Yeah, I can see how you wouldn't want to throw it with pike around. It's funny, but pike seem to demolish baits much worse than muskies do, even though muskies fight a lot harder. I know when pike get my rubber bulldawgs in canada I can pretty much kiss them goodbye. But the good thing about the waters in Indiana that are stocked with muskie is that they don't have a lot of pike in them just a lot of muskies. Definitely not as many big fish as up North in heaven (Minnesota) but it's fun to go for numbers too. So if I get a taker on the hudd, then it's most likely gonna be a muskie or possibly a bass, although that hasn't happened yet for some reason. I have gotten more muskie follows on the hudd than any other bait so far and now that I've keyed in on the right retrieve I think I've got it dialed in pretty well. I use the 16 rof and tried to count it down and do the slow retrieve like the videos I watched on here of the guy who caught those basketball bass, but that didn't seem to be effective. What did end up working is letting it countdown maybe five feet or so and then retrieving it in super fast like a bucktail. During the retrieve I then rip it hard from time to time which makes the bait turn on its side briefly. The follows are always hot and heavy and the last two fish I caught by doing a big L turn and going into a figure eight at boatside as fast as I could. Both fish followed the bait around for multiple turns (at least 5) and then finally WHAM!!! Boy they sure are fun. Hey SWMB8R, did you use or see anyone with an SS shad when you went muskie fishing? Those things may be good to use out there for those monster bass, maybe. They work good on the big northern strain up here. Here's a pic of the 7.5 I got on an SS shad. Oh, and congratulations on those big muskies by the way. The transition from trophy bass fishing to muskie fishing was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Sure there are different lures and techniques involved, but it still is more akin to trophy hunting than fishing for lots of smaller fish. It's also interesting how chasing big bass is so similar to chasing muskies and I think there are a lot of techniques in both sports than can be applied to the other that will help to make those fishing trips more successful. Bass or muskie, I still get excited no matter which fish decides to hit the bait. Sorry about the length of the post here, I have a hard time getting to a point, lol. It's just that it's easy to drone on and on about fishing. :D

Toad

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/5401-bass3.jpg

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)