Musky fishing.

[king fisher]

I have never fished for musky, but I am assuming it isn't always this easy.

 

[Team9nine]

Depends on whether you have FFS or not 😉

[Dwight Hottle]

Muskies are more vulnerable to the use of FFS than any other fresh water species because of there size. 

[Further North]

1 hour ago, king fisher said:

I have never fished for musky, but I am assuming it isn't always this easy.

It's not.

 

 

54 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Depends on whether you have FFS or not 😉

 

49 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Muskies are more vulnerable to the use of FFS than any other fresh water species because of there size. 

Even with FFS...or being able to see them, musky fishing is never easy.

We fish shallow rivers - where FFS would be useless - more than anything else...we had a day last season where we moved 13, with only one eat...and another day where we saw 11...two eats.

Seeing a half dozen in a day isn't unusual.

[Dwight Hottle]

Years ago (1970's) my buddy & our two dads caught about a dozen trolling on lake St Clair. 

[Team9nine]

49 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Years ago (1970's) my buddy & our two dads caught about a dozen trolling on lake St Clair. 

My Spoonplugging friends always joke - Musky: the fish of 10,000 casts…or 1 good trolling pass 🙂

 

But I understand, it’s obviously going to be seasonal and situational.

[throttleplate]

4 hours ago, king fisher said:

I have never fished for musky, but I am assuming it isn't always this easy.

 

 

Its very easy, just go walleye fishing during the spawn in a river by the dam on the bank, put on a 1/8 oz jig with a mr twister curly tail topped with a minnow and dont forget the bobber and throw it out in 3 feet of water, sit down in your bank chair and relax and mind your own business and bam you catch a musky.

 

[gim]

4 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Muskies are more vulnerable to the use of FFS than any other fresh water species because of there size. 

Vulnerable, yes. But luckily the catch and release ethic is about as high it can be and most muskie anglers are very good about handling and releasing fish properly. I worry more about people targeting other fish and catching them accidentally, and then mishandling them. Like holding them vertically without any support.

 

I personally think crappies are the most vulnerable in the winter through the ice here with FFS because there is no catch and release. It’s pure harvest. The only thing that might inhibit that are warming temps and poor ice conditions.

[T-Billy]

My best numbers day is 8 for 10. That's 10 hooked, 8 in the net. I also sometimes go weeks without a bite. It's the most challenging, but rewarding fish species I've ever chased.

[OHBuckets]

What I love about musky fishing? Everything!

 

What I don't love about musky fishing? I end up bleeding a lot  I get shredded...

 

Doesn't stop me from going though!

[T-Billy]

6 minutes ago, OHBuckets said:

What I don't love about musky fishing? I end up bleeding a lot  I get shredded...

It ain't a successful day if you ain't bleeding!!! Lol. You should see my guide buddy's hands in late November. Pretty much one big scab from wrist to knuckles. 

[Further North]

19 hours ago, gimruis said:

Vulnerable, yes. But luckily the catch and release ethic is about as high it can be and most muskie anglers are very good about handling and releasing fish properly. I worry more about people targeting other fish and catching them accidentally, and then mishandling them. Like holding them vertically without any support.

 

I personally think crappies are the most vulnerable in the winter through the ice here with FFS because there is no catch and release. It’s pure harvest. The only thing that might inhibit that are warming temps and poor ice conditions.

I agree with all of that...particularly the over-harvest of panfish/crappies.

...the inevitable result: The people participating in the over-harvest blame everything but themselves (bass, pike, muskies) for the lower numbers and demand "...something must be done!"  You've seen that in MN on a couple of the bigger lakes up north, and we've seen it over here...and that was before FFS.

The damage done to a fishery by hammering the heck out of critical forage is hard to measure at this point, but it's considerable.

17 hours ago, T-Billy said:

My best numbers day is 8 for 10. That's 10 hooked, 8 in the net.

My best day was 7 in the boat, all with flies.  I don't recall how many we hooked.

It was a blustery, snowy/rainy late October trip to the northern end of one of our bigger rivers and it was a bunch of fun.

 

17 hours ago, T-Billy said:

I also sometimes go weeks without a bite. It's the most challenging, but rewarding fish species I've ever chased.

I agree with that.  It's much more "hunting" than fishing.

[JackstrawIII]

On 6/22/2024 at 1:06 PM, Team9nine said:

Musky: the fish of 10,000 casts

 

That's what it's like up here in NY most days. The guys that are serious always troll. 

