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Posts: 44
| After looking at the prices of lures now are we keeping a younger generation from participating? I don't know how a new fisherman just starting out could afford to get going. |
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Posts: 426
| Not just younger guys. The price of baits is outrages or us all. Several times I've told myself that I could never afford this sport if I was just starting out. All of my favorite baits are now priced through the roof. The best thing a any one can purchase or make is a quality lure retriever. It's like money in the bank. As for rods and reels and line; good luck with that. |
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Posts: 20178
Location: oswego, il | Not just musky fishing, check out some of the prices of boutique bass swimbaits. |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | I think skinny jeans are a bigger obstacle than bait prices. |
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Posts: 347
Location: Vilas County, WI | Flambeauski - 3/29/2019 5:56 AM
I think skinny jeans are a bigger obstacle than bait prices.
Skinny jeans don't allow proper flexibility for a good figure 8. Therefore, wear skinny jeans = don't catch any muskies. |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | When I was young my dad and I were out walking the dinosaur he told me one day you will need a wheel barrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread. Men as single household wage earners were supporting familys on $60 a week. About 10 years ago I told my grandaughters that I paid 4 times more for my last pair of work boots as I paid for my first car. Two years ago I traded in a well kept 6 year old truck and still wrote a cheque for more than I paid for my house for a new one. The dollar is continually being devalued so you better get used to it. When i see people bidding $500 on line for a muskie lure and others living on the street I think I'm glad I'm closer to the end than the beginning.
Edited by horsehunter 3/29/2019 7:17 AM
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Posts: 2275
Location: Chisholm, MN | TheShow - 3/29/2019 6:56 AM
Flambeauski - 3/29/2019 5:56 AM
I think skinny jeans are a bigger obstacle than bait prices.
Skinny jeans don't allow proper flexibility for a good figure 8. Therefore, wear skinny jeans = don't catch any muskies.
Haven't you seen skinny sweatpants yet? Problem solved! |
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| I think if you are willing to buy used equipment and not need four or five big boxes of baits, you can fish on a budget. If you read some posts, you would think it impossible to catch a musky on anything less than the latest Tranx and a top of the line St. Croix. If you believe that, then yes you better have a lot of cash or a big line of credit. And yet, working as a clean waters volunteer at the boat landing on the chain where I live, I see successful anglers with the most basic of equipment. A guy who fishes by himself and a retired couple come to mind. I have seen each several times and they have caught fish because they know the water, they work hard and smart. They have a handful of lures that they have confidence in and that is what they use.
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Location: Eastern Ontario | I really don't catch any more muskies today than when all my baits fit in a styrofoam minnow bucket. I got 2 young guys started and picked out and gave them each 25 lures in a divided milk case telling them if they were a lot smarter than me that's all the lures they would ever need . Most of you know how long that lasted. |
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Posts: 93
| It's untrue that muskie fishing is too expensive, people just think it is.
It's called "relative deprivation," where you come to believe in "must haves" based on pressure from seeing what others have around you, and you feel excluded or lacking if you don't have it too. Over the last 15 years, the internet has created a hugely false sense of what someone must have in order to enjoy fishing for muskies. We're overexposed to the latest greatest hot bait, rod, or boat to the point that it's easy to forget that muskies will eat more than just Fat Buggerer topwaters, Skully Skull bladebaits, and Pub Wanker jerkbaits.
They do still like to eat TopRaiders and Buchertails and Suicks just fine, thank you very much, and a person starting out can get a nice rod/reel combo and 5 very effective lures at a pretty reasonable cost.
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Posts: 731
| I think one thing guys could do is to start learning how to use replacement parts. For example, take a Mepps giant killer. After a few fish, the bucktail seems to wear out. Why replace the whole lure, when u only need to replace the bucktail. Same goes for hooks, plastic tails, replacement eyes, paint touch up, etc. Musky lures are expensive, so replacing parts when u can is an economical way to go. Kdawg |
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Posts: 1000
| As a millennial, cost isn't the issue. The people buying those $2-500 bass swimbaits are youth.
New angler recruitment is the issue. People don't take kids out fishing and hunting - or the outdoors for that matter - like they used to. |
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Posts: 8717
| I'd say the answer is no. Think about when you were young. No wife, no kids, presumably good job... I had a new truck, I had 8 weeks of paid time off, and just a handful of bills. No mortgage, no property taxes, no home repairs. I had some bills.
