Dale Wiley

Dale Wiley is an angler and lure maker from Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, who has been making musky lures for longer than I have been alive.

- Gregg Thomas

He made his first lure 43 years ago in 1976 with he was 12 years old, and is still going strong today at 55. His hand-crafted cedar baits are a staple in many fishermen’s boxes in the eastern US and Canada.

He started making lures to replicate the old Heddon four-inch Vamp, a shallow-running lure on which his cousin caught his first musky during a family trip to Pigeon Lake, Ontario, in 1972. It was that fish that got Dale hooked into wanting to catch more muskies, and that he did. In this Angler Spotlight, I am really excited to interview a friend who has taught me a lot about trolling for muskies. His theories and lures have helped my clients and me put some huge fish in the boat over the course of the last 20 years.

MHM: What’s your favorite way to fish?

DW: Well, I am known as a guy who only trolls, but for the first 10 years of fishing all I did was cast. I enjoy all ways as long as I am catching fish, but I am getting older and trolling is easier on the joints. It is my most confident way of catching fish. It just produces more and, more importantly, bigger fish.

MHM: I have learned a lot from you and we have talked in private about fishing strategies. What is your approach to trolling?

DW: I guess my approach to trolling is speed. I like to move the lures and my lures (Wiley Lures) are built for running faster. I like to troll from 4.5 to 5.5 mph depending on the activity level of the fish. It doesn’t always have to do with water temperature. I have caught a lot of fish in very cold water going these speeds. If they are active they will catch the bait.

MHM: What areas do you like to fish and how do you approach an area?