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Posts: 7090
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Think about it; it's about the hardest freshwater fish to chase, yet you do it. It takes up a ton of time and sucks up alot of your money, yet you do it.
Why do you do it? |
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | I’ve thought about this one a bit and why it’s the primary type of fishing I do. I’ve come to the realization that it's more like hunting than any other type of freshwater fishing so it satisfies my two basic needs (fishing and hunting). I still do other types of freshwater fishing but they don’t satisfy my hunting needs like muskies or hunting flats fish in saltwater. |
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Posts: 897
| I'm an adrenaline junky, plain and simple. Boatside strikes and follows are why I fish muskies over other fish. That, and they are the biggest, baddest fish in most lakes. Bass fight harder pound for pound, but who really cares when you are talking about a fish where 7 lbs is considered huge in most states.
I also think I have ADD. Constantly casting, changing spots and moving quickly keeps me from getting bored.
-Chris |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | I agree with the two answers above and will add that I LOVE the way they smell! The scent of a muskie... HOO AHH! |
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Posts: 360
Location: Algonac, MI | Plain and simple. Its' an illness I acquired, and can't shake it.
Only good therapy, is to do it again, and again., and again.....
Edited by Contender 11/12/2009 2:32 PM
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Posts: 670
Location: Otsego, MN | I like hunting and I consider muskie fishing to be more like hunting. Your looking for that spot on the spot, chasing a species that is low in numbers in a lake. Trying to get a pattern and pinpoint the fish location. I compare it to deer hunting in a way. Except I'm not eating them. |
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Posts: 529
Location: Not Where I Want To Be | I do it to get a reality check. Most other species i've fished for in the past have yet to supply the Adrenaline rush musky fishing does for me. I've done plenty of fishing and 40 -60 Walleye days are not uncommon on the lake i fish. Actually to me it gets a little boring at times.
Also if it was easy everyone would be doing it.
Edited by bridgeman 11/12/2009 3:09 PM
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Posts: 427
Location: Wausau | It's the endless quest to gain more research and knowledge, more experiences, more techniques and more skill. All in attempts to be successful in the ever-changing environment of the world we call musky fishing. To fulfill my characteristic trait of “All or Nothing”, where one can spend years mastering the sport, only to go out and find there is still more to learn. I also enjoy the peaceful opportunities nature allows me to enjoy, knowing I am only borrowing a moment in time from her, but a lifetime memory for myself. |
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Posts: 138
Location: Utah | Well for me believe-it-or-not it's a stress reliever from the every day grind. It allowes me to get into a hobby I along truly enjoy. I've learned it's takes a whole lot of the 3Ps (Passion, Persistence and Patience) and a sincere love for the angling art of catching these fish. Plus I like helping to stimulate the economy by purchasing tackle/equipment to chase these fish. Ohhh what a great passion and hobby is all I'll say.
Out here in Utah...well anyone can catch a Trout including all the gentic hybrid trout species they have out here...Not everyone will learn how to consistency catch a Tiger Musky. Besides after catching a nice Musky or Tiger Musky all other fish are just bait anyways... |
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Posts: 1286
Location: Stevens Point, Wi. | To quiet the voices in my head  |
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Location: Twin Cities | The thrill of the hunt and the taste of victory...yeah that's it.
Reminds me of bombing around the mountains chasing elk. Closest thing in the flat country... |
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| To prove to myself that the fish of 10,000 casts, isn't really a fish of 10,000 casts.
Sometimes it's a fish of 25 casts, and sometimes I need a calculator to do the math...
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Posts: 1460
Location: Kronenwetter, WI | Two reasons, really. I'm drawn and pushed. I'm drawn by the anticipation of the strike, the thinking, reflecting, adjusting, observing, learning, researching. I enjoy the chase as much as the catch. The crazy thing is that I'm convinced my efforts will pay off very soon each time I'm on the water...there's a term called EFFICACY and I think that plays a large part in why many of us do this. Also, sometimes when I'm on the water, pulling in a bait, watching it approach, I am at complete peace--that's pretty cool and pretty rare..in that way I'm pushed toward musky fishing because it offers an ESCAPE from what ails me on any given day. Like Frank Costanza would say, "SERENITY NOW!!" |
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Posts: 1316
Location: Lebanon,Mo | Being from the south I always like to say,"I fish for what everyone else cant catch".Bass fishing sucks,and it's no fun trying to get a crappie to go on the 8. |
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Posts: 100
Location: Bemidji/Cass Lake | The challenge. I enjoy fishing for everything, but muskies do things that other fish don't and can't. |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | Because I have yet to catch a walleye that made my knees shake. |
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Posts: 8834
| I've aksed myself that question a thousand times!
1. I enjoy the scenery, and I like being on the water. I'd go out and just sit there, but I'm an anxious, nervous kind of person. I have to be physically doing something.
