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Location: Illinois | I became musky crazy a few years ago. Couldn't stop thinkin' about em'. I'd get my fix by buying baits every week or so. I have amassed a large collection. I don't fish as often as I like because I do not own a boat. My problem is, when I do go fishing, I cannot keep a lure on for longer than a half an hour it seems. I have some real commitment issues when it comes to lures! I know others must have dealt with my affliction. Is there any cure short of electro-therapy? Is there a 12-step program? Mike |
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Posts: 162
Location: East Troy, WI | hey dont think you are the only one... i've caught 3 muskies in my life... and own over 60 lures... |
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Posts: 454
| You need to train yourself to know that it is most likely not the lure that is causing you to not have any luck with the fish. (I am assuming that is why you are switching because you are not seeing results?)
Depending upon the time of year, depth of water, and weather conditions different lures may work better than others, but many times, find an active fish and they will hit almost anything.
The more fish you catch, the less you will change your lure because you will found confidence in a bat or two.
My confidence lure for almost any and all condition is an unweighted orange and black suick. I can fish many depths, work it fast when fish are aggressive, and slow it down when they are lethargic.
If I were you I would stick with one confidence bait and only switch it up if you were getting many follows with no results. I know it is easier said than done, but in my honest opinion, it is less about a specific lure and more about getting your lures in the right place at the right time. |
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Posts: 1309
Location: WI | Bring less baits on each outing. I only carry a few now, and which ones depend on water clarity, and whether I'm casting or trolling. If I'm on new water I might bring more, but on the lakes I live by I only use about 6 total. |
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Location: Des Moines IA | The only way to solve it is to run out of expendable cash. So get married, add another girlfriend, or have kids. |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | Changing lures is often a sign of no confidence in either your choice of lures or how and where to use them. The more you know the less you will be changing lures. To learn more, you need time on the water. The only shortcut is fishing with people that already know how and can teach you as you fish.
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| You have not been doing it long enough to find your go to baits. It will happen and then you will end up selling around 500 baits and only use about 10 total most of the time...Fun cycle enjoy it...Ben |
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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | MuskieMike - 7/30/2008 6:59 AM
The only way to solve it is to run out of expendable cash. So get married, add another girlfriend, or have kids.
LMAO! That only happens when you get divorced(running out of expendable cash. |
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Posts: 79
Location: South Dakota | Why didn't someone tell me this earlier?
I could have saved a lot of money but, it didn't take long for me to quit carrying that 80 lb dunwright box full of lures to the boat. After a half dozen times of that, I just started taking a few. |
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Posts: 8866
| It's like waking up one day and deciding you want to be a mechanic. But you have no tools. So you go out and you buy sockets, wrenches, pliers, air tools, screwdrivers, hammers, etc. Then you get your first repair job and you need some specialty tool you don't own. So you buy a bunch of them, thinking you'll need them for every repair job. You won't. Once you get through your first few jobs, you think you know what tools you'll be using based on what you've used so far. And you're really stoked -- you want to have everything! So you start buying stuff. Before you know it you've got 4 rollaway boxes full of metal in your garage, and when the next car rolls in the shop, you STILL don't know how to fix it.
Time will solve this. I wish someone had told me what I'm telling you now: Lures are tools. Until you know what tools you'll need, you're wasting money buying all that nonsense. Fish with other people. When you catch a fish, buy that lure in that color. In the end, you'll have a bunch of different lures, for all different applications, and every single one of them will be a "confidence lure" because you will have caught fish on it.
Since nobody would ever be able to actually DO that, my advice would be this:
Focus on having two of every type of lure in contrasting colors -- two deep running crankbaits, two jerkbaits, two spinnerbaits, two rubber baits, two gliders, etc. Having 10 or 20 of something is fine if you want to collect them as a hobby. Having 10 or 20 of something because you think you'll need them? That's kinda stupid, and REALLY expensive.
LURES ARE TOOLS. 25 screwdrivers are useless when all you need is a hammer.
It took me 5 years to get to the point where I can look at where I'm fishing objectively, figure out where the fish should be at that time, and what lure should be effective. I bought probably 30 lures that I will wind up using throughout the course of a season. Most guys will tell you you probably use 3-5 lures in any given day. More and more I find myself reaching for the same lures, time after time after time. I'm sure the other 10 of the same lure work just as well, but I'm going to pick the one I've caught fish on. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Try a 12 bait program. Pick 12 to take, the rest leave at home.
Of course, you might find yourself changing between the 12 every half hour, but that's half the fun, anyway. The important thing is, once you find one they like, stick with it, m |
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| What I finally ended up doing was getting a couple 4'x8' sheets of pegboard and some of the nylon C channel stuff at Lowes. I designated a corner of the basement as my fishing area, put up some furring strips and attached the pegboard, and then C channel strips (hang the lures from the C channel; its a lot easier and cheaper than buying pegs) I then spent a day putting up all my baits and organizing them by type and color. It made it a lot more clear to see everything laid out, that I didn't need to buy anything else for a long time. It also helped with keeping my boat cleaner on the water as I just go downstairs before each trip and think of the baits I will actually use and have confidence in for that particular day and take the small handful with me in a large stowaway box. |
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Posts: 556
| when i go fishing i take two giant tackle boxes but end up useing my 4 favorite baits i feel that these 4 baits cover all depths and fishing conditions
mag dawg or pounder
cowgirl
10 inch suick
some sort of topwater usually a pacemaker or hog woubbler |
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Location: Illinois | Thanks for the intervention, fellas, I think I can make the changes necessary to alter my path for the best. I needed to hear how destructive my behavior was becoming, accept what I've become, learn from it, and move on. It won't be an easy road, but the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.
