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Posts: 2097
| I have not caught a muskie since the first week of march. I had been fishing cave run about four times, ceasers creek oh once, and east fork lake oh (been stocked since 2008). I have raised a few but lazily. I guess its good to be able to fish while there are plenty of places with closed seasons still.
Slumps are a part of muskie fishing but no one talks about those, lol.
You start second guessing everything your doing, have to stay mentally tough though.
Edited by cave run legend 4/27/2013 4:27 PM
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Posts: 670
Location: Otsego, MN | Years ago I had one for two months and forgot how many hours it was but I remember I had lost like 12 straight fish! It was unreal I gave the next fish in the net a bear hug. |
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Posts: 532
Location: Ogden, UTAH 10 minutes from pineview reservoir | not sure if it was a slump, but last season it took me 17 trips before i caught my first tiger! After that it was game on, however this year on my first trip i boated a 27"long 17" girth hooky brown trout and then a 36" tiger an hr apart... 2 trips later i boated a 44" beast. so far in 2013 i have 5 trips and 3 fish in my boat! I think everyone has lulls some longer then others... |
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| I sometimes get discouraged, but when you look at an event like Cave Run today and see that 80 boats, most with two anglers, caught 16 fish in a day of fishing, it gives some perspective. |
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Posts: 147
Location: Northern New Jersey | took me around twenty something trips to catch my first one ever last year. that woulda discouraged a lot of folks i figure, but the fever had already set in. caught one on my second trip out this year, so im doing a little better! just takes one fish to turn your slump around. keep grindin away. dont stop casting. put the hammer down and get ya some!!!! |
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Posts: 661
Location: Sussex, NJ | I was out 9 trips this year until I finally put a fish in the boat last week. A nice thick 49" pb!!! |
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Posts: 2389
Location: Chisholm, MN | My last slump was 4 years ago when I lost about a dozen fish (40-50") through the season and only caught three dinks all season. I believe it had to do with confidence and junk equipment. After getting new rods and gaining confidence in fighting fish, I have broken my pb in size and numbers every year. I love musky fishing! |
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Posts: 34
| four years ago I was in a huge slump, went out 14 straight times, lot of hours no ski's, then the 15th time ended up being one of my best days of musky fishing, for numbers anyway ended up with 5 fish for the day all 45" to the biggest 47" so just keep plugging away |
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Posts: 120
| I think the only thing you can do is keep on chuckin' and try learn from what you are doing-- successful or not. Last season I lost 6 fish in a row ( a couple real heart breakers too, for me at least) glad to hear Im not the only one, lol.
Edited by TJones 4/28/2013 1:17 AM
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Posts: 2097
| I need to get a go pro so when I am on the lake slumping I can watch a clip from the past to get fired up again. |
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Posts: 229
Location: Plover, WI | 1994 I caught my first muskie (40"), 1995 my only fish was a 38"er. Next legal muskie... 2003 a 34"er. In those seven years, I caught only 3 sub legal muskies. What you guys are going through is NOT a slump! |
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Posts: 540
Location: MN | c44hmusky - 4/28/2013 6:58 PM
1994 I caught my first muskie (40"), 1995 my only fish was a 38"er. Next legal muskie... 2003 a 34"er. In those seven years, I caught only 3 sub legal muskies. What you guys are going through is NOT a slump!
Are you sure there's fish in the lakes you're fishing? |
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Posts: 174
Location: Ontario | Everytime I think its been toooo long between fish...I think how much harder they are to catch from work, and the slump feeling goes away |
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Location: sneaking out to get on the water ;-) | Last year going into the chapter tournament I had lost the last 8 fish I had contact with one would have been my pb. Friday of the tourney I missed two. Saturday night I broke the streak with a nice 42 it felt so good it coulda been a 52. Rest of the season went well and hoping this year starts with a bang. One more month can't wait. |
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Posts: 127
| Tim R - 4/29/2013 7:48 AM
Everytime I think its been toooo long between fish...I think how much harder they are to catch from work, and the slump feeling goes away
This. I usually fish 5 out of 7 days each week after work on my home lake during the musky season and didn't boat a single one last year. It can be frustrating at times but I really don't care because it sure beats being at work. |
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Posts: 1168
| It's no different than breaking a slump in your social life. There are places you can go where a lady is willing to help you out and you don't have to pay for it.....applied to fishing....there are a handful of spots on the systems I spend most of my time on that always hold fish. In a slump? Hit one particular bar where there is a lady waiting to bust you out of it. (That one works for both examples).
