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Posts: 133
Location: South Bend, Indiana | Just curious to see how long it took everyone to catch their first musky. For me, it has been two years, and running. Still looking for my first. Through 17 attempts, my boat has seen three follows, and one fish that my friend has caught. Surely being optimistic helps, but that can only take you so far. But, how long did it take you? |
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Posts: 18
| Zip for the first year, ended up with 2 after the second year........ with considerable more then 17 outings..... over those 2 years.  |
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Posts: 406
Location: Stones throw away...finally!! | I was pretty lucky as I look back. The first time I actually went fishing for them I had an arsenal consisting of a medium heavy bass rod paired with an Abu Garcia baitcaster (can't remember the model but do know that it had 20 lb. mono), jointed shallow raider, slammer thunderhead, and a small (by today's standards) Mepps bucktail. I went over to a small lake in Illinois that I had visited (and not fished)with a girlfriend at the time, and saw the DNR legal length pictures of muskies at the ramp (which I was unfamiliar with, but intrigued). About a month later, I borrowed my old man's John boat and went over for the day...no graph, no net, no map...very unprepared. Anyhow, I was by myself, so just went out and started casting shorelines - nothing. After circling better than half the lake (77acres), I decided to take a break and do a little trolling with the Shallow Raider and...wham! About 20 minutes in I had the biggest fish I had ever caught in the boat. 44.5 inches and needless to say I was hooked. Great to look back at how it all started...thank you for starting this thread. |
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| first time out was with my buddy and we boated 7 fish between us. ranging from 39" to 45". we had every kind of strike you can imagine. hits on the eight, wake come behind a top waters, train wreck t bone hits it was awesome. and i was forever hooked on these #*^@ fish. it aslo established some unrealistic expectations of what muskie fishing is, obviously. i was asking my friend whats so hard about muskie fishing? fish of 10000 cast my butt. if only i knew... |
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Posts: 68
| 5 months+1 week. Dont know how many outings it was. Caught a few nice pike and had a few follows to keep us going, then it finally happened. 40 incher! |
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| 6 hours of musky fishing, hit a suick - spin cast rod with 12lb test 1989. |
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Posts: 670
Location: Otsego, MN | 2 hours, my buddy and I both got one each on jackpots. That one fishing trip has now cost me tens of thousands of dollars chasing these stupid fish. |
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Location: Des Moines IA | First day I caught two. A 40 and a 44. But I cheated, had a guide on the Indian Chain in Ontario.
(Muskie Head upright.jpg)
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 Muskie Head upright.jpg (59KB - 136 downloads)
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Posts: 87
| 1 year.
Went fishing with my Dad to Canada, on the last day of the trip I hooked a MONSTER of a musky (probably 36"). It jumped/thrashed/ran and eventually wrapped around a log and was gone. For an entire year I thought about that fish, everday. I read books about muskies, read articles where I could find them, and listened to my Dad about family members who hooked them.
After that tough long year, we made it back to that same lake. It was pretty much out of a book, because we went back to the same spot, with the same lure, and I made the same cast to that same rock. You guessed it. WHAM! I caught my first muskie, a healthy 30".
I'll never forget that fish, even if it's been 15 years since that day. I've caught a few since that one, including a 51" on Lake of the Woods, but that one fish will never be forgotten. |
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| About a month after we started dating, but to be fair I spent two years trying to convince her to date me.
If you're referring to catching a muskie I was one of the guys that caught on accidentally. To be fair it wasn't a complete accident, as I was attempting to target them, but I was doing so with bass equipment and no musky lures. I got a bunch of real musky stuff and started fishing for them locally, but I didn't catch the next one until my next trip to Canada a year later. |
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Posts: 307
| 4 years of hard fishing. Then the tables turned and I went on a bit of a winning streak. Hang in there it will come eventually. |
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| My experience was somewhat like yours in terms of time. I did not have the benefit of knowing an experienced musky angler that I could fish with so I had to learn on my own. The first year I gave it a pretty good attempt and came up empty. I had bad equipment, poor skills and limited experience to draw from. The learning curve for me was pretty harsh but I always felt with every cast that this might be the one and I still feel that all these years later. I caught a few fish the next year and finished the season with my first big one. What a feeling of appreciation and satisfaction to see that first one that you worked so hard for paddle away from a successful release. I still read everything I can get my hands on, I go to Muskies Inc meetings and seminars, I watch the tv shows and all of that stuff is a big part of it but nothing tops productive time spent on the water. Stick with it and it will happen....and if you persist it will slowly start to happen more often. Most importantly remember to enjoy yourself and have fun. |
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| Read the book "time on the water". Keep at it and good luck in 2012! |
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Posts: 284
| Got my first on my third trip. My second on my fifth trip and it's been 10 years since I put one in the boat. Only get out three times a year but I am loosing the itch. |
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| If you're seeing fish you're doing alright. I fished from May to October my first year and the only fish I saw locally came in September. Try looking for info of what you should be doing at given times of the year. I attribute a lot of the mistakes I made my first year to just being dumb. I didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it.
