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Posts: 90
| If you haven't landed a 50" yet, how many are you at? |
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Posts: 105
Location: Jane Lew, WV | I have came close at 49.5 and have seen a couple that I am very confident were 50's, but it hasn't happened yet. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
The waters where I spend most of my time fishing have a very very small population of 50 inch or larger fish. Over the years I have been fishing this area (now pushing 40 years myself), and knowing people who have fished the waters religiously well past 60 years, there have only been about 5 or 6 fish that have gone over the 50 inch mark that we are aware of.
So...it wasn't until 2013 for me on Canadian water when it finally happened.
Steve |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | You should have put the option '0' in there. There are some lucky people who catch a 50+" as their very first fish. It certainly wasn't me, as I was on the other end of the spectrum, LOL... But there are lucky people out there.
TB
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Posts: 1080
| Took 30+ years and hundreds (no clue as to truly how many over 30+ years) of muskies to finally have reached that benchmark. Been fishing for these fish for 35 years now. But I've never spent any time on true "big fish" waters either. So that has a lot to do with it. That's not to say that the waters I've fished over those 35 years don't have big fish in them, no...that's not the case at all. There are indeed big fish in the waters I'm able to fish, it's just limited numbers of fish in that size range. Have seen a lot of big fish over the years, just took a lot time to put one in the net.
However, having said that...I've put far more "quality" fish, in the mid and upper 40 inch range, in the net, that were by far better quality than the 50+ incher I have to my credit. I'll take quality (girth and weight) over a long, skinny fish, any day of the week.
Yes...it's amazing how often I read/see/hear of people that go out for their very first muskie fishing experience and end up with a 50+ fish for their first fish, right off the bat. Those stories always turn the gut a lil bit.
Edited by MACK 11/2/2017 7:53 AM
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Posts: 20178
Location: oswego, il | It is all about where you fish. I have around 550 fish and over 1000 in the boats i have owned. My biggest is 48 1/4. I have a 48 a couple of 47" fish. Most of them caught in indiana and illinois. I have put some time in lsc but have not caught one bigger than 45 1/5. 48 1/2 is the biggest fish i have netted in my boat on lsc. I have netted a 49 9/10" fish and a 50 in a friends boat for him. Vermilion was always a vacation for my family so i never hit big fish areas much, just put fish of all species in the boat for my kids. Catching a 50 is all about putting the time in to where you have a good chance of catching them, nothing more. |
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Posts: 112
Location: Illinois | I’m at around 50 fish total(didn’t start keeping records until recently). Still no 50”ers in the boat. Have seen some that where possibilities but no actually caught and measured. Biggest for me is only 42” |
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Posts: 574
Location: Elk Grove Village, IL & Phillips, WI | I selected 181+ because in over 40 years of catching these things, I still haven't caught a 50. I've been very close, but no cigar. I don't fish big fish waters so when my son caught a 50.5" out of my boat on a small Wisconsin lake, it was a truly great feat. I'll keep working at it. |
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Posts: 2274
Location: Chisholm, MN | Just counted. 37 before my first 50. After that, they came easy! |
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Posts: 1828
| 40 before my first. About 70 more since then without breaking 48". I shake off the big ones. |
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Posts: 260
Location: Lockport, IL | No 50 for me either. The majority of my fishing happens in IL where I feel I've been very fortunate to catch a 49 & 48 3/4. I'd take anything at this point. Since kids I feel lucky just to get on the boat. |
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Posts: 296
| All about where you fish and how much time you get to be on the water. And of course there is no justice in musky fishing. Took my sister and future brother in law out for an evening on Tonka about 5 years ago. Scott hadn’t fished in a decade or more not sure and never for muskies. Forgot a guest rod for him so grudgingly hand him my brand new predator with a Calcutta TE on it. Clip on the chartreuse grinder I caught my first musky on. Teach him how to cast a baitcaster reel and 3 hours later he sets the hook in the dark and says he has a fish. I hear it splash and know it’s a good one. 50.25 in the net! Next time I went fishing I notice the line is tangled on the TE and he had only been casting 40-50 feet when he caught the fish and I spent a few minutes picking out a nasty backlash. He has probably spent 5 hours casting for musky in the 5 years since that happened.
He still gets beyond excited telling the story to people! I still shake my head but think it’s a great story.
Took me about 46 before I got my first 50.
