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Posts: 152
| haven a real problem with putting fish in the bag like i used to. I know im a good musky fisherman because i have been very successful in the past at doing so. It seems that in the previous two seasons i have hit a invisible road block and the fishing for me has become impossibly hard. I fish with a good group of guys who know how to fish and when i fish with them they always catch fish while i am stuck taking the pictures. I used to stand toe to toe with anyone locally but now i seem to be on the suck side more then ever before. Dont get me wrong i love it when my buddies are catching fish and i dont want them to catch less fish. I really know everything they know. Hell ive taught them a lot and its getting to a point where im losing it a little. I fish with the best stuff, I try and absorb any and all information regarding the hunt but its flat out not working. I fish were i know their are fish because when i fish these spots with others they catch fish but i dont. I put tons of time on the water more then anyone i know who isnt a full-time guide. I dont even get follows very often anymore. I went over two and a half months without boating or seeing a musky last year while my boat partners boated countless fish with me. It didnt used to be this way and i cant figure out whats different. I need help because i cant take another season like that this year. Something has to give because i am to stubborn to give it up and when things are going this bad it effects my life outside of fishing in a negative way. What am i doing wrong? |
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| hmmm just the way the cookie crumbles id say... but if you go out and the guy with you catches several is it the lure that the fish likes that day or the way hes using it? i try and decide a few good lures that i really think will produce and stick with them im starting to learn that using 100 lures a day and switching constintly doesnt seem to be helping... if you go out thinking your not going to do good thats not going to help!
good luck ... |
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Posts: 1168
| I'm going to be blunt....you need to get over yourself. If your lack of success is having an impact on how miserable you are outside of a hobby then you really need to take a close look at how hard you might be pressing. There are other things to get worked up about, putting fish in the boat is not one of them.
Take a step back and relax. Next time you are out on the water take a moment to appreciate the experience. There is much, much more to this than catching fish. Yesterday morning I had multiple fish in my boat before 7am but that wasn't the be all end all. I came across a partially submerged tree that was loaded with turtles sunning themselves, a bald eagle followed me around for close to half an hour and kept checking out the bait I was throwing, there were an ungodly number of geese flying overhead, I fished with a guy I never fished with before and had a good time but not because of the fish...it was because of good conversation.
What you describe has nothing to do with your technical approach, it has more to do with attitude. You've begun beating yourself before you hit the water. Life is too short not to appreciate the small stuff and when you begin to turn negative in regards to a hobby you love or once loved it's a sign that some self assessment and awareness is needed. |
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Posts: 1207
Location: Pigeon Forge TN. | ulbian,
Well said. I always enjoy the time on the water fish or not. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | Try some solo fishing, that way your not competing and comparing your results to the other end of the boat. It will allow you to slow down and enjoy your self.
I live very close to the water I fish and often just go out for an hour or so If the fish are active good if not I go home. When I was younger I would fish 12 hour days because I refused to go back skunked. I don't enjoy the fishing any less now and I am happiest when I can put a newcommer on a good fish and demonstrate propper handling |
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Posts: 395
Location: NW WI | musky chimes - 5/28/2011 11:07 PM
when things are going this bad it effects my life outside of fishing in a negative way.
WOW - would you like to trade lives? Let's go chuck baits for a day and I'll share with you the details of the last 6 years of MY life. I think you'll appreciate what you have a whole bunch more.
I'm sure there's others here that would say essentially the same thing. |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Take each day a a blessing, and each day fishing as a MEGA blessing. Don't pressure yourself any more than thinking out a strategy and making sure your lures are wet. The rest will come, sometimes inexplicable stretches of no muskies in the net just happen. The fact your boat partners are producing proves it out.
Enjoy every day on the water for friendship, leisure time, and take the pressure out of it. |
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Posts: 541
| I understand what you are saying and how you feel but ulbian hit it on the head, I think you need to assess the situation and think about it as a whole. Sounds like you have let this take over your life and someone is trying to reach you maybe! |
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Posts: 717
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | I have run into the same problem in the past. It seemed that the more knowledge I had, the less fish I caught. Granted, my average size of fish went up by 10", but my numbers went way down. One problem that I always found myself doing was not paying attention to what my lure was doing. I was just pounding water. Power fishing. Instead of concentrating on making the lure do what it should be doing, all I was focused on was that next cast and where I was going to make it. When I started muskie fishing, I would constantly try to visualize what my lure was doing with each twitch, pause, rip. Where it was in relation to a log, a weed edge, or a dropoff. Take the time to focus on the cast at hand, and not on the next one. Key words -- Slow Down/Visualize. |
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Posts: 39
| sworrall - 5/29/2011 9:25 AM
Take each day a a blessing, and each day fishing as a MEGA blessing. Don't pressure yourself any more than thinking out a strategy and making sure your lures are wet. The rest will come, sometimes inexplicable stretches of no muskies in the net just happen. The fact your boat partners are producing proves it out.
