I have been sucker fishing for muskies for years. Myself and my fishing buddies have always tried to come up with new designs for the sucker harnesses that we used to help improve hooking percentages. The design that I currently have decided on is the one I am going to show you how to make in this post. Comments are welcome on how to improve what I have come up with, but this design seems to be a great improvement over the harnesses that I have bought in the past.

Materials:
- Treble hooks (#2/0 VMC trebles)
- Crane Swivels (#1/0 150lb)
- Multi Strand leader material (90lb)
- Leader Sleeves
- 2X Heavy Split Rings
- Wire Cutter
- Hook Cutter
- Needle Nose
- Pencil Torch
- Silver Lead Free Solder
- Small Grit Sand Paper
- No. 95 Lead Free Tinning Flux
- Fly Tying Vise
- Crimping tool

Step 1:
I straightened all the shanks on one of the trebles using the needle nose pliers. Once straight, I cut the shank off as close to where the trebles join. I continue this until I have enough straight shanks that I will need.

Step 2:
Cut you leader wire to length. This length is determined based on the size of the suckers you will be fishing with. You usually want the hooks to go towards the middle of the sucker, so measure based on that theory and the typical size of suckers that you use. Once cut, put a leader sleeve on the wire. Next, slide on a crane swivel. Finish this side of the wire by running the wire back through the leader sleeve as seen in the picture below. Crimp the sleeve to prevent the wire from sliding out of the sleeve and cut excess wire.

Step 3:
On the other side of the wire, repeat step 2 above, but except for putting on a crane swivel, use a treble hook. After this step, your setup should look like the picture below.

Step 4:
Repeat steps 2 and 3 to get the two wired hooks used in the harness and attach them with the split ring running it through each crane swivel.

Step 5:
Put one of the hooks in the vise with the flat part of the hook you want to solder facing up so the solder will settle. Next, with the sand paper, sand the area you want to solder and remove excess filings.

Step 6:
Apply flux to the area you want to solder the shank on the hook.

Step 7:
Place and hold in place the shank on the hook where you want to solder it with the needle nose. Make sure that the barb is facing the correct way. You want the barb to be facing towards the other trebles.

Step 8:
With the pencil torch, heat up the area you are going to solder the shank to the hook. Once you get it hot enough, apply some solder to make the joint secure. Let the solder set and clean off the excess grease from the flux and solder. Do the same to the other hook on the other part of the harness and that's it! Your home made muskie sucker harness.