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Posts: 164
| I know its a little taboo to have Muskie guys share how many fish they catch in a year. I'm kind of reflecting on my 2020 season the last couple days. The glory and the heartbreak. I am curious how many people track how many fish they lose in a year compared to fish they have caught.
I didn't get out this year until August and my last day out was Halloween. I had a chance for a personal record season for myself numbers wise. I caught 5 fish this year but I lost 15. Of those 15 lost fish 10 I had got to the boat or within boat range or hooked on the figure 8 and they got off boat side. I do fish by myself quite a bit which usually results in quite a few lost fish every year.
Losing fish has always been my downfall since I started this sport six years ago. Looking back on my season I have a 1 to 3 ratio of caught to lost fish. All muskie fisherman are going to hook into fish and not 100 percent seal the deal, I know this. But 10 of these 15 fish all felt like fish that for sure should of been in the net and the other 5 were pretty close to feeling that way as well.
Im curious if that ratio is in-line with other Muskie fisherman or if im losing an incredibly high amount of fish. I know this year was rough for me with lost fish and had I landed just half of them lost fish I would of had a remarkable year by my standards. |
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Posts: 107
| It really has to do with what style lure you are using. There are lures, like walk the dog style that have higher rates of lost fish, but if you are throwing a lot of bucktails you should not be losing that many fish (in proportion to those being caught). Do you have a rod with enough flex to keep tension even when the fish is head shaking? I fish a lot by myself as well and you will lose more fish alone than with a partner, but it shouldn't be significant. One thing I have found helpful is to err on the side of putting more pressure on the fish than less. Keeping that tension is critical and trying to keep an angle on the fish (one where the fish is facing away from you as much as possible - and changing rod positions to maintain these angles) is key. |
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Posts: 2274
Location: Chisholm, MN | What he said ^
I lost 1 fish last year that I can remember. I used to lose a lot more, but better equipment definitely helps. The one I lost was on a supermodel and was not hooked as well as I thought. It happens. High speed reels and a quality rod have helped me out I think. And getting better and better at netting solo. I’ve been practicing for 22 years though. |
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Posts: 1197
Location: Walker, MN | I agree 100% about keeping tension, the first words out of my mouth when someone hooks a fish is "stay tight!" Most fish are lost due to slack, or not enough pressure. Sometimes though, they just aren't eating it right. We all have experienced times when we are plagued with "nippers". I once lost nine fish in a row, it was very frustrating, tried everything. Then one day they started eating the whole bucktail, instead of just the back inch. |
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Posts: 32784
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I fish the worst kind of slop a lot, and lost about 20% of the fish I stuck. I went to a Violent Strike Extractor when they were still prototypes, and muskies don't get off those much. I actually can't remember not boating one after getting it hooked up, and have been wanting to get to the Goon with that bait. Finally might have health and open borders at the same time and get up there again. Rarely lose a muskie on a creature. Topwater I go about 9 for 10, same with the Suick and Wabull. |
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Posts: 20178
Location: oswego, il | Bait styles as stated above can have better or worse hookup ratios. Something that I think plays a bigger part of keeping fish pinned is their mood. When fish are active and aggressive they will commit. When they are not, their willingness to eat may not diminish but they nip and the strikes are less aggressive. I can remember losing 8 Muskies in a row on LOTW in a couple days all beak hooked and boated the 9th which was also beak hooked. When they aren't striking well you will lose them. |
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Posts: 3136
| You may want to consider a rod with a softer tip,,or slower action maybe your fighting style fits it better,,Stiff tips will go straight on jumps and splashes on the surface creating a moment of slack.
personally with the exception of tournaments I hope I lose all my fish at the side of the boat after a good fight, I hate unhooking and dealing with em. |
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Posts: 1969
| This discussion has come up many times over the years, when you say you only caught 5 and lost 15 , that needs to be defined a little... how long were the 15 fish hooked? If you said 12 of them were less than one second, probably no issue... if you are losing fish after hooked 10+ seconds there’s likely many things that can be done to get them in the net and sounds like that was the case with a fair number of those lost. Fishing solo hasn’t resulted in many more lost fish in my experience ...can think of a few I would have got with a partner over the years but very few percentage to caught... rod/line angles, constant pressure and staying calm solo are key...don’t try to net a fish too early. Try to learn from mistakes, everyone loses some, especially those that are only on a second or two. Tight lines!