2. I like trying to figure out where the fish are and what the fish want.
3. I like that you actually see the fish coming and sometimes have to make them eat
4. I like shiny sparkly things. Once a hippie always a hippie I guess.
5. Hours of mindless casting followed by 2 minutes of chaos. What could be better than that?
6. The way a muskie will sometimes come flying out of nowhere and just crush a bait, throwing water everywhere? MAN nature is cool! Watching the top predator in action is fun on TV, but it's a riot in real life.
7. I know I can catch the other fish in the lake. Most of the time I don't know if I can catch a muskie that day or not.
8. Seeing a wake behind a surface bait, even when it's someone else's
9. I like the teamwork, a collective effort to get a fish in the net.
10. It changes from day to day. The spot or lure or technique that worked last week? Maybe, maybe not. |
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Posts: 386
| Why? Because the Musky is the KING of the liquid jungle in my part of the woods. If I lived where I could fish for the Great Shark, I'd be all over it and would fish for nothing else! |
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Posts: 457
Location: Minneconia | Because they are made of awesome |
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Posts: 284
Location: Fishing the weeds | Because I can. |
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Posts: 131
| I used to live for archery season to come around . Being in the woods on a crisp morning is just plain cool . Bucks chasing does all over the place , with plenty of action . Ive shot plenty of deer and believe me the rush is still there , but I think maybe as we get older the need to harvest wildlife slips away . Thats where musky fishin comes in the picture for me anyways . It is still hunting , exciting as heck , never knowing when the big ones going to latch on. playing the wind , going by the lunar phases . The similarites are so common its scary. The one big difference is photo and release . Im not a tree hugger I love venison , I just dont need to shoot the big one . I do however want to catch the big ones. |
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Posts: 1168
| To justify what I have invested in the sport.
Muskies are lower for me than most. If the following would be happening at the same time of the muskie season opener, I would forego muskies completely:
1) Spring sucker run
2) Spring bullhead run
3) If I would get into perch on a lake I know rather well
At all times I would much rather be crawling around in a brush filled trout stream. I only muskie fished this summer twice before the middle of August. Had plenty of opportunities to get out but alas, my fishing time was devoted to trout. Since I have invested enough money, I need to at least justify it a little bit. |
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Posts: 743
| It used to be a driving force in my fishing but not anymore. As I've gotten older it's I spend a lot more time walleye fishing. i still pound the crap out of it when on my 3 weeks in
canada tho. Canada fishing has spoiled me where I don't fish much in
wisc anymore. Got a 53 2 years ago and don't know if I can ever beat that. Actually Eagle has spoiled me more than anything. What a lake. I still get the fever when 1 shows itself. |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | It's more fun than fishing for other fish. No one thing in particular, but everything about muskies all together makes it so. I love fishing for other fish too, but fishing for muskies is just more fun and there is no other way to explain it. |
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Posts: 485
Location: On my favorite lake! | Because I am sick in the head! I have a caught over 300 bass in a single day and got sick of them! They are like no other fish! The Follows! There is just something about them above all other fish. When its time to go out musky fishing. I can't wait. |
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Posts: 692
Location: Pelican Rapids, MN | Because I was a musky in my former life - At least that's what the jamaican psychic told after she said "Call Me Now" on the TV - So it has to be true. |
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Posts: 1296
Location: WI | The mystique, it's the extreme in freshwater fishing. I grew up reading In Fisherman and being in awe of the musky articles, reading about people like Doug Johnson slaying the big ones up north. My family always camped at Leech Lake or Cass, my uncle on my dad's side has a cabin near Woodruff...I've always been around it but never really knew anyone that was into it.
Looking at the huge lures at the bait shop and wondering what the heck would eat those, and guessing they would all be HUGE fish that did. I liked catching pike and it was a natural progression into the musky disease for me.
Edited by JKahler 11/13/2009 12:16 AM
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Posts: 1530
| sultry unpredictable ornery slimey fish. known to humble, and make a man talk to himself. thats why. |
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Posts: 457
| Why?
Why not? |
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Posts: 582
| i agree with most of the other posts. I do it because its more like hunting. Anyone can put a minnow on a hook and lob it off the side of a boat (i do) for walley and crappie, but the constant casting, hunting, and the reward of catching a fish that could be 40-50" is just too good to pass up. I also think i have ADD which allows me to cast and not just sit there. I think it takes some skill to catch a muskie which i like that aspect. |
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Posts: 550
Location: So. Illinois | For the thrill of it. No other fish in fresh water can leave a grown man shaking like a kid:
- On his first date with the prettiest girl in school
- Facing a bully twice his size
- Taking his on-the-road driving ltest for the first time
- Facing your first real job interview for a competitive positioin
- Competing in a state championship for a high school sport
- ......... you get the idea |
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Posts: 617
Location: Clintonville, WI | Very basic for me......
