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Posts: 239
Location: Elroy, Wisconsin | Fellow Musky Nuts,
O. K. this is a rant.....The one thing that I find bothersome with some musky people is the almost pathologic need for secrecy. It doesn't help our sport or reputation.
Several years ago after chasing these beautiful demon critters for fifty years I decided to give LOTW a try. A person I bareley know when I arrived there said, "give me your map, I'll mark a few spots for you." Over a coffee a few spots turned out to be a hundred or more. We were out and fishing good water right off the bat.
Couple years go by. Some great fish landed. One morning two young guys walk down to the dock and tell me they are on a weeks trip and have never been on LOTW before, would I mind pointing them in the right direction. I let them borrow my map and mark up their map and they caught several nice fish that week. We visited a lot that week and stayed in touch with Christmas cards ect.
Couple years after that, I get a call from one of the guys letting me know that his partner was severely wounded in Afganistan. After recovery, he can't fish at all, but still goes with his buddy once in a while .
Think about it......
Cost of sharing, priceless... Help someone if you can. You just never know.
Mudpuppy
I used to be one of those don't tell nobody nothing guys. Finally grew up |
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Posts: 32884
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I like the rant. |
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| Thumbs up to you! |
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Location: Pewaukee, WI | You have my vote mudpuppy. Life is too short! |
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Posts: 26
| I "likey" as well Mudpuppy.........considering the prevalence of catch and release with musky fishing, what's the big tadoo about secret spots, lakes or rivers or whatever anyways? Seriously people!
We need more folks involved/participating to help out with the resource. More license sales, more participation and youth involved all the better. Some of these tight lipped hardcores could improve the cause immensely if they'de care to just chime in once in awhile and share some tidbits per seasonal quirks and such to aid us novice fisherman and the general cause of muskellunge fishing. More Ministry/DNR money makes for more and better all round musky fishing...........research, habitat, recruitment/stocking and lake access.
All that said, I gotta admit you have me curious/intrigued as to just where on LOTW's you guys made hay and what time of year we're talking. You don't have to give up exact "deer stand" locations but generalities would be appreciated for a lot of guys! The Angle, Morson, Sabaskong, Kenora and just what kind of spots on a map you're talking about pertaining the season?
Feel free to p.m me if you wish vs. sharing the information publically with fellow musky fisherman.
Great post!
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Posts: 143
Location: La Crosse, WI | LOTW's is a little different from a 500 acre mud puddle in northern WI, but I do agree with your concept. However, some people are looking for reward without putting in the effort. Half the fun for me is trying to figure out a body of water or establishing a pattern. There's a lot of lake X's out there, just check out the big fish board. |
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Location: central Wisconsin | I just have to ask, why do we need more muskie fishers and why should I make my thirty years of learned spots available to them? |
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Posts: 540
Location: Leech Lake, Walker MN | That's it people helping people
And fisherman helping fisherman
It's very simple |
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Posts: 239
Location: Elroy, Wisconsin | Hermit- Out of Morson,Rock Bars, Weeds, Points all favorites. Havn't done well in sand bays or neck downs with current but others sure do.
Jeff78-I hope you discover the pure pleasure of putting a newbie on a decent musky. its a great part of the sport you are missing |
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Posts: 1529
| your a good person. thanks for the rant. makes you think about things. |
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Posts: 27
Location: SW Ohio | Chuckin Baits - 1/9/2016 9:38 PM
LOTW's is a little different from a 500 acre mud puddle in northern WI, but I do agree with your concept. However, some people are looking for reward without putting in the effort. Half the fun for me is trying to figure out a body of water or establishing a pattern. There's a lot of lake X's out there, just check out the big fish board.
Ditto... I don't mind sharing some info about a large body of water I fish once or a few times a year, with plenty of spots and plenty of fish to go around (like LOTW or LSC). However, when it comes to my small and very limited home waters that are already highly pressured... no thanks, I'm inclined to keep it quiet. Putting in the time on the water and figuring things out yourself is much more rewarding.
Edited by George W 1/9/2016 10:13 PM
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Posts: 20211
Location: oswego, il | I think we can all agree on mudpuppy's scenario. I have done it I am sure many of you have. I have even gone as far as letting someone know I moved one on a spot, again in mudpuppy's context. I also completely agree with Jeff, his scenario is completely different. |
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Location: central Wisconsin | Mudpuppy - 1/9/2016 9:51 PM
Hermit- Out of Morson,Rock Bars, Weeds, Points all favorites. Havn't done well in sand bays or neck downs with current but others sure do.
Jeff78-I hope you discover the pure pleasure of putting a newbie on a decent musky. its a great part of the sport you are missing
Mudpuppy I have put plenty of people on their first fish, I don't fish million acre lakes though. When you fish three hundred acre puddles there are only so many spots and fish to go around. |
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Posts: 251
| At the very least I think it is good to share some of the common knowledge spots and things like that. I understand keeping a few of your favorite, less trafficked spots to yourself. Also, usually just pointing out a spot is different then showing them how to fish it. Often that still takes time.
I have been grateful to all those who have marked my map and helped me out in the past. It just helps to ensure the first few times learning new waters is not a total flop.
Edited by timhutson1 1/9/2016 11:32 PM
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Location: Smith Creek | I marked a map for a guy once, found out later he killed every muskie he caught from the spots I marked, and was later convicted of murdering his family (including the dog).
Seemed like a nice enough guy when I marked the map for him. Ya never know.
Edited by Flambeauski 1/10/2016 8:46 AM
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Location: West Chester, OH | Flambeauski - 1/10/2016 8:52 AM
I marked a map for a guy once, found out later he caught and killed every muskie he caught from the spots I marked, and was later convicted of murdering his family (including the dog).