[gim]

12 minutes ago, JackstrawIII said:

The guys that are serious always troll.

 

Obviously trolling is an effective way to fish because it covers water, but I can't stand it.  I find it to be incredibly boring and monotonous.

 

I pretty much just cast artificial lures for them.  I like seeing the follows.  You don't get that when you troll.  Its hard to describe the exhilaration of a 4 foot fish taking a lure boatside and the only way to have that happen is if you're casting artificial lures.

[Team9nine]

Thought of this thread while reading through yesterday’s Musky Insider newsletter this morning. Apparently, some of the muskie pros seem to agree with the idea of FFS making muskie catches a little less mysterious on some waters. Opening quote from the story:

 

Open Water Tips

 

“Forward facing sonar has made it extremely easy (maybe too easy) for folks to locate and target muskies in the open water on smaller bodies of water. But, it’s a different ballgame on large acreage low density waters. It’s more about eliminating the “dead water” as quickly as you can.

 

“Obviously, there’s a lot of debate right now about whether eliminating that “dead water” should be done with or without a line in the water and what kind of electronics you should use to do it.”

[Susky River Rat]

FFS ruined musky fishing in PA. People make a joke out of lakes you’d be lucky to get one out of even trolling to 3 48” fish a day. They also tear up musky in the shallow susky with FFS. I retired from musky fishing and have no interest in it anymore unless I am going out of state for it. It’s a waste of time and money here.

[Further North]

9 hours ago, JackstrawIII said:

 

That's what it's like up here in NY most days. The guys that are serious always troll. 

I'm probably nitpicking...but I know bunches...dozens...of musky anglers who are way past "serious", and close to obsessed with musky fishing...and no where near all of them troll.

Some of us cast gear, some of us cast flies, some troll...some do all three.

Some of us fish rivers so shallow there's no way to troll them.

For a lot of us, the number of fish in the boat isn't our measure of success.

9 hours ago, gimruis said:

 

Obviously trolling is an effective way to fish because it covers water, but I can't stand it.  I find it to be incredibly boring and monotonous.

 

I pretty much just cast artificial lures for them.  I like seeing the follows.  You don't get that when you troll.  Its hard to describe the exhilaration of a 4 foot fish taking a lure boatside and the only way to have that happen is if you're casting artificial lures.

I agree on trolling...but that's a me thing.  Lots of people love it.  I've got a friend who loves to troll for muskies out on Green Bay, and he's pretty successful at it.

I also agree on follows...they get your heart pumping, even if the fish don't eat.

9 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Thought of this thread while reading through yesterday’s Musky Insider newsletter this morning. Apparently, some of the muskie pros seem to agree with the idea of FFS making muskie catches a little less mysterious on some waters. Opening quote from the story:

 

Open Water Tips

 

“Forward facing sonar has made it extremely easy (maybe too easy) for folks to locate and target muskies in the open water on smaller bodies of water. But, it’s a different ballgame on large acreage low density waters. It’s more about eliminating the “dead water” as quickly as you can.

 

“Obviously, there’s a lot of debate right now about whether eliminating that “dead water” should be done with or without a line in the water and what kind of electronics you should use to do it.”

That "debate" can get quite energetic.

At this point in time, I'm in a place where I'll never use FFS...like trolling, I suspect it'd bore me (I don't fish so I can stare at a screen), and it'd be useless for 70% of my musky chasing.

...but I don't think poorly of others using it...yet.  People I respect a lot who have used it have strong opinions about it, some positive, some negative...we need more data.

If data comes in that shows it's a detriment to the resource, I will absolutely support banning it.

8 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

FFS ruined musky fishing in PA. People make a joke out of lakes you’d be lucky to get one out of even trolling to 3 48” fish a day. They also tear up musky in the shallow susky with FFS. I retired from musky fishing and have no interest in it anymore unless I am going out of state for it. It’s a waste of time and money here.

Has FFS been around long enough to ruin anything yet?

 

...I'm not saying it hasn't...or that it has...but I'm skeptical of claims like this that don't include data and real studies that take other factors into consideration.

As noted above, I don't have FFS and most likely never will...but that doesn't mean I'm willing to condemn it yet.

[Susky River Rat]

@Further North I know what I have personally witnessed here. PA musky fishing is a joke. No one makes trips to PA to musky fish but they do for SMB. There is a reason for that. I am confident I can go catch musky on your home body of water. I am also willing to bet you’d pull your hair out here. 

