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Posts: 162
Location: Metro, MN | It seems to me over the past 5 years or so muskie fishing popularity and growth of the sport has been growing exponentially, which is amazing for businesses in the sport, but negatively affects pressure/fishability of all muskie waters.
Out of plain curiosity, how many years have you been regularly targeting muskies? Me personally, this is my 8th year fishing them.
Edited by MuskyKarma 6/17/2014 6:20 PM
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Posts: 1144
Location: Minnesota. | Over 30 for me but I never really get too serious about much... |
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Posts: 270
Location: SE WISCONSIN | This will be my second year hopefully I catch 1 |
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Posts: 455
| I have been at it over 20 years and I can`t say the sport has grown that much in NJ the last 15 years. People come and go but a few die hard members never give up and probably won`t until they are too old or dead. There has been some good interest and new die hards joining MI in the last few years and they are the kind that get involved not just fish like me so that is a good thing. |
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Posts: 153
Location: MN | 20 years ago I caught my first,it was a tiger from clear lake, I was trolling in my new Jon boat.
Two years later I caught a 37" while casting, when my friends boat quit running. We had been trolling for walleyes. I caught it on a 2.5" shadling. It's is the fish responsible for making me a muskie fisherman. It was on waconia.
The following year I fished for them for an entire season and never got one. I was using bass gear (rods and reels) and chucking suicks.
The next year I bought a real jerk bait rod and caught two.
The next two years combined (1999 2000) I caught fifty from calhoun, island ,bald eagle and forest.
If it weren't for the MN stocking program I would not fish for muskie. |
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Posts: 1283
| Have been muskie fishing for over 20yrs but only on our yearly family vacations up to Northern Wisconsin. Last year I decided to go at it pretty hard core and start fishing the local waters also. I never realized we had muskies so close, and already put one in the boat. |
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Posts: 162
Location: Metro, MN | I'm actually surprised at the number of votes over 20 years! Thats awesome! It just seems to me that muskie fishing has grown incredibly over the last 5 years |
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Posts: 163
Location: NoDak | been after them 6 or 7 years but seriously for one, better gear, and more time on the water, boating more ski more consitantly. its awesome!
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Posts: 624
Location: Bloomington, MN | I'm actually surprised at the number of votes over 20 years! Thats awesome! It just seems to me that muskie fishing has grown incredibly over the last 5 years- From Musky Karma 2 posts up.
Many of us were letting these fish go in the late 70's because we had too many in the freezer! This sport is so far away from being "Rocket Science"!
Edited by Clark A 6/18/2014 12:13 AM
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Posts: 518
Location: Cave Run Lake KY. | Clark A - 6/18/2014 12:57 AM
I'm actually surprised at the number of votes over 20 years! Thats awesome! It just seems to me that muskie fishing has grown incredibly over the last 5 years- From Musky Karma 2 posts up.
Many of us were letting these fish go in the late 70's because we had too many in the freezer! This sport is so far away from being "Rocket Science"! XXXXXXX Back in the 60's most of us had to many fish in the freezer. One day I caught a nice 42'er and let it go, later that day, I stopped in for a beer at a resort on the lake . The owner ask me how I was doing and I said I just had caught a 42"er and he ask me were it was and I said I had let it go, as I all ready had to many muskies in the freezer. He said bring them in as he could give them to his guest's to take home with them. That was Then now you BXXched at if you keep one. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | I caught my first muskie around 1968 from a canoe it was a small fish and I wasn't that impressed. In 1973 I moved to a town with decent muskie water all around but continued to go north every weekend to fish trout. About 1975 it struck me that I was leaving a place every Fri night to get to a place Americans were driving 14 hours to get to, I'd better check it out.
I caught a number of muskies but continued to fish multi species for a few years. I decided buying equipment for several different species to be used once or twice a year was more than my young family's budget could stand and I should concentrate on muskies. So I have been fishing muskies almost exclusively for over 30 years. It didn't do anything to help the budget but I had a decent job and an understanding wife.
