
and had a lot of interest for it there, obviously at Odyssey.
So that's another one that I think is a real standout.
And that's the type of bait that I think, again, I don't want to speak for Adam.
(21:47):
Adam, but I think if you reached out to Adam, you could probably get a small
batch of those and test them with your market, Jeff, because I think it's a
well-known enough bait now that that's the type of bait that would work.
Going kind of through that Southern Ontario end, there's Noah Clark from Clarkie Custom Baits.
(22:12):
They build some amazing crankbaits. And those guys are small batch builders
and they do a lot of basically all they're selling from Facebook,
but they're accessible.
It's easy enough to get on there for anybody and get them.
Bryn Roach at BR Baits is another one just makes a standout.
Trolling bait, crankbait, casting bait. those guys
(22:33):
they they're best friends they fish together and they
we did a video from odyssey and
their booths are side by side and you can tell that they're they're
having fun you know being each other's competition and that that's that cool
aspect of the canadian side we've caught fish on both of their lures another
one that stands out to me is matthew chase from mad chase ace lures and he was
(22:59):
out of ottawa builds a lot of bucktails he's building a really unique.
Call it a boiler maker style of beat
but it it does a little bit more than
that that classic boiler maker where it will you can use it almost as like a
dive and rise style of bucktail and he's another one he's very accessible on
(23:21):
social media as a website and these are some of the guys that are kind of trying to break into,
especially that Chicago's area,
trying to break into that Midwest area, maybe not so much into Wisconsin and Minnesota,
but they have enough baits out there that people are starting to be a little
(23:44):
bit more familiar with them.
And we picked up a bunch of other.
Quote-unquote boutique baits at the Odyssey that were real standout.
So those are a couple right off the top of my head. And we can kind of mention
a few others as we go here.
But for you, Jeff, how do you look at what's the criteria for bringing in a
(24:07):
new bait for you from a retail standpoint?
I mean, really, it's about whether or not there's interest between both parties to work together.
That usually is where it starts off. you know some of these smaller bait
manufacturers they don't have any interest in dealing with me right they
can only make i don't know whatever let's just say it's
20 30 50 70 baits in a year and
they can sell them all themselves so like what's the
(24:30):
point of the extra exposure by coming through me right so there is that and
then i would say that's that's one of the first ones and then uh you know i
just want to make sure that we we do the best we can to carry quality products
right if i've never used it touched it put it in my hands i always want to get
my hands on one of them just to make sure that we're not, you know,
I, you know, we do sell some, you know, more mass produced baits,
(24:52):
but I would say the most of the stuff that we have in the shop is the quality stuff.
And so I want to try to maintain that, you know, that standard, I guess I would say.
And so those are like some of the criteria I have right there. You know, we're.
You know, we're also in some cases, I want, you know, some brands that have
a little bit of momentum behind them and we can give them a little bit more
(25:12):
momentum because I mean, I mean, you know, Glenn, I have a website and,
you know, it's mildly successful,
we'll say, and it gets enough, a fair amount of eyeballs every single day.
And so, you know, there is something to be said about our abilities to,
you know, I guess, push a brand in a sense, you know, I mean,
if we put it on the front page of our website and it's going to get seen a bunch of times, right?
(25:35):
So let's, so we can definitely help all brands that way as well.
And we just got to have an interest between both parties that,
you know, to work together.
That's primarily how it goes yeah and
that makes sense and i think coming from the
youtube world i think we look at it the same
way if we showcase a bait
and we put it in front of the eyes of our audience it
(25:59):
we can get it in front of more eyes than
just a single facebook post just
for example and then if we catch a fish on it
obviously that's going to help and same thing of
any of of these other youtube guys or guys that have tv stuff
or do a lot of video style content that stuff
obviously works and i know the boutique style
(26:21):
of builders they're they're always there's a segment
of them that want to grow bigger and then there's a segment of them that they're
happy just being small and i think there is part of that with this canadian
group of guys and we one One of the baits that we picked up this year was a
swim bait and it's from toddy tickle bait. And it.
(26:42):
I had no idea that this company even existed. And Todd Dowell is his name.
Super nice guy. We talked to him at Odyssey, and I've talked to him a number of times since.
We got his bait in the water. I had a little bit of trouble getting it tuned perfectly.