I am a lure junkie. No amount of cranks, jerks, topwaters, or spinners will ever be enough. I've bought these thinking having them alone would make me a better musky fisherman. Thanks guys, I now see the error of my ways. Use lures as tools or become a tool. I won't buy another bait until I sell five away. Limit my carry-on lures to the essential few that I have the most confidence in. Get married and have kids and name them after your favorite baits- ha ha just kidding! (This is my son, Double Cowgirl. That's his sister Curly Sue!) :P
I will have a big test in late August. I'm heading up to Mille Lacs for 4-5 days of fishing. "Trips" always send me over the edge and I bring too much along AND buy baits at the local baitstore. I will bring only 12, three double tens, four Bulldogs, a couple of double 8's, a Weagle, and a 12" Big Game Crank. That's eleven. Any suggestions on the 12th?
MIKE
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Posts: 8866
| Mike, let me ask you something...
What makes more sense:
1. Having a bunch of lures and leaving them all at home
2. Bringing a bunch of lures, and only using the ones you need
I took probably 150 lures to Canada last year. I used TWO.
Rather than bring the 10 that I think I'll need, I'm bringing it all. Most of it will probably never even see the boat, much less the water. But I'd rather have it and not use it than need it and have it sitting at home, acting as a wall decoration while I'm 800 miles away musKie fishing wishing I had it with me. The guys who can bring 10 lures? I'm not one of those guys. I'd rather laugh on the way home at the stuff I brought and never used.
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Posts: 133
Location: Lake Tomahawk, Musky Central, USA | I've got atleast 500 different lures between what my dad has had and I have gotten over the past years....yet find myself throwing no more than 5 of them regularly..lol. I'll be getting some together to sell on here for cheap, so I can buy more! |
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Posts: 2361
| Sorry, but these guys lied to you. They like to do that around here, and don't know where they could pick up things like teasin other posters but, they do it all the time.
Actually(AND I DO HAVE A DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY) the only way you can get over this is to get rid of your excess lures, and distribute them around the board, both trying to buy friends and the maps to secret spots, while you cure yourself.
Send 10 to every poster on this board that sends you a snail mail address(or at least those that don't start with MIKIE ), until you get down to about 2 dozen.
To help, I have PM'd you my snail mail address, and my preference is for expensive, flashy, surface baits, thanks in advance, and for my 10 I'll guide you when you get down to KY.
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Location: Illinois | I think I can overcome this affliction. Today I went to the local baitshop (Fishing Connection, Tinley Park, IL 708.532.1476) to get my Luna spooled with #150 Daiwa Samurai braid and didn't purchase any lure! Not a one, this despite a Musky Innovations Rep/ and tournament angler Tom Ustazewski being there dropping off a batch of custom dogs. I almost caved in, but told myself that I already have plenty of great "tools" at my disposal.
I think the heart of my problem is frustration setting in when muskies aren't biting or following. I definitely think I'd have more success if I kept whatever I'm throwing on, and focused more on my retrieve and executing more consistent figure eights! I appreciate all the advice given already and hope others will chime in if they struggled through the "bait changing blues". |
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Posts: 133
Location: Lake Tomahawk, Musky Central, USA | Well I just posted a few pictures in the Tackle Forum, in the program they always say sharing helps! |
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| I have the same problem. I will constantly change lures without giving a particular lure any real significant amount of time. Just so many lures and so little time! I also have a tendency to never take a lure off once I catch one and that can be problematic also. This muskie fishing really is a mental game.
Edited by Baby Mallard 7/31/2008 2:42 PM
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Posts: 956
Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | Mike,
I admitted to the same muskie lure addiction and sought a way to break the addiction. A friend of mine had introduced me to salmon fishing on Lake Michigan and suddenly the number of muskie baits I buy has diminshed to a very acceptable level. ........................Hey have you seen some of the new salmon gear I just bought?????? |
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Posts: 159
Location: NYC (and many weeks in MN during summer) | I too am a little bit bait crazy. I now have around 500 baits. I've picked up maybe 50 to 75 in just this last month. I got on a recent glider binge, picking up an even dozen mantas, new "old" phantoms and a ton of other stuff. I'm going on a 3 day night outing starting on the 16th, so I bought a BUNCH of glow stuff that I didn't have. This is what happens when you live as far away from your fishing grounds like I do.
When I'm on the lake, it's true, I may only use a dozen baits during a multi day trip, but I will always take a lot of gear. I take a Lakewood monster, which I sometimes stand on and a medium. I also take along a shimano large spinnerbait/worm folder with nearly a 100 baits.
I feel your pain, but, it's only money and if necessary, you can always sell some off.
Randy |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | I used to be that way, bring a couple hundred lures in the boat. it just takes time. I still own 500 or so lures. I don't have a problem with that. Knowing what the lure does and the situations you have that lure for are key. I am not up on taking just 12 lures anywhere, picking 12 out of 500, my options of having the best tools in the boat go way up. I pick my box or as in the case of this weekend, my three large plano inserts from the 500 lures. There are days anymore where I may only throw 3 lures, sometimes only two. That comes from knowing the body of water you are fihsing, lnowing the weed growth, the structure and what lures you can throw to maximize your efforts. I did not have a problem taking all those lures with me back then. It was all a learning process, how to work baits, the structures and situaions they work best in. |
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