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| My sister was telling me about a guy she works with that is going to start muskie fishing this weekend. That got me to thinking that I should warn him that it can get expensive and maybe he should give it a second thought.
I decided to inventory my gear and use a spread sheet to figure up how much costs I have toward each fish that I have caught and released.
If I do not count my Javelin and the metal building that I built to keep my boat and fishing tackle in, it comes out to about $186 per fish.
If I count the boat and the building, then it comes out to $705 per fish.
I realize that this is probably peanuts to what a lot of muskie hunters spend, but it's quite a bit to me; plus my wife would probably kill me if she knew the amount.
Oh well, it's something to do if you are at work with time to kill on a Friday evening...
From this exercise, I have learned that I need to catch more fish in order to lower my cost per fish.
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Try smoking cigs. Or drinking. Muskie fishing is WAY less expensive.  |
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Location: Minnesota. | sworrall - 6/22/2012 4:19 PM
Try smoking cigs. Or drinking. Muskie fishing is WAY less expensive. :)
Plus it's (terribly) healthy too!!
Anytime a guy can have that much fun it's gotta be wonderful for the soul! |
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| Im not going to count my boat since it is my dad's. Here it goes
$400- Rods
$500- Reels
$100- Net
$100- Release Tools
$1000ish- Lures
Averafe $25 in gas everytime X 12 times this year- $300
Equals $2500 for 3 fish this year, so roughly $800 per fish! Ouchhh!! |
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| Some things are better unknown. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | I have been chasing these stinky slimey bags of fish bones for 30 years and just the other night I was thinking I would have been thousands ahead If I had never bought boats, lures, rods, or other tackle and just fished with guides and used their equipment. BUT THAT WOULDN'T BE HALF AS MUCH FUN
Edited by horsehunter 6/22/2012 5:01 PM
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Posts: 743
| I don't even want to think about the cost. Do I have to add up just what I have now or everything that I've bought and sold over the years. The amount would be staggering I'm sure. Glad my memory sucks . That would artificially lower the total otherwise I would say" jeez I could retire on what I've spent". Now, what was the question ? |
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Location: Contrarian Island | avg 80-100 fish in boat per year...I'd say on the low end gas/lodging/food/baits/new stuff/boat insurance/upkeep etc a season runs $6000...so about 60 to 75 per fish.... I snowmobile a lot in the winter and we've often talked about the cost per mile...$11,000 sled and $500 weekends it's not a pretty calculation...but boy is it fun to hit 120 on the lake! |
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| who cares as long as your responsible?
best advice on keeping the startup expenses low, master one technique at a time, just pick one - bucktails, dawgs, jerks or topwater (ok,two), get a handful of baits for each (to play with color/size) then go fish, hard to overspend this way. earn it. |
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| Yeah, I had someone I know comment about how musky fishing sounds expensive when I answered his question about the avg. cost of a lure. Since he smokes, I said well, you spend about $50 a week on cigs, and don't have anything left to show for it, so which is the more expensive hobby? |
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| North of 8 - 6/22/2012 6:47 PM
Yeah, I had someone I know comment about how musky fishing sounds expensive when I answered his question about the avg. cost of a lure. Since he smokes, I said well, you spend about $50 a week on cigs, and don't have anything left to show for it, so which is the more expensive hobby?
He's got his brown crispy lungs and possibly an interesting chest x ray in a few years, what do YOU have to show for it???  |
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Location: Toronto | Guest - 6/22/2012 4:42 PM
Some things are better unknown.
Amen, lol |
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Location: Pigeon Forge TN. | I don't figuer my cost like that. I am doing ( when ever I can get out ) what I love to do for relaxation. haven't smoked for a year and don't drink. And that would be far more expensive than fishing equipment counting in the loss of health and medical bills. I'll stick with the musky.
