Hey, Jerk-bait

[coyotewhacker]

I live not far south of Pomme de Terre and fish it on a regular basis, but have never actually targeted the muskies on Pomme. Since the largemouth bite is going slow, I thought that it might be fun to give the big boys a shot.
Which area of the lake would be the best place to start this time of year? I will be chunking some seriously big inline bucktails, and have some (old)topwater plugs that should be adequate for the job, but other than the vertical walls along Lindley arm, and maybe a couple of coves near the dam, I would not have a clue where to start. Any advice would be appreciated.

[spinnerbait]

At this time of the year the fish are spread out over the lake after their spawn. They will be moving to their summer location. Most of the muskies that are caught this time of the year are caught on bass lures. Large cranks and jerkbaits are good and larger rattletraps are good. Both of the shallow water buoys are good on Martins Flat. There have beenseveral caught on the North bank of Martin Flat. and the three coves east of the dam are also good this time of the year. Earlier the dam itself was good but haven't heard of anyone catching one there lately. Most people are trolling this time of the year and a bucktail in not a bad choice to troll. You can fish it in much shallower water. One other place you can fish is Buttons cove. There are always fish there. Don't lose your bucktails they are great in Sept.

[coyotewhacker]

Thanks a bunch. I'll probably launch out of Pittsburgh or Nemo, so the dam area will be close. Most of my Pomme fishing has been on the Bolivar Landing end, and last fall I was introduced to the upper Lindley arm bassin'. It's beautiful water, but the bass seem to be slow turning on this year.

I've never caught a muskie, but my fishing partner got into a medium size one last year up in Lindley. The fight didn't last long since he was fishing with u/l equipment, but it looked like serious fun! On that same bank, I caught one of the crossbreed "meanmouth" bass. Until I got it to the top, I was thinking maybe a six or seven pounder....those things are strong fighters. It was about three pounds. It's still up there, but a little bigger by now.

[hobiecat]

OK, I gotta ask.

What is a "meanmouth" bass?

[coyotewhacker]

Hobiecat....believe it or not, there really is such a fish. It is a hybrid cross (sterile, I guess) between a Kentucky largemouth and a regular smallmouth bass. I'm not sure if it is a product of a fisheries project or if it is a natural occurrence, but I can tell you this: if you ever tie into one, you are going to have some fun. The fish has more of the features of a largemouth in body shape, but has the smaller head and mouth of the smallies. A good analogy would be that they resemble The Hulk....a body on steroids with a relatively small head, with the attitude of a smallmouth bass. The MDC put out an article on them not long ago in the Conservation mag. Don't remember exactly when, but like you, I had never heard of one until I brought that one to the boat up on Pomme and Billy Boy told me what it was.