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| I have pondered this thought as of late. I have within a half hour lakes which produce 50 plus inch fish regularly...not a few a season...also within 6-7 hours waters which make MN look like WI. However as I anticipate my move back to the midwest perhaps...I feel like even though the fishing pales in comparision to the east, I long to connect to the memories I have there. That now even at a fairly young age, fishing the waters I learned on and the beautiful environment the exist in is worth fishign the lesser fisheries of IL IN WI MN and LOTW and such...It plays a part in my decision...Why do you fish for the muskie?Ben |
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Posts: 24
| I asked my boat partner that after a few fishless days up in Canada last year. Why are we beating our self up for a fish we are just going to let go anyway? To try convince someone that's never fished muskies to go fish with you in hopes of seeing a few fish all day and maybe catching one is hard to do. But... when that new guy or gal sees a muskie follow their hooked. It's just addicting.
I know personally I have no real interest in fishing for food. I can't talk myself into fishing for bluegills or even walleyes for that matter. I guess I'm a trophy fisherman and I want to outsmart the biggest, meanest, toughest to catch freshwater fish out there. But that's just me.
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Posts: 425
Location: Elkhart, IN | Muskies are the ultimate freshwater fish. The topwater strikes, the boatside strikes and jumping out of the water a few feet from the boat. There's no other adrenaline rush like it in freshwater fishing for me. |
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| I personall
Edited by Sponge 8/22/2006 7:23 PM
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Posts: 32957
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I have been fishing them so long, it's hard to remember why I started. It was OK to keep them back then; no one cared a bit if one kept a muskie of any size, so that wasn't a factor. I think it's a combination of the mystique, the fact the fish is cool looking and gets big, and the fact I ended up guiding others to a muskie and found that to be very rewarding. |
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Posts: 17
| The adrenilene rush I get when I see that pig following my bait or the strike out of no where! Nothing better than that!!! |
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Posts: 3511
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | It's da way dem darn feesh look at choo. When dey come in behind yer bait and you do yer figure 8 while they just sit and watch you work it and work it and work it...den dey just fin away to da udder side of da boat and go out a weys. You dun turn around to look da udder way, and WHOOSH...dey're gone.
D$%n Feesh!!
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | I have yet to get the "shakes" from a trophy bluegill.
I have never gone back to the spot I had seen a giant perch three years later in hope that it was there again.
Never has a three walleye day left me with a great sense of accomplishment.
I have never seen a grown man act like a five year old after his first legal bass.
Muskies are just different, unlike any fish in the lake, and I like that! |
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Posts: 617
Location: Clintonville, WI | As a 15 year old when I got "hooked".......in order
1. Amazement that something so big was in "small" inland water (WI) versus saltwater I'd fished before
2. Curiosity
Now.......in order
1. Challenge
2. Serenity (interupted by chaos once in a while, hopefully more often)
3. Release from stressful career
4. Variety of experiences/travel - kind of intertwined in 1-3 above
5. Amazement
6. Curiosity |
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Location: The Yahara Chain | nwild - 3/6/2006 8:54 AM
I have yet to get the "shakes" from a trophy bluegill.
I have never gone back to the spot I had seen a giant perch three years later in hope that it was there again.
Never has a three walleye day left me with a great sense of accomplishment.
I have never seen a grown man act like a five year old after his first legal bass.
Muskies are just different, unlike any fish in the lake, and I like that!
What Norm said!!!! |
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| Question: "Why do you fish for musky?"
Answer: "To see what they will do next."
Question: "Why do you REALLY fish for musky?"
Answer: "'Cuz they are there AND to see what they will do next." |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Because I can't stop. |
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Posts: 122
Location: Pittsburgh, PA | Because if I am going to not catch fish, I might as well not catch big fish! 
Rich D |
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Posts: 94
| Because on any given day, with a little luck and being in the right place, the least experienced amoung us with one cast can become the best of us. Chris |
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Posts: 1188
Location: Iowa | because no other fish fights with the piss and vinegar that a muskie does...they just seem pissed off when they hit a lure...and nothing else matters...all other fish are just bait...