Enjoy every day on the water for friendship, leisure time, and take the pressure out of it.
^^This!^^
I wouldn't say I'm a bad fisherman but I don't consider myself to be a good one either, I'm just there and if the fish decide to eat one of my baits then sweet! I go out and enjoy spending time with my buddies, most of the time I'm also the one who is usually taking pictures, it used to bug me when I first started now, I'm more than happy to take pictures for them.
I've got a lot more in life to worry about and I know most people here do, than to worry about why I'm not catching fish or why they are catching fish and I'm not, I know I'll never make money on this hobby (although I probably should look into it with as much money I have wrapped up into it, as I'm sure most of you also do and exponentially more $$$ than I do) but it's just that, a hobby, something I enjoy to go out and do, I enjoy being out on the water and in nature, seeing fish is just a bonus for me. I will say though, tomorrow for one day, I will be a pro muskie fisherman, gotta love holiday pay!
In short, just go out and have fun! Like they have said, it's a hobby |
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Posts: 22
| It has been real interesting reading the initial post and then the subsequent responses. First off, I commend Muskie Chimes for his candor and "lay it all out there" approach. I can understand why others are taking the approach of "You should focus on bigger or "real" issues". Not sure that's fair to take that stance, but I guess that's ok. I however am going to focus on a solution hoping that someone else can leverage my experience.
I have had a very similiar situation in the past and it seemed like the harder I tried and the more money I spent - the worse I was. Last year I took an approach that was reflected by another respondant on this thread. I went back to the basics. I found that I was changing so much stuff that I couldn't hone any of the skills/approaches. I've narrowed my baits from 100's to 10. They are confidence baits. Baits that have caught fish in the past. All my buddies harrass me about how "he only throws one bait". All my buddies who I outfished by a large margin last year... Again, I'm not attempting to plagerize the other post, but I feel strongly that this can be a good strategy to get things back together. And as one person said - slow down. Fish the actual cast, not the next one you are thinking about. That really helped me as well.
Good luck man! I know how much that sucks.
Kiedro
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Posts: 458
| It is just a fish. Enjoy the water. Enjoy your friends and family. Life can change in an instant. |
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Posts: 58
| The musky slump is not a fun situation to be in, and I can say this from experience. I can remember having some really good seasons when all I had was 1 rod and a handful of baits fishing out of a 12' tin boat. For a while it seemed like the better prepared I was to chase these fish, the worse I did. The problem that I was having was the problem that I created. It's too easy to take the fun out of this sport by emphasizing on putting fish in the net. Most of us want results for the time that we put in on the water, but like others have stated it's not the only thing that can be enjoyed. The method that I have used to climb out of the slump, was and still is, to get back to having fun. My wife is quick to let me know when I start to slide down the hill, because it can affect me negatively in other areas of my life as well. During a really bad year I will sometimes take a break from musky fishing and get out the bass rods, it's tough to beat a quiet morning on still water. |
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Posts: 152
| i can bring myself to go fishing for bait fish unfortunately. I would rather watch re runs of Bonanza and eat ju ju fish but its a very good idea never the less. Every single time i try fishing bait fish i end up finding the biggest bait in the boat and plugging with it. I guess im weird. Your right though i took mental notes of what im doing and back in the day i used to pay more attention to the line and lure now a seem to pound the water with a scowl on my face and though im looking at the water its different than it used to be. I have lost the fun and i dont know where to find it. I know when you call musky fishing a hobby that might be the case for you but its my entire world i make my living from it by making lures, leaders, harnesses, and in the past I guided a little for extra money. Since my fishing success has been poor ive stopped the guiding for fear my luck could carry over to them and no one wants to pay for that. Im going to school for business so i can open my own custom shop. Musky fishing is my life and way more than a