The Muskie Hunks Podcast

This week the Hunks are joined by return guest/friend of the pod, Ryan Elizondo, as well as his fiancée Lynn Hotchkiss and their good friend Nick Granato. Ryan and Lynn talk about how they met and how Lynn has proven herself as a strong and confident Muskie angler in recent years, and the positive influence that strong female anglers can have in the industry. Nick Granato tells us about the state...

This week a couple of the Hunks sit down with Ethan Greathouse, an exciting young bait-maker from the wilds of West Virginia. Hear his story; from how he got started fishing, to building Muskie baits, to the Hunks exposing a little secret of his during the interview! We had fun and it’s nice to see that the future of musky bait-making is in good hands!

In this episode we take the "Three Hour Tour" with Matt Gunkel and THE LLUNGEN LURES. We spend some time getting to know Matt better, the history of LLUNGEN LURES and we get into some really awesome discussions about baits, tactics , boats , musky trips and so much more. Donnie does give away the top secret fish catching bait in Ohio while Nick, Ryan and Owen all place LLUNGEN orders right afterwa...

In this episode, Owen, Nick and Donnie recap the hunks recent week long Lake Nipissing fishing trip. Hear the epic tale of Owen feeding the wildlife meatballs, the man named Lou, Kellen taking a 7/0 hook to the hand, hunks catching a few muskies and then a 50 minute argument on what a successful trip means to us.  .  

In this episode, Ryan awakens from hibernation and tells tales from aboard Leo's Ranger from a recent trip to Lake St. Clair. Nate Bud gets called up from the miners and recaps his family Lake Nipissing outing with Big Dave and company. Finally Owen outlines how to acquire assets that are not liabilities and eventually talks about joining team tracker. Congratulations Owen on buying a new boat!!!!...

In this episode Owen runs the show with Donnie, Nick, Nate Bud and special guest Kellen Campbell. This episode is dedicated to planning for the annual Nip trip. The boys talk gear prep, bait selection, tell recent and old stories and more. Lake Nipissing is land of giants, and this episode gives you perspective on how average weekend warriors plan to put muskies in the bag. 

Returning Guest, Glenn McDonald of 54 or Bust joins the Hunks to pick up where they left off during their last conversation, namely the Canadian Shield and tips and tactics for anyone making a trip up north. https://www.facebook.com/54orbust https://www.youtube.com/@54orbust https://www.instagram.com/54orbust/  

This week the hunks are joined by a local legend in the making, George McGrady.  We get the lowdown on how he got started, some tournament talk, preferred baits and fishing styles, and we hear the story of his George unintentionally kick-started both Owen’s and Tom’s bait making careers, which includes a great first impression of Owen. George is someone that allot of guys here in PA lookup too, su...

Hunks and Muskies On Tap - In this episode the boys from the "Muskies on Tap" podcast drop by to tell us a little bit about their new podcast, fishing the PMTT, living the young guide life and more. Gus, Max and Brian are three muskie addicted young sticks that bring allot to the podcast table. For anyone that hasn't listened to the Muskies on Tap Podcast, check these guys out, they are allot of f...

In this episode we have the pleasure of talking to the two time Muskies Inc Women's division champion, the President of New York's Chapter 69 Muskies Inc., the Muskie Queen of the northeast, the Salmon Slayer, Katia Rivers. Katia gives us a few project updates from Chapter 69, we talk current and future fishing trips and some news about the New York Muskie Expo. Katia is super passionate about Mus...

Tales Of Sketchy River Runs, First Boats, Lego KillDozer, THE Raging Ape, Livewell Upper Deckers and Good Jokes with Andy Zomcik. In this episode, we have one of the three fathers of the Musky podcast Andy Zomcik onboard to talk musky fishing.  Andy tells stories about his first boat, sketchy river runs, references the great KillDozer all while fitting in a story about the late Raging Ape.  Andy t...

In this BS session, we talk recent hunkie events. Donnie recaps his outer banks trip and his fly slappin experience with Scott Grassi, Tom talks about his big Deep Creek Pikes, Ryan recaps the Chapter 16 Muskies Inc. youth outing and Nick gets into the skills required to wrangle a rattle snake in the hills of Pennsylvania. 

In this episode, we recap the recent Pymatuning tournament held by Three Rivers Chapter 16 of Muskies Inc. We tell the tale of an awesome weekend of musky fishing and how one team brought it all home for Hunks verse. Lots of stories one of which involves a hook in the thumb, broken equipment, what it looks like to bang bottom overly hard,  a third place finish, a sunburned butt crack,  and four sh...