I messaged him. We got on the phone. He helped me tune it.
And like a lot of the smaller batch filters, they're going to make sure they
(27:06):
make it right, whether it's north of the border or south.
But I found this swim bait at Odyssey and we've built a good rapport with Todd
so much so that, you know, I'm sure we'll be getting more of his bait.
But that came from word of mouth of his fans reaching out to me through our
(27:28):
quote unquote fans and telling me that that's a bait that I needed to reach out for.
So we went to Odyssey with the intent
of that was one of the baits that we were gonna you
know step up on and make sure that we paid whatever it was going to take to
get one and we did and it it's like going to the Minnesota show we found some
(27:48):
dates at the Minnesota show that I had never seen before and we showcased them
on our channel so it does happen north and south of the border I just Again,
I think sometimes these Canadian builders, they're building for the Canadian
market primarily because it is a lot easier to ship and get stuff around in Canada.
And some of the Canadian builders have the Shield Lakes in mind,
(28:13):
or they have the Kawarthas in mind, and they're building stuff specifically for a region where...
You know in the states i think especially the mass-produced stuff
it's not so much built for just a
region or built for a single application
so it might be a little bit different that way like maybe
i'm stretching that a bit well you
(28:35):
know what you know glenn you you mentioned how the
toddy tickle baits you you ended up a roundabout
way through your fans telling you about that well that's
kind of how the growler came about through to me i didn't
even know that existed and then i believe it i want to say
it was kevin vendor he's a customer of mine and i
mean i know him well but he's you know he shops with us
(28:57):
quite a bit and he he was the one that had him and
he's like have you ever looked into these baits and i was like never
have honestly and then he's like you should really look into
them it really seems like it's got you know a little bit different and it's
a really quality made bait and so that's how our our relationship came up came
about with the growler i and so i reached out to him and they're like oh yeah
sure we're definitely interested in it you know and then it kind of went from
(29:19):
there so it's kind of a kind of similar how how the story went with same as
you with uh you know the the toddy tickle baits,
Yeah. And I do think that, again, being that kind of small knit community.
Once you're kind of inside of the community, people always reach back and forth
and like, hey, have you tried this?
(29:40):
Or have you tried that? Or have you heard of this bait or heard of that bait?
And I know you and I definitely text back and forth about different things.
And it's the same with other people in the industry.
And I think for the casual angler, sometimes they They don't see that until
a little bit after the fact.
(30:00):
And I think like you had said with social media, nothing remains a secret for very long.
So it is a lot easier in today's day and age to kind of find,
you know, whether it's the hot bait or the hot bite.
And, you know, maybe I'll just touch on a few of them going into our opening
season here that for us, I think will be standout style baits.
(30:23):
And obviously the growler is
going to be a bait that we use year round up here that we
have a lot of confidence in and that's like let's face
it i must be fishing is everything right it's confidence it's whatever
you have confidence in like i honestly think
i could throw a 10 inch monster tube from this
saturday right until the ice is on the lake and i would have confidence that
(30:45):
i would catch on it but is that going to be the right tool every single day
well no it probably won't be but going into this season obviously as i kind
of load up the tackle box tomorrow.
You never know what you're going to get on opening season up here
i just did a little video with my kids we're going to do a preview of the season
and the weather's been really hit and miss and i know you've talked about it
(31:09):
you talked about it with john on on the backlash the other day the weather patterns
have been up and down we've got a lot of rain up here the lake levels are high
the The lake temps are fluctuating.
So it's really going to be a mixed bag up here. So you have to take some stuff
to go fish the sloppy weeds.
You got to take some stuff to fish that outside weed edge. You got to try some deep points.
(31:31):
I want to try some open water stuff and see if some of the bigger fish are out there.
So you really have to take a wide variety of lures.
And for us, it's always about,
taking those known confidence lures so if you're coming to canada you got to
have like a nine or ten inch weighted suic i mean that's that's just a staple
(31:52):
in any box up here it's gonna work basically from opener right till freeze up
you're gonna want to have a couple bucktails.
Pick your size again i don't we don't really buy into the you've got to go small
in the spring because for us, it's almost summertime up here.
So it's more of a, think of it as an early summer pattern as opposed to a spawn type of pattern.
