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Posts: 305
Location: Illinois | I am amazed not only in the amount of musky related info but also at the willingness of the musky community to share as much information as they do. Aside from GPS coordinates, it's all right there for you today if you do the research.
Before the internet, "hot bites" were relayed by word of mouth. Some of the info was true, some was old and some was meant to make you fish Trout Lake. Aside from your inner circle, good info was tough to come by.
How did you get your info before the internet? How did you decide on a trip destination? I had a friend call Tony Rizzo once. He had never musky fished before. He asked me who some of the names in the sport were and I guess I said Tony Rizzo. He didn't mention that he was calling him. He didn't get hung up on but he didn't get a lot of info either.
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Posts: 1247
Location: Walker, MN | Muskies Inc. meetings and a lot of casting.
Edited by Masqui-ninja 1/28/2015 9:07 PM
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| I use the internet for entertainment, I really don't feel you get quality information for hot bites. You can get good ideas/techniques or information on equipment, but that still needs time on the water to learn. |
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Posts: 353
Location: Western U.P. | Books, Magazine articles, the Chicago Fishing Show (at the old Chicago Stadium - going way back in the "day"), and some research while on vacation with my dad. That research consisted of going to Pastika's, or other bait shops in the Hayward area (mostly where our family vacationed/fished - late 60's to early 80's), and talking to other fisherman while having a dinner or 2 at the Moccasin Bar (there was also another bar/restaurant a block or 2 away with quite a few big Musky and other mounts, but don't remember the name). My dad was a pretty good BS'er, and was usually able to come away with some decent info as to the "hot" lures and general locations. Resort owners were also a really good source of info for specifics on their lake. They wanted you to catch fish so you'd come back, and tell your friends how well you did so they'd come to that resort too. No online reviews or advertising back then, but word of mouth was pretty important.
And X2 on A LOT of casting.
Edited by Cedar 1/28/2015 11:30 PM
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Posts: 284
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People used to have to go out on the lakes and rivers, work and earn their information. Now the hardest thing they have to do is log on to their computers or dial their cell phone. |
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | Club meetings and and sitting at the bar. You can get a lot of information out of someone when you buy them a drink.
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| It only used to be harder because there were less fish, these days we have more lakes and more fish, so it is easier. The internet may have allowed to us to rally together and have the organization to get more fish/lakes stocked though. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | A few articles in the old Fishing Facts magazine. Joined Muskies Inc. to get the magazine even knowing I would never attend a meeting or event. Joined Muskies Canada and fished with a lot of different new found friends I learned a little bit from every one of them. Got to know some of the Flatlanders that came up here every summer they would bring me new toys I couldn't get here at the time ans turned me on to jigs and reapers. Around 89 or 90 Muskie Hunter came out with a magazine dedicated to muskie there was usually a new tid bit in each issue in the early ones. NOTHING TEACHES MORE THAN TIME ON THE WATER ALONE |
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Posts: 1036
| When I was young, I learned a little by keeping my ear to the group and learning of lakes reputations. Then it was simply a matter of launching a boat and fishing. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | i like some of the old tactics used to find schooling fish (tag a crappie with a balloon) or setting line lengths with balloons to find humps or weed edges, instinctively knowing what grows out of what and what grows together (weed reading), reading a river channel by its banks, and triangulation. some of the old school tactics pre-technology are pretty solid and still work. |
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | Wow and fishing basins? That's the science to it..... |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | Netman - 1/29/2015 9:28 AM
Wow and fishing basins? That's the science to it.....
