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Posts: 41
| So I figure I'm pretty good with most of my lures, I can cast as well as most, and I feel like I can read a map relatively well as to where to look for fishes. Now what to learn? I just want to keep getting better and better for my 50-60 days a year I get on the water.
Thanks for the replies, and I hope everyone is having a great season!
BettieB |
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| Fish with others that are "seasoned".
This is where joining and getting involved with Muskies, Inc. is at its best. Some of our club members have boated over 100 fish per yr and at times you may get to fish with them. Pay attention and ask smart questions. |
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Posts: 654
Location: MPLS, MN | Really learning to optimize your GPS is something I really learned this year and it's helped alot on new water. |
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Posts: 7037
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | I really believe that as muskie fisherman we focus too much on the wrong details: we sweat over having the perfect lure, planning around the moon phases, and the such. What I really think we should be focusing on is boat control, and making sure you have the ability to throw the right bait for the right depth and speed.
Making sure you are able to land your bait in that right spot is something that (as long as you can cast accurately) is dependent on knowing your boat, how to control it, and the make-up of the spot. Looking back, I KNOW the main thing I could have done better while up on Eagle was controlling the boat better. Granted, I was in a camp boat the majority of the time, but for some reason I was constantly too close to structure. I knew it, and didnt make the change, and I'm beating myself up about it. If I'd been about 10 yards farther off structure I would have had more bait time over the first, then second breaks on the rocks, and hitting the outter edge of the weeds, where the fish were. Next year, and next time I'm on the water, I'll be making this my number one focus while fishing.
And about the bait thing, I've noticed one thing for sure when out with different people in the boat: the guy that has a clean bait coming to the boat most often, is usually the guy that sees the most action. You can have the prettiest glider/crank/bucktail or whatever, but if that bait is coming in full of weeds, or fouled on the leader, etc. thats a wasted cast. If you waste less casts, you've got more chances at fish. It seems pretty simple, but too often I see people wanting to throw a lure that they really havent mastered and they're throwing it because its "cool" and not necessarily the best tool for the job. Gliders are cool, topraiders/pacemakers arent anymore. But, its much easier to get a top water or bucktail over a weed line without getting weeded up, than it is the new cool glider that appeals to YOUR interest, though not necessarily the fishes. Learn your lures (what speed they work best at, what depth they run at, and what rod fits that application best) intimately, and you'll have a better handle on what to throw when and for what conditions. |
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Posts: 2015
| 2 words.... Mental focus - it seperates the good from the best...can you fish 12 hours and be ready for that one bite? |
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Posts: 136
| Every time I go fishing I learn something new, or at least hope to. That is what makes fishing so rewarding, especially musky fishing. Musky will always have the upper hand on the fisherman. From boat control, to eletronics, to just not second guessing myself, there's always some sort of lesson. I just hope I was paying attention enough to learn it.
Edited by pistol pete 8/14/2006 8:08 PM
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | pretty much the same as pete..i try to learn somthing new everytime i hit the water! boat control is somthing i need to try to become much better at and i try to concentrate oon it more than i used too! learn and enjoy every moment. life is short!!! now if pete could only learn to become a sox fan he'd be much better off in the rest of his life 
Edited by muskihntr 8/14/2006 7:57 PM
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Location: Athens, Ohio | you can never get too good at a figure 8. m |
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Posts: 3867
| You spend a lot of time on the water and to avoid dreaded "down-time" from having probs with your reels.....
If you use "traditional" Abu Ambassadaur 5000 or 6000 series reels, you can easily learn to totally break them down, clean/lube and replace worn parts. Even upgrade various parts like gears and the handle. If you use these reels, for sure replace the drag washers with Smooothies. My reels work better than new-out-of-the-box almost all the time. Send me a PM if interested and I'll get you started.
Edited by Ranger 8/15/2006 7:25 PM
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| In musky fishing there are no know it alls, and the more time you spend on the water the better
Learn how to attack new water, and learn how to evaluate where to fish in what priority order
Learn how to read a map and pick water apart, eliminating the 90% dead water and really learning the details of 10% best spots on the spot
Learn how to precision cast and to precision troll, and the ins and outs of boat control
Learn how to customize lures and vary your retrieves based on changing conditions
Try to be on prime spots during all prime times (moon rises, moon sets, first light, last light, wind shift, etc.)
Never loose focus, your next cast might be the biggest fish of your life
Have fun, and fish smart
If you get skunked, well they have to eat sometime  |
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Posts: 34
Location: Bloomington MN / Price County WISC | BettieB,
Just reading what you said tells me you know the basics of what it takes. All that's left is to put those 50-60 days on the water and you will have sharpend your skills and put your self ahead of most.
Join MUSKIES INC and share the knowledge.
