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Location: Northern Wisconsin | Have been up in N WI for a week now. I have put in tons of time, 10-12 hrs a day, landed four fish which I'm happy about but two days ago had a nice (mid 40's is my guess) muskie pull apart the split ring on my dawg... Seriously, what kind of company makes a lure for muskie and puts split rings that can be pulled apart that easily. Okay so after this happens I am a bit upset but keep fishing (this time with a curly sue, much better constructed lure). Not much action over the past couple days and I have been putting in tons of time but this morning im fishing the same spot where I lost the fish due to the split ring pulling apart and WHAM I have a hit, I set the hook and seconds later my line goes slack, I reel in to find nothing on the end of my line except for a broken 3 dollar leader made by a well known bucktail company that I bought from the musky shop on my way up.... 5 seconds later at least a 50" is jumping around thrashing and trying to toss the lure. I stuck around hoping it might surface close enough to the boat to net it but realized the chances are one in a thousand. I dont think I could feel more sick about fishing than I do right now. That was a fish of a lifetime for me and now it's swimming around with a curly sue in its throat or mouth and I'm sitting in the cabin sick to my stomach.
Edited by fish4musky1 8/27/2010 9:41 AM
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Posts: 32959
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I've had top shelf brand spit rings pulled out. None are immune to failure if enough stress is applied. Tackle will fail sometimes, it happens to the best. Check your components, Get back out there and enjoy the rest of your trip! |
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| Loosen your drag ? |
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Posts: 255
| Welcome to musky fishing. |
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| Sorry to hear! Drop bnelson a pm. He makes me 180lb fluoro leaders. No failures. |
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Posts: 2361
| Re-adjust your attitude.
It isn't about the ones you lose, however tragic it may seem. Muskies will get off, break things, tear things up and swim away. It's part of the deal.
It is about the ones you CATCH! You gotta learn to put the losses behind you, because they are going to happen. Never limit yourself on the upside, and that is what you are doing by thinking the way you are thinking.
Been there, done that, and got past it. You can too. |
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| Last week saturday I was fishing and had a upper 40" fish come from under the boat on the 1st turn of an 8. I never saw the fish follow in so it was quite unexpected. My reel was engaged and dragged was locked down so the fish could not take any line immediately. It all happened so fast too, fish came from nowhere, ate my bucktail and did one or two headshakes before snapping my line. I felt pretty bad about it all sunday and into monday. I would like to think the fish will be able to shake it but I really don't know.
I immediately loosened the drag on my reel so that some line could be pulled out. There are so many mixed reviews though on drag settings. Many very reputable musky guys will say they keep their drag locked right down. Which in this case would've been okay I guess if I were thumbing it on the 8, which I was not.
I see it as a learning lesson and hope to god that doesn't happen again or anytime soon for me. Oh, by the way, the big fish I lost saturday was a tiger that would've been my first (tiger that is). |
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Posts: 97
Location: Pickering, ON | To me, it's absolutely unacceptable for a component to break.
Without getting into bashing any particular products and well known issues, I do the following:
Unless I know a lure comes with Wolverine or Bucher Rings (and of the proper strength), they get swapped for Wolverines, Buchers, or SPRO. Same thing for hooks; unless I know and am satisfied with what is on there, swap out.
Re: leaders. I wouldn't dare buy a leader off the shelf; I don't give a #*^@ who makes them. Make your own; it's simple, cheap, and you know exactly how it was put together/that it was put together right.
Edited by JeffinPickering 8/27/2010 10:15 AM
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Posts: 32959
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Acceptable or not, it happens, even on lures and leaders I modified or hand made to my picky specs. FSF offered great advice. |
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| FSF hit the nail on the head. Its all part of the game. You will pull through. Just enjoy your time on the water and you will be rewarded. |
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Posts: 177
Location: Lake Forest, Illinois | fish4 musky1
I feel your pain, as I watched a quality fish swim away a few years ago with a double cow gilrl in its mouth after the leader broke. That event simply ruined our trip (my wife and I) and we still talk about it.
What I learned from that event was to only use a leader, that has a knot on the other side of the crimp...that way, in case of a crimp failure, the knot tightens down on itself.
.....leaders are fluorocarbon. |
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Posts: 667
Location: Roscoe IL | MH - 8/27/2010 10:09 AM
Sorry to hear! Drop bnelson a pm. He makes me 180lb fluoro leaders. No failures.
Hell yes on that! You'll never have to worry about a failure due to workmanship. Nothing is ever guarenteed in muskie fishing, but you sure have imporved your equipment by using Brad's leaders..
Sorry about the lost fish, I hope you can recover and get back out there. \ |
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| You have just learned some valuable lessons and from here you just need to pick yourself back up and get back in the saddle. As an end users I look closely over my equipment for weak links. I too in the past had split rings pull and leaders snap but over time and experience I learned what good hardware looks like. |
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| there's a well-know timeframe from a couple years where Bulldawg split rings were too soft. in fact, i'm pretty sure there's a video on this website showing Steve Jonesi pull them apart by hand on a pounder. there was no excuse for it, and also no reason to pretend it didn't exist when it did. the bottom line is that they're using better components now, which is good. if you've got older dawgs, change your split rings. checking your wire leaders regularly for kinks or wearpoints is a good idea. when they get bent and restraightened they start losing strength, especially near the eyelet wrap where they tend to bend the most. |
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Posts: 32959
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Who was 'pretending' anything, l? He didn't say when he bought the Dawg or whether he checked the hardware...what if it was one of recent build; one can 'assume', but that isn't wise either. It could be one built this season...or not. It could happen on any lure if there was a single 'bad' component...or not.