Edited by IAJustin 2/25/2021 6:43 AM
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Posts: 1133
Location: NorthCentral WI | Another factor I don't see mentioned is hooks. Regardless of the hook they need to be sharp but beyond that a thinner wire hook is going to penetrate much better. Sometimes with the 2 or 4X hooks you might really only get the point in and not even get the barb to penetrate. That is recipe for an easily lost fish. Another thing is getting in the habit of backing off the drag a bit immediately after you set the hook on a fish. |
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Posts: 2274
Location: Chisholm, MN | MartinTD - 2/25/2021 7:35 AM
Another factor I don't see mentioned is hooks. Regardless of the hook they need to be sharp but beyond that a thinner wire hook is going to penetrate much better. Sometimes with the 2 or 4X hooks you might really only get the point in and not even get the barb to penetrate. That is recipe for an easily lost fish. Another thing is getting in the habit of backing off the drag a bit immediately after you set the hook on a fish.
Very true. I’d like to add that you should match your hook/lure size to the rod and reel setup you’re using too. For instance, a medium heavy rod with maybe 65# line may not have the backbone to drive a 7 or 8/0 hook into a fish. But an XH rod with 80-100# line may be too much for a lighter hook and you may straighten the hook right out on a hook set. That’s why it’s important to have 2-3 rods for different applications. |
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Posts: 343
| My lost to caught fish ratio has been getting worse and worse the last few years. My biggest problem is my hooksets are getting wimpier with my increasing age and my bone cancer. I almost exclusively fish alone and wading. The biggest factor in my opinion is strong hooksets in having good ratios, my ratio was decent when I still had my strength. So make sure you stick them well. |
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Posts: 20178
Location: oswego, il | Another factor is fishing pressure.the more pressure the less likely Muskies will commit hard to your bait. Seen this alot. In have fished lakes post spawn where every fish I have encountered had just been caught you can easily see the fresh flesh wound in the jaw. These fish won't kamikaze a bait but they will eat in a much less aggressive manner. |
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Posts: 357
| for awhile i had a case of the yips. id set the hook on the slightest feel / tick.
then one day while fishing a spinnerbait through some weeds i thought i had weeds on and just kept reeling until i realized it was actually a fish. that sucker was pinned too.
I think too often with stiff rods and braid when a fish hits coming at an angle towards you it is easy to "set" to quick. you are generally better off to to reel until you FEEL the weight, then set.
then sometimes you just lose them. |
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Posts: 8716
| It depends on what you consider "lost"...
If you give them slack line, miss a hookset, try to horse them, etc. IMO you lost the fish.
The ones that just nip the back of the bait or hit at a weird angle? Sometimes they just aren't hooked good and there's nothing you can do to about it.
As a side note: I lost a LOT more fish when I used to keep my drag locked down. |
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Posts: 51
| I really dont have enough sample size on this to say either way. Started fishing for Muskies in fall 2019, caught 6 and havent lost one yet. I fish from a Yak so my drag is never locked and I pinch my treble hooks for security reasons. I had been fishing northerns almost exclusively for 20+ years before and one thing I've learned is, you set that hook everytime the fish gives you an opportunity to do so.
Again, take this with a texas sized grain of salt as I could easily go 0 for 4 next and be back to the drawing board. |
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Posts: 239
Location: Elroy, Wisconsin | Whimpy hook sets, lure tangle during netting are the two main, given your hooks are sharp. Watch a few hooksets on you tube, not very many good ones at...wimpy.
Mudpuppy |
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Posts: 164
| Thanks for the responses guys. One thing a buddy of mine has noticed is I set the hook extremely hard he says. Maybe too hard and he has been trying to get me to free spool as well when I get boat side. But that has been a hard habit for me to get into. I think backing off the drag would be a better bet for me.
Im extremely confident that I have very sharp hooks. I learned my lesson after the first few years of never touching a hook. As soon as I started sharpening I started landing fish. This year was tough cause I had a short season due to other obligations and had a real chance to put a lot of fish in the bag in a very short season for me and lost more fish this year then I can ever remember.
Happy Hooker, thanks for the rod input. I do use stiff rods and have used rods with softer tips and just never felt comfortable with them maybe it something I should put more focus on. I for one know several fish this year were lost due to slack line like a few of you have explained. The heart break came on Tonka this year when I lost a 4 foot if not bigger fish fishing by myself under the cover of darkness. Fish was hooked brought to the boat and some how got off boatside as I was reaching for the net. I am willing to bet slack line had a lot to do with that. I wish I would tried free spooling that one.
Thanks for all the responses. I guess after thinking about the last season I was just curious if that is extremely high amount of fish lost which obviously it is. I dont really count nippers or fish that hit or are gone right away. At least 75 to 80 percent of these lost fish were fighters and got to the boat and lost boatside. Or had a fish hit at start of my cast got hooks in and brought half to the boat only to have it disappear.
