June 3, 2024 • 32 mins
Welcome to another episode of Musky Gear Monday on the Team Rhino Outdoors Musky Fishing Podcast! This week, we dive into the gear and tactics used by Austin Wiggerman from Austin Wiggerman's Guide Service. Discover the latest equipment that's been putting fish in the net and get a sneak peek at the new Pit Bull bait exclusive to Team Rhino Outdoors and Musky Innovations.
Join us as we discuss the challenges and joys of guiding, explore the nuances of various fishing rods and reels, and learn about the unique tools and techniques that Austin uses to stay ahead of the curve. Whether you're a seasoned musky angler or just getting started, this episode is packed with valuable insights and tips to enhance your fishing adventures.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Music.
(00:06):
Welcome to another episode of Muskie Gear Monday on Team Rhino Outdoors Muskie Fishing Podcast.
This week I am going to talk to Austin Wiggerman with Austin Wiggerman's Guide
Service and we're going to just break down kind of gear that he's been using on the water,
talk about some gear that's been putting some fish in the net,
and of course where he's been out doing a little bit of testing with the new pit bull.
(00:29):
That'll be exclusive to Team Rhino Outdoors and Muskie Innovations hopefully
at the end of this month so if you are not aware of what that is it is a new
bulldog size that we have coming out slightly weighted a little bit different
and we talk about it in this episode so i'm not going to go into complete detail
right now but you'll be able to find it at.
Teamranoadoors.com or muskinnovations.com and like i
(00:51):
said the plan is to release it at the end of this month i
i'm assuming really right now is just going
to depend on production initially it was held up because we wanted
to make sure that the production baits ran and got
eaten and well i would say the production baits run
and they've gotten eaten so that is no longer
in question now it's just a matter of how fast we can produce more to get them
(01:13):
out to the general public and you know as we move into muskie season many many
anglers are out there fishing now i think we're waiting for canada if i'm not
mistaken or i believe so i think new york and all that i think.
They're all fishing now i think st claire's fishing so we're
waiting on canada but if you're looking for gear for your next musky
(01:34):
fishing adventures make sure you check out team rhino outdoors.com and
as you hear this the new big mac from livingston lures i
believe that should be coming in probably this week if
not very shortly after that's a new top water bait
definitely something you want to check out lately we've been
getting restocked on a few things i would tell you should go check out some
red october custom tubes a few weeks back i talked
(01:56):
to mark from red october tubes we got some really cool custom
painted tubes and they sold ridiculously quick so
make sure you uh get back on the list
if you haven't been to our website and if we're sold out of any
product it doesn't matter which one it is if instead of saying add to cart it
will say email me when available you click that enter your email address select
(02:16):
whatever colors that may be sold out of and you know you just go through the
list quick and do as many colors as you want and you you can get notified via
email automatically when we add stock.
So I think that's about all I have though, this today. Like,
you know, we don't really have much else going on.
I'm going to do a little bit of fishing here this coming week.
So hopefully I have a new episode for everybody on Monday, next Monday, that is.
(02:40):
And I'm trying to track down a Canadian bait maker and I'd love to talk to them
about what they have going on.
Cause it's, you know, some cool stuff, but we'll, um, save that for another
day. And I'm going to dial up that conversation I had with Austin Wiggerman.
All right. My guest this week is Austin Wiggerman. Austin Wiggerman
Guide Service and typically we're not always talking
(03:01):
to guides on this podcast we save that for the backlash podcast
but since we're in the fishing season we're gonna talk to
guides and we're gonna talk about gear you know certain things that have been
working for them on the water and Austin was gracious enough to allow me a little
bit of his time this evening even though it's a Sunday night in fishing season
so Austin thanks for taking the time out of your schedule talk a little bit
(03:23):
about you know what's going on in the water and and what's working for you,
Well, I appreciate you having me on. And absolutely.
It's definitely been a busy schedule recently. I know for myself and you,
but I know I don't have anybody tomorrow.
I think I'm going to head on the water and do a little fun fishing myself.
So I got no problem hopping on here on a late Sunday. So I appreciate it.
What does, what, what is fun fishing for a guide that's not guiding that day?
(03:48):
Like, what does that consist of? boy it's like
what's what's wildly and it's
like the wildly honest truth it's so much
more relaxing and in and it's all
in the sense that like i don't have to
try and watch behind people's baits i don't have to feel as if the boat controls
(04:08):
as perfect and i don't have to like be on my toes and my my entertainment like
have on my entertainment shoes throughout the whole day i can just if if I'm
with a buddy or if I'm with myself,
I can literally go do whatever I want. There's no pressure.
I can go play around with maybe checking new things out that are possibly the
(04:30):
up and coming pattern to see if I can get ahead of the curve or whatever I want to do.
And it's just like the, it's, it's a whole different world of going fishing
for sun fishing than it is guiding for sure. But it's.
Yeah, I don't know. I haven't had too many of those days recently.
So it'll be, I don't know, kind of looking forward to it.
The entertainment side of things is something I think guides vastly underestimate
(04:53):
when they become guides, is how much of it has to do with entertainment.
Yeah, I mean, I always joke around in the boat with guys like,
they didn't teach you that at guide school type of thing.
And there's a lot of that, that certainly throughout the first handful of years
guiding for myself that, I mean, really, there's really no playbook,
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right? So you kind of learn a lot as you go.
And the entertainment side is kind of an obvious one right out of the gates.
But there's so many different personalities and vibes and energy levels that
you see throughout different clientele.
And you kind of have to be able to play it to their strengths more so,
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or you just have to go along with the flow.
So if guys are really easygoing and not looking to run to every spot on full blast and go, go, go,
and they're just looking to chill between spots, you just
kind of got to read the situation because it's but
it's certainly an entertaining factor you gotta you gotta
be able to talk and keep things enjoyable because it's
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muskie fishing you ain't catching fish and having action all
day long so it's a lot of a lot of talking in the boat
for sure well let's talk about that quickly this
has nothing to do with baits or gear or whatever but i'm
just curious like what's your average client like are they like hardcore
muskie angler or are they just kind of like getting into
it like what's that like i don't mean because you
(06:21):
know most of my contacts within the muskie industry
are obviously hardcore guides and guys you know or or anglers i shouldn't say
guys i know many i know many female anglers that really will they'll they'll
grind right i mean they'll grind as hard as anybody else and so but i also think
like i think that type of angler is actually the minority is that what you see on the water.
(06:43):
I would somewhat agree for sure. I think my clientele personally has certainly
evolved over the last four years.
Like right out of the gates, as I would say probably a lot of guides would agree
with, you just accept anybody and you're promoting it to literally anybody.
So whoever hops in your boat, whether they've fished before,
(07:04):
whether they've muskie fished at all, that's kind of your clientele because
you're looking to just get people on the water and get some money.
But nowadays, I would say the vast majority of my clientele is people that have musky fish.
And whether that be they have their own gear or not. But I would say a lot of
people have a rod or reel.