Even the best branded components can fail, there are no 'perfect' products out there.
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Posts: 7115
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | I'm sorry, I had to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJCyREC2a_Y&feature=related |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Losing fish sucks. Losing due to a failure is worse. Pick yourself up and learn from it like others mentioned.
I agree with not buying off-the-shelf type leaders. For $3-4 I can make 20-30 leaders myself, and they are so simple even a cave man can do it. No leader failures since I started making my own 10+ years ago. No snaps and no swivels to fail.
Lots of lures out there that I swap out split rings and hooks right away. I don’t like doing it, but it is piece of mind if I have any question of doubt in my mind if the lure will hold up. Bulldawgs was one lure I swapped out split rings right away on. Big Joe’s and Bagleys as well. Look at a lure, and if you think to yourself “Boy I wonder if that will hold up” replace it.
Part of this game is making sure all the equipment is in good shape.
Bummer on losing two good fish in fairly tough fishing for you.
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| There are NO rules---and NO sure things when it comes to musky fishing. All you can do is get right back out there and cast some more---that's what it's all about---the WHOLE experience----good and bad---you learn something valuable from every second on the water. And each second fishing ---or losing fish----is STILL better than working and is worth its' weight in gold. Never surrender---that's what we musky hunters do best!!!!----Jobu |
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Posts: 360
Location: Tinley Park. Fish Cen IL. Bass & Vilas Cty.Muskie | Forget the Muskies ! Join the Bass Crowd. 4 Fish in a week ? A Bass fisherman would have had a 100 nice ones in a week. Cheer up and come over to the Better side...I will send you a ap on your Iphone.
Edited by basscaster 8/29/2010 7:00 PM
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Posts: 785
| I went fishing for 3 days and lost two that were right around 54"es last week. Trust me I understand. We boated 6 but losing the big ones stung. Mine were just hooked in a bad spot which was very upsetting but machanical failure is the worste. Give yourself a little time and you'll get excited about it again. You won't get em back but there's more where they came from.
Andy |
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Posts: 131
| This has nothing to do with mechanical falure , its more a mental falure . Its been a tuff season so far for me , not many fish .So a couple weeks ago when I hooked into a 54 plus that I've seen a couple times this year I thought the season was going to take a turn for the good . Wrong !!! I had 1 chance to net her but she had other plans , she dove under the boat I droped the net got her to turn only to have her head shake the hooks out . I could see she wasnt hooked good , so when the line went slack thats when I 2 hand slaped my rod against the water only to hit the side of my boat . Snap went the rod , then for some unknown reason I threw the whole works in the water . I just stood there and watched it sink . I tried to snag it but no luck so far . My season did take a turn for the better this weekend though , I boated a 50 ". So maybe that rod and reel were jinxed |
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| a muskie pro named Bill Tutt showed me and told me a swivel snap is all you need the new high power lines are so unlikely to get bitten off its not worth spooking a fish of a lifetime because of a unatural looking leader. my largest fish 50" 36# its head was about the size of a basketball no line problem never had a biteoff in over 30 years Thank you Bill Tutt |
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Location: Contrarian Island | are you nuts? only a bb swivel on the line w/ no leader? you have been either: 1. Lucky or 2. haven't caught that many fish...you WILL get bitten off...guaranteed.
and you really think a fish is going to get spooked by a fluoro leader and not hit?
Edited by BNelson 9/1/2010 12:19 PM
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Posts: 2361
| BNelson - 9/1/2010 11:35 AM
are you nuts? only a bb swivel on the line w/ no leader? you have been either: 1. Lucky or 2. haven't caught that many fish...you WILL get bitten off...guaranteed.
and you really think a fish is going to get spooked by a fluoro leader and not hit?
Looks like toobig got a bite. 
I don't know what's better, the anonymous posters, or our responses to them. |
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| Big fish get big not by hitting everything that swims. Mabey next time a monster fish follows but only looks you'll wonder if mabey she seen the fancy leader you are using. I ll take my chances with a biteoff after I get her on the line. Although its easy to catch lots of 40" class fish with leaders they ll hit just about anything that swims 50" + fish however are a bit smarter. |
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Posts: 814
| tobig...if your worried about the fish seeing your leader, then you might as well just take the hooks off your lures while your at it. Or don't put the rod in the water on the figure 8 either cause there gonna see it and jet.....too funny! |
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Posts: 7115
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | And I'm just sad that none of you thought my video was funny. |
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Posts: 540
Location: MN | Slamr I thought it was awesome. |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | Now that I'm back to reality and realize there is more important things I need to worry about besides a couple lost fish I am able to understand that I learned an important lesson from this experience: never ever skimp out on terminal tackle (hooks, split rings, leaders, line) while fishing for musky. Will definitely be upgrading all snaps to stay-lok and changing frequently. Live and learn I guess |
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| one other thing to do ...if you are using stay locks to bulldawgs...attach a split ring on the bulldawg first...then the stay lock to that..not sure why but for some reason if you attach just the stay lock to the dawg line tie it can and will open up the stay lock..it has happened to lots of guys i know but doesn't happen w/ a split ring...???!!!
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