Seemed like a nice enough guy when I marked the map for him. Ya never know.
Probably good for you that you marked the map & sent him on his way!! |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | When you spend lots of time figuring out patterns and spots on your own, why should you give them away for free? If you want to give away spots go ahead but don't criticize those who don't. I have opened my mouth before and seen spots get over fished. Learned my lesson and now I keep quiet.
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | ^Exactly. And I should mention that the 2nd part of my story never happened.
Being secretive is learned behavior. Nobody is secretive when they come into the sport. |
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| In addition to being a good sharer of info, some guys need to be better receivers of information!!! I've literally had guys bring their buddies in another boat to block me on a spot I shared!!! Like the two previous posters...I learned to keep quiet...the hard way!!! |
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Posts: 239
Location: Elroy, Wisconsin | There is no question that special lakes, rivers are hard earned secrets. All I'm saying help people get started when you can. There will always be jerks in the World that take advantage, but most people respect information shared and hopefully will do the same.
Mudpuppy |
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Posts: 66
| Also your "secret spot" is probably 100 other people's secret spot. With electronics the way they are today it doesn't take years to learn a body of water like it used to. |
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Posts: 8774
| I will tell anyone anything I think I can trust them with. That varies from "we're not moving anything on blades today" to "we just saw a huge fish on the West end of _______ by that big dead pine tree"... Last year I showed a guy and his two little kids where/how to catch pannies on a small lake after they said they hadn't caught anything for an hour. Within 10 minutes the kids were squealing and laughing because they were catching fish one after another. That kind of stuff is fine. But anybody who tells someone they aren't sure they can trust about a lake, or a spot on that lake, is asking for trouble.
Flambeauski is right - nobody is secretive when they come onto the sport. Most people learn the hard way. I like to hep people catch fish. But I'm not giving away everything for free that took me a decade and a #*#* ton of money to learn.
This year, we're exploring a bunch of small lakes that I've never fished and know nothing about short of having a map and that the DNR says there are muskies. I might tell people not to bother with them if we come up empty. But I sure won't be naming names if those lakes show some color. |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Flambeauski - 1/10/2016 7:52 AM
I marked a map for a guy once, found out later he killed every muskie he caught from the spots I marked, and was later convicted of murdering his family (including the dog).
Seemed like a nice enough guy when I marked the map for him. Ya never know.
Geez.
Get over yourselves a bit, gentlemen. Those spots were there before you were borne and will be there long after you are gone, and are secret only to you and everyone else who thinks it's their personal little chunk of water. |
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Location: Ashland WI | Ben Olsen - 1/10/2016 9:29 AM
In addition to being a good sharer of info, some guys need to be better receivers of information!!! I've literally had guys bring their buddies in another boat to block me on a spot I shared!!! Like the two previous posters...I learned to keep quiet...the hard way!!!
I agree with this. If I am given a piece of information from someone, I don't feel free to pass it on. It wasn't mine to begin with. On the other hand, if I learn something on my own, I feel it is up to me what I do with it. |
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| With map chips, hot spot maps, side and down imaging, learning a lake is not the time consuming grind it was when I got into the sport in the 1960s. Even in the 1970s, I remember a pile of boulders in the Three Lakes chain that was in 30' feet of water but topped out just 7 or 8 feet below the surface. Now that was something that few fishermen knew about back then and today anybody with a map, chip or imaging can find in a matter of minutes. If it takes you years to learn a lake today, you aren't trying.
Everyone should do what they feel comfortable doing relative to sharing knowledge, but to think that you know big secrets about a lake today, that no one else knows, is simply fooling yourself. |
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Location: minocqua, wi. | ^Bingo .... |
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Posts: 251
| 14ledo81 - 1/10/2016 2:28 PM
Ben Olsen - 1/10/2016 9:29 AM
In addition to being a good sharer of info, some guys need to be better receivers of information!!! I've literally had guys bring their buddies in another boat to block me on a spot I shared!!! Like the two previous posters...I learned to keep quiet...the hard way!!!
I agree with this. If I am given a piece of information from someone, I don't feel free to pass it on. It wasn't mine to begin with. On the other hand, if I learn something on my own, I feel it is up to me what I do with it.
I agree that you should protect info that is not your own to share. That is just courtesy. |
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Posts: 2752
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Sharing can be hit or miss, posting specific spot's in social media is bad idea. The other siide of the coin is sharing with individuals, I mean individuals who you know will not abuse the fish, you can usually tell whats up with a little preliminary conversation and tactfully asked questions. Its also a great way to discuss CPR and handling of fish.
1. Got any good recipies for muskies?
2. How large is your muskie club/gaff?
3. Where is your net, is it a stowaway?
4. Do you step on them behind the head so you can get the hooks out?
How many guys were on Wazee this weekend? LOL- The photo doesn't even look like a 17 1/2 lb walleye! At 32.5" she should look like a football. Still the thundering herd will show up.
Al
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Posts: 444
| I'm a bit selfish, don't like to share.
But here in the mpls area, if certain "guides" hear of a hot lake, they bring the TV crew, Literally, a TV crew, then that lake is swapped and shutdown for the year.
What I dont understand is this TV crew of the "best Muskie guys" out there leave there up north area, which in the county or two up there has more Muskie lakes then the entire state of MN and they come here to do a TV show?
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Posts: 1036
| I'll only selectively share anymore. You gotta give to get. Two way street. I've been burned too many times. Once on this site.
Different scenario than what was presented here as there is limited water where I fish most of the time now versus almost unlimited water in LOTW.
You can always tell the "good" guys who want information. They could care less about spot. Depth. Speed. Color. That's more or less what is important to them. |
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