(32:18):
So we pretty much go right into the bigger style bucktails, maybe like fluted
eights would be the smaller size for us in a lot of cases.
Yeah, guys will catch on like the little mep number five. You're always going to get that.
But for the most part, I think you can kind of start to get away from that.
And I think a pattern that gets so overlooked here early in the year is crankbaits.
(32:41):
And over the years, we've done so well on triple Ds, just twitching and cranking
them off of those outside weed edges or off of rock break lines.
It's crazy that people do not reach to crankbaits early in the season.
And it's not something that you typically see here until well into that developed summer pattern.
(33:05):
So that's something we'll be using. We picked up some Ridgeway Customs from
Matt Ridgeway this year.
He makes amazing bait, and we've just kind of started to adopt that into our style.
He's out, I believe he's out of Iowa, and it's a bait that'll fit in with us.
And some of the baits from Clarkie Custom and
(33:26):
BR from Southern Ontario they fit that
triple d style of mold so that's a
pattern that i think guys coming to canada should definitely
look into let's talk about you
know we've we've kind of been all over the place on different baits and
and stuff like that let's talk about you so you're at the minnesota
muskie expo was there anything that you've
(33:49):
picked up there that you know from american companies that you're hoping to
put to use this season it was or or was there anything you've gotten over the
winter maybe you ordered it that that you're hoping to put to put to use this
season so right off the top when we're at the minnesota show we're talking to
jvr at the lax booth and he's like,
you guys got to go check out haymaker lures and we walked over there talked
(34:13):
to justin and he makes some dive and rise and he makes what he calls a six inch
wake bait it looks like a modified hog wobbler.
And we talked to him and his wife. We come home with a dive and rise in this wake bait.
And we just actually showcased it on our channel like a week ago.
It looks absolutely amazing in the water.
(34:35):
It has a great tail kind of wag to it that like the hog wobbler is known for,
but you can use it a little bit quicker than a hog wobbler.
So I think it suits my style of fishing or our style where we don't really finesse fish anymore.
More we've kind of we've adopted that power fishing mentality
that i think a lot of people have these days but
(34:57):
it's the lure that will allow us to slow down but
yet still cover quite a bit of water so
that was one that really really stood out at
us and definitely gotta thank jvr for kind of putting that one on our radar
that one really i think is going to be one that i think when we look back at
the end of the year whether we catch a lot of fish on it or only catch a couple
(35:19):
i think I think it's one that we'll probably look back and say that was a perfect fit for us.
And then we picked up a couple of the smaller bucktails from Musky Addicts.
And they have that jointed style with a willow blade and a small Colorado.
Definitely a unique take on a bucktail. And we talked to John at the show.
(35:40):
He was really nice to talk to. I think at first, he didn't really know who we
were. And then we had bought a couple things.
And then before we left the show, we went back and talked to him a bit more
and then he either must've did research on who we were.
He was much more open with information. And I think their style of lure is very interesting.
(36:01):
We haven't had a chance to really throw them yet, but I think it's interesting
enough that it's going to be, it's going to have a place within,
you know, most people's arsenal because I think it'll be just different enough.
So those were a couple that really stood out at me.
You know, I know last year you guys got a sneak peek, so to speak, on the quad dog.
(36:22):
What do you think the application is going to be for that one for you this season?
And do you think it's going to be a staple in your arsenal?
I do. I think when we got it late last year and we caught right away on it,
basically kind of using it like a tube, like an oversized tube,
(36:42):
casting it out, kind of count it down a bit.
And then like hopping it back to the
boat it fits again it fits
my style of fishing i don't like that super aggressive
pop that a lot of the quote-unquote
wisconsin guys do with the medusa where they really rip and pop that over top
of weeds i've i just don't have confidence in that style so i think using the
(37:07):
quad dog in a slower kind of pull pause more like a bulldog or more More like
a Lake X Toad or a Red October.
I think it fits more with our style. And I think over the past two years,
we've learned to fit a lot deeper.
And sitting over top of 50 feet of water and casting to 25 or 30 and getting
(37:33):
suspended fish that are sitting in 15 or 18, that doesn't bother us anymore.
We're comfortable with that.
And the quad dogs, the style of lure, And I think we'll put more weight on the
head of it and we'll be able to get it down there.