I have noticed much more pressure on the lake in the last 15 years but it has switched ( possibly due to price of gas )from people driving 14 hours annually to people driving an hour once or twice a week which is fair because I'm driving an hour to get on the Larry which I consider to be the Yankee Stadium of muskie fishing.
Edited by horsehunter 6/18/2014 7:44 AM
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Posts: 299
Location: Not where I want to be! | Caught my first in 1971 and been at it ever since. |
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Posts: 2334
Location: Chisholm, MN | I started when I was 12. So about 15 years ago. I made my dad take me out muskie fishing after watching some Lindner musky shows. Long story short, he landed a nice Tiger and I lost a pure about 40" on our first outing. His only muskie, and the start of my addiction! |
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Posts: 1083
| Though I had been fishing a lot as a young boy prior to 1982...I got my first Northern Pike and my first Muskie, both in the same week, on a family vacation back in that year of 1982. Been hooked on the big sport fish ever since. Though still a multi-species angler, I still favor the muskie fishing the most. So...been at these things now for 32 years and counting. Now paying it forward to my kids and getting them involved and excited about it.
Edited by MACK 6/18/2014 8:17 AM
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Posts: 1293
Location: Hayward, Wisconsin | Got my 1st legal muskie in my 3rd year of fishing for them...1957, so I have been at it for 59 years and feel like I have about 20 more to go! So far, this year sucks for me! |
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Posts: 151
Location: Chippewa Falls, WI | caught my first muskie in 1987 (32" on a creeper when I was 7 years old). I fished for muskies with my dad until I went to college and then just a few times over those years. I bought my first boat 5 years ago (age 29) and really started getting back into it after my brother landed a fat 48" on the 4th of July fishing on the chip flowage. It has been all down hill from there. Went up to LOTW and stayed at mylies last august and pretty much decided after the first day it would be an annual trip! Sold my 21' triton bass boat when I got home and bought a 21' ranger instead. I now have over 100 baits ( and counting) a justencase box, 5 rod n reel setups, i pilot link, two large HB graphs linked, and not nearly enough time to put it all to use...Sometimes I ask myself why my favorite two hobbies are archery hunting elk and fishing for these fish...simple answer is they are both the most difficult animals/fish to chase and the adrenaline rush of calling in a big bull and shooting him with a stick in string is a lot like having a 50"+ follow in and eat on the figure 8!! Checking account would be a lot better off and so would my handicap (golf) had I not got back into chasing ski's but the best part of both of those hobbies is doing it with my dad and brothers! PRICELESS 
Edited by adubs 6/18/2014 8:48 AM
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | My first musky fishing trip was at Nielsen's lodge on Rowan lake with my dad in 1990. I was 9yrs old. What an experience! Don, I sill have the brown and yellow suick you gave me |
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | Why is "not long enough" not an option? |
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Posts: 285
Location: NE Wisconsin | Caught my first legal Aug 3, 1961. Eleven years old fishing alone. Still have the mount in my house. 33.5" |
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Posts: 705
Location: Alex or Alek? | Been a walleye guy my whole like until 3 years ago when my uncle took me out and had a mid 40's follow and i was screwed from there. I'm still looking to get the first one and will be hitting the water all day on Saturday! |
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Posts: 284
| I would like to know how many of those 20+ year guys are muskie only?
No bass or walleye rods/equipment in their boat. Only musky gear. |
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Posts: 1083
| Dunlap - 6/18/2014 9:36 AM
I would like to know how many of those 20+ year guys are muskie only?
No bass or walleye rods/equipment in their boat. Only musky gear.
When I go muskie fishing, it's muskie gear only in the boat. When I go salmon fishing, only salmon gear in the boat. When I go Striped Bass fishing, it's a mixed bag/assortment of both muskie gear and salmon fishing gear in the boat.
I don't have a big enough boat to carry it all. I have to switch out the gear based on what species I'm targeting at that time.