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Like Todd said it is dependent on where you fish and what the water body is capable of producing. My first 5 years yielded a lot of 44 to 48 inch fish before I caught a 50 this was at a time when a low size limit meant a lot of muskies were killed and paraded around the camp before ending up in the trash. I then spent a couple of years fishing a numbers lake where if you put in the time 100 muskies a year starting in late Aug was possible but a fish over 46 was unlikely. My home lake historically had turned out occasional 50's and with the implementing higher size limits and catch and release becoming the norm 50's came much more frequently and total skunks were rare. I had a string of years where I always had at least 1 50 and a personal best of 54. A number of fishing shows were done on my home lake with the resulting fishing pressure taking my enjoyment. About 6 years ago started fishing the Larry ( the BIG EMPTY ) catching a number of 50 to 52 inch that far outweighed my PB 54. Ive netted a number of 55 & 56 inch fish but my biggest on the Larry is a fat 53. Only 2 50's this year but we still have a month to go but the last 3 trips we couldn't even locate bait. There is a lake near here that I want to carry a canoe into and try I have permission from the landowner and unlikely to catch anything over 20 pounds but I've never met a muskie of any size I didn't like. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | definitely where you fish is most of it... I keep data and based on my hours and size avg difference, a 46"er in WI is about the same as a 50" in MN...over the last 10 yrs my boat puts a 50" in the net every 26 hrs on the water on 50" waters.. (70 over 50" since 2007) It takes us about the same hrs for a 46" in WI...In WI I have been fishing since 1993, I tried to calculate how many hours I have in WI has to be somewhere around 5,000 hrs. 1 50"er... so when I got a 50" in WI 2 yrs ago, a friend pointed out that it was my biggest fish...bigger than my 54.5" and he is right, based on where it was caught it was.... 50" is still the mark to hit anywhere I fish, but it is a bit skewwed based on the water 
Edited by BNelson 11/2/2017 8:35 AM
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Posts: 97
Location: Tulsa, OK | I don't have the count, but probably 25-30 fish for me. When I moved down South, my musky fishing was limited to Canada trips. It was about 5-6 years of these trips that I finally caught a 50, then just a few years later I got a 51. My sample size is small compared to most of you that fish local waters regularly. I think catching 500+ fish on local waters is more impressive than a couple of 50"ers up in Canada. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | It's a wonder we don't catch a 50 every trip. When I started most fishing was done with a 5.5 foot pool cue and an Abu 6500 we had 4 or 5 lures in a foam bucket, a 14 foot tin boat and a 9.9 motor. If you had a depthfinder it was a flasher ( my dads was a knotted rope and a weight ) . Now my boat has 3 depthsounders with the accompaning GPS, speed , and sidefinding. Two gas motors and a GPS controlled positioning motor a top for foul weather and room on the back deck for a pool table. The muskies still win.
PS: I forgot the propane heater ( heaven )
Edited by horsehunter 11/2/2017 8:58 AM
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Posts: 1080
| horsehunter - 11/2/2017 8:48 AM
It's a wonder we don't catch a 50 every trip. When I started most fishing was done with a 5.5 foot pool cue and an Abu 6500 we had 4 or 5 lures in a foam bucket, a 14 foot tin boat and a 9.9 motor. If you had a depthfinder it was a flasher ( my dads was a knotted rope and a weight ) .
Man do I MISS those days! The simpler days! Loved growing up fishing from those 14 foot aluminum fishing boats and minimal gear and making things happen! Those magical sounds of moving gear around in that 'lil aluminum boat....the sound of the water up against the sides of that 'lil aluminum boat. That small 9.9 motor taking us what seemed like forever to traverse the lake to our favorite spots. The basics. And...still caught fish.
Yes...today...bigger boat, boat is outfitted nicely with electronics, lots more creature comforts, a heckuva lot more gear in regards to number of rods/reels and numbers of tackle boxes full of baits and in reality...has all of that time and money spent acquiring all of that gear really helped to boat vastly more fish that would be tough to question if it was all really worth it or not?
Sure. It's nice to be in a boat outfitted to the hilt and have some creature comforts and have a lot more choices in rods/reels and baits, but...I think the knowledge and experience of when, where and how to fish vastly outweighs the amount and type of gear. Could hop in a 14ft aluminum fishing boat outfitted with a 9.9hp motor, one rod/reel, one, clear, flat Plano box with 6 or 8 baits and go out produce just as much fish.
Which...that in of itself, tends to make my head spin when I look at the amount of gear I've acquired over the 35 years of fishing. And not just fishing for Muskies, but for many freshwater species, ie, Northern Pike, Striped Bass, Walleyes, Salmon, Large & Smallmouth Bass, Panfish, etc, etc, etc.
