|
|
Posts: 636
Location: Bloomington, MN | Eagle Lake Lodges have joined together to ask guests not to use FFS to search for muskies. I have not heard one word from the 5 camps on Cedar, 2 on Canyon, or any other vulnerable body of water. I just heard of a group getting 17 out of Canyon fishing 30 ft. of water in a couple of days. I and friend actually got 17 in a week out of Cliff, not massive, but the fish were shallow. We all know Wisconsin and Minnesota are so far from what they were, and now SW Ontario is intelligently fished excessively hard. This and many other lakes are having the same technology capture numerous fish. Not all fish live, so there will be less for them next year, and the years to follow. I realize it is too late to put the cat back into the bag, but I thought muskie anglers had a higher sense of respect for the minimal resource. I believe all legal aspects have been evaluated, and it is here to stay. I will be the one less boat on the lakes chasing the not so elusive muskellunge. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 636
Location: Bloomington, MN | I'm actually doing a walleye trip to Sydney Lake vs. Cedar or Stork for the muskie this fall. I can afford FFS, but chose not. It's not fishing in the least bit. "I use it to find structure!" B.S...says the muskie pros that know the lake like the back of their hand! Some folks may, but SI does the same. I wish we all just had a Green Box. Those were the fancy and fun days. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1559
Location: Brighton CO. | Fishing is fun if you let it. The fishing part short lived, it's the chase. From the last trip to when you book the next one it all starts. What lake or lakes are we going to fish. When we pick a few lakes what part of each lake? You go over the maps and what time of year? And on and on. What lures do you take? Look at the weather for the time of year and what lure choices.
You fish spot A if the wind is blowing from the north and go to this spot if it's from the south and on and on. Start fish a piece of structure and if you don't see anything did we spook a fish off the structure? and if so what way did it go? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 412
Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | First off Clark, glad you are concerned.
Second, best not to name lakes or out lakes other folks are fishing on (eg Wegner fish Longlegged in theory - if he didn't name it then good for him). Does not serve to benefit anyone except random folks that don't want to put their own legwork in.
"Think I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that it's possible to lose it, so I'll leave you with this final plea. I think it is important for those of us who are non-residents to keep in mind that it's not our country nor our resource. In other words Ugly Americans need not apply. Muskie fishing on the Shield is not something we have a right to, but rather that we are privileged to enjoy throught the courtesy and effort of our Canadian friends. It's something we ought to and must respect and treat with care, couretsy and consideration." From "Muskies on the Shield" by Dick Pearson.
Some are, too many are not.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 7086
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | A few things on MY take on FFS:
I have it, on the bow of my boat, with a turret and everything (like the bass guys do). Do I use it to chase down individual muskies, no. Running around a lake looking at a screen waiting to cast, not my style. Do I "road hunt" or "snipe" for muskies with it? Nah, not my style.
Do I use it to keep of structure and see what is ahead of me? Yes. If you don't believe that is how I use it, I'm sorry that how I fish upsets you. But running a boat staring at a screen at my feet for hours, no thanks.
Technology marches on. From the green box to FFS to whatever is next, it's going to happen and I'm kinda curious how that evolution looks. It's inevitable and there will be people who use the technology to chase fish.
Yelling at people, telling them the "right" or "wrong" way to fish isn't going to fix anything. Teaching ethics is a positive way and looking for conservation methods to help the fisheries as a whole, might.
Saying #noscope doesn't make you a "better" fisherman, you're just doing what you want to do, as do others doing what they want to do in a manner that is not illegal. Is using a scope to catch fish BAD? In my mind it's the next evolution of technology and how it's being used to chase fish.
Does pulling a fish out of 30' of water, bad? If it's over-stressing fish, yeah, it's bad. Is catching 7 fish a day on 20 casts bad, if it over stresses the fish, sure. But to say "it makes fishing easy and is destroying the world" is both false (it's not easy, still a technique you need to learn) and without merit (fish are still being caught).
If we say "this way of doing it is bad", who is to say the rest of the things below aren't also bad for fish:
-sidescan
-downscan
-spot lock (tell me this didn't change fishing and I'll tell you're too young to remember fishing without it)
-boats vs. canoes
-superlines rated for saltwater fish
-a whole industry created around "catching more fish" from lines to 10' rods to $120K+ superboats.
Let's talk about the ethics of how we chase fish, not the equipment we use to catch them. Let's talk about building up the fisheries versus villafying other fisherman.
Think about sucker fishing: 30 years ago EVERYONE used a single J hook (hell, I learned to cast a dead sucker, talka bout work) and now very few do as we now KNOW that this kills fish, so we use quick strikes.
If we teach that ripping a fish out of deep water greatly lowers release rates, some will stop doing it because of ethics. Others, like those that still use J-hooks, will contintue to do it because at the end of the day they're douchtastic. Can't change douchy. It just is.
And 17 fish on Canyon in a couple of days isn't a feat of any sort and since you've fished that water, you know the lake can support it. First day out there, I trolled straight down the middle at 4MPH and caught 6. No clue what I was doing, the fish are just abundant there.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 7086
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | The sad part about what I see is that muskie fisherman are using the idea of FFS, ie. making catching rates better (aka making fishing easier) to establish a creed of "this is what real muskie fisherpeople do, anything else is wrong!". This doesn't help the cause of muskie fisheries, it just alienates people and makes the "muskie crowd" look like elitist pricks.