[Further North]

7 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

@Further North I know what I have personally witnessed here. PA musky fishing is a joke. No one makes trips to PA to musky fish but they do for SMB. There is a reason for that. I am confident I can go catch musky on your home body of water. I am also willing to bet you’d pull your hair out here. 

I'm not discounting what you've seen, I'm just asking a question about the attribution of the cause without data and study.

I am very much a "correlation ≠ causation guy" and am reluctant to accept conclusions that haven't been proven out...it's an occupational hazard left over from when I was working.

...as far you catching fish up here, you're more than welcome to come up; you'll probably teach me a few things...and learn a couple too.

If I come down there to fish, can I cheat?  I know a few folks in the area who are doing OK so far this season. 😉

[Susky River Rat]

@Further North I know a guy who averages 3 fish a trip……scoping he didn’t do that before FFS. PA lakes the weeds get sprayed. The fish will become open water roamers on bait fish. So due to electric only/ HP restrictions  it’s very hard to troll long periods of time or I can’t run my motor. So It’s practically hand made for scoping. You also can’t factor in the western part of the state. That’s almost a completely different fishery. The hatchery is out there too.  If I am going to drive 3.5-4 hours out that way I am going to drive 5.5 to stonewall Jackson.

[Further North]

29 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

@Further North I know a guy who averages 3 fish a trip……scoping he didn’t do that before FFS. PA lakes the weeds get sprayed. The fish will become open water roamers on bait fish. So due to electric only/ HP restrictions  it’s very hard to troll long periods of time or I can’t run my motor. So It’s practically hand made for scoping. You also can’t factor in the western part of the state. That’s almost a completely different fishery. The hatchery is out there too.  If I am going to drive 3.5-4 hours out that way I am going to drive 5.5 to stonewall Jackson.

Thanks - I appreciate that local perspective.

[JackstrawIII]

3 hours ago, Further North said:

I'm probably nitpicking...but I know bunches...dozens...of musky anglers who are way past "serious", and close to obsessed with musky fishing...and no where near all of them troll.

You are correct, I made an over generalization. A more accurate statement would have been that most of the serious musky fishermen I know do a lot of trolling. 

[Further North]

36 minutes ago, JackstrawIII said:

You are correct, I made an over generalization. A more accurate statement would have been that most of the serious musky fishermen I know do a lot of trolling. 

I'll go along with that.

If I lived in a different part of the country, that'd probably be true for me too.

[WRB]

Living on the west coast where Musky don’t exist my only reference was fishing magazine articles of this mystic fish. 
I net my wife who grew up on Lake of The Woods. We married and traveled to Canada and my in laws were lake trout and walleye anglers. As faith would have it the neighbor was a Musky guide. Lawerence thought me how to musky fish, thank you Lawerence!

Like trophy bass fishing big musky dominate their locations. Locate where live then catching them is simply determination. Low light with light rain is ideal big fish weather so put in you time at locations they live under conditions ideal for catching a big predator = success.

Tom

37 minutes ago, WRB said:

Living on the west coast where Musky don’t exist my only reference was fishing magazine articles of this mystic fish. 
I net my wife who grew up on Lake of The Woods. We married and traveled to Canada and my in laws were lake trout and walleye anglers. As faith would have it the neighbor was a Musky guide. Lawerence thought me how to musky fish, thank you Lawerence!

Like trophy bass fishing big musky dominate their locations. Locate where live then catching them is simply determination. Low light with light rain is ideal big fish weather so put in you time at locations they live under conditions ideal for catching a big predator = success.

Tom

50” or 40+ lb musky was a goal never achieved never achieved during my time in Canada. Had my opportunities just failed.

47 lb on a 1:4 oz hair jig is my PB

[Susky River Rat]

@Further North east of the susky fishes completely different than west. I can go out of state with much better results than I can fish here. It also wasn’t always that bad here. Again FFS change it. I used to average contact a fish a day and get 10 or so follows. That all dried up. There was weekends I’d boat 7.  Got fed up with a few really bad years and have no interest in ever musky fishing PA again. Doesn’t even enter my mind. Like I said PA is not a destination musky area but, I have some of the best small mouth fishing in my back yard. Besides are you really musky fishing if you bass fish till to you see a musky on your FFS than pick up your musky rod?