hobby. I too saw the biggest snappers on a log two days ago one was at least fifty pounds and it had four painted turtles on his back. Amazing! I lost my life long fishing partner about three years ago when he moved away and the guys i fish with now are different and not as good. They treat musky fishing as a competition and their isnt a team feeling with them. They dont have the respect for the sport like i grew up with. They say they love it but its more a love for status then it is for the fish and the hunt. They really are opinionated and lucky but they have no respect for the magic that comes from doing it the proper way with the proper attitude. I think that has a lot to do with it. Im fishing solo more this year to try and find what i lost. |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | musky chimes - 5/29/2011 12:07 AM What am i doing wrong? You're getting hung up on how good you think you are. If you really taught your friends so much had so much success and fish so much, you should be able to pull yourself out of a slump after two years. Slumps happen, but if you're getting bent out of shape because you've sunk to the levels of a mere mortal muskie fisherman, you need to get over yourself and get back to basics. And quite honestly, I don't want to hear it. This is why- edalz - 5/29/2011 12:26 PM It is just a fish. Enjoy the water. Enjoy your friends and family. Life can change in an instant. Life can and does change in an instant. My instant was this morning at 7:00 when I was pulling my boat out of the garage, slipped and fell and brok my fib, shattered my ankle and destroyed some tendons along the way. I need surgery and may not fish this year. My season was supposed to open next Saturday, and now I'll be on the couch while you're out fishing with your new friends that aren't up to your standards of fishing excellence and appreciating the sport and the resource. You have my sympathies. I can only hope someday you're able to find someone good enough to fish with you. And news flash, for most of the guys here, muskie fishing is more than a hobby. I got myself stationed here SOLELY for the purpose of muskie fishing LSC. So you could say I based my entire residency around muskies. So I've long since passed the hobby stage. So at this point, seeing as you supposedly fish as much as most guides, you're 110% ahead fo where I am because I can't even launch my #*^@ boat. I don't want to start a fight with you, and I'm sorry to be brash and it's nothing personal, but you need to get over yourself and realize you're fortunate to even get on the water. There's alot of people who can't physically, financially, or geographically get on the water. If muskie fishing is such a torment to you then quit. Sorry Steve if I was out of line. But this is not the day I needed to read this. Here's my muskie season ending before it even starts in the back of an ambulance 12 hrs ago...
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | And despite my rant, I do wish you luck figuring out your slump. Back to basics, leave your ego at the dock, and don't be afraid to try new things and come on here and ask for "specific" help like bait size or speed....instead of just "what am I doing wrong that I can't catch fish like I used to." There is no answer for that.
Good luck this season. |
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| Not going down this "get a grip road" Something's wrong and you want to fix it. I would too.
Maybe you have made some subtle changes that have messed up your game. You might have lost your "go to" bait, Your reels have a slightly different retrieve speed. You use a sunscreen that imparts a negative scent on the bait. Who knows, but some aspect of your fishing has gone south. Think back to when things worked for you, and then try to duplicate what you were doing exactly. Good luck. |
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Posts: 152
| Boy their sure are a wild amount of hostility out their. Im just trying to find whats going on. Im not trying to pick a fight though it seems some of you see it that way. I do fish hard and long and when you fish for six to seven days a week and you see nothing it wears on you. Then when a fish does show up you seem less prepared to deal with that situation. Things are bad enough for me to ask for suggestions. I am doing anything i can to keep that from happening in this young season. Slumps dont usually last for years for the average Joe fisherman and if they did more people would never fish musky again. Im still at it thats gotta count for something. Chill out, relax im just trying to fix the problem thats all. |
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Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | Take some time off. Play some golf. That's what I've been doing. Since '08. I wonder if my slump is over?