Muskie gear stays in the boat 95% of the time. It's only that 5% of the time I'm switching out the gear because I fish for the Salmon and the Striped Bass so rarely anymore these days. Wish I was able to still do more fishing for those other species...but...working full-time, family man with two kids...there's just not enough time to do it all anymore these days. Now with the young kids...getting them started in fishing by going after the pan fish. So when we're after the pan fish, we of course get our ultra-light gear into the boat with us then too. But...did get my son (7 years old) his first Muskie here recently...on muskie gear, targeting muskies...
Edited by MACK 6/18/2014 10:23 AM
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Posts: 91
Location: Metro , Mille Lacs, and G. Rapids | Saw my first one in 5th grade didn't catch it but was determined to catch one ever since and finally got my first and second last year been hooked since I saw that first muskie |
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| Dunlap - 6/18/2014 9:36 AM
I would like to know how many of those 20+ year guys are muskie only?
No bass or walleye rods/equipment in their boat. Only musky gear.
I was for years, but have out grown that aspect. BR |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I started fishing for Muskies in 1985 and got serious about it in 1994. I've had a few years when I only fished for Muskies and they are still my #1 target, but I like catching big Pike, Walleyes and Bass too. That is one of the reasons I like spinner baits so much. Muskies hit them, but so do other fish. I caught my largest Pike (44"), Large Mouth Bass (22"), Small Mouth Bass (23") and Walleye (33") while Muskie fishing. Mostly, I just like fishing. It sure beats work. |
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Posts: 307
| Started in my teens, so about 20 years. But, it's only been one week a year, mostly in Canada. I'd love to do it more, but then again, this keeps it more like the "hunt" it should be, for me. |
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Posts: 146
Location: Alsip, IL | Always fished up north and over the years we boated the occasional muskie, but I started fishing very serious for them 4 years ago. It's just an addiction now. Won my first tournament this April and plan to fish as many as I can in the coming years. Met a lot of nice people out on the water, and all of my most vivid memories seem to be of muskies. |
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Posts: 791
Location: WI | I am 32 and have been fishing musky seriously since I was 16. My grandpa caught one off our dock when I was ten and I was hooked even then. That 42 " fish was on the wall of our vilas co cabin until we sold it and now hangs in my family room as a reminder of my grandpa and the love of fishing he instilled in me as a child. I hope to pass that on to my two boys and there kids! |
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Posts: 1000
| Keep in mind that people on this forum are a bit more hardcore than most. It would be interesting if the DNR did the ratiowhen you bought your license. |
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Posts: 410
Location: one foot over the line | As a 10 year old in 1983, my dad let me row the boat while he casted a mud-puppy and caught a 30 incher (and i was hooked). I'd throw for them every now and again, but it wasn't until my early 20's that i started to really concentrate on them. Those first few years were tough, but i stuck with it and have been following the white rabbit ever since. Decent muskie water for me is around 2 hours away, so when i can't get to those waters, i stay on my home water (pool 7, ol' Miss) and chase the giant flatheads, pike, bass, and gills. I have managed to muskie fish 6 of the last 7 weekends, so i'm doing alright. |
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Posts: 267
| 1987 is when I started. So 27 years. |
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Posts: 156
| 1987...since that fateful follow on Lake Minoqua. I was largemouth bass fishing in a weedbed, and this "big thing" followed in my spinnerbait (it was probably 35-36"). "Ummmm...Dad!?!?!?!? WHAT IS THAT?" I've rarely fished for anything else since. My Dad now says, "That day on Minoqua changed you forever." He is right. |
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Posts: 617
Location: Clintonville, WI | Almost 22 years for me.
Caught the bug in July 1984, first muskie. It plays like a movie in my head to this day.
First trip designated solely for muskie October 16-18, 1992. I consider this my start. ** Fished small river. Fish missed on first cast, got the fish on second cast. Committed for life.
Committed + serious in 2000.
