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Posts: 743
| Inevitibly...after a few hours with new (and old) musky friends, the talk about "your biggest" always come up...?How big is your biggest fish? ...it seems to come up alot. We like to compare our results w/ our peers (and brag!!). (this is NOT another poll of "what is your biggest fish")
Well, i have noticed, myself included...there are two major divisions within the musky world when having campfire talk "Your Biggest"...
1. Musky fisherman have one personal best. (no matter how they caught it)
2. Musky fisherman have classifications for the personal bests (suggesting they have a preference on how to catch a big one or a method they value higher than another).
ie..some guys/gals have a Personal Best Casting, one Trolling, Unguided, Live Bait, Not Live Bait.. all that jazz.
So..what kind of Personal Best talker are you? Personally, i dont if i'm a #1 or #2 (no poop puns please). With smack talk from peers, personal preferences, regional culture...i tend to leans towards having several catergories for Personal Bests..
When the talk comes up, about your biggest, i normally denote a few personal best.. 1. Trolling, 2. Casting 3. not for me yet, but "not on a Sucker" 4. Guided vs Unguided.
When in certain groups of Anglers, i can just throw out my biggest now matter how i caught it..in other groups i feel pressure to label the catch as either casting, trolling, guided or non guided..
There are several reasons why one would/does classify personal best fish...
So...How do you measure your personal success/best? do you have 1 classification? (simply your biggest) or do you have two classificiations...6 classifications?
For me..it all depends on who i'm hanging out with..
tomcat
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Posts: 32880
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I don't troll much, can't here, it's illegal. I cast almost 100% of the time on the water, even when I travel to areas were I am able to troll. My classifiaction is to area, personal best Canadian fish, personal best Wisconsin fish, etc. And I'm one of the older guys, so the fish's weight is important to me, even though it's an estimate by formula now instead of a scale. |
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | What Steve said.
I don't know sick 'em from come here about trolling, its not legal here and I just don't do it. All my fish are casting. The only thing that I would notate as different in my biggest fish are WI or Canada.
A big fish is a big fish though. I don't care where you catch it or what legal means you use to get it, the accomplishment should not be diminished by anyone! |
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Posts: 1168
| The biggest I've gotten is 49 but I consider my personal best to be the next one I'll catch. Even if there's a fish in the low 30's on the end of my line it's still a thrill. The day I don't get an adreniline rush from a musky of any size is the day I quit. |
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Posts: 743
| yea, i hear that classification alot..
"homewaters vs Canada"...
no doubt, lots of big fish in canada..and lots of big fish in the US..but that also is another classification i hear A LOT..
tomcat |
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Posts: 3479
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | No matter where I fish, there is only one personal best I consider, and that is my largest fish overall. Doesn't matter what state or country I am in...it's my personal best ever. Thats all there is to it...
Steve |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | I don't troll much(save for the late fall period), and have never been with a guide, so most have come casting. My classifications are U.S or Canada, and more specifically, inland or Great Lakes(big difference there). But the 'best' one is still just that, no matter if it was the biggest.....
Edited by Reef Hawg 12/13/2005 11:47 AM
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| There is a difference, as I have east the land of the beast personal best, and the Midwest personal best...You cannot compare fishing in the Midwest to the East...two way different ball games...Ben |
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Posts: 476
Location: WI | I'd have to go with longest fish and heaviest fish (largest girth) for my classifications.
GotOne |
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Posts: 8773
| I categorize
A personal best trolling with a guide using his baits and his gear is not the same thing as a personal best casting your own lures out of your own boat, in spots YOU picked. Sure, a 50 is a 50 is a 50, but I'd feel a lot more sense of an accomplishment doing it all on my own than reeling in a fish that someone else put me on.
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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Like others I categorize them by state WI, MN, and then Canada and then client fish as well. Honestly, there are other fish that to me have more meaning or are special, for one reason or another, that are not necessarily the largest fish in the boat.
