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Posts: 7038
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | FB, Insta, Snap....filled with exciting muskie "content".
Is that because there are more (new) people muskie fishing in the last, say 10 years, or is social media just making it more "popular"? |
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Posts: 2325
Location: Chisholm, MN | Well, the MN DNR says there are more of us and it definitely seems that way. |
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| The Musky Shop in Minocqua had record sales during the pandemic and felt that a lot of new anglers were coming to the sport. The question was whether they would stay with it.
I think that it is easier to learn today. Back when I started 50+ years ago, folks were not big on sharing techniques, spots, advice, etc. You wanted to learn, better have a really good friend or hire a good guide. Equipment is better, allows for longer time on the water without exhaustion, catch and release has helped populations. So it would seem logical that more folks would join the sport. But us Boomers are slowly fading away. In WI, the DNR has talked about that factor impacting number of deer hunters. Maybe the same with happen with musky fishing? |
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Posts: 205
| I think the bloom has faded slightly. I know several guys who bought tackle during covid and tried it but turns out are unwilling to grind it out. Fishing (and hunting) videos do a disservice to the sport. The average Joe gets the impression he can go out and have a 5 fish day. I was in Ontario week before last and after a few hours they just wanted to catch fish, any fish. So they just blindly trolled and spent the day catching little northern pike. IMO - You have to be into the 'hunt' aspect of fishing to be dedicated to musky fishing.
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Posts: 186
| Covid were wild times. So much boat traffic (Not even fishing). I'm glad it's over. |
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Posts: 1275
| pstrombe is correct. There has been explosive growth for at least a decade, but growth is leveling off. Probably similar to most fads. I'm guessing that it may even dip a little bit, but will stay above what it was 15 + years ago. |
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Posts: 20218
Location: oswego, il | The pandemic brought a lot more people into fishing. I remember walking into a bass pro in 2020 and there wasn't 3 rods in any isle of the store. Many of these newcomers have found their way to musky fishing. Last week I sold some lures to a couple of teenagers who knew a friend of mine and they wanted some advice. There are so many people with cameras and social media channels content is easy to find. Tiktok will find it for you.
Edited by ToddM 8/31/2024 7:25 AM
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Posts: 1392
Location: Brighton CO. | For me it's hard to figure out because so many things have changed in the last 50 years. I live away for the Northwoods and at best I get a week a or two at best. One it's the amount of resorts have gone down. (even getting a free row boat with your cabin) Back in the day people didn't have there own boat or if they did it was smaller in size. Where the old guides would say "take every outboard over 7.5 a throw them in a pile and burn them" I try to avoid the crowds by taking my trips in early June or in the fall after school starts. The boat landing's seam to be more crowded and say a Rollie & Helens order there's a longer turn around. As a teenager in the 70's the weed bed in front of my grandparents place just got pounded all day long. 50 years ago there was the pressure. Now we have more muskie water and more people go to Canada and fish later in the fall and that helps spread things out. We cuss at water skier's, Jet Ski's, and now wake surfers. It's a still a long wait to get into Blink Bonnies or Honey Bear. We still sit in resort bars talking Muskies, how many? how big? and it is Louie fill of it. And when we leave, we are already thinking of our next trip. |
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Posts: 569
| I think FFS and future technology will push people away from the sport as well as fishing for other species. Fishing is slowly losing its allure. |
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Location: PA Angler | Seems like there are many more stockings going on and there are places with better numbers. Which is making them easier to get. |
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Posts: 8781
| What I find amusing is all the young guys out there posting the fish, the lakes, the lures, and the videos. Ten years from now they're going to be blurring out the background in their pictures and lying about what lake, what spot, and what lure. I know guys who leave rods out and visible with lures rigged up that are only there so other guys see what they're throwing and (presumably) will choose to fish with similar lures. But then I once pretended to be figure 8ing a giant fish in a spot where there wasn't one so the guys who were shadowing us would go away. It worked. Saw them on that spot a bunch of times that week. In all my years of fishing I have never seen a fish anywhere near that island. I'm probably going to muskie hell for that one! |
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Posts: 526
Location: NW WI | Well from the various young rookies I've taken fishing, the story plays out the same everytime.
We fish together, than they get interested in muskies, they slowly spend what's alot of money to them and get themselves a rod and reel. Slowly aquire a dozen new baits, maybe score online on some used lots. They go "dedicated Musky fishing" with me and after about 45minutes of casting they're done and just want to catch anything. Maybe they'll pick up the Musky Rod every now and again if they're not catching anything. But if they're catching Bass,Pike,Crappie, forget about it, they're not grabbing the Musky rod for the rest of the day. Than if they find a new fall sport or interest, than they hang it up.
Short attention spans and the desire for instant feedback I think is the deal. |
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Posts: 8781
| If you don't love fishing already, you're not likely to enjoy musky fishing for very long. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | My take:
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