The Lowdown On Wire Line Trolling For Muskies

There are many things that I love about musky fishing — the chase, the challenge of trying to catch them everyday, and the multitude of patterns and tactics that can be applied to catch these crazy fish. One of them is wire line trolling.

- Gregg Thomas

Wire line offers numerous advantages to trollers.

What is wire line? It is literally what its name says it is. The wire line I use is made by American Fishing Wire (AFW) and is a soft, single strand type 304 stainless steel that is carefully annealed for maximum flexibility and strength. This wire is very soft but can be weakened if kinked. Wire was invented to get baits deeper than you can with monofilament or braid. The only other method to achieve deeper depths is by adding snap-weights to the line. With wire, the weight of the line will increase your lures’ running depths, so no weights are needed.

What does wire offer musky fishermen? First, it allows you to get your baits deeper closer to the boat. For example, if your crankbait dives to 10 feet with 40 feet of line out, that same lure will hit the 10-foot depth with 30 feet of wire line out. Baits closer to the boat are much more receptive to the turning of the boat with no “lag” — as the boat turns the lure follows. The more line out the less responsive the lure. Being close also makes it easier to troll very jagged edges.