Thanks for the responses everyone. Still got some adjustments to make and that is the fun of this sport. The second you think you have it all figured out and your confidence is high these fish will bring you back down to reality quick and humble you quick. |
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Posts: 711
| colinj8899 - 2/24/2021 9:02 PM
I know its a little taboo to have Muskie guys share how many fish they catch in a year. I'm kind of reflecting on my 2020 season the last couple days. The glory and the heartbreak. I am curious how many people track how many fish they lose in a year compared to fish they have caught.
I didn't get out this year until August and my last day out was Halloween. I had a chance for a personal record season for myself numbers wise. I caught 5 fish this year but I lost 15. Of those 15 lost fish 10 I had got to the boat or within boat range or hooked on the figure 8 and they got off boat side. I do fish by myself quite a bit which usually results in quite a few lost fish every year.
Losing fish has always been my downfall since I started this sport six years ago. Looking back on my season I have a 1 to 3 ratio of caught to lost fish. All muskie fisherman are going to hook into fish and not 100 percent seal the deal, I know this. But 10 of these 15 fish all felt like fish that for sure should of been in the net and the other 5 were pretty close to feeling that way as well.
Im curious if that ratio is in-line with other Muskie fisherman or if im losing an incredibly high amount of fish. I know this year was rough for me with lost fish and had I landed just half of them lost fish I would of had a remarkable year by my standards.
So it looks like your fishing the metro-for a short season-and had 20 fish hooked. That's pretty good numbers as far as interactions. You've have gotten the hardest stuff worked out...how to get strikes. Like you said you still have work to do on closing the deal. You should get to about 90-95 % in the net once you have ALL the details ironed out. Keep working at the details and you'll get there. |
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Posts: 107
| Beyond equipment and fish fighting advice, it is really important to have your boat set up for solo fishing. You mentioned losing a big one when going for the net. I cannot overemphasize the importance of having your net in an accessible and clean location. You don't have to look far on YouTube to see people wrestling with the net getting caught on a cleat or the net needing to be flipped because the net bag is folded up for storage or the net is under some rods or wedged in the smallest part of the boat....you get the idea. I probably go a bit overboard, but if the net isn't within an easy reach, you risk losing a fish of a lifetime. Same goes with having a plan once the fish is in the net with tools at the ready and a place to position the net so that it is secure. |
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Posts: 156
Location: Alexandria, MN | Lure types are definitely a factor. Wooden jerkbaits - while very good tools which produce a lot of fish - can be difficult lures with which to stick a fish solidly. Their teeth tend to sink into the wood making an effective hookset much more difficult, as when you set the hook you more the fish rather than the lure within it's mouth. Also, they tend to weigh more - giving the fish a better chance of throwing them should they go airborne. Sharp hooks, tight lines, and a proper rod definitely help. |
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Posts: 20178
Location: oswego, il | Check out the net holder setup Mike Keyes has in his boat for holding his net for solo use. Smart idea. |
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Posts: 50
| I'll define "lost" fish as one that I had on for more than a hit. If a fish hits and doesn't get any hooks, I don't call that a lost fish. These are fish that are on post hook set.
My ratio is probably about 5:1 catch:lose. I feel that's pretty good. I don't loose a ton. I fish mostly baits that have a good hooking percentage though, which helps. |
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Posts: 51
| ToddM - 2/26/2021 1:16 PM
Check out the net holder setup Mike Keyes has in his boat for holding his net for solo use. Smart idea.
Can you point me in the right direction to look at that setup? This has been a major problem for me... I'd really appreciate it. |
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Posts: 20178
Location: oswego, il | MKevin - 2/26/2021 8:36 PM
ToddM - 2/26/2021 1:16 PM
Check out the net holder setup Mike Keyes has in his boat for holding his net for solo use. Smart idea.
Can you point me in the right direction to look at that setup? This has been a major problem for me... I'd really appreciate it.
You can see it in his episodes this season but I believe he makes reference to it in episode 7. He doesn't show how to make it but it's a narrow triangle that the nets sits in and can be easily taken out of. |
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Posts: 59
| I feel pretty lucky when it comes to my catch/lose ratio, as I land most the fish I hook. Like what others have said, sharp hooks and playing the fish properly are key to putting the fish in the net. |
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Posts: 535
Location: deephaven mn | jtmenard - 2/26/2021 12:52 PM
I'll define "lost" fish as one that I had on for more than a hit. If a fish hits and doesn't get any hooks, I don't call that a lost fish. These are fish that are on post hook set.