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Posts: 574
Location: Elk Grove Village, IL & Phillips, WI | Caught my first in 1974 at 16 years old out of Little Green Lake in Wisconsin. Barely cracked the 30 inch mark, but it was the biggest, baddest fish I ever caught. I was hooked for life! |
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Posts: 182
| I started fishing for muskies back in the late 70's on LOTW. It was a love hate relationship. This past 10 years has been a total blast. Now you can go out believing you will at least see something. Heck, if we don't put a fish in the net it feels like we really stunk the place up. |
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Posts: 559
| if you want to meet some old muskie fishermen go to the fallouting at Spring Bay Myself included not the oldest but surely the wisest |
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Posts: 246
| I started around 10yrs ago. What got me was when I was bass fishing a local lake and I had a big fish follow a floating rapala back to the boat and I had no idea what it was or what to do. A couple years after that I bought my first real muskie gear and landed a 36" that summer. I had caught my first muskie a couple years before that encounter but I wasn't sure what it was since it was only 15-18" long. I thought it was a weird pickerel. |
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Posts: 538
Location: northern indiana | Been hunting muskie for 9 years, but every year it seems like the first. |
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Posts: 1916
Location: Greenfield, WI | I first got the "disease" in 1984! The only treatment is more muskie fishing! |
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Posts: 32892
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Started in the 60's. |
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | It will be 20 years next year as it all started with a combo lighting rod and a C3 reel on my 40th b-day. I've met some good people over that 20 year span from the tournament to the resort owners and some of the 1st muskiefirst outings. I now find the desire to go back to pan fishing not that I accomplished all the goals I set for catching musky's, but just miss the taste of a fresh bluegill or carppie on the plate. The problem is still time on the water and the need to continue to chase goals, but I think work is going to adjust my time pretty soon. More movement to Mexico and I don't speak very good spanish so I'll fish until I have to troll for the big fish and bobber it for the meals. That and a good cocktail in the boat should get me thru......
Remember to drink responsibily while on the water,
Netman
Edited by Netman 6/20/2014 10:01 AM
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | My first muskie was 42 years ago. I fish more now than I ever have. Love it so much I made it a job over 15 years ago. Fish 5 to 7 days a week now. |
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Posts: 243
Location: South Central Wisconsin | I've been at this game for 23 years. Someone made the comment about it not being rocket science. I couldn't agree more. Many people get caught up in the hype of the latest brand name baits and just starting out, you have to take out a second mortgage! Keep it simple, learn how to use the "tools" you have and catch some fish. |
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Posts: 8789
| Hooked my first muskie in 1985 or 1986. Biggest fish I had ever seen. Scared the ^%&$ out of me. I was probably all of 25" now that I think about it...
Didn't start fishing for them seriously until 2004. So this will be season #11.
I still fish for everything else. I never understood the guys who say they quit fishing for other species once they started musky fishing. Too many other fish out there that are fun/good to eat to just fish for one thing. |
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Posts: 441
| My dad took me bow hunting and fishing, in Vilas County, since I was 9 years old. That was in 1969. We owned some property, on a small lake. I started muskie fishing around 1973.
I took my first trip, without my dad, when I graduated high school, in 1977.
I fished muskies up until the mid 80's, then fished mostly bass. I got back into muskie fishing, in the late 90's. I've been chasing them hard, ever since. |
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Posts: 97
Location: Chaska MN. | Wow never thought about it but its true what they say. Time flies and oh I think its 23 years |
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Posts: 3869
| I'm member #4 in the Rollie n Helen's Muskie Shop Club. Still got my hat and card. That was my first regular on-line musky thing, M1 came next, for good or ill. |
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Posts: 3869
| I'm very lucky to have met some of the folks above as we trashed our various waters. The Hideout is the tits. Having Fat Shady's ass in my face one late night at Cass lake doesn't detract a bit. (I should have never given that Weagle prototype to Treats to give back to him. Dang.)