My two cents but probably less now with inflation. |
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Location: New Hope MN | delete this thread!!! Unspoken rule#1 never calculate the cost!!! |
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Location: Chisholm, MN | WHO CARES?!?!?!?! |
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| Pure happiness is priceless!!! |
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| Id love to say I'm at some ridiculous number but I haven't caught a fish yet. This coming from someone who is no stranger to st croix or calcurta te's. |
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Location: Illinois | It's not about the cost, it's about the payoff. -catching that first GIANT -netting someone's 1st fish -boast and toasts round the campfire -lasting relationships and memories sharing the boat these things cannot be measured in dollars and cents, they cannot be bought or sold.
Edited by muskellunged 6/23/2012 3:13 PM
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Location: WI | Muskelunged, you must be married. That's what I tell my wife when she asks how much I've spent on musky fishing. What she doesn't know won't hurt me. |
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Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | Compare that to the money you spend to work. How many cars did you have to buy, how much gas and insurance, how many shirts and pants and shoes, food for lunches, and how many engagements planned for you that you otherwise wouldn't have attended? How about a place to live closer to work rather than one where you'd actually like to live? So, how much fun do you have at work???? Fishing is a bad investment? Don't think so! |
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| jawzjr3 - 6/23/2012 4:20 AM
Pure happiness is priceless!!!
Isn't that why we have wives? |
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Posts: 171
| Where's the guy who signed off with "my biggest fear is that after I die my wife will sell my musky gear for what I TOLD her I paid for it". I laugh about that one every time I think of it.
ErieBoy75 |
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Location: Sauk Centre MN | I hope my wife doesn't see this thread and then do the math for me.......... |
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Location: Muskegon Michigan | Guest - 6/22/2012 5:42 PM
Some things are better unknown.
I like your way of thinking
In 2006 my wife and I caught 226 Muskies. We traveled over 12,000 miles to do this and incurred near 12,000 dollars in expenses. I have no Idea the cost per fish but that was our biggest expenditure in a single year. That year included six 5 day trips to Lake St. Clair two 5 day trips to Michigan,s upper peninsula trips to Ohio, Indiana and Fluke Lake Ontario. Not to mention every little Puddle in Michigan. Yes I think it is better left alone. I dont think I want to know the answer. Mike |
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| Kingfisher - 6/25/2012 9:25 AM
Guest - 6/22/2012 5:42 PM
Some things are better unknown.
I like your way of thinking
In 2006 my wife and I caught 226 Muskies. We traveled over 12,000 miles to do this and incurred near 12,000 dollars in expenses. I have no Idea the cost per fish but that was our biggest expenditure in a single year. That year included six 5 day trips to Lake St. Clair two 5 day trips to Michigan,s upper peninsula trips to Ohio, Indiana and Fluke Lake Ontario. Not to mention every little Puddle in Michigan. Yes I think it is better left alone. I dont think I want to know the answer. Mike
That sounds like a blast! I hope I can do that one of these years. |
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Location: Minnesota | if i was a walleye fisherman and not a musky guy i could have my house paid for |
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| anyone who stops a hobby because of the cost is simply a fool. i've only owned my own boat for a few years now but never once have i actually looked at how much money i spent on gas, lures and other tackle, etc. I like being on the water and i could care less if it costs money. it sure beats sitting inside with a fat wallet. |
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Location: Oconto Falls, WI | sworrall - 6/22/2012 4:19 PM
Try smoking cigs. Or drinking. Muskie fishing is WAY less expensive. :)
Unless you do both while musky fishing!  |
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| The answer to getting the cost down per fish is the same as Sam Walton came up with for selling crap at Wal-Mart! It's volume! So, now that you have all the stuff (boat, motor, trailer, baits, etc.) the way to get the price down per fish is to FISH ALL THE #*^@ TIME! Fish every day, you catch more fish, the cost per fish goes down and the quality of your life goes up....simple! |
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| 10,000 Casts - 6/26/2012 2:17 PM
anyone who stops a hobby because of the cost is simply a fool. i've only owned my own boat for a few years now but never once have i actually looked at how much money i spent on gas, lures and other tackle, etc. I like being on the water and i could care less if it costs money. it sure beats sitting inside with a fat wallet.