They probably get out, you know, three to six times a year.
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And even a little bit of step above that would be your guys that have boats, have their own gear.
And they might go, you know, five to ten times a year. And they're just looking
to really either continue to evolve their skills or learn something about,
say, fishing rubber baits or they really want to catch one on top water, whatever it may be.
(07:49):
I would say that's probably the makeup of the majority of my clientele.
And then you kind of have the sprinkled first time muskie fishing as well as
the other side of things where they're just as good, if not better than I am in most cases.
And they just don't fish my area, but I'm on something and they came down and
(08:10):
hired me for a day and just looking to pick up whatever extra tips.
So it's a nice mix, but I would say the vast majority of guys,
I'm not really spending too much time teaching them how to work a bait caster anymore.
I'm more dialing in certain bait categories they might not throw as much or
haven't really used to the degree that I have.
(08:31):
Let's talk a little bit about gear what are you using these days for rods and reels,
reels i'm mostly shimano tranks 400s 500s
and then i do have some of the pc phone l joyce been fairly impressed with those
to be honest with you probably will get a few more as time goes on but rods
i'm all saint croix saint croix i was lucky enough to be offered a spot on the
(08:54):
pro Pro staff for last season.
Last season was awesome. This season's been even better. Huge fan of the lineup of Rods there.
And then obviously they have their new lineup, which I would believe started as of last year.
It was the Grasp handle. And I know you guys have talked about it on the Backlash.
I'm sure you've talked about it on this podcast as well.
But that's been a huge positive by all means.
(09:19):
A lot of guys, especially the ones
that are in that category gory of the middle ground
where they have a couple combos and they really don't they don't fish
all that much and they go ahead and bring their own rod and
they end up trying one of mine that i've got they absolutely love it it's the
goofy look from the outside but the second you start to use the new new design
with that grasp it's phenomenal so that's that's really the lineup there and
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then i'm i'm all stealth leaders john's been incredible to me he's got the whole whole lineup that you
could ever need from swim bait leaders to walk the dog
and grenade leaders so that's i'm all wire as well i know a lot of guys quite
ask me questions on that throughout the day they see all the the rods and reels
(10:03):
i got rigged up for the day and they're like you got any ever used fluorocarbon
and i i just don't nowadays i try to take that possibility of equation.
Out of the uh or take the possibility of of having a bite off out of the equation
I always say if you take a shittier pair of scissors and you go ahead and try
to cut your 100-pound braid versus fluorocarbon leader,
(10:25):
it's a heck of a lot easier to cut right through the fluorocarbon than it is your braid.
So I'm all wire, but that's really the line up there.
Alright, so let's talk about St. Croix for a minute. If you had to pick out one St.
Croix rod that you had to throw, that was the only one you could throw for the
day, which one's going to be all around, general all around?
Obviously, they make a whole lineup of rod options.
(10:47):
I mean, I think in the Legend Tournament series that you're talking about,
they must have, I don't know, 17 different models.
But I'm only going to let you pick one. What's the one that's going to be?
See, that is a really tough one. If it was me,
and it was only me, I would say
probably the blue ox and the only reason I say that
is because I think I when I got into muskie fishing I got one of those things
(11:11):
for or was it the chaos shock and awe green rods and they were heavier than
can be and I always broke all my other reels and ended up throwing every bait
I owned on on one of those so from everything within St.
Croix for me personally i'd be able to throw basically every
bait that i'm going to use on a blue ox now if i
(11:31):
could pick a nine six rod it would be the the blade master too for sure if i
had if i felt more comfortable throwing bigger rubber on that rod and i only
had one rod to pick that would be it for sure that rod's been by far my favorite
rod within the lineup just like the most lightweight comfortable Comfortable, balanced,
perfect action rod for basically everything you can do.
(11:55):
So maybe it would be that. Maybe it'd be the Blademaster 2.
That one's certainly a favorite in my books.
But if I was going to throw a Husky Medusa or anything bigger,
I certainly wouldn't strap it on that if I had the option.
That makes sense. That was the one I was going to go with, Blademaster 2.
But you also need to make sure that you're okay with a nine foot six rod because
(12:16):
how many of your clients are love the nine foot six versus say eight foot six.
Well, you know, what's funny about that is I, I do have, I had some last year
that were eight, six and eight footers.
I want to say this year, I've gone to everything that I have in my boats, nine foot to nine, six.
(12:36):
And it's funny because even, even some of the guys that don't have rods that
long that end up trying those, those nine to nine foot six rods,
they're like, wow, this makes things so much easier from, and I don't,
like I said, I don't even have eight sixes anymore.
Everything I have is 9 to 9.6, and everybody that ends up giving it any amount
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of time loves it, whether it's gliding, whether it's anything.
And it also has something probably to do with boat being slightly higher than,
say, you're low to the water.
I don't even know what kind of boats people run these days. But,
I mean, my Triton doesn't sit that high off the water by any means,
but 9 to 9.6 is perfect for every application.
(13:21):
Yeah, definitely. That's good. I mean, I'm glad you mentioned the leader part of things.
I think a lot of people do still use fluorocarbon. I know based off sales they
do, but it definitely seems like it's fairly split.
There's a lot of people that are using a lot of whiter these days too.
And even like the 7-strand and 49-strand, it seems like those are picking up in popularity as well.
Yep. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. There's definitely a lot of people that come
(13:43):
into my boat with fluorocarbon leaders.
I got absolutely no issue with them by any means. And I know right out of the
gates when they started getting popular, I was all about them just in the idea
or the spectrum of trying to stay kind of stealthy.
The more fish you have eat a whole bait and you see the fluorocarbon about chewed
through, you get a little sketched out.
(14:04):
So in terms of just percentage wise, I just personally made the change over,
but nothing against them.
Certainly still a heck of a way to, I guess, attach your bait to the line.
All right. So Austin, right now you've been spending a lot of time in Illinois.
Sounds like you're going to be shifting your operation to both southern Wisconsin
and northern Minnesota.
(14:25):
Soda what's been going on in illinois how's
that been for you it's been phenomenal lately
right now it seems like this is
this is probably that time
frame throughout illinois where i feel like it's just the most fun time of year
that being basically well after post-spawn temps are water temps right now we're
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anywhere from 68 to 74 we've had a few cool nights as of recently that have
dropped some things down,
but I know today was super warm, probably boosted things back up.
Like I said, I wasn't on the water today, but we've seen as high as 76 degree
water temps already, but these cool nights have dropped things back down.
But anyway, basically the fishing has been incredible.
(15:10):
When temps get to about 70, you got a lot of good things going on with this within the system.
You got, I mean, our weed growth, which I know has been talked about.
I just listened to your guys' last backlash and the The last few,
I know you guys have talked about it, but the weed growth this year has been
well beyond what it normally is.
There's weeds in a lot of spots that didn't have weeds.
The weeds are grown out much further than they usually do. That certainly has
(15:34):
opened a lot of opportunity for just quality weed fishing.
And then on top of that, there's been a lot of suspended fish as well.