I'm, I'm very surprised that the quad dog, I know it did good on show season,
but I'm surprised that the hype of it kind of seemed to dwindle off or,
(37:58):
or people just kind of mark it up as just another,
you know, another rubber bait, because I do think the guys that use it in the
right way, I think are going to have a lot of success with that bait.
Yeah. Well, I think part of it, you know, is like, as musky anglers,
we all need to rush out and get the latest and the greatest, right?
(38:19):
And then, like, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to,
you know, coming back around on the reorder phase.
So I'd say maybe the hype is somewhat died off because, you know,
early season, I'm assuming, I thought the bait ran a little deep.
I wouldn't say a lot deep, you know, but it ran a little bit deep.
And so i would say that more anglers are probably
(38:40):
focused on that you know that i don't know shallow water and
they're probably not putting the quad dog to use quite
yet i'm i'm just guessing i'm hypothesizing and so once you start to see some
catches on it it'll it'll start to refire you know all it takes is a few people
to start catching on it and then they're you know then other anglers are like
oh man they're catching fish on that i should actually use that bait instead of just collecting it.
(39:04):
So I think that could be something that, you know, spurs that as we move forward here into the season.
Yeah, I think you're exactly right on using it for the right time of season.
Get your take on another bait that I'm really looking forward to getting in
my hands, which I'll have next week when my buddy from Minneapolis comes up,
(39:26):
is the Bowfin from Bam Bam Bait.
And I know it's got a lot of hype over the winter, and Brady's done a really good job with that.
And I think, like you said, the proof is in the pudding.
That thing's catching all over the muskie range already and
we're hoping to have them here by like next thursday so
i'm hoping by next weekend i'll be able to try that
(39:48):
out and i think that's another bait that
right now seems to be like the
hot bait and it's one that i
see everywhere on social media which always
seems to be you know that that's a good thing
right oh for sure i mean as a bait maker that's what
you want right you want it you want people to be using it you want people
(40:09):
to be catching on it you know it's yeah and
i i picked one up i didn't i picked
one up in wasa i didn't throw it yet because i mostly because i haven't musky
fished a ton you heard about it on my on the last episode of backlash podcast
about my i mean that was tripled quadrupled the amount of time i had on the
water was over those two days mostly miserable cold fronts but we managed to
(40:32):
or not cold fronts necessarily,
just front after front managed to get the job done.
But so I haven't put it to put it to the test, but yeah, that was one.
And, you know, we were, we had that conversation about, Hey,
you know, what is it, how is it you decide to put something in the shop?
And that was one that I reached out to him in Wausau. And I said,
Hey, just so you know, if you're ready, I'm ready.
You know, unfortunately for us, he's, you know, he can't build them fast enough. Right.
(40:55):
You kind of described it. I mean, they're, they're obviously catching muskies
and And they're, they appear to be a great bait.
I couldn't tell you the differences, you know, I couldn't tell you what it does
differently, but you know, sometimes it is, maybe it doesn't do anything differently.
Maybe it's a confidence thing. Maybe it's a similar to, cause it's got the twin
fins on there and maybe it's similar to a double dog, but you know,
people are catching on it.
(41:16):
So then they're, you know, it's, it's a feed into the hype thing, right?
More people use it. Is it self-fulfilling prophecy?
You know, more people using it, obviously they should get bit,
right? Right. I mean, it's kind of like, I don't want to bring up the pit bull
all the time, but we were using that over the shoot, you know,
a couple of weeks back or last week.
And we used it more than other baits and we caught fish on it.
(41:36):
Now, would those other baits have caught muskies?
Maybe. I don't know. You know, like it's just kind of one of those things too,
right? I mean, what came first, chicken or the egg kind of a thing?
Well, I hear you. And I know we have a couple of pit bulls and we'll be putting
them to use over the next couple of weeks up here. and I'm pretty sure we'll
be some of the earliest ones on Shield Lakes here to have them.
(41:59):
And I think just because of that additional weight,
And that little bit more of a nose drop, I think it's almost a perfect style
of bait for a shield lake.
And to me, the size might be a little bit small.
That's why we like the MagDog. But I love the idea of the weight placement being slightly different.
(42:21):
And I think that, again, those small differences or small details can really make or break a bait.