i believe that was invented recently, a little while ago there was even talk that he was planning to write a book on it! |
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Posts: 1202
Location: Money, PA | I got my info the old fashioned way....Putting time on the water, trial and error, learning from mistakes and successes. |
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | I stole everything I know about catching a fish from someone else, Buck Perry!  |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | Back in the 70's and 80's info on musky fishing certainly was hard to find. Occasionally an article would appear in Wisconsin Sportsman magazines. Tony Rizzo's Secrets of a Musky Guide was a huge resource for me as a kid. In the 80's Muskies Inc. magazine had a few tidbits. I can remember reading the lists of all the Release Contest Entries making note of what lures were catching fish and what lakes were being reported often. DNR creel data was also a good way to scout out potential lakes before ever launching a boat. I couldn't hang out in a tavern in those days but my Dad was a member of a local Musky Club and I'd attend a few meetings and banquets where you could keep an open ear and pick up some tips. Quite honestly, I rather enjoyed those times. Moreso than now. The MYSTIQUE of the musky seems to have dissipated with the Internet. Maybe I just grew up and matured.... but I know for a fact that my boys view musky fishing completely different than when I was their age. Seems its "easier" now to catch a musky, so when it happens its not such a big event. I can still remember when I rowed back to the cabin with my first "legal" musky laying on the bottom of the boat. All the neighbors came to admire my catch and it was a BIG deal. I puffed with pride and it motivated me to want to catch another one. Seems like with how easily information travels today, catching an average sized musky isn't such a "big event" anymore. Trial&Error and experimentation was how I got the best info back then. Still the same way today I suppose, but the internet helps give you more ideas to try, lures to purchase, destinations to consider, etc. |
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Posts: 667
Location: Wisconsin | jlong - 1/29/2015 11:39 AM
Back in the 70's and 80's info on musky fishing certainly was hard to find. Occasionally an article would appear in Wisconsin Sportsman magazines. Tony Rizzo's Secrets of a Musky Guide was a huge resource for me as a kid. In the 80's Muskies Inc. magazine had a few tidbits. I can remember reading the lists of all the Release Contest Entries making note of what lures were catching fish and what lakes were being reported often. DNR creel data was also a good way to scout out potential lakes before ever launching a boat. I couldn't hang out in a tavern in those days but my Dad was a member of a local Musky Club and I'd attend a few meetings and banquets where you could keep an open ear and pick up some tips. Quite honestly, I rather enjoyed those times. Moreso than now. The MYSTIQUE of the musky seems to have dissipated with the Internet. Maybe I just grew up and matured.... but I know for a fact that my boys view musky fishing completely different than when I was their age. Seems its "easier" now to catch a musky, so when it happens its not such a big event. I can still remember when I rowed back to the cabin with my first "legal" musky laying on the bottom of the boat. All the neighbors came to admire my catch and it was a BIG deal. I puffed with pride and it motivated me to want to catch another one. Seems like with how easily information travels today, catching an average sized musky isn't such a "big event" anymore. Trial&Error and experimentation was how I got the best info back then. Still the same way today I suppose, but the internet helps give you more ideas to try, lures to purchase, destinations to consider, etc.
Well said jason, there was a lot more mystique back then, that is for sure. Guys would fish for a long time before their first "legal" sized fish. It was a different time for sure. Kinda fun to hang out with a local who would share some knowledge with you. Couldn't wait to get out and hit the spot he mentioned or try the technique.
Good days, and the lakes had very few guys hunting musky. |
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Posts: 50
| I either asked my Dad or my Grandpa.
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Posts: 8782
| Before the internet, I got my fishing information the old fashioned way. When I caught fish I tried to figure out why and replicate that success. When I didn't catch fish, I tried to figure out why and made sure I didn't make the same mistakes again. Lucky for me I had parents who took me up North and turned me loose every weekend, so I had plenty of time to figure it out.
It's funny now with all the knowledge out there between the TV shows, books, magazines, and the internet. Back in the 70's, the common opinion about muskies was that they would attack anything. Back then, they would eat a beer can or a shoe or even your hand, so catching them had nowhere the mystique that it seems to have today.
It's amusing to me to look back at those times, because even though there were all the stories and legends and lore about them biting props and children and stealing walleyes off your line, nobody really seemed to catch them often, and they were nowhere near as big as they are today.
Edited by esoxaddict 1/29/2015 1:37 PM
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Musky Info Before the Internet