Don't believe me then please explain why my using FFS makes me bad, while also fishing out of a kayak makes me some kind of something else negative. Ie. I'm not following some weird code that says you have to fish x way or y way or I'm not worthy.
Muskie fisherman need to work with each other to make sure we have great fisheries for the future, not calling each other names and creating "sides" of some kind of fight with other fisherpeople.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 141
Location: Roscoe IL | I could really care less if someone doesnt like me using live scope, I KNOW that im not for sharp shooting fish, i use it in the direction im drifting to watch my bait for follows, and see the weeds. To be honest, i havent caught fish with it, that i wouldnt have caught without it, it is basically an expensive way to tell him I have a follow or if im too far away from the structure im fishing, lots of people need to watch their own bobber. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 60
Location: Janesville wi | Any arguement against ffs from a biology standpoint could also be used against trolling with multiple lines.
I’ve never caught a musky with ffs (this could change).
Edited by wiswimbait 8/7/2025 7:48 PM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 8830
| In the hands of those of us who have put in the decades of time, money, and effort, FFS could be a real detriment. I suspect most of us wouldn’t use it that way, though. In the hands of a less experienced angler? I suspect they’ll be driving around aimlessly on the reefs trying to find a fish to cast at, and casting to no avail while we’re lighting them up in the slop because a cold front pushed them shallow. No shortcuts in musky fishing… |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2067
| My Lcx112c was almost like cheating back in 2007, ha!… I definitely would not agree there is no short cuts in musky fishing, EA how many 50’s do you have? I was talking to a young man at a boat ramp I was on in June, this 20 something had been Muskie fishing 3 years… just popped his 17th 50 that day… in 3 years!
He was excited, I was .. well not how I fish …because the hunt is what I like
I’ve never sucker fished for skies, I’m fine with my electronics that came out in 2005…almost never troll, and can say I don’t troll on trophy water….. I want to hunt them down and use my mind, and be completely surprised when that beast shows up, just me. to me SI is just as bad as FFS… you all ready to give up those unit too? :).
Edited by IAJustin 8/8/2025 6:57 AM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 676
Location: Duluth | FFS only benefits the shops that sell it and the companies that make it.....it's a great trick they have played on us. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 69
| I really hope this becomes a trend for fishing lodges on musky water. Good for the Eagle Lake lodges. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 412
Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | EsoxWanderer - 8/9/2025 10:54 AM
I really hope this becomes a trend for fishing lodges on musky water. Good for the Eagle Lake lodges.
Thanks for that. Helpful comment.
IAJustin is very much correct. Wishful thinking that savvy FFS users using real-time sonar are at a disadvantage to traditional anglers using long term knowledge. They are not. The only thing we have going for us is we are at lot tougher mentally than the bulk of them and not as soft with regards to enduring physical hardships (from what I've seen so far), so that keeps us in the game. Frankly they don't need to to hit a narrow bite window when the weather and waves are sketchy - we are now forced to given fish so harrassed by FFS all the rest of the time.
But the fishery will be f'd if what we've seen continues on the same trend line. I fully understand where Clark is coming from. If FFS users are going to hit waters hard that you musky fish, it is going to start to really suck to fish there. If you have a business lodging musky anglers, musky anglers are going to tell you that it sucks - and they are going to look for greener pastures, more remote places.
The Eagle Lake folks are wise to move early, but at this point they are not stopping the other FFS "stuff" that goes on (and only cajolling to stop sharpshooting - folks are still doing it).
To wit: Esoxaddict, have you seen what FFS can do? You do realize that these FFS kids can scan the "slop" and tell you whether the fish is a three footer (maybe a big pike) or a giant musky (over four feet) in that scraggly junk weed you can't cast into. How do I know?
I've seen it. I don't use FFS, own it, or ever will, but I know exactly what can and is being done with it.
I am for sustainably good musky fishing here in NW Ontario. If you support and defend the use of FFS for musky fishing, then I would suggest that you are contributing to its decline.
I don't condemn those that own FFS, just leave it at home when coming up here. You don't need it to stay off the rocks - just stay off the rocks.
Edited by Angling Oracle 8/9/2025 12:51 PM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 3157
| There's no reason we can't snag fish in the figure 8
Its safer,,fish snagged in the back has no chance of getting hooks in the eyes or in the gills.
Also lets drag nets behind the boat,,when we see a fish on the screen lets just veer over and corral him "why not" no hooks and if there's a size limit you still can't keep it
C'mon we can rationalize anything,,its all about possession.
#### fair chase I just want to get and show you the picture!!!!!
FYI,,I'm currently developing a soft plastic lure that you inject with tranquilizer so when the Muskie is hooked it becomes temporarily paralyzed taking the fight out of the equation and you can "just reel em in",, its all about the picture!!! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 32927
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | happy hooker - 8/10/2025 5:25 AM
There's no reason we can't snag fish in the figure 8
Its safer,,fish snagged in the back has no chance of getting hooks in the eyes or in the gills.
Also lets drag nets behind the boat,,when we see a fish on the screen lets just veer over and corral him "why not" no hooks and if there's a size limit you still can't keep it
C'mon we can rationalize anything,,its all about possession.
#### fair chase I just want to get and show you the picture!!!!!
FYI,,I'm currently developing a soft plastic lure that you inject with tranquilizer so when the Muskie is hooked it becomes temporarily paralyzed taking the fight out of the equation and you can "just reel em in",, its all about the picture!!!
Very funny, made my day. |
|
| |
