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Posts: 38
| I have lost like 8 fish in a row now... it has been super frustrating, and i have lost them in every way it seems like. I have lost a few that hit on the 8 and a few that were out there a ways... it just kills me, and now i have no confidence either.. what do you guys do when you keep losing fish like this? My buddies in the boat seem to have no problem, my one partner has landed 11 in a row without losing any... me on the other hand has had the opposite luck..
Edited by Musky_Joe 7/19/2007 11:33 PM
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | pop a shot of Sambucca, toss in some apple skoal longcut, get mad, and focus, and break your streak young man |
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Posts: 412
Location: Waukesha, WI | more info......what's happening? Hooks sharp? Keeping pressure on 'em and their heads down? What lures? Throw high percentage hooking baits to get outta the slump. Help us help you. |
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Posts: 366
| Been there too many times. I'm sure you're doing everything you can and doubt that you're doing anything really wrong. IT WILL PASS!! Streaky crap like that just happens with muskies. It truly sucks, but what can you do? All I can say is stay in there and don't stress over it. Seriously, if I muskie really wants to get off, sometimes it's just try as you will, but there is not much you can do to stop them. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get unlucky. Go over all the details, sharp hooks, proper drag, the right rod, and a good hookset, but really just keep plugging away and things will turn around. |
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Posts: 941
Location: Freedom, WI | Had a problem like that a few years back, some is just bad luck and others something you are doing. A few things that might help (did for me), now switched to eagle claw 774s on most baits (thanks reef hawg for the tip) and on some baits depending how you work them add an extra split ring on the belly hook (like a chain and drop the hook down). The last one also allows more movement and the fish can not get as much leverage on the hook and I think allows for a better hook set. There was a cetain bait that I lost 6 fish in a row and then I added the split ring and have not lost any since. |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | In any kind of fishing it always seems that the 'big one' hits when you are not ready (at least for me). Make sure you are in position to get a good hook set and that your rod isn't to high or to low while retrieving also. And like the others say, go to your good hooking baits to help break the streak and get your confidence back. Sometimes you can do all that you can to keep a fish on but they will win a few no matter what. |
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Posts: 93
Location: Minneapolis, MN | I've lost 4 in a row hucking soft plastics. The fish just seem to be biting without conviction: they grab the tail and hold on long enough to feel the hookset, then let go. Whatever it is, I'm not getting hooks into them.
Give it time. Soon there'll be a hot bite where they inhale your bait and you'll be cussing all the trebles you have to cut. |
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Posts: 2083
| How long are the fish ON before lost? |
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| I think losing fish is just something that goes in streaks....last year, the whole season I don't think I lost 15 total...., so far this season I've lost almost 20 with a good portion fish over 40"...my hooks are sharp, same rods, same drag setting, same way I fight fish...sometimes they just come unpinned and don't get down on yourself too much as long as you are doing things right...rod down, no "tuna pumping" and keeping tension the whole time ...make sure your drag is not too tight or too loose....
win some, ya lose some....
keep your head up and the streak will be reversed.... |
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Posts: 21
| One thing you could do is switch to high percentage hooking baits until you put one in the net and your jinx is off. Possibly just throw bucktails, spinnerbaits, and cranks. With the first two, just by design, a hook or usually two or three find themselves into a pretty good spot. With cranks, Cranes, DDD, etc.. it often isn't if you get a hook in them but usually how many. If you are throwing alot of topwaters or big wooden gliders it is easy to get strikes that don't translate into the best hookups. Like stated before, you're probably doing nothing wrong, just going thru a bad stretch. Put on a good hooking bait you have landed fish on before until your jinx is off. Good luck to you, I feel your pain.
A few years ago I lost several nice fish in a row up in Canada. I finally looked at my brother and said thats it, we have to go to "Greaser Ally". Greaser Ally was a small bay we found loaded with 25-35 inch pike. After putting on a Mepps #5, I proceeded to boat about 15 snot rockets in an hour . I then declared myself ready to go back to the big leagues. Must have worked, because I got a 46" that night and DIDNT lose it.