Kevin |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | musky chimes - 5/29/2011 9:54 PM Boy their sure are a wild amount of hostility out their. Im just trying to find whats going on. Im not trying to pick a fight though it seems some of you see it that way. I do fish hard and long and when you fish for six to seven days a week and you see nothing it wears on you. Then when a fish does show up you seem less prepared to deal with that situation. Things are bad enough for me to ask for suggestions. I am doing anything i can to keep that from happening in this young season. Slumps dont usually last for years for the average Joe fisherman and if they did more people would never fish musky again. Im still at it thats gotta count for something. Chill out, relax im just trying to fix the problem thats all. Nah man, no hostility. I just replied to your PM about this whole thing. Like I said, don't want to fight, and it's not a personal attack. I'm just replying to what you're saying, which I honestly read as having some contradictions, some "I fish too hard and too much to have this happen to me" and some "woe is me" tone to it. You want to trade? I'll trade you right now a broken leg for a slump. Like I also said, sorry it was brash, but you could say you caught me on a bad day. LOL |
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Posts: 152
| if you can figure out how to make the trade work ill work out how to prop myself up in the boat |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | Ha, don't think I haven't been sitting here brain storming all day long on how to get on the water. But right now I'm still working on peeing while on crutches, so one baby step at a time! |
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Posts: 152
| ive been looking at the small changes in my game theory and i think it may carry some weight. I switched from slow to fast reels about the time the slump hit. This year i switched back to 5:1 and only have one high speed reel in the boat for large baits . I was using much shorter rods back in the day too but when i first switched to 8'6" fishing got better so i think rod length isnt the problem, although i think it does effect the jerk baits in a negative way. Back when i used a 7 foot rod with a luna i had to fight to keep the jerk bait from popping out of the water. Now after the first pull it goes far deeper down and i think that struggling action triggered the fish. Im trying to slow these baits down now to re create the short rod technique. Also my glide baits are a little different with longer rods. I love the longer rod to much to go short again but it may have something to do with it |
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Posts: 152
| Ok lets clarify some things here. I am not blaming anyone thing for my slump. The people i fish with are good fisherman their just very new to the sport and they do it for different reasons than others i have known. I dont feel i have to catch fish every single time i fish nor do i think its even possible. I used the i fish a lot statements to show that it is not a lack of effort on my part. I dont think im better than anyone at anything because im not that kinda guy. I fish musky because i love the chase and the being on the water. I used to catch fish with a regularity now that isnt the case and im baffled. Im looking for good ideas from good people so i dont have to deal with failure on a regular basis anymore. Anything i have said is just so you guys get an idea of some of the things that have changed since the cold streak began. I thank you for the tips and advice from those of you who may have some perspective on what i can do to change the bad luck to good luck. I am getting that from some of you and i thank you for that advice. As for peeing on crutches....you might have to bite the bullet and sit down when you pee. I know its not manly but its better then falling down mid stream |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | musky chimes - 5/30/2011 2:43 AM As for peeing on crutches....you might have to bite the bullet and sit down when you pee. I know its not manly but its better then falling down mid stream LOL, tried that, but standing back up is a pain and not worth it. I'm taking advantage of the nice weather and I'm just going outside now off the deck where I don't have to aim! |
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Posts: 458
| Maybe hire an experienced guide and fish a day with him but in your boat. Ask him to watch your boat control, figure 8's and give you some honest feedback. |
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| Going to go out on a limb here and guess it's your attitude. If you go out thinking you aren't going to catch fish, you probably aren't going to catch fish. You don't work your baits as well, don't pay attention to what you are doing, miss opportunities, miss fish. I have gone over a year without getting a fish casting. My last one was in the fall of '09. It's not for a lack of trying though. I have enjoyed the waters of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa since then. Had opportunities and the fish just haven't hit the net. Stayed positive though, heck I had one run right into my bait yesterday and forgot to open it's mouth. Yeah you read that right, fish swam right up behind the bait and ran right into it..... mouth closed. Had a couple others up that seemed interested, but decided they didn't want what I had. Next weekend I am headed to MN for a long opener weekend with some really good friends. I keep concentrating on what I am doing and eventually it will all come back together. You need to learn to enjoy the ride, and realize it's not about the destination. |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | It's in your head dude. I've been through this and it totally sucks.
Cure:
-Bring 3-6 of your most chewed up baits and only them.
-Assuming you're of age, bring an "attitude adjustment" and consume it when you're getting down and frustrated.
-Fish your confidence lakes and fish them hard. Don't go looking for gold at the end of the rainbow. If you have a slump buster lake fish it! |
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Posts: 86
Location: north metro, MN | like some have said, its all in your head. muskies dont just choose whos lure they bite, your not cursed, and the musky gods are not mad at you (or what ever other thing you might think it is) go pay jason from musky breath guide service and go chase around some fish with him. you will be put on fish and hopefully seeing or boating one will make you remember what musky fishing is all about and bring you back down to the reality that is musky fishing. |
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| Put your buddies in the front of the boat and you fish the back. The reason they are having luck and not you is because you are waking the fish up and they are getting the fish to react. I bet that you had some real go to baits, I also bet you focus to much on working them perfectly. Erratic is good and it doesnt have to be a perfect cadence to trigger fish. Fish fewer lures. Figure 8 after every cast. I'm sure the fish are there you're just not seeing them. It might help just going to a body of water you've never fished. You will tend to pay more attention to what you are seeing since everything is new than telling yourself I always saw fish on this spot now why don't i? |
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