Zilpo Flats

Finally made my trip to cave run. Started at the flats at first light and it didn't look like anyone was getting any action. Went back a couple grassy coves and had one follow all the way to the boat and hit... about a 30incher was on the line for about 5 seconds then jumped and spit :( I could have cried. I have never caught a muskie and this is my first year I had to opportunity to fish for them (got a fishing boat in may). My question is how in the sam heck do you fish the flats?!? I don't need specifics because I know when you figure it out you don't want to tell the world but is there any general rules to follow when your out there? There was two boats there were there ALL day so I assume they had to have been having good luck. I was throwing a 6in orange and yellow jerk bait... Maybe I was way off. Any help would be helpfull. By the way the water temp was about 73-75 most places.

well I guess no one wants to give any advice... understandable but is anyone else having any luck on Muskies at Cave Run at all?

I have fished at Cave Run Lake twice and my son has fished there on one occasion.
We have caught 8 muskies there, so we are by no means experts on fishing CRL.

When we fished the flats, we stayed back near the buoys and made our casts toward the weeds. We threw the big x-raps, bulldawgs, medusas, spinners with trailers and grubs, and inline spinners. You have to figure eight every cast. When you have a fish on, don't pull up on the fish. Try to get a good hard hook set and then pull at it from the side or at least try to keep your rod tip low. If you lose the fish on a good hook set, then you didn't have it to start with. The only exception to this is if you are throwing top water lures, like topraiders or whopper ploppers. You kind of have to wait until you feel the fish load up on a top water bait before you set the hook.

We didn't really concentrate just on the flats. We had better luck in Scott Creek and Warix.
If you can fish around some points or submerged timber and throw Bill Norman DR3's and Storm Big Macs, they work pretty well, especially when everyone else is throwing big plastic in the fall (but there is a reason that everyone is throwing big plastics - they catch fish). Make sure your hooks are as sharp as you can get them. We feel like we are getting more hook ups with clear 80 lb fluorocarbon leaders than with the steel leaders, but that could be all in our heads.

Good Luck with the muskies! Hope I'm not coming across like I think that I know everything, because I don't.

ps - It's best in the long run to practice catch, photo, and release.