SOME... But every paycheck there was more and more money in the bank to spend those 8 weeks fishing. The young folks starting out today are no different. Maybe they don't have the best job, maybe they have a lot more student loan debt than we did, but at that age all your income is disposable. It's nothing for someone who is in their late 20's, not married, no kids, no house to go out and spend $20k in a summer fishing all over the map. What's a few thousand in gear?
If I had known then, I would never have bought a single lure, rod, reel, etc.
By joining muskies inc and going to their functions, fishing a handful of tournaments, etc. I could have eventually outfitted myself completely for $20/month in raffle tickets.
Edited by esoxaddict 3/29/2019 1:53 PM
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Posts: 1636
| $100 Shimano Corvalus
$50 Shimano Sojourn Musky Rod
$20 spool of super line
$8 leader
$15 lure
Someone can start Muskie fishing... with their own gear - for under $300 (depending on tax).
*Price list does not include $100 release tools, $200 net, vehicle, boat, gas, sun screen, ham and cheese gas station sandwiches, sunflower seeds, water, phone/emergency service, Figure Eight T-shirt, etc... |
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Posts: 1667
| tolle141 - 3/29/2019 12:45 PM
As a millennial, cost isn't the issue. The people buying those $2-500 bass swimbaits are youth.
New angler recruitment is the issue. People don't take kids out fishing and hunting - or the outdoors for that matter - like they used to.
I'll agree to a point. Recruitment is key, however I'm not going into the kids house to drag him out. Several times I have been launching or landing the boat and there were kids bank fishing and messing around. Very seldom did they ever leave without a bag of plastics or even some baits.
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Posts: 516
Location: WI | I think they’ll be fine. I’m slowly getting back into musky fishing after 6 years off and while I certainly noticed the increased prices, I also noticed there are also more manufacturers knocking off the same 2-3 basic lure concepts as well. Clearly the industry is bringing enough new people to the sport and I would bet most of the new people coming in are closer to starting their careers than they are retiring. |
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Posts: 102
| I agree that the costs of all of our equipment is out of hand. $500 reels?!?!?!? Who would have thought? $60 or more for a lure? And this is regular price from a catalog not the going rate online for a "hot" bait, which may be well in excess of $100.
So many people make it sound like you need to buy a Tranx 500 and top of the line St. Croix. They say that you should have different gear ratio reels for each category of lure. In reality, a guy can start out by buying a brand new Abu Ambassadeur S 6500. Walmart currently has them for $47.99. They also have a Shimano Sojourn rod for $49.99. Throw some old mono backing on that reel and add a 150 yard spool of Power Pro for $15 and a guy can start out with a brand new combo for a decent price. Many guys want new and not used.
I realize there are additional costs for lures, etc. But even if a guy buys one topwater, jerkbait, crankbait, Bulldawg and a couple bucktails to get started it won't be all that bad. Although a Knipex is a nice tool, hooks can be cut with a cutter from your toolbox. Long nose pliers can be taken from your toolbox too. A net would be the most expensive item, but chances are you will be starting off with somebody more experienced that has a net.
A few years ago over winter, a guy that I know decided he wanted to fish for muskies the following spring. Each paycheck over the winter he bought something. Rod one check, reel the next, etc. By spring he had a nice selection of lures and the Sojourn rod mentioned above with a lower end Abu 6500. He was happy as could be. |
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Posts: 1220
| I think it’s a non-issue. My kid is 42, lives out in Colorado, and spent $10,000.00 on a bicycle. One at Walmart that looks a lot the same is $300.00. That’s what he wants to do with the money he works for, he could have easily binged out at a Musky expo for less. Kids today think they need more stimulation and immediate gratification than our hobby provides, it’s that simple. Last, the 10 inch Kick’n Minnow I buy on sale for $7.97 will likely still out-fish whatever you just overpaid for. |
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Posts: 815
Location: Waukee, IA | Custom lure prices are not stopping anyone. Most newbies aren't buying barfighters or true gliders, they're buying suicks and hellhounds. The biggest obstacle is the older generation getting over themselves and their ridiculous notions of the younger generation and asking a younger guy who may not have a boat out to fish for the afternoon. Access to fish is essential to new guys catching the muskie bug. WW2 generation hated the hippie boomer generation. Boomers hated Gen Xers. Gen Xers have never liked millennials, so on so on. This phenomenon is nothing new |
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Posts: 2275
Location: Chisholm, MN | Lots of young people fish hard up here in northern MN. There are a ton of young Muskie fisherman out on the lakes as well. But the truth is that you do need someone to introduce you to it. I’ll make it a point to take at least one new kid out this year. |
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Posts: 1080
Location: Aurora | cable - 3/29/2019 12:24 AM
After looking at the prices of lures now are we keeping a younger generation from participating? I don't know how a new fisherman just starting out could afford to get going.