My ratio is probably about 5:1 catch:lose. I feel that's pretty good. I don't loose a ton. I fish mostly baits that have a good hooking percentage though, which helps.
maybe its not classified as lost, is it missed fish then? I had a tough year too.
lost or missed several fish that bit and i saw, almost half. I remember on day i had three fish hit boat side in the eight, rod loaded on all three lost all three, one t- boned my bucktail and bent the shaft of the bucktail. other two came from be hind swallowed bait set hook back into fish no hookup. Like Bturg says must be doing most of it right to get bit. but results can be frustrating AAARGH! got to close the deal! how do you miss a fish on a bucktail it's just a wire with two 7/0 razor sharp hooks? I can and do. |
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Posts: 1181
| One thing to consider, is that sometimes, even with a good, hard, hook set, you may not even move the bait in the fishes mouth. I'm not sure how frequently this happens, but I can think of a few occasions when I know that is what happened. These fish can clamp onto a bait with a lot of force. A good example happened to me a couple years ago. I was fishing a Rabid Squirrel, fish hit coming at me and raced toward the boat. I know I didn't get much of a hook set, and in fact, had to reel as fast as I could, just to keep any bend in the rod. I was prepared to set the hook as soon as I got any direction change that would allow a hard set. As the fish approached the boat, it made a 90 degree turn, going away from the boat. Wanting to keep the fish from jumping, I set to the side, 180 degrees from the direction the fish was going. I kept the rod low, hoping to keep the fish in the water, and really laid into it. The rod doubled over and was rock solid. The fish was still able to leap out of the water. Mouth was closed as the fish came up, and at the peak of it's leap, it turned it's head toward me and opened it's mouth. Just as it opened it's mouth, the bait came rocketing right back at my head. Had to duck, and it went flying straight back over my head. When I got the bait back to the boat, it was bent in a perfect 90 degree angle. I played it over in my head many times. The only thing that I think I could have done differently, would have been to bury the rod in the water on the hook set. Perhaps that would have kept the fish in the water, giving me another shot at a hook set, but I probably wouldn't have re-set, as I had really laid the wood to it, and thought for sure that I had to have hooks in it. That fish simply had the bait clamped so tight, that the bait never moved in it's mouth, allowing the hooks to grab.
Edited by TCESOX 2/27/2021 11:06 AM
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Posts: 359
Location: SW Ohio | Hooked and lost one in April. Fast forward to the end of June. Over three days my wife and I hooked 12, netted 8 and lost 4. Everything after that I netted although it only amounted to a couple between mid-Aug and Nov. That week in June was all crank bait bites with a couple straightened hooks. |
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Posts: 1195
Location: E. Tenn | jtmenard - 2/26/2021 1:52 PM
I'll define "lost" fish as one that I had on for more than a hit. If a fish hits and doesn't get any hooks, I don't call that a lost fish. These are fish that are on post hook set.
On one recent trip, had a very nice fish come in hot on a phantom, only to peel off about 30' out. Later at the same spot, had one stalk a nitewalker... jaws agape, dorsal and tail on top. A couple of evenings later, she ate a very slow moving lil basstard..or so I thought. I had it on for several seconds, and the only marks on the bait were a couple deep scratches on the "blade".
That #*^@ed fish still haunts me..
The next trip, had one going on a bucktail in the "8", and lost sight of it. A few seconds my host in the back hollered "he's got it".. I was kinda caught off guard, and half assed set the hook, only to lose it after the initial run.
Still managed to put six in the net between those two lost/missed fish.
That's why they call it fishing not catching.
Edited by miket55 2/27/2021 10:31 PM
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Posts: 164
| kap - 2/27/2021 7:53 AM
jtmenard - 2/26/2021 12:52 PM
I'll define "lost" fish as one that I had on for more than a hit. If a fish hits and doesn't get any hooks, I don't call that a lost fish. These are fish that are on post hook set.
My ratio is probably about 5:1 catch:lose. I feel that's pretty good. I don't loose a ton. I fish mostly baits that have a good hooking percentage though, which helps.
maybe its not classified as lost, is it missed fish then? I had a tough year too.
lost or missed several fish that bit and i saw, almost half. I remember on day i had three fish hit boat side in the eight, rod loaded on all three lost all three, one t- boned my bucktail and bent the shaft of the bucktail. other two came from be hind swallowed bait set hook back into fish no hookup. Like Bturg says must be doing most of it right to get bit. but results can be frustrating AAARGH! got to close the deal! how do you miss a fish on a bucktail it's just a wire with two 7/0 razor sharp hooks? I can and do.
Kap,
That rod a bought from ya a couple years ago has been my dedicated jerk bait rod. You wouldn't believe how many metro fish have been hooked halfway brought to the boat and lost  |
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