"When it comes to a muskie, one thing to watch is that sometimes he'll just nip at a bait," said Pyle. "When he does that, remember that when he swims away, he's not leaving. He's just going far enough away to get turned around to come back to nip at it again.

"Don't give up and pull your bait out. When he comes back, he may be deeper or he may come in fast."

If hookups are a problem, try using a metal Dardevle spoon or a spinnerbait. Muskies won't be able to sink their teeth into a metal bait and fool anglers into thinking they're hooked when they're not.

Pyle said that lure colors are the last thing an angler needs to worry about. Muskies key in on vibration rather than color, and the tighter the wobble, the better. Pyle prefers baits in orange, chrome and green because he can see them in the water. Black comes in handy to let fish see lures outlined against a dark sky.

Lake Milton lies in Mahoning County and covers 1,684 acres. According to Matt Wolfe, an ODOW District Three fisheries biologist, the lake produces good catches, though it's stocked only sporadically.

For more information, contact the ODOW's District Three office at (330) 644-2293, or the Lake Milton State Park at (330) 654-4989.

PIEDMONT LAKE
"Piedmont Lake produces a really big muskie now and then," said Pyle.

The OHMC records back up his claim. By last fall, Piedmont anglers reported catching two Huskie Muskies and 189 Honorable Mention muskies, with 19 smaller fish.

Alum Creek Lake has the fastest growth rate for muskellunge ever recorded in Ohio.

Two 48-inch fish were found to be only five years old!

Piedmont Lake yielded a total of 210 catches, with only two fish not being released. In numbers of muskies caught, it rated second only to Leesville.

The state-record muskie came out of Piedmont Lake in 1972. That 50-inch, 55-pound lunker made Ohio muskie fishing history, but it's a record that may yet be broken.