Edited by THE LEGEND 7/20/2007 10:26 AM
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| As the saying goes "If you haven't lost alot of em, you aint fished for em much" |
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Posts: 136
| Better to have loved and lost then never loved at all right? I lost two high 40 inch fish last week and I still can't it out of my head. It can be hard to hooko those big fish unless you get them right in the corner of the jaw. Just stay focused and be ready with a quick hook set. |
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Posts: 5874
| I never sweated losing a fish here and there. Just try to figure out what happened, and learn from it. However, the 1st Sab Bay outing, I think I lost at least 10 fish up there! I can only really explain one. That one hit a Top Raider, and it ended up actually hitting the leader. Bent it arund it's nose on the hook set. Fish came out of the water, dove back under, and then nothing. Mid 40 incher, I couldn't believe my bad luck that week.
To make matters worse, I came back to the dock, and DaveJ picked up one of Kly's rods with a special Globe on it, casted it it out, and a 36 rocketed out from the rock by the dock, and ate it! I almost sold everything right there!
Later that fall, I took a 44 on Pewaukee, that ate a Reef Hawg, and had 5 of the 9 hooks in it. The middle treble had pinned the upper and and lower jaws together in the corner of the jaw. I had a heck of a time just getting to the shank to cut the bait off! No way that fish was coming unpinned.
As mentioned, these these seem to come n streaks. Try to analyze what you are doing. Are you setting once? If more, is there any way you are getting any slack? Are you setting up? To the side? Are you setting with a snap of your wrist, or trying to use your whole body? Are you setting to quickly?
Lots of things to look at, but if you are sound in what you are doing, this streak will pass, and it will be a footnote in your future talks about your muskie adventures. |
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Posts: 38
| I have lost fish that i have had on for minutes... and suddenly they get off by the boat. I have lost fish that hit on the figure 8 and just shook the hooks in the first few seconds. It just seems like bad luck. But at the same time is really, really frustrating. Last night, what put me over the edge was, i was fishing a shumway flasher and a fish drilled my bait, came to the surface and shook the hooks... 3 seconds later my buddy hooked the fish and landed it on a cowgirl... I always sharpen my hooks and i use a lot of high percentage hooking baits. I know to keep their heads down in the water, i just hope that on of these nights my streak will break.
Thanks guys,
Joe |
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| maybe an exaggeration in your above post but you are fighting muskies for "minutes" plural? I'm in the camp that the longer a musky is on and not in the net the bigger chance it has of coming off...get them in the net as soon as you can...I just don't see how a musky can man handle a guy more than a minute...unless you just plain like to fight them that long...get em in the net asap.
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Posts: 2083
| I concur with Mr. Nelson bring the fish to the net asap, but don't let fish that shake loose after a few seconds bother you its part of the game ..... remember to set the hooks back toward the fish when they hit on an 8.
My experience is once they are on for 10- 15 seconds they should make it to the net most of the time.
Edited by IAJustin 7/20/2007 1:22 PM
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Posts: 5874
| These fish have some pwerful jaws. Had a 4 footer eat a 10 straight Believer on St Claire about 10 years ago. Fish tailwalked, stripped line, you name it. Finally got it to the boat, and the fish was tuckered out. Guide went to net it, and the fish just opened it's mouth and the Believer just fell out. Never had a hook in the fish. It just clamped on to that plastic bait, and held on til it felt like letting it go.
Big fish do strange things. I learn this over and over again. They will exploit the slightest mistake, and take advantage of it to get away. Even with Walleyes. The big ones will find your mistakes and get off. The only thing you can do is pay attention to every detail, as mentioned in all the posts above. Beyond that, it's alot of luck and Karma, MOJO, JUJU, or whatever you want to call it.
Make sure you pay your $.41 to the muskgods, too. Right GregM? |
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Posts: 8863
| I have lost more muskies than I have caught. Sometimes its the way they hit the lure, sometimes its operator error, sometimes its a bad hookset, sometimes they just get away. Seems like the biggest ones are also the most likely to come unpinned too. With the exception of the ones I've lost because I failed to set the hook or gave them slack line or whatever? I just chalk it up to being part of musky fishing. Makes you appreciate the ones you do get in the net. Doesn't stop me from shouting obsceneties when it happens, though! |
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Posts: 39
| I agree with the guys that said you should make sure the hooks are very sharp. Try to analyze your hookset for possible errors. I always try to set the hook more than once now (and I have still seen fish come off near the boat) so now I am setting extra hard. This has helped me. As far as the confidence things goes you can still be positive about the fact that you are hooking fish as that shows you are locating fish and selecting the proper bait pattern. Keep your chin up and get that monkey off your back! |
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Posts: 80
| Keep a positive mind set and have fun ,it will come around it always does, I personally would not get caught up in the doulble hookset theory myself. |
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| I'm not a big believer in the strength of the hookset leading to better hooked fish, and I think sometimes concentrating on setting the hook can be a distraction that can cost fish. 9 times out of 10 the fish will hook themselves and there is nothing that you can do or can't do about it. The key isn't jerking back really hard on the hookset in my opinion, but rather immediately getting a taunt line. In other words, don't be concentrating on the strength of the hookset, rather the quickness of the hookset.