If you live in the Twin Cities Chapter area, come visit. [952-380-1218]
Frank |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Remember the Steve VanLieshout proven beyond a doubt rule:
In Muskie fishing there ARE no rules.
From my perspective, learn to read the water, and to control the boat better than you can drive a car. Listen to the 'old guys'. Anyone been fishing muskies for 35 or more years might have a thing or two to say, if you listen carefully. Obnoxious and 'colorful' in youth don't make success, just makes noise, but even the newest angler out there might have tried something you haven't tried; the Walking Bulls already been through that stage and know to look around now and then. The 'old guys' don't wear 'it' on their sleeve as is so popular these days with some folks, AND they usually aren't too shy about sharing info hard earned if one just asks one on one. Anyone so impressed with themselves as to NOT listen to every single angler out there, young, old, experienced, and not so experienced, is a #*^@able fool. |
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Posts: 724
Location: Southern W.Va. | I think that between Worrell and Slamr, most that could be said has been said. There are no rules when it comes to musky, period! You'll find them where are and time on the water helps you to learn (depending on water temp., time of the year, ect.) where they SHOULD be but not always. So remember that muskys follow no rules and sometimes you have to break the "rules". Once while fishing Webster lake, the only place that we moved fish on a regular basis was casting large jerkbaits into 15' of water and fishing them over a basin that bottomed out at around 30'. Fishing jerkbaits in 20',open water , no cover except the depth inself proved to be the patern for that trip.
It was a place that I would have never fished like we did if not shown by a friend.
Just some food for thought,
Mauser |
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| Learn... to have fun while fishing!
The rest will fall into place, and make for some incredible memories! |
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Posts: 34
Location: Bloomington MN / Price County WISC | As usual Slamr and Sworrall said it right , almost. I have found ,some where in my 41 yrs of muskie fishing, my golden rule is never think you know everything and never take anything for granted. I kinda' like the part about WALKING BULLS but don't come into my pasture with that OLD GUY poop.
Frank
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| OBmuskie and Slamr both touched on it in different ways: LEARN THE LAYOUT OF YOUR SPOTS. OBmuskie's point about maximizing GPS is a good one, something I'm working on more and more, too. Single biggest mistake I see newer fishermen make is not being able to read water (second is probably not knowing where their baits run when trolling and/or being awful casting). When you can anticipate and 'read' new spots and also know your regular spots perfectly, you'll make big strides, I think. The point about actually spending boat-time with guys who have experience is a huge, huge thing too! You'll learn more in a two-day wknd than in 10 years of magazine subscriptions. Information on the Internet isn't the #1 reason I like the Internet...it's because you get to meet new guys to fish with so easily. |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | In addition to everything that's been said already:
-Get an Aquaview and USE IT! Take a 1/2 day and just look at the spots you like to fish. You'll learn WHY that spot is good so you can look for more spots like it.
-Limit yourself to 3 baits a day. It'll make you learn to use them correctly and you will be able to see what they can and can't do. Too often we get the "changies" (me too).
-If you're fishing big water, just fish a section of it and nothing more. That's how I learned Lake Minnetonka years ago. I'd fish just one bay a day and fish it completely. You'll learn a lot of secondary spots that don't get the weekend traffic. Just be careful when you fish them so you don't give them away. |
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Posts: 194
| I don't have any advice to offer. But this is one of the best threads I've read. You guys are awesome. |
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Posts: 8780
| I don't think it's as important WHAT you learn -- lots of valuable information already posted here on that topic.
What's important is THAT you learn. For me? It's all about trying to figure out WHY.
What I mean by this is you have to get in that mindset on the water of constant learning, questioning what you see and what you don't see that might be a factor.
Why was that fish there, why did it hit that lure, what was it about that lure? Was it the way I presented it, the color, maybe the vibration, the action?
Why did that fish follow and not eat?
Are there more fish likely to be seen here, or was that one a fluke?
What sort of wind/weather/current conditions may have pushed the fish onto this spot?
If the wind was blowing from the South instead, would there still be fish here? How might they relate to this spot?
Or the simpler stuff -- what kind of structure am I working? What depth is the boat in, what depth am I casting to? Are we working outside edges, secondary breaks? Is there bait?
Is there something spawning or stacked up in here that would draw the fish in at this time of the year? What is the water temperature and how might that effect this area?
I don't claim to know all of this of course, but those are the sorts of questions I ask myself. I see a lot of guys who cast and cast and catch fish and other than fishing that spot again pay no attention to anything else that may be at play.
"I caught a fish over here once" is a start.
But "I caught a fish right at the end of that point where there's a little inside turn the last week of September last year the day after a bunch of storms rolled through and the wind was blowing hard out of the west" is better.
Maybe it's just because I'm relatively new to catching muskies, but I learn something from every fish I encounter.
I'd like to think that each little bit of experience makes me a bit better at figuring out what makes these fish tick.
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