Well, those suspended fish seem like they, or I guess the population of fish
that are suspending seem like they change day to day.
The cooler nights have definitely sucked a lot of fish back into weeds.
(15:55):
But if you get your high skies warmer
days come late morning 10 30
11 you go check the basin and there's a
lot a lot more fish than there previously was earlier that morning or on any
of the cooler overall days that are out out suspended out deep so you got you
got pretty much everything under the sun available for pattern wise or what
(16:19):
you want to fish so bait wise is kind of it's kind
of fun like i said you you got the best of
all worlds right now going on in northern illinois and i
think that's that's going to be the same case when i get back in
southern wisconsin oh yeah that's
awesome like i i mean it's great to hear that you've been putting fish in the
net have you you know like over the winter and it's still currently i'd say
(16:41):
like the quad dog from musky innovations has been it's been a very popular bait
to start the season off have you had a chance to play around with that bait
yet this year a little bit i i technically don't I don't even own one,
a good buddy of mine bought a couple. He leaves one in the boat,
so I've thrown it around a bit.
Personally, I don't think it's a great client bait for a lot of the people that
I have in the boat and all the people that have thrown rubber and are maybe, say, younger.
(17:07):
It's just fine. I'm all for the big rubber baits, but it is certainly a workout
for a lot of the guys that get put through my boat.
But rubber baits, just the Mag Dog, and then I did snag a few of the Pit Bulls from you.
As of recent, those two have been pretty much the go-to for any suspended rubber fishing.
Yeah i i mean okay so i
(17:29):
didn't pay you to bring up the pit bull but we're going to talk about it for a minute
so that's one of those baits though like if you if if you're not a big fan of
throwing big rubber you know we talked about it you you said you're you know
some of your clients don't want to throw it they don't you know things like
that like i think the pit bull literally should be able to fit in most every
angler's you know wheelhouse i i feel what what's your personal thoughts on it?
(17:52):
I couldn't agree more. I think when I first got word that that was going to
become a thing, which I think was already a little while ago.
I thought it was a great idea.
And then come getting one in my hands, I think that was what kind of really sealed the deal for me.
You don't really realize how big of a gap there is between a reg dog and a mag dog.
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And I I would say as a personal rubber fisherman, I'm not big on really small
rubber. I think it has applications, absolutely.
But if I'm going to grab a rubber bait, I'm most times going to grab for a mid to larger size.
And I can tell you when it comes to seeing the difference that the Pitbull really
filled, as in just options and tool bet, putting another tool in the arsenal,
(18:40):
I think it's absolutely perfect.
Like I said, I've now had a few days out on the water playing with it.
It's been great on open water fish as well, but even the other day,
we had a window where we went shallower.
Fish were earlier in the day responding to blades and topwater over the weeds,
and it seemed like we were in a bit of a lull.
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I snapped on the pit bull, and it was like within the first,
I'm going to say, 15 casts as a real generous amount of casts.
I had lost two fish and we were in six feet of weeds and you can keep that thing
plenty high, snap it real fast and it gets through the weeds super efficiently.
So from the middle of the lake all the way up to fish and shallow weeds,
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it's already proven itself in my boat. So I'm pretty pumped on it.
I'm looking forward to when we finally get the shallow version out to anglers as well.
That was something I had hoped that we were going to test at the same time we had these out to guides.
Because not to make this a pit bull advertisement, but like we will release
these hopefully at the end of this month.
Many guides have them and the early results have been good.
(19:45):
Feedback has been really good on them. And because it's not just the size difference,
it's also got a slightly different weight on the harness.
And I think it makes it hop just a little bit more. I think it's got
a little bit more vertical and in some cases depending on
how you work it it's got a little bit more side to side as well is that something you've
noticed as well well yeah absolutely I know
I sent you a text right when I got them I'm like oh
(20:06):
I forget what the color is already it's like it's like a
see-through almost tannish white color but
you can see the the harness and the weighting in the head
and it's like an obvious obvious difference in
the weighting that you guys have in there and it's it definitely
hops way better and like you said the side to side
action anybody that anybody that allows some
(20:28):
slack in their line as they're working the rubber you'll be
able to notice it immediately i mean if you if you keep a tighter
line when you're just pulling rubber any bait's
going to kind of look fairly subtle or it
doesn't have as much jump around to it but the second you
add any slack to that that bait it has a really
great hop and walk and turns off to one side
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and it's it's you guys did a good job that's for
sure i like i said i thought it was a good idea right
out of the gates you know different sized bait you know in that in that middle
gap but it is it's it's outdone itself in what i originally had thought it was
going to be and i'm like i said i'm i'm jacked about it because i'm not not
a huge guy on a rag dog i think it's just still a little small a little lightweight
(21:12):
to really be able to get after and
the pit bull certainly filled that gap on downsizing rubber.
It's yeah not not an infomercial like
you said but if you if you want to pay me i'm not going to say
no but i i think you've
done done your help there with me i appreciate that but no big big time big
pie big time fan of it so far excellent well i'm hoping i'm actually going to
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go do a little fishing here this week and i'm hoping to get a couple of them
chewed up myself because i haven't had a lot of chance like a chance to play
with it like in real real world
applications right i've spent a lot of time throwing
it around in pools and places i can see it
small ponds whatnot but i haven't done
a lot of it in in a lake so i'm excited to get out and actually spend some time
(21:59):
fishing at this this this coming week well i'm excited for you i can't believe
you actually are gonna let yourself uh get out of the shop and go fishing well
occasionally i schedule stuff in the winter and if i do put it that's the only
way i can do it because otherwise Otherwise it would never happen.
Like there's no way I'd be leaving this weekend or this week if I didn't schedule it, but I did.
So I, uh, if I put it down and I tell somebody, yes, it's in the schedule,
(22:23):
I will make it happen. But if it's not in the schedule, it may not happen.
So, well, well, I'm happy for you. You deserve it. You're hopefully go pound a few of them.
I hope so. It'll be, it'll be fun to get out and fish it.
But you know, one thing I talked about before is in, you can,
you kind of touched on it, you know, like with the blade master too.
That's not an extra heavy action rod i do actually think you could throw the
(22:46):
pitbull with it without any problem i think heavy action rod will work fine
what have you been throwing it with.
Well i've been throwing it with the big nasty or the blue ox but isn't the isn't
the blade master is it just a heavy blade master too i'm pretty sure it is i
think it's a nine foot six,
heavy yes yeah i think you're right now that i think about it
(23:06):
yeah but no i've been throwing it probably mostly with
with a big nasty or the blue ox but yeah you easily could throw it with the
with the blade master no problem i've i've thrown mag dogs on the on the blade
master i think if you're really getting after it it does seem like it loads
the rod more than my personal liking but i think the pitbull would be probably like the perfect,
(23:29):
sized rubber like i throw mid mid medusa's,
not too many regs.
