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Posts: 86
Location: Illinois | How many muskies could the average muskie fisherman catch without a guide in seven days (Lake of the Woods)?
Edited by TMuskyFisher 7/16/2018 5:03 PM
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| IAJustin and BNelson might try and tell you 20-25. Honestly, the answer is probably closer to 7-12 per guy which could mean 14-36 per boat depending on the number of guys. |
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Posts: 296
| Depends on what section your fishing. The Angle and Sabskong have good numbers. Other sections won’t even come close to the same totals of caught fish. |
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Posts: 86
Location: Illinois | Nice to know, thank you. |
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Posts: 86
Location: Illinois | Is Nestor Falls still considered Sabaskong Bay? |
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Posts: 36
Location: Kansas City MO | I fished 5 days there at the end of June/ early July at the angle and only boated 5. My buddy only boated 1. Lots of lookers but few takers. This is generally the exception but it can be slow. |
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Posts: 17
| If you average 2 fish in the boat a day for a week you are doing better than most I have talked to. |
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Posts: 571
| Lots of variables here. What section of the lake and how many hours do you plan to fish per day? As mentioned, numbers will be higher in the NW Angle and Sabaskong. My brother and I averaged 1 boated fish per approx 3-4 hours when we were fishing out of the NW Angle. Put in 70-80 hours of fishing in 6-7 days and do the math. But everything can be weather dependent. We had some tougher trips and some better trips.
The area we're fishing nowadays is more like 5-6 hours/fish, but our average size has increased. (A trade off we're happy with).
Edit: sorry, typo's
Edited by Matt DeVos 7/16/2018 10:00 PM
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Cfollow - 7/16/2018 5:36 PM
IAJustin and BNelson might try and tell you 20-25. Honestly, the answer is probably closer to 7-12 per guy which could mean 14-36 per boat depending on the number of guys.
Imo, very few people are pulling in numbers like that any longer. The average 2 person boat these days is catching about 8-12 per week. |
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Posts: 239
Location: Elroy, Wisconsin | You can have those five fish days, but if you average two you are about average. There are a lot of guys that just cant admit getting blanked on certain days. Take a look at Sarics schools 120 fish for 5 days fishing, 24 guys fishing, or about one a day per person. Think about it.
Mudpuppy |
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Location: Contrarian Island | while 20 to 30 fish for 2 guys in a week is do-able, very few do it... maybe 1 in 40-50 boats I would guess.
while we have averaged over 3 fish per day in our 6 trips, I do realize that is not avg. I've watched reports for years and as other have noted I would say the "average" boat is putting 8 to 12 in the boat for 6.5 days for 2 guys.. I don't see many boats hitting 7 to 12 fish per guy, that is per boat. as Matt noted it's also dependent on how hard/much you fish while you are there. some like to sleep in, then maybe go fishing by 11am, come back for dinner and then go out again.... unless the weather is perfect this is not the way to put 20+ in the boat for a week. Our 'worst' week was 16 and best so far was 29, unreal size with 11 over 48., with our average at about 22-23... Weather and skill level are the 2 biggest factors in putting a good number of fish in the boat any day/week/trip.
short trips also skew the data for a week trip. I roll my eyes when guys tell me they got 15 in 4 days or something and then try to assume they would avg that many fish in the week. weather can and does throw us curve balls. we got 22 in a 4.5 day trip once and I'm not about to tell you we would have caught any more if we were there another 2 days...that is simply impossible to predict. only way to know what you can do in a full week is to be there the full week....
Mhunter numbers also include the guides if I'm not mistaken. It usually ends up being about 35-40 guys, 120 fish.
Edited by BNelson 7/17/2018 9:34 AM
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Posts: 457
Location: Minneconia | Cfollow - 7/16/2018 5:36 PM
IAJustin and BNelson might try and tell you 20-25. Honestly, the answer is probably closer to 7-12 per guy which could mean 14-36 per boat depending on the number of guys.
Funny and so true! |
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Posts: 171
Location: indiana | My personal average over the last seven trips to sabaskong is 12. My best is 17. Worst was six. Three 50 and over and 3 49’s. We average just under twenty for two guys. |
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Posts: 397
| The last few years we got 13-17 in the boat for the week with either 2 or 3 guys in the boat. We fish long days and are still learning the lake. Some days are a struggle to get one bite than you smack 6 the next day. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | I think Brad's post was pretty accurate. I've been there 4 times now. We've fallen into that 8 to 12 range most trips. The 1st year was much slower. Last year we saw and hooked way more than normal but fewer hit the net.