For instance, I have a Chiropractor couple that I have been guiding for the past three years and the wife is a good angler and was new to musky fishing, but for the first few years either couldn't get the hooks drove home, or lost fish or whatever but wasn't able to close the deal, well this past summer she boated two of them with me on the same evening, one was a low 30's and the other a upper 30's, no monsters by any stretch of the imagination but two very special fish for her, her husband and myself. That evening is as special of memory to me as is one of my own largest catches, suppose it's all in how a person sees things in their own world.
I think as the years go by those of us who have been at this silly game for quite a few years like Steve Worrall and myself as well as a host of others whether in the lime-light or not. Have grown a sense of appreciation for a variety of catches, those that got a way, those that made our knees shake, and the hunt as much if not more than the biggest/heaviest.
Like each day in our lives, learn to appreciate each catch for it's own unique qualities and what it has to offer. |
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Posts: 202
Location: Angola, IN | For me, I have two big fish experiences that stick in my mind above all else: When my brother and I had the "Trip of a Lifetime" with Marc Thorpe (Six fish over 30 pounds, and 2 right at 40 pounds) and when I landed a mid 30 pound fish with my brother Tom last year on a Pink Mepp's bucktail. I'm really appreciate of the fact that we shared those two experiences together.
One time I caught a 35" musky trolling a bulldawg in the tube on Webster and another time I caught a 35" musky trolling in a 13' rental on Webster and ended up in the lake as the fish jumped in the boat.....both of those are special too!!! |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | I've only caught one so it's easy to tell my story!! Once i put that world record in the boat though...look out!!
Mike |
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Posts: 355
Location: Wausau, Wisconsin | My personal best may never change from what it currently is. If I catch a bigger musky I really don't care. The big thing to me is the history. There really is no comparison to catching a fish of a lifetime on the water you grew up on wading shorelines with soggy shoes. It is the same water where I caught my first musky. It is the same water where I started guiding and had Jim Lee of the Wausau Daily Herald write an "up and coming" about me when I was 16. It is the water where my brother and I caught carp on Zebcos and I caught it while doing something I love, sharing my love for the sport with others guiding. It was great to have a close friend (John Sparbel) near by to experience it with me and to have my best friend (Phil Schweik) helped me re-learn how to fish the water over and over again. There is nothing outside of friends, family and religion that match how I feel about the Wisconsin River and if I'm lucky, will get to experience 100's more "best fish ever".
Each of the past 4 years I have experience best fish ever. This year it was my biggest, a 40 plus pounder. The year before it was my biggest client fish a 30 pounder. In 2003 it was catching a 34 pounder minutes after my friend Phil Schweik caught a 38 pounder and just hours before I wore a tux and watched him get married. In 2002 it was getting a call from Phil asking where I was. I replied driving over a bridge and Phil told me he was under it and to join him fishing. He landed a 50.5". You can have several best fish ever. Each one of them has a certain value in a certain situation. It's why we musky fish. We experience joys and successes that those who boycot us will never experience. The life of a musky fisherman is a full one and we are all blessed to live it. During the dawn of a new era where a Christian has to stand up for their right to celebrate the birth of our Savior, we must love everything we get from Him just a little bit more.
Merry Christmas! |
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Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | I broke through the 40" mark trolling but have caught every decent-big fish casting since. I would dream that my PB is caught casting but frankly I just want to see muskies come to the boat. Doesn't even matter if it's on my rod.
My PB musky story is Steve Hulbert's whe he fell into the drink at Webster. Just hearing him mention it again makes me laugh. I wish I could've seen it. |
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Posts: 1430
Location: Eastern Ontario | I think I use longuest and biggest ( heaviest) for categories. I think I can also have most memerable category, not my longuest or biggest fish but in close second was the night I got four 30 pounders in an hour or a few years later when I caught twin 54's casting 5 minutes apart is way up there. I'll never forget those moments, it most likely will be the last time I get that priviledge where as I know I will beat my longuest or biggest. |
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Posts: 207
Location: Mpls, MN | I think they only differences for me would be a true muskie or a tiger. But personal best would be the biggest regardless if it was a tiger or a true ski.
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | The subject dose come up but I think I'd rather talk about my kids or there cousin's biggest fish of what ever species.
below are 05 fish
Edited by jerryb 12/15/2005 8:01 PM
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 Aa48x2161405.jpg (47KB - 127 downloads)
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