I AM indeed glad, that I virtually brought my acquisitions of gear to a screaming halt about 6 to 8 years ago. I realized, being married and with two growing, young kids, I just don't have the time anymore, to use everything I have. My time on the water these days is greatly limited. I look at it from the aspect that I will have plenty of gear at my disposal once I get back to fishing, once the kids are grown and out of the house, and I can get back to fishing with more regularity again.
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Posts: 51
| Greetings,
I appreciated the comment above about whether someone is fishing on waters that realistically can produce a 50+ inch fish. Much of my early years of chasing muskies was on water that I now consider to be "numbers" lakes that are not very likely to show a 50+ inch caliber of fish.
I gradually worked my way from 30 inch fish into the low 40s inch fish. I likely boated around forty fish doing this. I was stuck for many years on a 46 inch fish as my personal best. Then it happened!
I was fishing by myself during mid-September in NW Ontario. One day I found myself in the middle of an incredible big fish bite that I never saw coming as there was no moon phase or weather phenomenon in play. This bite lasted several days. I boated a 52.5 inch musky one afternoon and then boated a 52 incher the following day on the opposite side of the lake from the first fish. I also boated a few upper 40s during that brief run.
Many anglers want to boast of catching a 50+ inch muskies. As I look back on my experience, I learned that I needed to be fishing on water that was capable of producing such a large fish. Then, it's just time on that water. As I mentioned, I never saw the bite coming. Both of my 50+ inch fish just showed up at boat-side and ate my Bobby Bait.
Good fishing and tight lines!! |
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Posts: 22
| It took me 36 muskies to get to my first 50. I have caught 11 since then, and 2 have been 50's. I hope this trend continues! |
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Posts: 408
Location: MN | I got lucky and my second fish was a 52. After that it was 15-20 fish before I got another 50. |
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Posts: 609
Location: Seymour, WI | I've been musky fishing about 25 years. I get to musky fish about 10 days per yr and I usually boat 1 or 2 muskies per yr. My biggest fish is 45". I've only raised a couple of fish that were for sure over 50" |
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Posts: 221
| Took me about 3 seasons to find my first one. Now I typically get 2 or 3 a year at least over last 4 or so seasons. This is fishing MN waters.
My girlfriend on the other hand, first fish was a 41. Then a 49. Then she caught a 54.5, which beats my PB. All within a few weeks, too. That's muskie fishing. |
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Posts: 255
| First fish was in 1990, then I counted all the skis, even a 20" in 1996(that's funny), but stopped listing non legals in 2002. Don't have tons of fish to my credit, but it took about 22 years, 44 fish to get a 50 in WI. Saw a 52 since, not hooked one since. And I'm with Rainman and Grass- "Since kids I feel lucky just to get on the boat." "I get to musky fish about 10 days per yr and I usually boat 1 or 2 muskies per yr." |
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Posts: 1023
| Easily 180plus. |
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Posts: 77
| I’m not real sure about how many muskies I’ve caught but it’s been a lot. With that said there have been many caught in my boat that I’ve had the pleasure to net. After chasing these majestic beasts for about 18 years with many casts, I finally got my first. A 50.25 incher this season. It was one of the best experiences of my life! Nothing short of a spiritual experience! To make it even sweeter, about an hour after I got mine my son got his first one over fifty, a 51.25 incher! |
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Posts: 22
| Just caught my 200th musky this season. But I still don't have a 50" in the boat. Most of my fishing is done in Northern Wisconsin and 48.5 is my best. And with zero 50"inchers to my name it keeps me fishing during those peak times. To those who have caught many many 50s does it ever get old? |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | It never gets old because I never met a muskie I didn't like. I have a new bar at 56 inches for a spotted muskie and any tiger over 40. I try to release any muskies under about 43 without netting or removing from the water but if it has teeth and stinks its ok by me. |
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Posts: 20178
Location: oswego, il | horsehunter - 11/2/2017 5:03 PM
if it has teeth and stinks its ok by me.
You are a dirty old man!  |
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| my kid, who was pre teen at the time, second ever fish was bigger than most peoples PB. Needless to say, it took the entire following season for him to realize his expectations were set a wee bit high.
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Posts: 50
Location: Southern Indiana | 50” Indiana fish are rare,but they’re out there. 49.5” is as close as I’ve got. I’ve seen a few that were probably 51-52, that’s enough to keep me coming back. |
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