Learn the fish. Learn your lake. Talk to guys on here and other forums. Go to sport shows/clinics. Watch TV shows and read articles. Try to learn as much as you possibly can, but remember that even the guys that are making shows and writing articles are still learning too, and at one point they were in your shoes. |
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Posts: 1220
| It was 1976, I was among the walleye-only guys at the time, fishing with a buddy in the Minouqua area. He talked me into hiring a guide (Crazy Jim) to try musky fishing. I caught a 42 1/2 inch fatty about an hour into the day, the fish went into the box at Bennett's Sport Shop, my picture was taken and posted in the Lakeland Times, fish was mounted and I have been severyly gut-hooked ever since. And, OBTW, that's the last fish that did not swim away. That's almost 35 years now without keeping a second one. Marty Forman |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | For my first legal fish it was about 6 years. Caught a few sub 30"ers before that but had a hard time cracking that 30" length. Talking apples and oranges between fishing back in the 60's and now though. Information that people have access to now in less than an hour took me 20 years of trial and error to learn. First legal was 43" and caught my second, a 39"er the next day. So, even then it seems like the first one is the hardest to catch. |
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Posts: 247
Location: Uxbridge Ontario | My first muskie was caught about 45 minutes in and was 49" long. Caught 3 that day.
First season muskie fishing I had 36 fish in total. One thing to note, you chances greatly increase when fishing with a seasons muskie angler. Coaching was utilized. |
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Posts: 1316
Location: Lebanon,Mo | Crap...I dont remember. Must of been the year of '95 maybe,with no fish the first year or so and realized I was fishing a lake that averages one fish per 100 hours... |
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| Don't despair. It may be that you are fishing waters that are just really tough. Man-made lakes in the southern belt of the musky's range are almost all pressured. There are bass anglers teaching the skis lessons from early spring through late autumn. They learn. Also remember that as top of the line predators, muskys are just a lot rarer that other species.
I got into this mess by hooking an "accidental musky." It escaped with my lure; but I was impressed and started to pursue. It took a long time to get a fish in my hands thereafter--and that was a dink that hit an 8" Depthraider in a federal reservoir. (Still it was a triumph.) In my second year I lost a trophy at boatside. Inadequate knot. I wanted to cry.
Can you get to prime musky water? Lake of the Woods? Lake St. Clair? Hook up with a more experienced angler. ("Please teach me." "I'll cover the gas.")
Ask yourself: What am I doing that is wrong? Are you using lures designed and sized for trophy sized fish? Most fish are not trophy sized. Would down-sizing your lures make a difference? Might. (Have you tried a 5.5" Wiley? Works here.)
Just make sure you are ready when the big hit comes. Is your line sound? Terminal tackle? Will the knots hold? And especially: Do you have an adequate net?
Keep at it; and good luck in 2012.
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Posts: 133
Location: South Bend, Indiana | Love the replies, guys... keep em' coming!!!! Just a little backround info.... I fish the north webster area lakes, mainly the barbee chain or tippy. Would you all consider them pressurred waters, right? I'm not under-equiptted, and have many baits. Also, a great suggestion, I am planning a trip up to lake St. Clair, in the summer. Seems that everyone's most memorable is their first. I'm surely not gonna give up anytime soon!
Hope to see you all in chicago. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | 1993, first hour casting for muskies my buddy and I both caught ski's of about 37" in northern WI... we had our 5' foot pool cue Gander Mountain rods and Abu 5500s...johnson silver minnow w a yellow twister tail... who knew that hour would cost me so much d*mn $$$ 19 yrs later! ; ) |
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Posts: 8782
| Caught my first one in 2004 on a sucker, after two days fishing total. I don't really count that one as I was fishing with a guide who set the hook and handed me the rod - all I did was reel in the fish. Second one was caught the next year, after a total of maybe 7 days on the water? But that was trolling, so again, I just reeled in the fish. Didn't even take the rod out of the holder myself. Don't count that one either. First one casting was probably day 10 or so, a whopping 28".
That was after a year and a half of fishing for them. After that I went 17 days, half of them GUIDED, without a fish, most of which were days when I didn't even see one. It wasn't until my fourth season where I actually started seeing fish on a regular basis. It was demeaning as all #*#*, because I had been fishing regularly for 30 years and had almost always caught fish everywhere I went.
