Hey Matt...

Actually the Stocker Trout only had a few punctures in it. I thought that it was going to be shreaded but it wasn't. After I dumped the fish, Dan just looked over at me and all he said was hmmmm....

I know his brain was spinning. I left him with a couple swimbaits to try out. He seems pretty confident with them after seeing me get bit.

Locked Drag? Pretty much. I was using 80 pound Tuf Line and with 3 wraps around my hand, I could barely pull line off. With both of my fish, After they stopped jumping and thrashing around right at the boat I put the reel in freespool to give the netman time to prepare. If the fish took some line while in freespool, I'd just put it in gear and gain the line back. Once at the boat again the reel went back in freespool.

I don't know a ton about muskies but I don't think their eyesight is that great. There are a ton of ugly baits out there for those fish that are awefully ugly. They all get bit too. I did talk to a few guys that have been using Huddlestons and they are getting bit on them but they have a hard time paying $40 for them to only get one or two fish max.