Bucktails With A Twist
Craig Sandell © 2006

There is a school of thought that says that a bucktail with a little flash has a better chance of attracting the attention of a Muskie or a Northern.

Recently, there have been bucktails being offered that have that bit of flash already added.

As you can see from the picture shown here, a twister tail added to a single hook in-line bucktail makes an interesting presentation for that hesitant Muskie. Sometimes this addition is referred to as a teaser tail.

The bucktails pictured here are the Reactor from Brooktail lures. They come standard with a # 10 Colorado blade and a 7" grub. They do not have a treble but come fitted with a single #8 Mustad hook. You can get the Reactor at Jackson Lures for about $9.00.

This works well for single hook bucktails, but what about your treble bucktails.

Well, there is an ingenious little solution that you can use if you are feeling creative.

By taking a soft plastic grub or twister tail and inserting a piece of wire, as shown here at the left, you can attach some flash to any bucktail.

The key to this is the little "R" bend at the end of the wire. It will allow you to clip the grub onto any hook...even a treble...without effecting the action of the bucktail.

You can add some flash to your bucktail by attaching a  small spinner to the wire clip rather than a grub. You must be careful, however, to ensure that the wire is long enough to prevent the spinner from getting tangled in the hair of the bucktail.

This tip comes from John Myhre, a Hayward area guide and Moose Lake resort owner.

Moore's Lures also has a pre-made clip in their catalog.

Make a couple of these little clips and try them out on your favorite bucktail or that bucktail in your tackle box that you don't use because you don't have good confidence in the lure. This can also work with surface lures, but you may seriously effect the action of the surface lure...experimenting puts the fun back in the angling process.