Lake fishing from shoreline

Question
In the Denver area there are several lakes where "tiger muskies" were stocked many years ago and have thrived, and in the nearby mountains there are a few lakes that have northern pike.  I would like to know an effective tackle set-up to cast artifical lures for these fish from the shore.  Rod, reel, line, leader options, and effective lures. Thank you.

Answer
If I was to have only one rod for musky fishing it would be a St. Croix 7'6" Premier Medium Heavy Action PM76MHF. The reel I would put on it is a ABU Record 60 with 80 pound Spiderwire Stealth line. To save money you could use a ABU 6500 C3 but the quality improvement is well worth the step up to a Record 60.

The 7'6" rod might be a little long for shore fishing, trying to jerk a bait with the rod tip downward. The shortest I would recommend would be a 7'.

An important advantage of the musky rods is the long handle, which helps when fighting larger fish and casting musky sized baits.

As far as baits go, if there are shallow weeds by shore, a 9" unweighted Suick is a must have. I would buy the firetiger and sucker colors first. Bucktails are very good as well. The single treble hook Mepps Musky Killers are very good. I would start with a black tail and firetiger blade, a black tail and silver blade, and if the water is not clear an all chartruese one. Another must have bucktail is a white and silver Rizzo Trophy Tail, this should do the trick on the pike very well, even the muskies too. Another good bucktail is an Inhaller with a colorado blade, these work very well on shallow water.

I hope this helps, good luck with your endevors, and make sure you have a good net so you can properly handle them and let go unharmed.

Hook Em' Hard,
Joe