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Posts: 10
Location: Verona, WI | Ok Guys,
How is everyone else doing this season so far? I am struggling. I have never had a season that has started out so poorly. Last year was not lights out by any means, but this year makes last year look great. I have heard a few reports of people catching fish and even a few nice ones, but even the reports are comming in slowly.
A couple of years ago it was no problem to put muskies in the net, and lots of them. I should have 30 fish by now but have less than 10. I seem to be having a hard time getting a few follows.
I am trying everything that I can think of. Same ol baits, new baits, big baits, little baits, mornings, noons and later into the nights, great old spots and new ones that should have fish on them.
With the big heat of summer just around the corner, I probably will not hit it as hard, to be easy on the fish (if I can be any easier on them). So I would like to get a few more in the boat by then. I guess what I am looking for is either more sob stories to make me feel like I am not the lone ranger on this thing, or some tips on what is working for those who are having some luck.
Thanks alot,
Bob |
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Posts: 227
Location: Southeast Wisconsin | Tough year all around I think with the weather patterns we've had. Best advice I can give you is to keep fishing with confidence and be ready for that big girl when shes ready to eat. Ive had a ridiculous amount of clients missing and loosing fish fish this year due to poor figure 8s and hook sets. Even Ive been caught sleeping at the wheel a few times after the "hit" comes 7 hours into an otherwise actionless day. Not many follows, but the fish that are coming in are eating on the 8 or converting on throw back lures. All the classics are working on the lakes I fish so stick with your confidence lures and work every piece of structure.. Clients have boated fish from 2-80 FOW trolling,casting,jigging and also live bait rigging. However, numbers are definitely down from years past and I had one of my worst springs ever.. |
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Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | I'll offer my sob story, maybe it will make you feel better. Unfortunately I graduated from college this past winter and have found the real world really sucks. Starting out low on the totem pole means working nights and weekends. My fishing time is half of what it was last year at this time and the worst part is I have only taken one weekend trip up north compared to 5 last year. With no short fishing trips, I'm limited to fishing the Mad Chain. The result, I seem to be working on my worst musky season thus far. It would have helped to have a better net man and if a snap didn't open up on me... but even if I did get those I'd still be behind. Now, the boat that I fish out of looks like it will be in repairs for quite a while so my hours will continue to plummet. Sadly, I'm already starting to think about next year when I may have my own boat. Still though, a week at LOTW could change my entire season around... so I'm at least trying to stay positive.
So to make you feel better, at least you have option of going fishing whenever you want to try and increase your numbers. I'm stuck driving by the lake everyday assuming the fish are just going CRAZY. |
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| I would agree it has been a slower start to the season everywhere seemingly in musky land...feeding windows have been seemingly very short..an hour or 2 here or there but nothing crazy
it can only get better...keep at it. |
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Posts: 2112
Location: The Sportsman, home, or out on the water | I know some guys that have had a banner year so far, and others are sucking. bad years make you appreciate the good ones. You are either on a wave, or between them. Stiff upper lip, soldier! |
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Posts: 1168
| Here's my sob story. First time out I forgot the bracket that mounts my GPS to my boat. Forced me not to rely on the same old locations, drifts, and so on. Did what I had done in the past, just pick two landmarks and catch the wind drifting from one side of the lake to the other using the trolling motor to stay in a line between those landmarks. It's paid off big time. Outside of a handful of fish that are in very very specific quirky areas my approach is to just randomly drift like this 85% of the time. The rest of the time I'm keeping tabs on water temp changes and if I notice any quick jump up or down in temps I'll spend a bit more time on those areas.
Besides those fish that are in incredibly specific locations, I haven't fished the same piece of structure the same way twice yet. By letting the wind dictate the angles of my drifts I feel as if I'm learning a totally new dimension of familiar water instead of just setting up on the same old same old milk run day after day after day.
Edited by ulbian 7/4/2007 10:59 PM
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| Best start ever for me personnally, but the windows have been as short as I have ever seen them. I would say that I have gotten lucky a few times and just happened upon a quick window, which saved a few trips. Luck being the key word. Aside from that, and overall, long slow days have been had here too. |
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Posts: 253
Location: On the water | Here's my sob story. I've been out approximately 10 times and have no muskies to show for it. I've tried big baits, small baits, tails, plastic, rubber and just about everything else. Fished shallow, deep, and somewhere in between water. Tried fishing very early a.m., tried moon phases. Had a few lazy follows, thats it. I'm sticking with early a.m. and small bucktails and crankbaits and speed. I've talked to a number of musky fisherman that are having the same problem, they all believe it has to do with the early hot weather. I don't know but I'm staying at it till I get one. Good luck to everyone.
Tom |
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Posts: 177
Location: Cohasset, MN | All my fish have a high degree of luck involved, but... I've been on the water 4 times this year. Got my PB (44) and my son got his first (41). So far this is the greatest season ever ! |
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Posts: 8866
| I haven't been out much at all this year. Just too busy. Similar to what others have said, it's been slow. Biggest this year is a 40 out of Bytor's boat. Overqall I'm 2 fish for 6 days on the water. Had a fair amount of fish up.
Kinda funny, but because of some "other" things going on, the fact that I haven't fished much at all, and haven't caught many fish this year? Doesn't matter one bit!  |
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Posts: 1086
| My sob story, which really isn't a sob story:
I have two kids that are young and 18 months apart. That's not the sob story. That's the BEST part of this story. LOL! Daughter is 22 months old...son is 4 months old. So...I'm very, very busy with them at home, which is keeping me off the water this year. I'm hardly doing any fishing. Haven't fished since May during our Indiana Muskie Classic put on by the Hoosier Muskie Hunters.
Haven't been out since then. No clue when I'll get out for muskies next. Nothing is on the radar or the calendar as of right now. So...it's kinda like playing the lottery: can't win if you don't play/can't catch 'em if you're not out on the water fishing.
Oh well..the kids are only young once. I'm enjoying my new focus.
My boat and my gear are no longer at our lake. Everything is tucked away in my garage at home in plain sight to remind me each and everyday that I'm not out fishing. Which...I wish it was "out of sight...out of mind." But...oh well.
Those fish will be there when I get back to it. I'm just looking forward to taking my kids to do some simple pan fishing sometime soon.
So..long story short....I'm just not fishing much at all this year. I'll be on a hiatus from fishing for a while....
Edited by MACK 7/5/2007 9:57 AM
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Posts: 55
Location: SW Michigan | Heck, I don't know. This is my first year. Caught a couple, saw fish almost every time out. I'm happy. |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | I've only been on a few short trips. MN opener and a 2 recent very short trips. Haven't been slimed yet buy I have moved fish each time and bigger fish. Should have had one on but I broke the rule one time by not figure-8 and as I picked the mag dawg out of the water a lower 40's came up hot and wet the side of the boat. Other times out I had fish chasing 8's but nothing would commit. One fish was around 46-47" and the other 2 were 42-43'ish. Each trip hasn't lasted more than 4 hours and 1 trip I was alone, well with my 8 yr old who was yanking in perch! So I guess I can't complain but I wish I was holding more fish instead of seen'em stories. |
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Slow go of it?