Muskies...why you love 'em...or hate 'em...

[TnRiver46]

16 minutes ago, Further North said:

Those are the muskies that'll get your heart poppin'  We have a mid 30s fish come clear out of the water a couple weeks back...completely bamfoozled the guy on the reel...

Sure...Unless there's a drop you'd be stupid to take one over, they'll still float...

I’ll try to paint the picture for you with some google images. No cell service, not many roads, never seen or heard of a drift boat anywhere near these rivers. If you took one there it would be in the top of a living tree not long after your trip. These places go from 5 cfs to 7k cfs in a day, literally. They are typically dried out rock gardens with deep holes in between in summer and class IV and V rapids in winter and spring, not just with one drop you could walk around but dozens and dozens in a short stretch 

[Further North]

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

I’ll try to paint the picture for you with some google images. No cell service, not many roads, never seen or heard of a drift boat anywhere near these rivers. If you took one there it would be in the top of a living tree not long after your trip. These places go from 5 cfs to 7k cfs in a day, literally. They are typically dried out rock gardens with deep holes in between in summer and class IV and V rapids in winter and spring, not just with one drop you could walk around but dozens and dozens in a short stretch 

Cool, that helps.  Thanks.

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, Further North said:

Cool, that helps.  Thanks.

Kayak could probably swing it, I think there’s a guide or two that do that 

[Further North]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

Kayak could probably swing it, I think there’s a guide or two that do that 

Or three, or five...and a winch...

[billmac]

The river I grew up on had lots of muskies (relatively speaking) and I've caught several, but never a legal sized one.  I've hooked some big ones, but I was always fishing for smallmouth.  Usually 8-10 lb mono and inline spinners.  I was high up on a bank one time, fishing a Mepps Redbo when a muskie grabbed it, twitched his head, cut the line, and dropped the lure. I never felt a thing.  If I hadn't been watching, I wouldn't have known what happened.  I walked out into the river and retrieved the lure.  I hooked a big one on a floating rapala, and it tore away and left a little chunk of cheek on my treble.  I watched someone catch the same fish, same spot, about a week later.

 

They get the pulse pounding for sure.

[soflabasser]

On 8/27/2019 at 1:05 AM, Further North said:

Good point...no Esox ever will put you into your backing.

They could if you are using a small reel or do not have enough line capacity. A giant barracuda could spool a size 4000 reel and you would be better off using a size 6000 spinning reel if your goal is to target +50'' barracudas. Have caught muskies well over 40'' on 30 pound test line and they barely pulled more than 10-20 yards of line, an equal sized barracuda will pull much more than that.

[Further North]

2 hours ago, soflabasser said:

They could if you are using a small reel or do not have enough line capacity.

I mean on a fly rod...I don't see pike or musky making an 80' - 100' run to take all the fly line off the reel and get you into your backing...which is another 200 - 300 yards of braided line, usually.

 

2 hours ago, soflabasser said:

A giant barracuda could spool a size 4000 reel and you would be better off using a size 6000 spinning reel if your goal is to target +50'' barracudas. Have caught muskies well over 40'' on 30 pound test line and they barely pulled more than 10-20 yards of line, an equal sized barracuda will pull much more than that.

Absolutely.

[Jleebesaw]

I dont love muskie. I catch a few small ones a year in the 30"-40" range while bass fishing. I dont dislike them, but I dont try to catch them either. I had the first legal sized one in the boat this year but it managed to thrash around enough to escape! Not that I would have kept it, but I would have liked to get a pic with it. I think it would have been the biggest fish I've ever caught. Certainly the longest. 

[Further North]

@Jleebesaw  I kinda started off that way too...I'm pike guy at heart...better fight, big ones are harder to catch, etc...

 

But the more muskies I caught, the more I began to like them...and they are a truly river fish, so our rivers around here have bunches of them.  I won't go to the extremes some folks do...chucking a hunk of plastic that weighs a pound or more on a rod that'd work for big fish in saltwater...but they're fun, when you find 'em.

[Vilas15]

On 8/24/2019 at 3:32 PM, Scott F said:

I like muskies, but I don't like fishing for them. Expensive heavy lures and heavy rods that wear you out when casting hour after hour with few to no bites. If, you actually catch one, they are fun for a few minutes, but the hours and hours of boredom in order to get one, just isn't worth it to me.

It's worth it to me!

On 8/26/2019 at 5:25 AM, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve fished for them a couple times, not really my cup o tea. They seem to be treated like Hindu cows

Just a result of the fact that there can be more anglers than fish in the lake and they take 20 years to reach trophy size. But I agree some take it too far, not unlike some anglers of bass or trout.

[Further North]

48 minutes ago, Vilas15 said:

But I agree some take it too far, not unlike some anglers of bass or trout.

No kidding.

[gim]

Bass fishing and accidentally “catching” a muskie isn’t really muskie fishing. 

 

I like fishing specifically for them from time to time but it’s very physically demanding tossing those huge lures with big rod n reels. Plus, it’s very difficult to catch one so it requires a lot of patience.

[Ohio Archer]

I fish most exclusively for them now. Many really good lakes in OH, KY and IN for them. Yeah, it’s demanding, especially fishing alone. But to be honest, I’ve done better fishing for them than bass on OH waters. Biggest is 47” from Eagle River and 42” at Caesar Creek just up the road. This year has been tough due to work and weather. But the temps are dropping now even if work is not. Need to get back up to LSC in Oct. 

[Further North]

7 hours ago, gimruis said:

Bass fishing and accidentally “catching” a muskie isn’t really muskie fishing.

You ain't kidding...or walleye fishing, or panfish fishing...

 

The same day we were out on that reservoir, we fished past a gentleman on a pontoon.  He saw what we were doing, and proceeded to tell us about the 40somethng musky he'd caught last weekend on a light weight walleye rod.  Bragged about it taking "50 minutes" to land that fish!".

 

That ain't musky fishing, that's tripping over a big fish and getting luck it didn't cut your line in the first two seconds on teeth or gill rakers... Pure luck, nothing else.  We refrained from telling him that in 75° water, he should have kept it because it probably died later...no reason to do that, wasn't his fault...

 

7 hours ago, gimruis said:

I like fishing specifically for them from time to time but it’s very physically demanding tossing those huge lures with big rod n reels. Plus, it’s very difficult to catch one so it requires a lot of patience.

All of what I wrote said...we don't need to fish for them with huge lures rods and reels that could double as telephone poles and winches.  Esox don't exclusively, or even predominately, hit monster lures.  They just don't.

 

I catch well into double digits every year, and I seldom throw the big stuff.

 

I use enough rod to haul them in in a few minutes, but we're talking 7' 9" EH bass gear here.  It works fine.  We're also talking 10 wt. fly rods, same deal.

4 hours ago, Ohio Archer said:

I fish most exclusively for them now. Many really good lakes in OH, KY and IN for them. Yeah, it’s demanding, especially fishing alone. But to be honest, I’ve done better fishing for them than bass on OH waters. Biggest is 47” from Eagle River and 42” at Caesar Creek just up the road. This year has been tough due to work and weather. But the temps are dropping now even if work is not. Need to get back up to LSC in Oct. 

I'm more than a little jealous of your longer growing seasons down there.

 

I hear on the fishing alone thing, I'm out by myself 90% of the time or better.  We get better with practice...lots of it!