1. WOW factor(s)
2. The places it takes me
The fact that I/we catch fish on a fairly regular basis is the icing on the cake. |
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Posts: 667
Location: Roscoe IL | Love the early morning feel when your launching the boat at dawn, the water looks like glass with a little steam rising off the water. Seeing a fish bust the surface & baitfish scatter get's my heart pumping. First cast in the mornings & the thoughts of do i have the best lure on or should I change, thinking to myself; I wish I could cast two lures at a time. The sounds of rope's & rigs banging off the mast's of the sail boat's docked at the harbors & waves breaking against the shore. The smell of the water, the motor, the lures, the fish.... All of these things together make's me feel more alive than anything else. It's not just about the Muskie, it's all of this put together that makes this the best hobby for me. |
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Posts: 1106
Location: Muskegon Michigan | All of the above. I also fish for food like bluegill, perch , pike, walleye, whitefish and trout/Salmon. In Michigan Muskies are the biggest predator ,the T-REX of the lakes. Top of the food chain. They are worthy of my time and my money. And there is nothing quite like a Muskies top water strike. Kingfisher |
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Posts: 393
Location: Hopefully on the water | As it was stated before it is a major stress relief for me. It is peaceful out there. It is the thrill of the challenge and reward of success. Plus it is fun to share time and smiles or frustraitions of loosing a fish with friends and family. Seeing someone catch their first or biggest or best day on the water. Plus I am too impatiant to watch a bobber. |
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| The anticipation of catching a fish of any kind but knowing right away when a musky hits and goes wild. |
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| Because I have self-esteem issues. And the possibility of catching a very large fish that could potentially result in praise and recognition from friends and strangers alike compels me to invest great sums of money and countless hours to eventually achieve the illusionary status of ‘somebody special’---for a day or so, anyway. |
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Posts: 32934
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | After 40 years of Muskie angling ( wow, I haven't really actually carefully counted before, I thought it was in the 30's) it's in my blood.
Great company fishing with good friends and even Slamr, Sue (my best friend), my sons and now grandsons, and some of the coolest destinations in North America.
Overall, the most generous and friendly community one will ever find, despite our little foibles. Sure, there are exceptions. They form their own 'social' group, and it's even fun to watch that stuff (E = mc2 )
Big muskies are fun to catch and even fun not to catch. So are small muskies.
Great industry based on the sport. Nice people.
Cool gear.
I like the sport. |
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Posts: 654
Location: MPLS, MN | Couldn't chase tail anymore once I got married. |
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Posts: 999
| I love the challenge of it! I mean you can go out and get your a$$ kicked for days on end the finally stick one and that is so #*^@ rewarding! And even when getting your butt kicked it just makes me want to fish that much harder. What other fish will keep you insane for sucha long period of time????
Mr InsaneMusky |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Could care less about the fish. It isn't about that for me. It's about the people I spend time in the boat with. Worrall, Sled, DeVoe, Slamer, Addict, Peaches, Tom and everyone else I've spent time in the boat with. Good times are had by all. Even some of the guys I've met at the shows/outings. Could really give a hoot about the fish. Fishing should be fun. Who gives a hoot if you catch one or not. IMO many put far too much emphasis on actually boating a fish. If I'm rolling on the bottom of the boat in laughter that trumps any fish in my book. I'll be out with Ulbian and my dad this weekend. Hell if we didn't even bring fishing rods I know I'd have one hell of a time. Looking forward to it! |
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Posts: 3913
| 1) I hate cleaning fish.
2) If I'm not gonna catch a fish, it's gonna be the biggest fish in the lake.
3) When I do happen to boat a big fish, it's like killer jungle sex without the risk of STDs.
4) I hate cleaning fish. |
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Posts: 172
| Muskie fishin give me a excuses not to go out at night get hammered, drugged, possible std..... |
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Posts: 1185
Location: Wishin I Was Fishin' | 1. Walleyes are too easy.
1b. a 30" musky is not a trophy
2. I'm saving golfing for when I retire....maybe.
3. I couldn't stay awake sitting in the woods.
4. Hunting with a cooler of beer and rockin out doesn't usually go over to good.
5. Musky friends are awesome.
6. Muskies live in really nice places........usually
7. Muskys rock.
Edited by Jomusky 11/15/2009 7:24 PM
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| the agony of defeat... i like being outside... |
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| Its a fill in for the whitetail hunt. |
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| 1) It fulfills the basic hunting instinct that I think is genetically programmed into most all men;
2) Allows us to enjoy the out of doors and nature, which probably brings us all closer to some happy times in our past.
3) Ego. If we were the sole remaining human being on earth - and there was no one to brag to - none of us would musky fish. We'd probably just panfish for sustenance.
Brian
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I fish Muskies just for the fun of it. Partly because Muskies are harder to catch than other fish. Its also fun just getting out and throwing around a lure and trying to figure the fish out. Its a lot of fun sharing the time with friends, my wife, or my kids. Its a bonus when everything works out and someone in the boat catches a nice fish, but its fun even when the fish won't show themselves. Just being on the water is fun for me.
What isn't fun is throwing overly large lures until my back and shoulders hurt, having people complain because they didn't catch a Muskie or big enough of a Muskie (once had a guy complain repeatedly about catching a 47 inch Muskie), or being beat up by high winds and nasty waves. Then it is time to go home.
If its no fun, then why go fishing?
Edited by Herb_b 11/24/2009 12:04 PM
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WHY Do You Chase Muskies?