Big Perc |
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Posts: 332
Location: Michigan | Because I can't sing or dance.
Jason |
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Posts: 2024
| I thought about this earlier this year, when I was bored and trying to go to bed. I broke out the computer and decided to put my thoughts down on paper. Here are the reasons, "Why I fish" (both muskie and in general).
Attachments
----------------
 Why I Fish.doc (20KB - 174 downloads)
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Posts: 43
Location: Kalamazoo | Because I am a glutton for punishment |
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Posts: 2323
Location: Stevens Point, WI | For me, it's being on the lake, where no one can bother me except the fish. The shear adrenaline rush when you see one follow on top and then the vicious strikes that can occur! But being on the lake and the excitement when you do catch one, no feeling like it! And such a sense of accomplishment! Plus it keeps me out of trouble doing other things! |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Norm said it perfectly! This sport is such a rush, sure its expensive and addicting but its safer than drugs!
Mike |
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Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Because 10 years ago (June 1996) one of my best friends (Mike Hofmann) asked me to go on Canadian fly-in with him. "Al, this lake has muskies in it, you know they're kinda like northern pike." Mike knew I have always loved to fish for large nothern pike. That trip changed me forever. I still fish for other species, including northern pike, walleye's , etc. but mostly it's muskies today.
Why do I fish for muskies? Because I fell in love with the stupid fish. They have more moods/personallity quirks than Sybil or even Slamr for that matter.... Plus I've always loved being outdoors I grew up hunting & fishing near Camp Douglas WI. My brothers (4) and sisters (6) and I had thousands of acres to play, roam , hunt , & fish on. Lot's of deer,rabbits, squirrels, pheasant, ruffed grouse, quail, ducks, geese, woodcock, turkeys, carp, suckers, bullheads, bluegills, crappies, trout, bass & northerns. But no muskies in the Lemonweir River...... With 11 kids we ate a lot of nature's bounty. The girls hunted too. I remember one year when we covered a hay wagon bed with buck's (buck only season), 12 bucks incuding dad's, cause we didn't have a oak tree in the yard with big enough limbs for a good picture What a sad child hood, I didn't even know I was deprived farm boy! It went on for ~30 more years after I graduated from high school & left the farm, I traveled around the world without ever once really thinking about fishing for muskies.
Scuba diving & fishing in tropical island paridise's, pacific salmon (Sekiu WA) in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Louisiana oil rig's (Grande Isle) & red fish on the flat's, Florida deep sea, red fish, speck's & large mouth bass fishing with my brother Jim. Rhode Island strippers off Block Island, Gila River Wilderness trout, Colorado trout, Montana trout, Mississipi river Northern, Walleyes, & anything else that swims. Cats so big you couldn't turn them w/50lb line., Lake Michigan laker's, Salmon, Steelhead & big inshore Brown's. The list goes on & on.
Then Mike had to go and forever ruin my life. Thanks Mike!
Have fun!
Al |
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Posts: 201
Location: Stevens Point | I do it for the rush, and my natural love of the outdoors. Muskie fishing gives me the same rush that I get from bow hunting. Some days it's exciting to see anything, and every time you see a big one whether it is a fat 'skie or a big buck I can't stop myself from shaking. The pure excitement is just one of the reasons I do it.
I also do it for the challenge, anyone can catch a sunfish or bass, but how many people consistantly catch muskies (besides a lot of guys on this board). I am very competitive, muskies have become one of my favorite opponents.
Another reason I do it is for the love of the outdoors. There is no place I would rather be than watching the sun rise or set while casting for muskies.
The fact that a very tranquil moment can turn into pure kaos in a heart beat keeps me loving to muskie fish.
These are also the same reason I have become addicted to the sport the past few years. |
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Posts: 670
Location: Otsego, MN | Nothing is more challenging and exciting to fish for in all of freshwater, that's enough for me. |
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| I want to. |
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Posts: 332
Location: Neenah, WI | It is the only species of freshwater fish that is the top predator in the food chain.
You can catch her , Hold her and put her back in the water for someoneelse to share to same adrenilene rush you felt when you caught her.