In this episode,  Todd Leopardi, owner and creator of THE Leo Lures out of Ellwood City Pennsylvania comes on to talk Musky fishing. We get into Todd's fishing history, first muskies, lure building and more. We got some family stories, another special guest drops by and tales of the American side of St. Clair were told. We finally get to talk about the lure lineup, recent fish caught and more, all...

In this episode, all hands on deck to recap the first ever Hunks Spring Fling Musky Invitational. Owen and Big O's Bucktails hosted the event that allowed us to fish for 3 full days on our PA lake of choice. Several guest fly and drive in from Minnesota and Indiana. We recap the experience , the fishing and the food. We also recap the best of Nate Bud and for the first time in Hunks history we rel...

In this three-man episode, we start off by talking some spring musky. We chat about some weird opinions and concepts, some basics of what we usually do and what we look for, and where to go from here. We talk about what exactly constitutes “spring” in different parts of the musky world, particularly those with year-round seasons. We transition into a little trolling motor talk. Follow the BBQ smok...

In this episode we go off the rails volume 2 with THE Banging Bottom Outfitters crew. We start slow, but finish strong. The boys give us a 2022 year end fishing recap, we find out what the crew is up to out on the water early season, Joel tells us about what his potential mug shot would have looked like for going to jail for singing Karaoke at Muskie Max, Big O makes Pizza Dough , we get our no ba...

In this episode, we chat with Greg Them, owner of Xtreme Muskie Lures out of Ohio. Greg tells the tale of how he started musky fishing and making muskie and pike lures, tells so many awesome stories about his fishing travels,  and then confirms that Musky fisherman simply do not eat food on the boat. Greg also shares some useful tips and tricks and how to tune your Xtreme muskie lures with a speci...

In this episode we talk all things hatchery with Linesville hatchery manager Nicholas Yaroszewski. Nick gives us his history fishing, an overview of his role within the Fish and Boat Commission, recent projects and tasks in Linesville that the team are working on and a quick talk about the upcoming Linesville Fish Hatchery Open House on April 8th. Nick gives us some good information on the Musky p...

In this episode, we BS with one of Ohio's best,  the BOSS, Paul Frustereo. We talk about how Paul got started muskie fishing, making muskie baits and more. Paul tells countless hilarious stories and gives us a great overview of Muskie lure tuning. Paul's tips and tricks are awesome for long time muskie fisherman and beginners alike. Paul talks about his lure lineup, gives his opinion on the one Bo...

In this episode we chat with Adam Mueller of Top-line Baits prior to his first show at the Muskies Canada Odyssey in Oshawa Ontario.  Adam runs us through his impressive and innovative lineup of baits as well as his intro into both musky fishing and bait building.  Adam is a true success story leaving the lackluster world of lake run trout behind and building a prosperous following in the musky co...

In this episode, Nick, Donnie and Ryan get to fan boy with the LEGENDARY Todd Young on the line. Todd comes to hang out with us to talk history and just chew the fat. All of us have so much respect for Todd as a fisherman, as a bait maker, as one of the original fathers of the Musky Podcast and as a human being. He is simply put the GOAT, the greatest in our books! Todd talks about how he got star...

In this episode, we recap the 2023 Muskie Max. Ryan Elizondo talks about his experience flying across the country to fill his backpack with meatballs, Nate Bud's daughter Lena picks the best Muskie lures with her plush Musky, Donnie clears out every ATM in the local Canonsburg area,  Tom dyes customers with plastic worm dye, Nick perfects the Irish Goodbye, Ryan doesn't focus on boat gear, and Owe...

In this episode from the archives, Tom sets up a surprise guest and tortures the other hunks for over a month about who it may be. The surprise guest is a rubber guy, but not just any rubber guy. Some would call him the Walter White of cooking rubber. Once joined by our special guest, we talk all things rubber. We discuss shop setups, the dangers of cooking plastic, some mistakes, some successes,...

In this episode, we sit down with the Keystone King and the Crockpot Master, Mark King and Evan Schoss. Mark and Evan are both honorary Hunks and they are both local favorites for products that feed hungry Muskies. Mark and Evan hang out for an hour and talk about Muskie Max and what it takes to get ready for this show. Nate Bud tells us about his underground lair "Iron City Poughnd Taughn" and we...