This poster is either
A. Single
B. Living with parents
C. Trustafarian
D. Extremely wealthy
E. Some combination of the above |
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| esoxaddict - 6/26/2012 4:25 PM
This poster is either
A. Single
B. Living with parents
C. Trustafarian
D. Extremely wealthy
E. Some combination of the above
i suppose i should have made note of that...i am option A and that appears to make a big difference
Edited by 10,000 Casts 6/27/2012 9:38 AM
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Location: tHe LaKe Of PrIoR, mN | $$$ eleventysevenhundred dollars !!!! With the amount I have paid over the years I think a made up number will best suffice.
I don't think I could even figure it out per fish maybe per year maybe?
cost of cigs and booze is nothing... I warn buddies if you decide you like muskie fishing and start the addiction its cocaine expensive |
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| WHO CARES |
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Posts: 252
| Just to clarify, I count all of the thousands of dollars that I've spent so far on Musky Hunting as money well spent. Since I started chasing muskies, I've made some really good additional friends, had some absolutely great vacations, and enjoyed many, many, hours fishing with my family and friends. My son and I have also created several new musky hunting addicts like ourselves.
Out of all the past-times and hobbies that I've ever had, Muskie Hunting is the most enjoyable by far. Even more of an adrenaline rush than having a sure hand in texas hold-em and a pile of money on the table. Counting the cost per fish is just one of the goofy things that I would do when I'm bored at work. I've tracked cost per mile on toyota trucks, mileage on pairs of running shoes, and other useless calculations.
Almost everything I've tracked has made me discover simple truths such as: Toyotas are incredible trucks that are definitely worth the initial monetary investment, New Balance running shoes hold up very well even under high mileage, and Muskie Hunting is worth every red cent and every minute that I've spent on it.
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Location: Manitowish Waters WI | If my wife reads this thread i will be deceased or divorced by the end of the week. |
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Location: WESTERN WI | I was calculating it and my calculator melted.... lets just say it was meant to be that I don't know exactly how much it all cost perfish, but I like to think of it per cast.. thats a number I can live with.
Edited by Got Esox? 6/27/2012 9:45 PM
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Location: Muskegon Michigan | Since 2006 we have looked hard at ways to cut costs. The problem is it ends in in less fish caught because we fish the small lakes closer to us using a much smaller boat and tow car. Being 4 hours from Lake St. Clair or the Upper peninsula means we spend a fortune pulling our bigger boat ANYWHERE. Today that is the main cost we have to deal with. Gas prices have just plain slowed us down. You cant spend the house payment on gas and credit cards only have so much room. I got two fish yesterday 35 and 37 inches. I used about 8 gallons of gas getting to the lake and back with my little car. The boat is a 1448 Sea Ark Jon. The car a Chevy Aveo. About 30 bucks. That came to 15.00 per fish. Mike |
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Location: tHe LaKe Of PrIoR, mN | BigDaddyIL - 6/27/2012 4:21 PM
WHO CARES
because some of us like to see how much our dinner costs |
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| crix - 6/28/2012 5:07 PM
BigDaddyIL - 6/27/2012 4:21 PM
WHO CARES
because some of us like to see how much our dinner costs :-O
It's priceless - I've never seen muskie in a restaurant! |
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Location: Germantown, WI | I started to think about it and had to stop quickly... started feeling a little sick....better not to think of things like this.... just happy that i get to chuck baits around once in while!
it also reminded that i should feel bad that i was lecturing my wife last week about how many dresses she has been buying lately ( and she looks great in them) and she even doesn't throw back the $ i spend on boat, rods, lures back in my face (while my ugly mug just makes my boat look better when i'm standing next to it).
Edited by dward 6/29/2012 3:13 PM
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Cost per fish