And to kind of wrap up the Canadian thing here a little bit,
Jeff, I'd be totally remiss if i didn't talk about dads and
blade baits and you kind of brought up what comes
first right the chicken or the egg and we catch a
(42:41):
ton of fish on dads and blade baits everybody that follows
us knows that and so much so
that it it's almost a running meme with us at this point that it's oh it's caught
on another blade with no name and people can't get them and they're hard to
get that's part of that boutique bait builder thing right like it is hard to
(43:02):
get some of these baits but it goes back to the confidence.
And if I threw other baits, would I catch as many fish?
I would probably catch just about as many fish, but I have so much confidence
in that bucktail that that's almost all I throw.
So that's where the majority of my fish on bucktails come.
Like you say, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it always comes back to confidence.
(43:26):
And anybody listening to this, when you find your confidence bait,
And in some cases, for the weekend angler that catches four or five fish a season,
and they catch three fish on a Medusa, that's their confidence bait.
So when you go out the next time, you have to start there.
It's easy to lose confidence when you're not catching, but it's amazing when
(43:51):
you see somebody with confidence in a boat and see how well they fit any lure.
Because when they're confident in it, they put so much more effort and energy into it.
And that's my biggest piece of advice for anybody coming to Canada.
And I have clients coming up here this weekend is bring your confidence bait.
(44:13):
It may not be the right bait for this time of year, but let's start there.
That's where you're going to have your best success at giving yourself an opportunity.
And then if that's not the right bait, Well, then you can move on from there.
But coming to Canada for a week is not the time for anybody to start experimenting
(44:33):
with new bait, new rods, new lures, new techniques.
You're going to lose time on the water. Start where you have confidence and
then work your way out from there, not vice versa.
Well, it's, it's funny you talk about confidence because I mean, not, not funny.
I guess like I went out whenever, so we've been getting a lot of pictures of
(44:54):
people catching fish on the pit bull.
And like my reply to him is always like, thank you for having the confidence
to throw the lure because I mean, granted it's a bulldog, right?
Bulldogs catch muskies. So it's not like we reinvented the wheel.
And I said that way back in the day, like we didn't reinvent the wheel.
We just made a change to it.
And, you know, it was always like, thank you for having the confidence.
I got a picture from Becca.
(45:15):
She has one because I sent a couple to, we'll call him a friend of TRO.
And so I sent him a couple because I knew he was fishing and I'm like,
here, you know, tell me what you think of these.
And, you know, he got a bit a few times, but he never put it in the net.
And then he said that, you know, his wife was using it or wanted to use it.
And it fit her style because she could throw it all day long.
(45:37):
It was a slightly, you know, and that's what we did, right? We wanted a bait
that had a little larger profile that anglers of all types could throw.
And so she had the confidence to continue to throw it. And she manages to put
her first, I believe it was her first muskie in the net just a couple of days ago.
I mean, you can see the smile on her face. I mean, she's super happy that she got this muskie.
And my reply back was, you know, thank you for having the confidence to throw
(46:01):
that lure because that's, you know, you talked about it, Glenn, right?
You could have probably caught those fish on different bladed baits,
but you have confidence in this lure. So that's what you're catching it on,
right? And it makes sense.
I've told the story on every podcast I've ever been on. I don't believe that
I've ever caught a fish on a Medusa.
It's partially because I don't throw Medusas that much. Like I grew up on Bulldogs,
(46:23):
so I had confidence in Bulldogs.
When I started musky fishing, there was no such thing as a Medusa.
So I'm going to catch them on Bulldogs, and I'm going to continue to throw Bulldogs
because that's what I've caught them on.
I've thrown Medusas for a little while, and then of course
self-fulfilling prophecy right if you take the medusa off
and you put a bulldog on and then a window opens up or you
(46:44):
come across hungry fish you're gonna catch it on a bulldog but my
daughter on the other hand you know she's got a more of an open mind than i
do she's caught fish on medusas lost a lot of them on medusas unfortunately
just hit hitting wrong spots and whatever i mean it's the nature of the beast
when you're fishing rubber but she's she's plenty confident in a medusa so it's
it's kind of one of those things right it's always about
(47:04):
confidence but it's also like you can't catch them on something that you're
not that you don't have confidence to throw,
No, that's right. And to spin it back around to Becca, if she goes fishing with
her husband, what is the very first lure that she's going to grab out of the box?