The blade master but the pit bull would be just fine all right
moving on let's talk let's stop talking about that bait i like to talk about it
but let's talk about other stuff anything else that
you've been playing around with that's not like kind of out of the norm you
got any you got any like top anything that's secret anything like oh yeah we've
(23:53):
been catching them on oh yeah i mean if yeah but if i told you i'd probably
you know no i mean i've been i would say the baits that
have been super hot i think like i said there's been a wide variety
of fishing options available i think really
just picking your conditions to be able to go fish certain
baits has been most applicable like top
(24:15):
water wise we've already got a few on cannonball juniors most of
those have come in big winds or big overcast
stormy conditions where as opposed to i
don't think well if you talk to anybody else
that's fishing northern illinois i would say that probably nobody has
really given one of those a shot in open
water scenarios the grenade's been phenomenal the grenade's
(24:37):
been kind of the standby like put one on when you
need to find one of these fish so if the shallow fish
are not responding to your classic baits which
i i've kept things pretty i've been
getting more in the keeping things simple fashion especially
under my guiding conditions and it's basically been
dr evil fat bastard cannonball jr.
(24:58):
Top water wise trigger or
10-9 blade wise and then the second
i get out deep it's been mostly grenade mag dog
pit bull and then the orba has definitely
been doing some work which i know the
orb has been i don't know it's been i guess
somewhat of a secret and it's kind of gotten out more over the last few
(25:19):
years especially with some minnesota stuff going on with it and
a lot of the live imaging use from it but
orba is just kind of one of those perfect combinations between
your rubber bait a lot of nice tail action and
then having some blades on it and that's been that's been
getting it done really well as well yeah that one it's
weird because gosh i want to say we started carrying
(25:41):
that bait isn't new by any means it's i it wouldn't
shock me if it's 10 years old honestly obviously at least
i've been fishing it for probably 10 years so it's
got to be at least 10 years old yeah and like we
would you know we carried it right when it first came out it
sold pretty moderately okay
i guess is the way i would describe it and then all of a sudden like it just
(26:03):
started gaining this following and then now we have a hard time as do almost
every retailer keeping them in stock it's it's blowing my mind great it's just
crazy how it is it's it's It's one of those baits that, again.
I think in today's world, which I know that you've added to this category,
but you've got so many gorgeous looking baits.
You've got so many options, so many colors of this and that,
(26:26):
and custom this and basement built that, that it's like...
If you had to put it on a wall with everything else, you'd never pick it off
the wall. You know what I mean? It just doesn't look like anything special.
But in terms of the way that Bondi makes his baits, and muskies are just dumb
fish, really, that it's an extremely enticing quality fish catcher that I think
(26:50):
the people that know about it and use it understand it.
And the second you put it in the water, you go, okay, yeah, that definitely
actually looks a lot better than I would have imagined.
So it's not the it's not the brightest star on the shelf by all means but it
certainly gets the job done a lot of times when it seems like other normal musky
baits quote unquote are just not,
(27:12):
yeah i could see that it makes sense like you said there's no paints it's
not flashy there's nothing real special about it
but it you know it's just got just a brought brought with
a tail yeah basically it's got this like blunt nose on the front of it yeah
it's just it's like it's a crazy deal but it works obviously you guys are catching
muskies with it you know awesome one thing i want to talk about and this again
(27:32):
has nothing to do with selling anything on a tro i want to talk quickly about
your trips to northern minnesota and like when you start to come into wisconsin.
You you know you said hey financially i'd love to get
a hotel every night or a cabin every night but i sleep in
my truck like what's that all about like how how is that and
how do you prepare for that well how is
(27:53):
that is it's usually it's it's really
not as bad as as you would imagine
i i'll like i'll brag
a little bit i got some seat massagers in my truck so the second after a long
day of fishing or guiding and i just go park in the parking lot and put up my
little my shirts and used clothes as as sun shades and light shades and lay
(28:15):
that thing back and turn on my half an hour massaging seats, I'm pretty much toast.
But it's not usually the greatest. I know last year I was able to shack up with
the hoppies while I was in Minnesota and I was very thankful for that.
But years prior, I've been mostly finding anybody and everybody that will allow
me to sleep at their place while I'm guiding out in that area.
(28:38):
And when not, like you said, I would certainly love a hotel every night.
But when you only got a few options and you're looking and to at least make
some money while you drive from Illinois out there and do some guiding.
Some days that's your only real option.
Makes sense to me. Do you typically sleep in the bed of the truck or are you
(28:59):
sleeping in the inside of the truck?
Oh, I just sleep right in the front seat. Okay. Yeah.
I mean, honestly, I'm a small enough human being that I could certainly lay across my back seats.
But the way I got my truck organized when I do drive out there is I have both back seats up.
And then I usually have all my clothing and like crafts from my boat and my
(29:22):
whatever in the back seat. and I have like hanging thing to hang all my clothes and shit.
But really, I just lean that front seat back and call her a day.
And I'm usually, it's usually actually a little bit of a relief because the
second I wake up to go to the lake, I'm only a few minutes from the lake most
times as opposed to every single day when I'm guiding in Illinois.
(29:44):
I got an hour drive to and from the lake every day and then I'm putting the
boat back on my truck and taking all the graphs on and off. So it's almost like less work.
It's just, you don't have to drive to your bed. You just kind of go park,
find a place to plug the boat in and you're ready to go basically the next day. So it's kind of nice.
Yeah, that's awesome. Yep. That's great.
Well, Austin, you know, I really appreciate your time. That's 28 minutes is
(30:08):
what I got so far on this one.
And that's about all I, all I do for this podcast, kind of get in,
talk a little bit about gear.
And since everybody's, you know, most everybody's fishing right now,
we can talk to a variety of guides and, you know, find out what's working for
them on the water. And I, you know, that's kind of what we did here.
If somebody's looking to get in touch with you, they want to book a trip with
you, how do they go about doing that?
(30:28):
Best way is just somewhere on my phone or socials. Socials, just everything under Austin Wigerman.
Don't have a guide service page yet, but phone number is 815-575-3468.
And yeah, got a handful of open dates left for June, lots in July for Lake Geneva
and some in Northern Illinois, Fox Chain.
(30:50):
And then I'll be in Minnesota for August, first week of September up in the
DL, Miltona area. you and then back on Geneva for the rest of the year.
So I got fall dates there as well. So love to have you in the boat.
And I definitely appreciate you having me on tonight, Jeff.
Yeah, I guess that I appreciate it. And hopefully we'll get you on Backlash at some point.
(31:10):
And for people that haven't, I'm assuming most people would know of Backlash
podcast, but if you haven't listened to it, that's our other podcast that we
do every single week. Find it on the same platform as you find this podcast.
And that one, I have a co-host on Brad Hoppe with Musky Mayhem Tackle.
Slightly longer form not quite this
one's usually 15 minutes to a half an hour that one's
(31:31):
usually 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes so
if you want a little longer in-depth you know breakdown of
you know what's going on the water go check that out typically on this one
we try to stick to gear and not so much like locations and weeds and how to
work electronics and all that kind of stuff so i want to thank everybody for
tuning in to another episode of team rhino outdoors muskie fishing podcasts
and assuming i get my job done this week and before i hit the road going fishing
(31:55):
i'll have a new episode again for you next week monday so thank you all and good luck fishing.