If you're referring to the price of muskie lures being too high and thus making them inaccessible to youth just starting out muskie fishing, I would suggest getting involved with Muskies Inc. if possible. Considering the nearest chapter is a group of welcoming, non-elitest, buncha folks, they can be a tremendous source of lures for youth just starting out, not to mention information and how to be a responsible steward of natural resources. Besides a straight donation, they also have swap meets and i've seen the leftovers at the end of the night get donated to youth pretty regularly. Also, Tackle Industries and other knock off lure suppliers have frequent sales that put their proucts well within reach for those that lack the necessary spondulix.
Lastly, not being critical of your post but I've never heard or been witness to any youth starting out as new fishermen gearing up exclusively for muskies. In fact, i'd venture to guess that most start out bobber watching with someone baiting their hook, wiping their nose, and zipping their coat. However, if you're talking about that mischievous dirt bike ridin age, I remember my friends and I being fairly resourceful during that time, "borrowing" what we needed from our father's tackle hoard when money from our paper routes wasn't enough to fuel our love of fishing. Even then, our patience was too short for targeting muskies, opting instead for hard pullin bass and carp that would eat more affordable bait such as bubble gum, corn or bread. Exposing youth to fishing is great and all but i'd argue that teaching them to be resourceful is more valuable and will serve them better in the future. Take these new topwaters i'm working on for instance (see below). The harnesses i've designed so far are too heavy but am i giving up? Hells no!
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 Topwaters.jpg (55KB - 423 downloads)
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Old people always think the younger generations are doomed. We’re fine, I promise.
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Posts: 267
| In 1992 I bought my Lund Pro Angler 1700 with a 60 hp Johnson for $8995. What can you buy a 17 foot deep V boat with a 60 horse outboard for today? Before I retire, I will buy a 60 hp Yamaha, new trolling motor and couple depth finders and I'll pay way more than I did for my whole rig back then. |
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Posts: 452
| The price of boats is what shocks me the most. When will they see their peak? |
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Posts: 32785
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | chasintails - 4/1/2019 8:01 AM
The price of boats is what shocks me the most. When will they see their peak?
Crazy increases, but right along the same average as automobiles and other machines. I remember clearly back in about 1988 selling a Rampage dual console rigged with everything one could for almost 18K. It was the most expensive retail price I had ever seen on a Tuffy by a long shot. I remember saying "that's more than I paid for my house 14 years ago" |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | Pointerpride102 - 3/30/2019 9:51 AM
Old people always think the younger generations are doomed. We’re fine, I promise.
you are an old people now ... |
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Posts: 8717
| Just for fun, I priced out the 2019 version of my truck... Wow. I see a ton of new trucks on the road. What do these people do for a living?!
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | jonnysled - 4/1/2019 10:22 AM
Pointerpride102 - 3/30/2019 9:51 AM
Old people always think the younger generations are doomed. We’re fine, I promise.
you are an old people now ...
I still meet the technical definition of a millennial. |
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Posts: 32785
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Pointerpride102 - 4/1/2019 10:34 AM
jonnysled - 4/1/2019 10:22 AM
Pointerpride102 - 3/30/2019 9:51 AM
Old people always think the younger generations are doomed. We’re fine, I promise.
you are an old people now ...
I still meet the technical definition of a millennial.
An old and jaded one maybe. |
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Posts: 315
| esoxaddict - 4/1/2019 10:30 AM
Just for fun, I priced out the 2019 version of my truck... Wow. I see a ton of new trucks on the road. What do these people do for a living?!
And sadly many are just 84 payments away from actually owning it! |
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