Edited by Ranger 6/22/2014 1:06 AM
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Posts: 20
| My wife Nikki caught the first one by accident while bass fishing Webster Lake in 2002. We never bass fished again. |
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Posts: 2089
| Released my first Wisconsin legal(at the time) , in 1977 on a 7" yellow Suick. Chased them a few years prior, so I'd figure about 38 years. The first books I remember reading were Muskie! By James Lind and Man vs. Musky by Howard Levy. Throw Fishing Facts in there and I was hooked!! Lots of changes over the years too!! |
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Posts: 1301
| For the first 15 years that I had boats, I was a hard core walleye guy. I'd haul my boat anywhere from Devil's lake to Lake Erie, and dozens of lakes in between. About 7 years ago, I was pulling a shad rap in the neighborhood lake, and hooked a tiger musky about 30 inches long. That little guy fought like mad, and straightened two of the hooks on each treble, and bent up the split rings. I was so impressed, that I found myself fishing for them most of the time, using pike gear I had from a canadian pike trip. The next year I caught several small muskies, but nothing over about 32 inches. My second year targeting muskies, I caught a nice 45 inch tiger in the U.P. As my buddy was netting the fish, he busted out laughing at me and pointed at my leg. I looked down, and my knee was wobbling involuntarily in excitement. It was all over. I had the disease! |
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Posts: 354
Location: Western U.P. | KenK - 6/19/2014 12:14 PM
Caught my first in 1974 at 16 years old out of Little Green Lake in Wisconsin. Barely cracked the 30 inch mark, but it was the biggest, baddest fish I ever caught. I was hooked for life!
X2 for my first from Little Green Lake in 1976, also barely over 30". I think my dad started me 2-3 years before that, so about 40 or 41 years now. The sport has really gone thru a lot of changes in that time. |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | bobbie - 6/19/2014 8:03 PM
if you want to meet some old muskie fishermen go to the fallouting at Spring Bay Myself included not the oldest but surely the wisest
I’m really excited about our trip to Canada this year. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to learn from the wisest musky fisherman from Iowa. Tell Tonts I’m pumped he’s going!
Edited by dtaijo174 6/24/2014 8:08 AM
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Posts: 159
| For me it was the summer of 1980--just turned 15-was fishing crappies with my dad in a great weed bed--with a drop off-- deep weeds--a great spot....during the day---a dark drizzly day---light but steady south winds...warm----we were not catching any but a couple guys were casting for Musky's along the shore right near us---and they caught one.....
Right there after they passed by I put on a mepps 3 on my spinning rod--and the third cast caught a nice northern---that summer started it all---that spinning rod and mepps 3 probably caught 10 Musky's that first year---
Probably didn't go to the C3 and ST Croix until about the summer of 90---but Musky fishing now 34 years---is that possible? |
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Posts: 159
| For me it was the summer of 1980--just turned 15-was fishing crappies with my dad in a great weed bed--with a drop off-- deep weeds--a great spot....during the day---a dark drizzly day---light but steady south winds...warm----we were not catching any but a couple guys were casting for Musky's along the shore right near us---and they caught one.....
Right there after they passed by I put on a mepps 3 on my spinning rod--and the third cast caught a nice northern---that summer started it all---that spinning rod and mepps 3 probably caught 10 Musky's that first year---
Probably didn't go to the C3 and ST Croix until about the summer of 90---but Musky fishing now 34 years---is that possible? |
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Posts: 1283
| I think I was brain washed into muskie fishing by my dad before I can remember. Funny thing is he never caught a decent ski(30" or so was his PB) but we tried like hell for one week a year, every year. Sadly as we got older and were able to take the boat out without him his days on the water started to dwindle as he didnt want to ruin our fun. We did start catching more and more muskies but I really wish he would have been on the boat for at least a few before he passed. 2 of my biggest regrets are not joining the Marines like he did and not fishing enough with him as I got older. |
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Posts: 10
| Caught my first Muskie when I was 15 while Bass fishing that was 53 years ago . Started making weekly trips in 1990 to Canada can't keep up with my son any more but still love the sport . |
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Posts: 1530
| 1956...steel rods,big bait and a hammer ,gaff hook. |
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Posts: 1249
Location: Walker, MN | 21 yrs for me. This poll kind of surprises me, it seems like there were 1/3 as many people fishing for 'skis in the '90s. |
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How long have you been muskie fishing?