Bass guys outfishing Musky guys for Musky

[Bird]

I've only caught 2 Musky while bass fishing, biggest on spinnerbait and another on Jerkbait. 

 

All other toothy critters " pike and pickerel " have all tried to eat a Jerkbait. 

[Fishingmickey]

On 7/14/2020 at 5:27 AM, A-Jay said:

I catch a few Musky each season.

Not out fishing anyone as these are all by catch deals.

I've caught them on baits of various sizes & colors including but perhaps not limited to:

Spinnerbaits, Swimbaits, Swimjigs, Crankbaits, Lippless Baits, Blade baits, Jigs,

and even Texas rigged plastics.

This one ate a jerkbait while fishing for brown bass ~

 

A-Jay

 

 

Dang Ajay, I have seen that picture at least ten times. Each time I do, I think man what a pig! Gotta be a fourty or fifty pound fish.  That "eating" grin on your face says it all. Priceless!

FM

[soflabasser]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

Its not the fish of 10,000 casts.  It actually takes a lot longer than that in most cases.  The first issue is that there isn't very many of them because they are an apex predator and they occupy a bigger carrying capacity than other fish.  Can they be patterned?  Of course they can.  If you figure that part out, you let me know.  

Guess I must be very lucky since I found muskies to be much easier to catch than other species of fish I have caught in my travels. Try catching a 8 pound or better bass from land in a highly pressured public park and you will learn what a  true ''fish of 10,000 cast'' is. Another fish that can be considered a ''fish of 10,000 cast'' is a tiger shark caught from land. I studied muskie biology, seasonal patterns, techniques, YouTube videos, and other sources. By doing that I have been able to catch several muskies from land in public water while on vacation which is much harder than some local fisherman fishing on a boat with a fish finder and other things that makes fishing much easier. Take the muskie off the pedestal, there are much more difficult species of fish to catch in this country. 

[Vilas15]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

Its not the fish of 10,000 casts.  It actually takes a lot longer than that in most cases.  The first issue is that there isn't very many of them because they are an apex predator and they occupy a bigger carrying capacity than other fish.  Can they be patterned?  Of course they can.  If you figure that part out, you let me know.  Even the most savvy professional muskie angler has trouble patterning them regularly.  If you think they're so easy to catch, maybe you should consider the PMT and cash checks every weekend hauling them in?

Good points, though I disagree with the part about 10 thousand casts. Lakes in my area average about 40 hrs per fish caught based on creel survey data. Thats 2400 minutes. If you can cast once every minute thats only 2400 casts, maybe you could fish faster but not cover as much water with shorter casts. Funny enough Ive spent exactly 120 hours to catch my last 3 muskies after I started keeping track and I feel like Im on a hot streak. Thats all purposely using baits and going to lakes/spots where I have the best chance so if youre not trying then yeah itll most likely be way more than 10000 when you luck into it.

[gim]

16 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Try catching a 8 pound or better bass from land in a highly pressured public park and you will learn what a  true ''fish of 10,000 cast'' is. Another fish that can be considered a ''fish of 10,000 cast'' is a tiger shark caught from land. 

We don't have pressured public parks with bass in them here.  We also don't have tiger sharks.  I can't comment on how difficult how each of those are and there is a good chance I'll never try.  I just know how difficult muskie fishing is compared to targeting other species of freshwater game fish here is in the Midwest and its significantly tougher.  I can catch a dozen or more bass (some big, some small) in any outing and it takes an entire season or more to catch a muskie.

[Guitarfish]

Fish of 10,000 casts?  I was told the same about sturgeon fishing in SF Bay.  I met a guy that told me to meet him at the launch ramp.  We launched and went about a 1/2 mile and my boat died.  He told me to anchor up anyway.  My first bait I had a hit and miss.  He was chastising me about paying attention when I saw the rod dip.  I set the hook and played a 56" sturgeon to the boat.  20 minutes from anchor time.  Hard to catch, nah. lol.

 

I think if someone shows you the way, any fish is catchable.  I was fishing with an off duty guide kind of by accident a few years later.  Same thing happened, 15-20 minutes and the fish was boat side.  Cheap bait both times.

[Further North]

On 10/1/2020 at 2:09 PM, gimruis said:

Its not the fish of 10,000 casts.  It actually takes a lot longer than that in most cases.  The first issue is that there isn't very many of them because they are an apex predator and they occupy a bigger carrying capacity than other fish.  Can they be patterned?  Of course they can.  If you figure that part out, you let me know.  Even the most savvy professional muskie angler has trouble patterning them regularly.  If you think they're so easy to catch, maybe you should consider the PMT and cash checks every weekend hauling them in?

I"m not trying to be argumentative, but I'm typically over 20 muskies a year by November, and I know I'm not chucking 200,000 casts. 

If we assumed I could cast once a minute, I'd get 60 casts an hour...200,000 casts would be 3,333 hours on the water...just for musky...in a year.  I'm not putting in that much....and I know several folks who catch two to my one.

I spent a week on Sabaskong Bay on Like of the Woods a few years back...14 anglers, my boat partner and I boated 9 for the week and we were low boat by several fish.  The group was over 100 muskies for the trip.  They did not make 1,000,000 casts.

I know a local guy - Ace Sommerfeld - who made his lifetime goal of 200 in one season, and a lot of musky guides put their clients on more than that in a season.

Obviously all of those fish are not big ones - one of those Sabaskong Bay fish was 9" (worth $50 in the pot for smallest musky ? ) but they are all musky, and they count...

[soflabasser]

13 hours ago, Further North said:

I'm typically over 20 muskies a year by November, and I know I'm not chucking 200,000 casts. 

If we assumed I could cast once a minute, I'd get 60 casts an hour...200,000 casts would be 3,333 hours on the water...just for musky...in a year.  I'm not putting in that much....and I know several folks who catch two to my one.

I spent a week on Sabaskong Bay on Like of the Woods a few years back...14 anglers, my boat partner and I boated 9 for the week and we were low boat by several fish.  The group was over 100 muskies for the trip.  They did not make 1,000,000 casts.

I know a local guy - Ace Sommerfeld - who made his lifetime goal of 200 in one season, and a lot of musky guides put their clients on more than that in a season.

Obviously all of those fish are not big ones - one of those Sabaskong Bay fish was 9" (worth $50 in the pot for smallest musky ? ) but they are all musky, and they count...

20 or more muskies in a season is good amount for any muskie fisherman. It is impressive that Mr. Sommerfeld caught 200 muskies in a season. I have seen several videos of people catching multiple muskies in a day both from land and on a boat. 

 

[Further North]

11 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

20 or more muskies in a season is good amount for any muskie fisherman. It is impressive that Mr. Sommerfeld caught 200 muskies in a season. I have seen several videos of people catching multiple muskies in a day both from land and on a boat. 

 

Ace used to write for at least one of the musky magazines...he's a pretty interesting guy.

I'm not sure 20 muskies is all that impressive in this area...I don't feel like I'm working very hard for it, and I know there's a ton of folks better at it than I am.

My best day on muskies was 7, with my fishing partner, all on flies...it was a heck of a day!