I know you can't do that with a grizzly bear.
saint1
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Posts: 20279
Location: oswego, il | I like the aggrevation, infighting and controversy on the internet. That is what I love most about musky fishing. It's niice to see people at each other's throats, bashing this that and the other thing. Makes me feel all wrm and fuzzy. Ok, the fuzzy part is because I can't see as well as I used to, but lets not clutter the issue with facts.
Editirs Note:
ToddM sees precious little of that here, and that would indicate he hangs out in all the wrong places....
Kidding, Todd, kidding! |
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| I like being part of the lowest density of fishing peeps that chase the lowest density fish. Since I caught my first musky at 15 I have been hooked, on a quest for the ONE
Wake up and notice that we are a faint voice in the wilderness. That said, it is amazing the change we are able to create given our small numbers. I am helping stock two lakes that I have fished my entire life and never even dreamed one day they might have a fishable population of musky
The good old days of musky fishing are now, wake up and notice that too |
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Posts: 40
| The adrenaline rush the first time you have a topwater attack. My first night with a jackpot, I caught a 36" pike on the topwater. A few minutes later, a 36"+ Musky...that was it, I was hooked. Also, being able to harvest and put it back for my son or daughters to catch when he is older. |
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Posts: 284
Location: Fishing the weeds | The only fish other than Sharks that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up and my eyes bug out.
P.S. Ben, I to long to go back to my home in MN. But think about this for a minute ( Mn-season starts in June ends at ice up. Where you are now- No closed season ) that's one of the things that keep me here. Pat |
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| There is no simple way to answer this question. At first muskies appealed to me because I could relate it to big game hunting. Thats what muskie fishing is, it is hunting, not mindless fishing like going out and catching 50 bluegills a day on a worm. You have to work hard for these fish, they don't give up easily, and when you do hook into one it is like nothing you have ever experienced. Even now years after my first muskie encounter I can still remember it vividly and i didn't even catch that fish i missed it at boatside. I have yet to almost come to tears when a big walleye gets off or a trout throws the hook on me. There is something about these fish that can't be explained or understood by those that have never fished for them. When that fish hits at boatside and all you can see is teeth, its pure adrenaline. I suppose now that there is a simple answer, there is nothing else like it in the world. There is no bass or walleye angler that can go home at night and say,"I hooked into one today and fought it all the way to the boat and then it threw the hook. What a rush. Man i hope i can get out tomorrow and hook it back up." NO other fisherman can be satisfied with a close call like a muskie fisherman can and that is what keeps me coming back. |
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Posts: 4266
| I have no freakin' idea  |
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| For the rubber knees and increased heart rate! |
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Posts: 667
Location: Roscoe IL | Because of stories like this one... I just want one chance!!
http://www.fenwickfishing.com/menu.cfm?p_content_id_key=45&cm=339
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Posts: 284
Location: Fishing the weeds | Great Story! I'd love to see one like that before I check out. |
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Posts: 20279
Location: oswego, il | Bukes, we were talking about musky fishing. |
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Posts: 17
Location: Antigo, WI | I'd have to plead insanity! But I really like Norm's answer. I started chasing muskies about 15 years ago and I get the same rush seeing the water bulge up behind a topwater or a big shadow closing in on a bucktail as I do when a big whitetail comes in bow range. The best part of musky fishing is once you are lucky enough to bag a trophy, whatever that is to you personally, you can release her and return next week, next month or next year and have the hope of another encounter. With a trophy whitetail, once you win there will never be another encounter. |
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| Because when all the other kids were playing kickball i was trying to get some vitamin P in 6th grade
Because when all the other kids were chasing girls in 8th grade i was learning how to play guitar so i could have them chase me
Because i finally realized i was ugly and can't play the guitar for crap around the time i turned 29.
Because of this realization, i decided that i always loved fishing, why not fish for something with a catch ratio equal to the success rate of most bands getting signed, i mean, im used to the odds, right?