I see guys who get a hit and instead of quickly getting a tight line, they think that they've got to pretend that they are superman. Three problems with this. First, by rearing back too hard, you can rip hooks free that otherwise might get set. This is especially true with a short line or boatside hits. Second, by rearing back too hard, you are creating a larger hole in the fish's mouth, surrounding the hook, out of which the hook can come when the fish is doing its customary head-shaking. Finally, in the process of rearing back you can inadvertently create slack line. The slack line might cause the fish to get off right away, or, it has allowed the fish a moment to partially dislodge or slightly change the position of the hook, which might lead to the fish getting off later on in the fight.
My suggestion is to concentrate on quickly getting a tight line through your reel and with your rod. Reel down quickly and also be quick about firmly turning your body and rod against the weight of the fish while avoiding any jerkiness.
But fish will always still get off no matter what you do.
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| I seem to have caught this sickness of losing fish this year too. I know it is just a string of bad luck, as the past year I couldn't keep fish out of the boat and lost very few. It always feels worse when your partner doesn't seem to have any problems, but if I look back I seem to recall the shoe being on the other foot in the past.
Keep plugging away, and enjoy your partners catches as if they were your own. Playing it as a team makes it easier to take when you are the one who seems to be dropping the ball all the time. |
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Posts: 253
Location: On the water | I have lost my share of fish also, on eights, at the boat, or just coming off. But on the other hand, I have caught some fish that I probably shouldn't have caught. Here are a few examples, casted a lure out and hooks got tangled, lure running sideways, reeled in quickly to fix the problem and a fish hits! Reeling in crankbait, pulled it out of the water and looked down to see a musky coming out from under the boat, put the lure back in the water and the fish hits the bait. That happended a few times! I still lose fish and figure thats part of the game, but the few I catch by accident kind of evens things out.
Tom |
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Posts: 129
| When I first started musky fishing I used a right handed baitcaster. I am right handed and was setting the hook and fighting the fish opposite handed. I did this for 2 years, caught 8 or 9 muskies and lost over 25. My buddy Aaron Sands had made the switch to left handed reels and told me to do the same. All I can tell you is that it was the best thing I ever did. The next year I caught 13 and lost only 2. |
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Posts: 203
| I believe you control what you can control - sharp hooks, no fray line, great leaders, and the HOOKSET. To many people rely on the strike of the fish to hook the fish, big mistake i believe. You have to set the rod and reel back to your sternum or chest. Like Shep said, these fish are strong jawwed enough to just hold on to the lure and fight back to the boat. Got to slide the hooks in with a hookset. I remember a few nice quickstrike sucker rigs that weren't set hard and the musky opened up and out came the sucker..
Keep Diggin!
bret |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | that kind of happened to me last year, i had at least a dozen in a few day period on for a second or two then off the next. they can be frustratiing but they are what keep me going |
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Posts: 171
| Can I share my "lost fish story" from last week?
10# mono, live leech, light action rod, "perch" bite, (fishing for smallies on a mixed species trip) but on hook set, the rod loaded up strong. I fought her for about 3 minutes and then we saw a 40"+ 'ski surface and dive again. Another minute or so and she headed for the boat, but was just a little too deep for the cradle. Then the line goes slack and I reel in a 9" perch......I was just playing tug-of-war with that beauty! Can't say I was real disappointed, as it was a great battle, and she never had the hook in her, and we DID get to see her close up. We threw our 10" perch pattern Storm Kickin' Minnow quite a bit after that, but never got a taker.
ErieBoy75 |
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