So what I am saying is don't despair! Your success depends on a lot of things. Most importantly it's the waters you fish, and the days and times when you fish them. If you're fishing low desnity/high pressure waters, during crappy conditions when nobody is catching or even moving fish? You can't expect miracles, especially when you pick a day a month in advance. Your best barometer starting out is what other people are doing. If you didn't catch or see fish today, and other people did, that means it's probably you. If you're taking to guys at the bar or the landing, or the lodge or whatever, and nobody else saw or caught anything either? It's probably not you. |
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Posts: 243
| The Swan - 1/9/2012 11:18 AM
Can you get to prime musky water? Lake of the Woods? Lake St. Clair? Hook up with a more experienced angler. ("Please teach me." "I'll cover the gas.")
Ask yourself: What am I doing that is wrong? Are you using lures designed and sized for trophy sized fish? Most fish are not trophy sized. Would down-sizing your lures make a difference? Might. (Have you tried a 5.5" Wiley? Works here.)
Just make sure you are ready when the big hit comes. Is your line sound? Terminal tackle? Will the knots hold? And especially: Do you have an adequate net?
Keep at it; and good luck in 2012.
+1!
Being a stubborn Type-A, I convinced myself I would conquer the musky in the summer of '94 when I was in high school. Fished all the time growing up in Northern Lower Michigan and my grandparents had property on a small musky lake. Saw them in the water and sometimes on a stringer as a kid growing up. Was always fascinated by them and actually lost one on a bluegill with a treble through its back off the end of the dock when I was probably 7 or 8. Unfortunately, no one in my family was interested in muskies and I didn't know anyone who really targeted them.
Anyway, I spent weeks on the water that summer and the next and the next before finally catching a 40. Bass sized net, what a mess. Spinning gear with mono and a pike leader and a Mepps #5. Bleeding hands, almost fell out of the boat, shaking like a leaf. Loved it. But wasted SOOOOO much time getting to that first one! Fishing during the heat of the day, hardly ever at prime times (girls and other sports will also negatively impact your fishing, btw). Never did a figure 8, never ran my lure deeper than 2 feet, and kept losing fish or missing chances.
Can't agree more with being prepared, and with the info/equipment available now, it's much easier to get started I think. But wow, do I wish I could go back to those days and started out by fishing with someone who knew what they were doing. Experience is a great teacher in the musky world.
One other thing that's really made me a better musky angler in the last 7 years was joining my local musky club. Small group of people, but some really good fishermen who cut my learning curve so drastically that it literally changed my life in the boat.
Good luck getting to that first one. It will be even sweeter now than if you caught it your first time out because you've earned it. |
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Posts: 143
Location: La Crosse, WI | My first year I got skunked while my dad boated 7 muskies, all with me in the boat. I think one of the most overlooked aspects of muskie fishing is lure presentation. We were fishing the same areas with the same baits in the boat, but I had far less patience than my dad. Working a bait every cast and paying attention to structure and cast location can pay off big time.
And another thing, cherish the first couple years of muskie fishing. We all think that if we could go back to when we first started, we would reduce our mistakes and catch a ton more fish. However, learning things and making mistakes is what makes muskie fishing so enjoyable. If muskies were easier to catch, then they wouldn't be nearly as much fun to chase. Try new things, have a lot of persistence, and keep chucking baits! |
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Posts: 81
Location: Van Buren, Indiana | Trent the picture in the avitar was my first from our lakes 39" my second smallest. I would be glad to hook up this spring and take you out and try to help shorten the curve. The spring water temps and pre-post spawn conditions can be tough fishing and timing is everything. The times I was able to get out (which was not many) we hit a period the fish were really lazy following, lots of lookers not many takers, some guides were experiencing the same things. But if you can get out often following the "lazy follow" days that's when it picks up. P.M. me and I can fill you in a little more! |
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| Best way to cut the learning curve in Indy is to book a trip with Chae Dolsen of Webster lake Guide Service. www.websterlakeguideservice.com |
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Posts: 31
| 10 mandays spreadout over two years once I decided I wanted to catch one. Your first is always one you will remember! |
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Posts: 66
| 2 years with way more than 17 trips, a boat purchase and countless hours and money spent on gas, lures etc... |
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Posts: 572
Location: Maplewood, MN | 3.5 years
My first season my buddy and I (both greenhorns) took about 11 trips and moved 1 fish.
Second season we fished about 11 trips and moved about 8 fish.
Third season I got out about 16 times and lost one boat side opening day, extremely frustrated. Moved a bunch of fish that season.
Finally this season I boated my first, second, and third. Went out over 20 times this year and fished new tactics, new spots, new lures and never gave up. I told myself I would not fish with a guide until I boated my first fish off my own knowledge and skill; let me tell you, it was extremely rewarding. 3 fish boated and moved at least one fish almost every trip. |
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