The long, action less days have proven to be some of the more educational. Gotta keep the attitude positive and not get down on yourself....and challenge your thought process. Too often I'm with guys who chime in with the "I read this in a magazine or online...." That's all fine and dandy but I've never encountered a muskie that knows how to read. The willingness to go against the grain and have the urge to urinate on the box you've been thinking inside of can pay off huge when you think you have been defeated. |
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Posts: 161
Location: New Jersey | This is my first year with my own boat. I've had it out 8 times and yet to put a fish in it. Yesterday was the first day I even moved a fish in it. I caught a small tiger fishing from the shore of a river on my lunch break on Friday, but no fish in the boat yet. Still, the 90+ fishless hours make me want to get back out there that much more and try again. |
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Posts: 8866
| Stop trying so hard. As soon as you make it a mission to catch fish and break your slump, it sucks the fun right out of it. No better way to ruin a day than to be thinking about how long it's been since you caught a fish. Go forth, and fish. The fish will come. |
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Posts: 28
| X2 Addict. I now pick the high percentage times and hit it hard. I use to make my favorite sport like a job, completely sucked the fun of it. If I went 5 years catching a couple sub's, think I would choose another fish to target! |
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | I have a buddy going through a slump right now. It's messed with his mind so bad he's not sure he can put one in the bag anymore. The harder I work to give him the opportunities the more things go wrong. In this case a mind is a terrible thing to over use. |
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Posts: 2097
| Well, Tony Robbins is coming to Chicago, I think I may have to buy a ticket. |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | Every year I have a slump starting in November and lasting at least until June. Wait, are we talking about Muskies?  |
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| I enjoy a good slump, makes getting one in the basket that much more challenging and rewarding. |
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| I caught my first muskie six year ago. It wasn't until two year ago that I caught another. Four years of 10-15 days on the water with no fish, and a couple rare follows can take it's toll on the mind. Thankfully i wised up and hired a guide! Now I get a fish or two every couple trips out. This next season I feel is gonna be great. |
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Posts: 8866
| Slumps aren't all bad. You can beat a slump. My worst was 15 days. We went 4 days in a row on Eagle last year without a fish. On day 5 we put 6 in the boat. 44, 45, and 47 in 4 casts. Best day I've ever had. I'd almost rather have a slump than a day I know I'm not likely going to beat.
Edited by esoxaddict 4/30/2013 12:45 PM
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Posts: 26
| when i was 16 my dad told me, "son the best way sometimes to get out of a slump is to go out and bag a really fat girl." In my hormone filled 16 year old mind I thought he was talking about girls but maybe he was actually talking about musky?! |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | esoxaddict - 4/30/2013 12:37 PM
I'd almost rather have a slump than a day I know I'm not likely going to beat.
huh ? |
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Posts: 269
Location: brooklyn park mn | 3 big fish in 4 casts on eagle is gonna be hard to beat. I agree lol. |
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Posts: 1220
| I think my tournament slump might date back to Richard Nixon being president...but I still catch plenty of muskies and have a great time when I don't too. I don't just fish to catch musky or try to win a trophy...I have an absolute love for this. Outside of my family, this is the joy of my life. I JUST LOVE IT! Sure, I am a very serious competitor and want to win, but this is case where "BEING THERE" is a worthy goal all in itself. My advice is that the key is to be the guy who moves a quality bait through quality water and does it longer. Clearly, you should clean up your basic skills. If you are bent over half the day looking in the bait box for a silver bullet, or picking out backlashes, or hung up on shore where you don't belong...that won't cut it. Take a musky school course and clean that up. If you still have a six foot rod, don't do effective figure eights or all the other stuff like that that just "kicks away" your fish, stop that too. But, if you have all that stuff pretty clean, you know you are on good water with a sharpened set of hooks on a good bait....just keep fishing. A hundred sixty men and women fishing nine hours in a PMTT event on the Cave caught 16 fish on Saturday. A hundred forty-four did not (including me.) I still had a great time. Actually, I had a really great time. I am a musky angler, I know the odds, and I know that the fish will come! |
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Posts: 96
| This is my sixth year I have invested around $60,000.00 if you figure in my towing truck and a boat. I have not caught a Muskie yet. I am heading out Saturday for my first trip of the season. I always manage to stay positive and keep on going. I have put two friends on their first muskies but not myself. This is a slump |
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