Because i'm stubborn, stupid, will spend anywhere from 10-130 on a lure and seriously try to justify it to ANYONE that will listen. i will pay for guided trips and catch bass....i will take 5 day trips to places such as kinzua, and although i MIGHT just get a BIG bitch, i'll probably only remember that years trip for the campfire and drunken comraderie that we all long for.
Because when i was a kid, my dad caught one in front of me and released it.
Because i was in a band that finally had lucrative offers, and i quit so i could be the father i want to be.........so i decided to treat myself to many fishless days, debt, a ton of GREAT friendships and a jumpstart on getting the knowledge i need to keep my daughter on the water with me, away from all the other horny 6th-10th graders, guitar players and dumb, ugly freaks that refuse to walk the beaten path like i did.
Or i could simply say because, and know that some people understand this one word answer, and others will not......ever. |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | Gotta do somthing when it is not bow hunting season.
I love the..
challenge
adrenilin
fish size
Power
cool lures
and on and on..
I eat salmon and walleye,
release carp and steelhead,
catch panfish with the boys,
Lose sleep the night before every time I'm headed Muskie fishing!
(yes I really release carp. Try 23 pounder on a home made ultralight with the river current. Off season toothless muskie)
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| That was what I was referring to Mr. Minor, not the man games you are into. |
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Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | This will be my first year, and I'm doing it because I can't make a putt. I'm doing it because I can't hit a golf ball 300 hundred yards any more, and every one else can. I'm getting old, and I want to do something I can get better at. Where I'm starting you can only go forward. The science of it appeals to me. I've never been too involved with locating fish during my previous fishing experiences, and I'm really going to focus on that. Why? That's the question I'll be asking anyone I fish with. Why this bait, this structure, this depth, this time of day? I hope this doesn't scare off anybody that's made offers.
What started as a little research to learn a few things for a trip to Eagle Lake with some buddies from California, has become a quest for information and improvement. It's weird, but it's true. I like the feeling.
I'm also a sucker for all the shiny stuff you get to buy.
Kevin
I will wrestle my cumbersome plan into submission.
Edited by MuskyHopeful 3/8/2006 2:01 PM
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Posts: 341
| Appreciation factor.
Beating on my body, hands while freezing my a$$ off, makes the return home for a strong cocktail, hot shower and couch extra special.
I might just start slamming my hand with a hammer for a faster appreciation process.
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Posts: 96
| Because of the challenge. I also love being outdoors and on the water. I like all types of fishing, it just seems that other fish are somewhat easy to catch.
I mostly do it because I have a bad case of muskie fever. Looking for a 50+ in 2006! |
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| It's an atmosphere where I am not battling anyone but myself. I don't believe fish have thought processes and that it is up to me to identify the conditions and characteristics of the weather and time of year to determine what it will take to have success. The best part of that is I measure my success whether I catch a big fish, several in a day, or I blank it big time. What I expect out of musky fishing changes daily. Sometimes it's to grow closer bonds between loved ones and I, sometimes it for the excitement of the catch, to have solitude after a hard day's work, or to work on the ole' problem solving skills during a tournament. Whatever it is I seek from musky fishing, it usually produces for me and it isn't one single thing that causes me to musky fish but an colaberation of many things all at once that make this a truely special sport. |
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Posts: 723
| cause I've got balls. and they smell good. |
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Posts: 3920
| Ok, well my other response was vaporized (and I don't care) so I've thought it over and here's my close second...
It is one of the few activities that has the potential to totally consume my attention and consciouness for a sustained period of time. When I'm thrashing the water for hours and hours, well, I can forget about everything else. And for a person who manages serious depression, being able to forget about everything else, without the aid of drugs or alcohol, is a blessing.
Not that drugs and alcohol don't have practical value at times at times at times at times times timestimetimetimetime...racing around to come up behind you again. Things are the same in a relative way but...hey...Um, gotta go. There's a herd of angry vampire bats banging at my window. They're all wearing Enron 2004 Summer Picnic tee shirts! And they're chanting....something. It's....wait....they're...saying.... "Cheney and Satan in 2008"!? What the hell does that mean? Shep, please, a little help with the translation?
Seriously, for me, muskie fishing is exceptionally good medicine for depression. For real. |
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