Music.
Music.
(00:06):
Welcome to another episode of Muskie Gear Monday on Team Rhino Outdoors Muskie Fishing Podcast.
This week I am going to talk to Austin Wiggerman with Austin Wiggerman's Guide
Service and we're going to just break down kind of gear that he's been using on the water,
talk about some gear that's been putting some fish in the net,
and of course where he's been out doing a little bit of testing with the new pit bull.
(00:29):
That'll be exclusive to Team Rhino Outdoors and Muskie Innovations hopefully
at the end of this month so if you are not aware of what that is it is a new
bulldog size that we have coming out slightly weighted a little bit different
and we talk about it in this episode so i'm not going to go into complete detail
right now but you'll be able to find it at.
Teamranoadoors.com or muskinnovations.com and like i
(00:51):
said the plan is to release it at the end of this month i
i'm assuming really right now is just going
to depend on production initially it was held up because we wanted
to make sure that the production baits ran and got
eaten and well i would say the production baits run
and they've gotten eaten so that is no longer
in question now it's just a matter of how fast we can produce more to get them
(01:13):
out to the general public and you know as we move into muskie season many many
anglers are out there fishing now i think we're waiting for canada if i'm not
mistaken or i believe so i think new york and all that i think.
They're all fishing now i think st claire's fishing so we're
waiting on canada but if you're looking for gear for your next musky
(01:34):
fishing adventures make sure you check out team rhino outdoors.com and
as you hear this the new big mac from livingston lures i
believe that should be coming in probably this week if
not very shortly after that's a new top water bait
definitely something you want to check out lately we've been
getting restocked on a few things i would tell you should go check out some
red october custom tubes a few weeks back i talked
(01:56):
to mark from red october tubes we got some really cool custom
painted tubes and they sold ridiculously quick so
make sure you uh get back on the list
if you haven't been to our website and if we're sold out of any
product it doesn't matter which one it is if instead of saying add to cart it
will say email me when available you click that enter your email address select
(02:16):
whatever colors that may be sold out of and you know you just go through the
list quick and do as many colors as you want and you you can get notified via
email automatically when we add stock.
So I think that's about all I have though, this today. Like,
you know, we don't really have much else going on.
I'm going to do a little bit of fishing here this coming week.
So hopefully I have a new episode for everybody on Monday, next Monday, that is.
(02:40):
And I'm trying to track down a Canadian bait maker and I'd love to talk to them
about what they have going on.
Cause it's, you know, some cool stuff, but we'll, um, save that for another
day. And I'm going to dial up that conversation I had with Austin Wiggerman.
All right. My guest this week is Austin Wiggerman. Austin Wiggerman
Guide Service and typically we're not always talking
(03:01):
to guides on this podcast we save that for the backlash podcast
but since we're in the fishing season we're gonna talk to
guides and we're gonna talk about gear you know certain things that have been
working for them on the water and Austin was gracious enough to allow me a little
bit of his time this evening even though it's a Sunday night in fishing season
so Austin thanks for taking the time out of your schedule talk a little bit
(03:23):
about you know what's going on in the water and and what's working for you,
Well, I appreciate you having me on. And absolutely.
It's definitely been a busy schedule recently. I know for myself and you,
but I know I don't have anybody tomorrow.
I think I'm going to head on the water and do a little fun fishing myself.
So I got no problem hopping on here on a late Sunday. So I appreciate it.
What does, what, what is fun fishing for a guide that's not guiding that day?
(03:48):
Like, what does that consist of? boy it's like
what's what's wildly and it's
like the wildly honest truth it's so much
more relaxing and in and it's all
in the sense that like i don't have to
try and watch behind people's baits i don't have to feel as if the boat controls
(04:08):
as perfect and i don't have to like be on my toes and my my entertainment like
have on my entertainment shoes throughout the whole day i can just if if I'm
with a buddy or if I'm with myself,
I can literally go do whatever I want. There's no pressure.
I can go play around with maybe checking new things out that are possibly the
(04:30):
up and coming pattern to see if I can get ahead of the curve or whatever I want to do.
And it's just like the, it's, it's a whole different world of going fishing
for sun fishing than it is guiding for sure. But it's.
Yeah, I don't know. I haven't had too many of those days recently.
So it'll be, I don't know, kind of looking forward to it.
The entertainment side of things is something I think guides vastly underestimate
(04:53):
when they become guides, is how much of it has to do with entertainment.
Yeah, I mean, I always joke around in the boat with guys like,
they didn't teach you that at guide school type of thing.
And there's a lot of that, that certainly throughout the first handful of years
guiding for myself that, I mean, really, there's really no playbook,
(05:16):
right? So you kind of learn a lot as you go.
And the entertainment side is kind of an obvious one right out of the gates.
But there's so many different personalities and vibes and energy levels that
you see throughout different clientele.
And you kind of have to be able to play it to their strengths more so,
(05:40):
or you just have to go along with the flow.
So if guys are really easygoing and not looking to run to every spot on full blast and go, go, go,
and they're just looking to chill between spots, you just
kind of got to read the situation because it's but
it's certainly an entertaining factor you gotta you gotta
be able to talk and keep things enjoyable because it's
(06:00):
muskie fishing you ain't catching fish and having action all
day long so it's a lot of a lot of talking in the boat
for sure well let's talk about that quickly this
has nothing to do with baits or gear or whatever but i'm
just curious like what's your average client like are they like hardcore
muskie angler or are they just kind of like getting into
it like what's that like i don't mean because you
(06:21):
know most of my contacts within the muskie industry
are obviously hardcore guides and guys you know or or anglers i shouldn't say
guys i know many i know many female anglers that really will they'll they'll
grind right i mean they'll grind as hard as anybody else and so but i also think
like i think that type of angler is actually the minority is that what you see on the water.
(06:43):
I would somewhat agree for sure. I think my clientele personally has certainly
evolved over the last four years.
Like right out of the gates, as I would say probably a lot of guides would agree
with, you just accept anybody and you're promoting it to literally anybody.
So whoever hops in your boat, whether they've fished before,
(07:04):
whether they've muskie fished at all, that's kind of your clientele because
you're looking to just get people on the water and get some money.
But nowadays, I would say the vast majority of my clientele is people that have musky fish.
And whether that be they have their own gear or not. But I would say a lot of
people have a rod or reel.
They probably get out, you know, three to six times a year.
(07:29):
And even a little bit of step above that would be your guys that have boats, have their own gear.
And they might go, you know, five to ten times a year. And they're just looking
to really either continue to evolve their skills or learn something about,
say, fishing rubber baits or they really want to catch one on top water, whatever it may be.
(07:49):
I would say that's probably the makeup of the majority of my clientele.