For the most part we travel Saturday and have 6 solid fishing days. It's been just 2 of us in the boat and my partners have not had the desire or stamina to fish fast and all day with little time for breaks.
So we leave the dock at maybe 10 to 11 am and are back about dark. The boat takes a break for a while to eat lunch on an island. I'm usually fishing faster and more than my partner and have caught about 80 percent of the fish whether I'm fishing from the front or back.
So on average I'll say in a tough week with two people not hitting it hard 4 to 8 fish for the week. Yup, they don't always jump in the boat and they don't always like the easy presentations.
On an average week with a couple average guys fishing semi hard 8 to 15 for the boat.
On a pretty good week with 2 guys fishing hard all week i could see where the 15 to 30 numbers could come from.
It all just depends on so many variables. Weather. Angler effort and skill. How many fell off vs stayed pinned. Etc etc. |
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Posts: 833
| So what is the typically fishing schedule up there if you are going aggressive? I've heard it isn't the best idea to burn the candle at both ends. So are you getting out at 5, taking an afternoon nap, and then going until First Dark? Or are you ironman-ing it and fishing 18 hours every day? |
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Posts: 46
| I've been up there a handful of times out of nestor falls great water fish on any spot at any given time. Only thing that was really different was seems to be a midday window from noon to 2 or 3 a lot of fish up on structure at that time. Most follows but let you locate fish as well. |
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Posts: 93
| some like to sleep in, then maybe go fishing by 11am, come back for dinner and then go out again.... unless the weather is perfect this is not the way to put 20+ in the boat for a week.
True. It is however a good way to have a #*^@ fine vacation. Some people even take time to catch a walleye or two for shore lunch (gasp!). Success isn't only putting more muskies in the net than the other guy.
So what's average? I think people exaggerate, a lot. 10 muskies in the boat is a good week for most folks fishing muskies.
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Location: Contrarian Island | agreed. we take time out to walleye fish, pike fish, and even naps... every one has different expectations on a trip. I get to lotw for 7 days. so when I am there, my goal is to put as many as I can in the net..for others it might be to just relax and not fish as hard. I'm too young for that 
Edited by BNelson 7/17/2018 10:02 AM
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Posts: 28
| Brad P - 7/17/2018 9:35 AM
So what is the typically fishing schedule up there if you are going aggressive? I've heard it isn't the best idea to burn the candle at both ends. So are you getting out at 5, taking an afternoon nap, and then going until First Dark? Or are you ironman-ing it and fishing 18 hours every day?
We used to get up early, but definitely do not do that anymore. I just got back from a 5-dayer, and we were on the water before 10:00am once. We typically fished until 10:15pm. We caught two fish every day, with a lot of really bad luck with some lost fish right at the boat. I typically don't look at the overall # of fish boated, because of all the variables that come into play. I feel it's better to track hours per fish. Weather, getting up early, sleeping in, fishing Walleyes, taking an afternoon break, etc. all play a role into the # of fish caught. If a boat gets 16 for the week by fishing 14 hours a day, and another boat gets 9 for the week fishing 8 hours a day, who did 'better'? Sure, 16 is more than 9, but both were on fish @ about the same pace. It's a vacation, I'd much rather sleep in, drink some coffee, and maybe have a cocktail or two in the morning. |
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Posts: 571
| We usually go up in mid-August where sunrise is at 6am and sunset is around 8:30pm. Our fishing schedule is a bit of "play it by ear" by watching the weather forecast. Typical day, we'll try to be on the water between 6:30-7:00am, take an hour-long break around noon or so (unless the bite is really happening, of course), and then fish until nearly dark around 9:15pm. If it is a forecasted post-frontal day, (you always get 1 or 2 of those), we'll often sleep in. And then, there always seems to be a day or two where we'll take a solid 2-3 hour late morning or afternoon nap to catch up on any zzzz's that we've shortchanged ourselves on. When it appears that we'll have a "good weather" day, we'll typically try to be on the water pre-sunrise and fish until dark. Most weeks, we'll get a total of about 80 hours on the water, +/- up to 5 hours either way. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | we do about the same as Matt... I had tried to calculate how much actual fishing time we get on avg per day once between walleye jerking, drive time, naps etc... I think I came up with 9 hrs per day maybe 10. this year for the heck of it might take a stop watch and run it when we are fishing to see... some days we sleep in, some days we get up, some days we take a 3 hr nap mid day from drinking our buddies case of coors light the night before til 3am |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | As much as a short mid day nap or break would be appealing, the logistics of doing that on LOTW can be really challenging. At any given time I could be 20+ miles away from camp (not an exaggeration) and it’s not always feasible or economical to go all the way back and then run another 10-20 again at night. Really depends how and where you fish, and where your camp is.