Guaranteed bar none, she's reaching for that exact same pit bull and that instills confidence in her.
(47:26):
And she's going to fish better the next time she's out because she feels confident.
And as a bait builder, as a guide
as somebody that runs a youtube channel that's
all we can do is try and instill confidence in
people and encourage them to keep getting out
there and keep fishing because the only way to
(47:46):
get good in this game is to put
the time in and catch the fish and if you spend all
summer and you only catch two fish and you get frustrated you're
going to give the sport up pretty quickly and if you
go out and you spend all summer and you catch 20 fish and
you start to gain confidence in three or four lures all of
a sudden you have a completely different outlook on this sport and i just think
(48:11):
that again we need to try and instill that confidence in whatever the bait whatever
the technique whatever it is that we can help other people you know learn or or adopt adopt.
I think that for me, that's the goal of 54 Bucks. And I think a lot of bait
builders, that's what they're trying to do as well.
Absolutely. So Glenn, as I anticipated, we've blown way past the half an hour mark on this podcast.
(48:38):
Typically we try to keep them, you know, half hour, 35 minutes, anywhere from 20 to 35.
So if people, and I'd love to get you back on sometime, cause I feel like we
can continue to go on and on.
When you get too passionate and musky English, just talking about random topics,
things can, uh, they can go on and it on forever.
We could probably go two hours in this one if we needed to, but let's for people
that don't know about 54 bus, they want to learn more about what you up to and check out your content.
(49:00):
Cause you know, I'll give you a tip of the cap. I don't watch a ton of musky content.
I sent you a text. I actually try to stay away from a lot of social media stuff for the most part.
Uh, yes, I do scroll Facebook every day, most of the time when I'm doing business,
but you know, like I'm, I'm not, I try to stay away from a lot of that stuff
at one point in, you You know, my TRO career,
(49:23):
I paid attention to everything and it actually, I think it was just negatively
affecting my, you know, mental state.
And so I try to stay away from much of it, but I do pay attention to your content
because I do think that you guys do a great job, you know, not only with, you know, the editing,
the educational, when you guys are running, you know, baits,
(49:43):
you have some awesome underwater footage and stuff.
So if you can, please let the listeners know where they can find 54Bust.
Well, the easiest way is just go on YouTube, type in 54Bust,
and you'll find us. We're right there.
And we are dedicated to muskie content.
And like I said earlier, we've kind of found our niche in the underwater footage.
(50:07):
And we've had a great deal of support from the muskie community and the muskie industry.
And the fact that we're able to showcase a wide, wide, wide variety of lures
and give very unbiased opinions about them.
And even though we might be sponsored from company A, we can show a lure from company B.
(50:32):
And we've been able to do that in a way that we always try to bring as much
value and entertainment inside of that to our viewers.
So that's kind of what we do socials you
can find me 54 bus or glenn mcdonald you'll be
able to find some links and my phone number and my email i
(50:53):
do do some guiding i usually take 10 to 12
days a season i think i'm at 14 or
17 already so i'm pretty much tapped out
of what i can take for guiding for this year on my my
regular job and helping my wife out but i get
messages every day about the channel from supporters from
quote-unquote fans i always feel harsh
(51:16):
saying that because i don't feel that you know we're worthy of fans but i appreciate
all the support and i appreciate all the support from the greater muskie community
and that's guys like you jeff and i know we've talked a lot via text and you're
somebody that i i would call a friend now and And I truly appreciate that.
So yeah, just reach out to us anytime, 54 a bus, you'll find us everywhere.
(51:40):
Absolutely. Well, Glenn, I want to thank you for your time tonight.
I know that we're a smack dab and you getting prepped up to get your season started.
So I appreciate your time. I hope that you have yourself a amazing start to the musky season.
I'm sure we will see those adventures on your YouTube channel.
And so I just want to, you know, wish you the best of luck this,
you know, I'm sure we'll be in touch, but you know, I want to wish you the best of luck.
(52:01):
And i want to thank all of our listeners for tuning in for another episode this
week i don't know exactly who we're going to talk to next week but i'm sure
i'll find somebody that's willing to pick up the telephone and have a conversation
about some sort of musky gear so with that being said i hope you all have a
great you know fishing season and we'll have another episode again for.
Music.
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