And then you kind of have the sprinkled first time muskie fishing as well as
the other side of things where they're just as good, if not better than I am in most cases.
And they just don't fish my area, but I'm on something and they came down and
(08:10):
hired me for a day and just looking to pick up whatever extra tips.
So it's a nice mix, but I would say the vast majority of guys,
I'm not really spending too much time teaching them how to work a bait caster anymore.
I'm more dialing in certain bait categories they might not throw as much or
haven't really used to the degree that I have.
(08:31):
Let's talk a little bit about gear what are you using these days for rods and reels,
reels i'm mostly shimano tranks 400s 500s
and then i do have some of the pc phone l joyce been fairly impressed with those
to be honest with you probably will get a few more as time goes on but rods
i'm all saint croix saint croix i was lucky enough to be offered a spot on the
(08:54):
pro Pro staff for last season.
Last season was awesome. This season's been even better. Huge fan of the lineup of Rods there.
And then obviously they have their new lineup, which I would believe started as of last year.
It was the Grasp handle. And I know you guys have talked about it on the Backlash.
I'm sure you've talked about it on this podcast as well.
But that's been a huge positive by all means.
(09:19):
A lot of guys, especially the ones
that are in that category gory of the middle ground
where they have a couple combos and they really don't they don't fish
all that much and they go ahead and bring their own rod and
they end up trying one of mine that i've got they absolutely love it it's the
goofy look from the outside but the second you start to use the new new design
with that grasp it's phenomenal so that's that's really the lineup there and
(09:43):
then i'm i'm all stealth leaders john's been incredible to me he's got the whole whole lineup that you
could ever need from swim bait leaders to walk the dog
and grenade leaders so that's i'm all wire as well i know a lot of guys quite
ask me questions on that throughout the day they see all the the rods and reels
(10:03):
i got rigged up for the day and they're like you got any ever used fluorocarbon
and i i just don't nowadays i try to take that possibility of equation.
Out of the uh or take the possibility of of having a bite off out of the equation
I always say if you take a shittier pair of scissors and you go ahead and try
to cut your 100-pound braid versus fluorocarbon leader,
(10:25):
it's a heck of a lot easier to cut right through the fluorocarbon than it is your braid.
So I'm all wire, but that's really the line up there.
Alright, so let's talk about St. Croix for a minute. If you had to pick out one St.
Croix rod that you had to throw, that was the only one you could throw for the
day, which one's going to be all around, general all around?
Obviously, they make a whole lineup of rod options.
(10:47):
I mean, I think in the Legend Tournament series that you're talking about,
they must have, I don't know, 17 different models.
But I'm only going to let you pick one. What's the one that's going to be?
See, that is a really tough one. If it was me,
and it was only me, I would say
probably the blue ox and the only reason I say that
is because I think I when I got into muskie fishing I got one of those things
(11:11):
for or was it the chaos shock and awe green rods and they were heavier than
can be and I always broke all my other reels and ended up throwing every bait
I owned on on one of those so from everything within St.
Croix for me personally i'd be able to throw basically every
bait that i'm going to use on a blue ox now if i
(11:31):
could pick a nine six rod it would be the the blade master too for sure if i
had if i felt more comfortable throwing bigger rubber on that rod and i only
had one rod to pick that would be it for sure that rod's been by far my favorite
rod within the lineup just like the most lightweight comfortable Comfortable, balanced,
perfect action rod for basically everything you can do.
(11:55):
So maybe it would be that. Maybe it'd be the Blademaster 2.
That one's certainly a favorite in my books.
But if I was going to throw a Husky Medusa or anything bigger,
I certainly wouldn't strap it on that if I had the option.
That makes sense. That was the one I was going to go with, Blademaster 2.
But you also need to make sure that you're okay with a nine foot six rod because
(12:16):
how many of your clients are love the nine foot six versus say eight foot six.
Well, you know, what's funny about that is I, I do have, I had some last year
that were eight, six and eight footers.
I want to say this year, I've gone to everything that I have in my boats, nine foot to nine, six.
(12:36):
And it's funny because even, even some of the guys that don't have rods that
long that end up trying those, those nine to nine foot six rods,
they're like, wow, this makes things so much easier from, and I don't,
like I said, I don't even have eight sixes anymore.
Everything I have is 9 to 9.6, and everybody that ends up giving it any amount
(12:58):
of time loves it, whether it's gliding, whether it's anything.
And it also has something probably to do with boat being slightly higher than,
say, you're low to the water.
I don't even know what kind of boats people run these days. But,
I mean, my Triton doesn't sit that high off the water by any means,
but 9 to 9.6 is perfect for every application.
(13:21):
Yeah, definitely. That's good. I mean, I'm glad you mentioned the leader part of things.
I think a lot of people do still use fluorocarbon. I know based off sales they
do, but it definitely seems like it's fairly split.
There's a lot of people that are using a lot of whiter these days too.
And even like the 7-strand and 49-strand, it seems like those are picking up in popularity as well.
Yep. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. There's definitely a lot of people that come
(13:43):
into my boat with fluorocarbon leaders.
I got absolutely no issue with them by any means. And I know right out of the
gates when they started getting popular, I was all about them just in the idea
or the spectrum of trying to stay kind of stealthy.
The more fish you have eat a whole bait and you see the fluorocarbon about chewed
through, you get a little sketched out.
(14:04):
So in terms of just percentage wise, I just personally made the change over,
but nothing against them.
Certainly still a heck of a way to, I guess, attach your bait to the line.
All right. So Austin, right now you've been spending a lot of time in Illinois.
Sounds like you're going to be shifting your operation to both southern Wisconsin
and northern Minnesota.
(14:25):
Soda what's been going on in illinois how's
that been for you it's been phenomenal lately
right now it seems like this is
this is probably that time
frame throughout illinois where i feel like it's just the most fun time of year
that being basically well after post-spawn temps are water temps right now we're
(14:50):
anywhere from 68 to 74 we've had a few cool nights as of recently that have
dropped some things down,
but I know today was super warm, probably boosted things back up.
Like I said, I wasn't on the water today, but we've seen as high as 76 degree
water temps already, but these cool nights have dropped things back down.
But anyway, basically the fishing has been incredible.
(15:10):
When temps get to about 70, you got a lot of good things going on with this within the system.
You got, I mean, our weed growth, which I know has been talked about.
I just listened to your guys' last backlash and the The last few,
I know you guys have talked about it, but the weed growth this year has been
well beyond what it normally is.
There's weeds in a lot of spots that didn't have weeds.
The weeds are grown out much further than they usually do. That certainly has
(15:34):
opened a lot of opportunity for just quality weed fishing.
And then on top of that, there's been a lot of suspended fish as well.
Well, those suspended fish seem like they, or I guess the population of fish
that are suspending seem like they change day to day.
The cooler nights have definitely sucked a lot of fish back into weeds.