We generally leave the dock between 8-9 in August and do not come back in until it’s dark out. I might try tinkering with that a bit this year but it’s not as easy as it sounds with reasons above cited. The bar at Wiley’s is a dangerous trap I just discovered 
Edited by Musky Brian 7/17/2018 11:00 AM
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Posts: 300
Location: Minocqua, WI | I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this above, but good chemistry and teamwork with partners is huge, beyond being in the right areas at the right time. That's what will make or break the week for boat catch totals. I've experienced hero trips, and zero trips. Had my best trips with good partners (Musky Brian) where 15 to 20 fish per week was average. Guy up front and guy in back reciprocate. Guy up front blades, guy in back (me mostly) throw the slow/other stuff. When one guy misses, other guy catches. Vice-versa. 2 guys, with the mentality of who cares who catches what.
Then I've done blind trips with new people simply to be an extra body on their trips & boat, which turned into complete disasters. Worst partners ever had. Long story short, ZERO fish for the entire boat (3 guys) in 1 week can be possible in those situations as well. Happened once. Didn't think that could ever be possible...... I really wanted to drown myself or stab myself with #10 hooks that week.......
Having experienced the BEST and BAD of LOTW, it all comes down to good partner, good boat, and teamwork, and other lesser variables. But whatever your outlook, nothing beats Canadian fishing. |
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Posts: 1969
| All I’ll add is there are many ways and areas to catch muskies on lotw, fish weeds, fish wood, fish docks, thousands of points, islands, rock reefs that many fish but they also hold many fish, rock reefs that top out at 10-15 feet , might be a walleye guy on these.. I never see muskie guys but the fish are there..on and on..I’ve been fortunate to have roughly 50 weeks on the lake the last 15 years...not afraid to burn gas.. but I can’t fish 1/4 of the spots I’ve caught a fish on in a week. Last 3 years I’ve switched my focus to Minaki, fun to explore “new to You” water. Good luck, lotw is a truely special place!!!
Edited by IAJustin 7/18/2018 7:15 AM
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Posts: 833
| I'm excited for my trip, I'll be fishing solo because I really like a meat grinder. LOL |
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Posts: 200
Location: Milwaukee, WI | We get on the water early then come in for a fish fry around noon and a beer. Put away the 40 lures we have out all over the boat and take a short rest. Back out from 3 to 9 then a prepared dinner. This gives us some peak times and keeps us fresh from the mid day heat. |
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Posts: 1664
| This thread reinforces to myself why I like to fish alone. |
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Posts: 901
| Heading to LOTW on Saturday for a week, come home for a week, and then back for another week. I've got I think 20 weeks on LOTW in the past 15 or so years.
Since we started staying at Monument at the beginning of our trips 15 years ago and their "board" started at 40" for a musky, my buddy and I never counted sub-40" fish. If you look at that board from years' past, it wasn't out of the normal to see Saric, Heiting, Petros, or any of the other guys with only 1 or 2 fish over 40" on that board for their week. Rarely did you see any of them with 3 or more over 40.
So when we made the board on any given year, we thought we were doing well.
There has been 3 out of the 20 weeks that I personally have been skunked with nothing over 40. I remember one year having a 39!
Long story short, me personally over the past 15 years I've caught anywhere from 0 over 40 in a week to I think 6 over 40 was my best week.
If I was counting any and every musky caught, then my numbers would be higher.
I do have 4 50+ in the past 7 years, so that makes up for the lack of little ones
Midge
Edited by MuskyMidget 7/18/2018 7:57 PM
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Posts: 239
Location: Elroy, Wisconsin | In my opinion your trip is what you make it, I tend to fish long hours cuzz I am running out of time age wise. Not the majority of musky people call that fun when hour after hour nothing happens. Last year Sept. cloudy lite mist at times all day. Nothing, nada, zero till 5 PM 52 1/2". Great day, great trip, great season on Lake of the Woods. Also been blanked for week in late Oct. turned into summer. Have fun catch a few muskies, enjoy the eagles, bears, pelicans, trees growing out of rocks, I hope I die there, won't be a long trip to heaven if I am lucky.
Slimey devils God love em and all who chase them.
Mudpuppy |
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