(15:55):
But if you get your high skies warmer
days come late morning 10 30
11 you go check the basin and there's a
lot a lot more fish than there previously was earlier that morning or on any
of the cooler overall days that are out out suspended out deep so you got you
got pretty much everything under the sun available for pattern wise or what
(16:19):
you want to fish so bait wise is kind of it's kind
of fun like i said you you got the best of
all worlds right now going on in northern illinois and i
think that's that's going to be the same case when i get back in
southern wisconsin oh yeah that's
awesome like i i mean it's great to hear that you've been putting fish in the
net have you you know like over the winter and it's still currently i'd say
(16:41):
like the quad dog from musky innovations has been it's been a very popular bait
to start the season off have you had a chance to play around with that bait
yet this year a little bit i i technically don't I don't even own one,
a good buddy of mine bought a couple. He leaves one in the boat,
so I've thrown it around a bit.
Personally, I don't think it's a great client bait for a lot of the people that
I have in the boat and all the people that have thrown rubber and are maybe, say, younger.
(17:07):
It's just fine. I'm all for the big rubber baits, but it is certainly a workout
for a lot of the guys that get put through my boat.
But rubber baits, just the Mag Dog, and then I did snag a few of the Pit Bulls from you.
As of recent, those two have been pretty much the go-to for any suspended rubber fishing.
Yeah i i mean okay so i
(17:29):
didn't pay you to bring up the pit bull but we're going to talk about it for a minute
so that's one of those baits though like if you if if you're not a big fan of
throwing big rubber you know we talked about it you you said you're you know
some of your clients don't want to throw it they don't you know things like
that like i think the pit bull literally should be able to fit in most every
angler's you know wheelhouse i i feel what what's your personal thoughts on it?
(17:52):
I couldn't agree more. I think when I first got word that that was going to
become a thing, which I think was already a little while ago.
I thought it was a great idea.
And then come getting one in my hands, I think that was what kind of really sealed the deal for me.
You don't really realize how big of a gap there is between a reg dog and a mag dog.
(18:15):
And I I would say as a personal rubber fisherman, I'm not big on really small
rubber. I think it has applications, absolutely.
But if I'm going to grab a rubber bait, I'm most times going to grab for a mid to larger size.
And I can tell you when it comes to seeing the difference that the Pitbull really
filled, as in just options and tool bet, putting another tool in the arsenal,
(18:40):
I think it's absolutely perfect.
Like I said, I've now had a few days out on the water playing with it.
It's been great on open water fish as well, but even the other day,
we had a window where we went shallower.
Fish were earlier in the day responding to blades and topwater over the weeds,
and it seemed like we were in a bit of a lull.
(19:00):
I snapped on the pit bull, and it was like within the first,
I'm going to say, 15 casts as a real generous amount of casts.
I had lost two fish and we were in six feet of weeds and you can keep that thing
plenty high, snap it real fast and it gets through the weeds super efficiently.
So from the middle of the lake all the way up to fish and shallow weeds,
(19:21):
it's already proven itself in my boat. So I'm pretty pumped on it.
I'm looking forward to when we finally get the shallow version out to anglers as well.
That was something I had hoped that we were going to test at the same time we had these out to guides.
Because not to make this a pit bull advertisement, but like we will release
these hopefully at the end of this month.
Many guides have them and the early results have been good.
(19:45):
Feedback has been really good on them. And because it's not just the size difference,
it's also got a slightly different weight on the harness.
And I think it makes it hop just a little bit more. I think it's got
a little bit more vertical and in some cases depending on
how you work it it's got a little bit more side to side as well is that something you've
noticed as well well yeah absolutely I know
I sent you a text right when I got them I'm like oh
(20:06):
I forget what the color is already it's like it's like a
see-through almost tannish white color but
you can see the the harness and the weighting in the head
and it's like an obvious obvious difference in
the weighting that you guys have in there and it's it definitely
hops way better and like you said the side to side
action anybody that anybody that allows some
(20:28):
slack in their line as they're working the rubber you'll be
able to notice it immediately i mean if you if you keep a tighter
line when you're just pulling rubber any bait's
going to kind of look fairly subtle or it
doesn't have as much jump around to it but the second you
add any slack to that that bait it has a really
great hop and walk and turns off to one side
(20:49):
and it's it's you guys did a good job that's for
sure i like i said i thought it was a good idea right
out of the gates you know different sized bait you know in that in that middle
gap but it is it's it's outdone itself in what i originally had thought it was
going to be and i'm like i said i'm i'm jacked about it because i'm not not
a huge guy on a rag dog i think it's just still a little small a little lightweight
(21:12):
to really be able to get after and
the pit bull certainly filled that gap on downsizing rubber.
It's yeah not not an infomercial like
you said but if you if you want to pay me i'm not going to say
no but i i think you've
done done your help there with me i appreciate that but no big big time big
pie big time fan of it so far excellent well i'm hoping i'm actually going to
(21:36):
go do a little fishing here this week and i'm hoping to get a couple of them
chewed up myself because i haven't had a lot of chance like a chance to play
with it like in real real world
applications right i've spent a lot of time throwing
it around in pools and places i can see it
small ponds whatnot but i haven't done
a lot of it in in a lake so i'm excited to get out and actually spend some time
(21:59):
fishing at this this this coming week well i'm excited for you i can't believe
you actually are gonna let yourself uh get out of the shop and go fishing well
occasionally i schedule stuff in the winter and if i do put it that's the only
way i can do it because otherwise Otherwise it would never happen.
Like there's no way I'd be leaving this weekend or this week if I didn't schedule it, but I did.
So I, uh, if I put it down and I tell somebody, yes, it's in the schedule,
(22:23):
I will make it happen. But if it's not in the schedule, it may not happen.
So, well, well, I'm happy for you. You deserve it. You're hopefully go pound a few of them.
I hope so. It'll be, it'll be fun to get out and fish it.
But you know, one thing I talked about before is in, you can,
you kind of touched on it, you know, like with the blade master too.
That's not an extra heavy action rod i do actually think you could throw the
(22:46):
pitbull with it without any problem i think heavy action rod will work fine
what have you been throwing it with.
Well i've been throwing it with the big nasty or the blue ox but isn't the isn't
the blade master is it just a heavy blade master too i'm pretty sure it is i
think it's a nine foot six,
heavy yes yeah i think you're right now that i think about it
(23:06):
yeah but no i've been throwing it probably mostly with
with a big nasty or the blue ox but yeah you easily could throw it with the
with the blade master no problem i've i've thrown mag dogs on the on the blade
master i think if you're really getting after it it does seem like it loads
the rod more than my personal liking but i think the pitbull would be probably like the perfect,
(23:29):
sized rubber like i throw mid mid medusa's,
not too many regs.
The blade master but the pit bull would be just fine all right
moving on let's talk let's stop talking about that bait i like to talk about it
but let's talk about other stuff anything else that
you've been playing around with that's not like kind of out of the norm you
got any you got any like top anything that's secret anything like oh yeah we've
(23:53):
been catching them on oh yeah i mean if yeah but if i told you i'd probably
you know no i mean i've been i would say the baits that
have been super hot i think like i said there's been a wide variety
of fishing options available i think really
just picking your conditions to be able to go fish certain
baits has been most applicable like top
(24:15):
water wise we've already got a few on cannonball juniors most of
those have come in big winds or big overcast
stormy conditions where as opposed to i
don't think well if you talk to anybody else
that's fishing northern illinois i would say that probably nobody has
really given one of those a shot in open
water scenarios the grenade's been phenomenal the grenade's
(24:37):
been kind of the standby like put one on when you
need to find one of these fish so if the shallow fish
are not responding to your classic baits which
i i've kept things pretty i've been
getting more in the keeping things simple fashion especially
under my guiding conditions and it's basically been
dr evil fat bastard cannonball jr.
(24:58):
Top water wise trigger or
10-9 blade wise and then the second
i get out deep it's been mostly grenade mag dog
pit bull and then the orba has definitely
been doing some work which i know the
orb has been i don't know it's been i guess
somewhat of a secret and it's kind of gotten out more over the last few
(25:19):
years especially with some minnesota stuff going on with it and
a lot of the live imaging use from it but
orba is just kind of one of those perfect combinations between
your rubber bait a lot of nice tail action and
then having some blades on it and that's been that's been
getting it done really well as well yeah that one it's
weird because gosh i want to say we started carrying
(25:41):
that bait isn't new by any means it's i it wouldn't
shock me if it's 10 years old honestly obviously at least
i've been fishing it for probably 10 years so it's
got to be at least 10 years old yeah and like we
would you know we carried it right when it first came out it
sold pretty moderately okay
i guess is the way i would describe it and then all of a sudden like it just
(26:03):
started gaining this following and then now we have a hard time as do almost
every retailer keeping them in stock it's it's blowing my mind great it's just
crazy how it is it's it's It's one of those baits that, again.
I think in today's world, which I know that you've added to this category,
but you've got so many gorgeous looking baits.
You've got so many options, so many colors of this and that,
(26:26):
and custom this and basement built that, that it's like...
If you had to put it on a wall with everything else, you'd never pick it off
the wall. You know what I mean? It just doesn't look like anything special.
But in terms of the way that Bondi makes his baits, and muskies are just dumb
fish, really, that it's an extremely enticing quality fish catcher that I think
(26:50):
the people that know about it and use it understand it.
And the second you put it in the water, you go, okay, yeah, that definitely
actually looks a lot better than I would have imagined.
So it's not the it's not the brightest star on the shelf by all means but it
certainly gets the job done a lot of times when it seems like other normal musky
baits quote unquote are just not,
(27:12):
yeah i could see that it makes sense like you said there's no paints it's
not flashy there's nothing real special about it
but it you know it's just got just a brought brought with
a tail yeah basically it's got this like blunt nose on the front of it yeah
it's just it's like it's a crazy deal but it works obviously you guys are catching
muskies with it you know awesome one thing i want to talk about and this again
(27:32):
has nothing to do with selling anything on a tro i want to talk quickly about
your trips to northern minnesota and like when you start to come into wisconsin.
You you know you said hey financially i'd love to get
a hotel every night or a cabin every night but i sleep in
my truck like what's that all about like how how is that and
how do you prepare for that well how is
(27:53):
that is it's usually it's it's really
not as bad as as you would imagine
i i'll like i'll brag
a little bit i got some seat massagers in my truck so the second after a long
day of fishing or guiding and i just go park in the parking lot and put up my
little my shirts and used clothes as as sun shades and light shades and lay
(28:15):
that thing back and turn on my half an hour massaging seats, I'm pretty much toast.
But it's not usually the greatest. I know last year I was able to shack up with
the hoppies while I was in Minnesota and I was very thankful for that.
But years prior, I've been mostly finding anybody and everybody that will allow
me to sleep at their place while I'm guiding out in that area.
(28:38):
And when not, like you said, I would certainly love a hotel every night.
But when you only got a few options and you're looking and to at least make
some money while you drive from Illinois out there and do some guiding.
Some days that's your only real option.
Makes sense to me. Do you typically sleep in the bed of the truck or are you
(28:59):
sleeping in the inside of the truck?
Oh, I just sleep right in the front seat. Okay. Yeah.
I mean, honestly, I'm a small enough human being that I could certainly lay across my back seats.
But the way I got my truck organized when I do drive out there is I have both back seats up.
And then I usually have all my clothing and like crafts from my boat and my
(29:22):
whatever in the back seat. and I have like hanging thing to hang all my clothes and shit.
But really, I just lean that front seat back and call her a day.
And I'm usually, it's usually actually a little bit of a relief because the
second I wake up to go to the lake, I'm only a few minutes from the lake most
times as opposed to every single day when I'm guiding in Illinois.
(29:44):
I got an hour drive to and from the lake every day and then I'm putting the
boat back on my truck and taking all the graphs on and off. So it's almost like less work.
It's just, you don't have to drive to your bed. You just kind of go park,
find a place to plug the boat in and you're ready to go basically the next day. So it's kind of nice.
Yeah, that's awesome. Yep. That's great.
Well, Austin, you know, I really appreciate your time. That's 28 minutes is
(30:08):
what I got so far on this one.
And that's about all I, all I do for this podcast, kind of get in,
talk a little bit about gear.
And since everybody's, you know, most everybody's fishing right now,
we can talk to a variety of guides and, you know, find out what's working for
them on the water. And I, you know, that's kind of what we did here.
If somebody's looking to get in touch with you, they want to book a trip with
you, how do they go about doing that?
(30:28):
Best way is just somewhere on my phone or socials. Socials, just everything under Austin Wigerman.
Don't have a guide service page yet, but phone number is 815-575-3468.
And yeah, got a handful of open dates left for June, lots in July for Lake Geneva
and some in Northern Illinois, Fox Chain.
(30:50):
And then I'll be in Minnesota for August, first week of September up in the
DL, Miltona area. you and then back on Geneva for the rest of the year.
So I got fall dates there as well. So love to have you in the boat.
And I definitely appreciate you having me on tonight, Jeff.
Yeah, I guess that I appreciate it. And hopefully we'll get you on Backlash at some point.
(31:10):
And for people that haven't, I'm assuming most people would know of Backlash
podcast, but if you haven't listened to it, that's our other podcast that we
do every single week. Find it on the same platform as you find this podcast.
And that one, I have a co-host on Brad Hoppe with Musky Mayhem Tackle.
Slightly longer form not quite this
one's usually 15 minutes to a half an hour that one's
(31:31):
usually 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes so
if you want a little longer in-depth you know breakdown of
you know what's going on the water go check that out typically on this one
we try to stick to gear and not so much like locations and weeds and how to
work electronics and all that kind of stuff so i want to thank everybody for
tuning in to another episode of team rhino outdoors muskie fishing podcasts
and assuming i get my job done this week and before i hit the road going fishing
(31:55):
i'll have a new episode again for you next week monday so thank you all and good luck fishing.
Music.
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