Motivation

[Scoot]

That's too bad, probably time for a new hobby then.

Ummm... yeah. Sounds like at least a couple decades ago would have been a good time to pick up the new hobby. If it's not fun, why do it?

[john skarie]

I think not telling friends or other types of people you know is a little over the top.

I'm not real gung-ho about letting people I don't know having info about my fishing or anything else about my personal life.

Hence no pics or bragging by me on the internet anymore.

But if your one of those that keeps everything inside for fear of others, even your friends, knowing what your doing and catching than why fish in the first place??

JS

[JRedig]

I never said it was fun. Fishing was fun when i was in grade school, now not so much. To be honest with ya had id known where outdoors sports were headed 60 years ago ida never started. Its just and evil addiction. Back in the day it wasent even a sport it was just a way of life. we used to anchor up 8,10, 12 boats to a spot and fish pike, bass, walleyes. No one tryed to impress anyone. no secretive nature. duck boats were mostly the standerd. People conversed about work, politics, whatever. If the guy in the next boat needed a cig, some bait, u offered him what he needed. Now days you cant even talk fishin at work without getting badgered to death. common sense and hospitality have gone by the wayside escp in the metro. People up north seem to be a little more down to earth and not so high strung. As for stocked muskies being dumb fish, idk they hardly eat muskie lures anymore, u gotta finnease the hell oughta them. Most muskie lakes are stocked nowdays anyway. Natural fisheries have big fish that may have never seen baits. Take LOTW for example. Lots of big dumb fish up there, cause they havent been as pressured. Not trying to start an argument with rob about whos muskies are dumber, just stating my case.

If it's not fun, you should definitely find a new hobby. Hardly eat muskie lures anymore? Are you for real?

Most muskie lakes are not stocked, most muskie lakes you hear about on the internet are stocked...I think there are tons of lakes with muskies that nobody even knows exist.

[MuskieJunkie]

Originally Posted By: PC's

Keep your lips sealed period. Dont tell strangers, dont tell coworkers, dont tell freinds, dont even tell your family.

Well that sounds like fun

That's what I thought when I read that too.

There's different degrees of information and the internet should be your lowest degree of specificity. I'll name the lake but I'm not going to give out spots, and certainly not specifics of a spot.

But friends and family....come on. I can't even imagine the idea of being on a guys fishing trip up north and haveing to say "I can't tell you where I got that 50."

[PC's]

Jredig, u really beleave there are a ton of muskie lakes in minnesota muskie anglers dont know exist? thats hilarious. I dont fish for fun, i fish because its an evil addiction, like i said before. I took my kids fishing for years, and even my grandkids, but im not sure i want to expose my grandkids to whats goin on nowdays. For example head over to gander mountain and take a look at fishing reels. They got reels avaerging 100 to 500 dollers. sure u can get chepies for 30 dollers, if u want a half ball bearing plastic reel. Even the billionair who fishes with a 400 doller bass reel is a FOOL!! Alls im saying is its become way to much of a yuppy sport for me, and yes i found a new hobby, Ive compiled hundreds of hours of footage of nonsense i see on lakes like minnetonka, the minnesota river, Just about every lake i go to know days. I dont think ud beleave the footage i have.

[JRedig]

Jredig, u really beleave there are a ton of muskie lakes in minnesota muskie anglers dont know exist? thats hilarious.

It's not a matter of believing, it's a matter of KNOWING. I know of quite a few that have them and muskies aren't even mentioned on their DNR lake finder data sheets. It'll be fun spending this weekend as the only muskie boat on the lake throwing at fish that probably haven't ever seen a pounder.

[john skarie]

I can name at least half a dozen lakes off the top of my head that 99% of muskie anglers wouldn't know have muskies in them.

It's no different then unknown crappie lakes, or little potholes that have walleyes in them that the masses don't know about.

For some people the fun of fishing is getting out of the line that everyone else is in and finding those lakes nobody is fishing.

It's not an evil addiction to everyone, lots of people still enjoy fishing for what it is.

JS

[Shawn Kellett]

Jredig is dead-on with the "secret" lakes. The few that I know of don't have a huge population of fish, but they're also devoid of muskie boats.

I think the biggest problem with sharing info now days is the lack of courtacy and angler ethics of other muskie fishermen. Too many people are more then willing to cut you off to get to "their" 50"er. I actually quite muskie fishing for several weeks this year because of my experiences this year. I was getting cut off up to 4x per spot. I had on 2 different days a total of 3 boats following me from spot to spot.

Now I'll be the first person to say that it's not "my" lake, but COME ON! The 2 common threads here are that we as anglers need to enjoy the experience and/or anglers are addicted to the sport and fish at all costs. I think that the addicted internet mentality where I have to have x number of 50's a year and get my numbers up at all costs are basically ruining it for those that try to enjoy themselves. I've seen so many people get into this trap. I've also seen what it's done to them both on and off the water. To put it short I don't talk to the people that didn't grow-up and figure it out anymore.

Before you torch me on this statement, think about the people who have the b!tch and then who the people are that are working to improve the resource for everyone else. There is a correlation here.

[PC's]

I know at least a dozen of those lakes, most people do, they just dont fish them because of the skeezy low density population

[JRedig]

"skeezy low density population" has not been anywhere near my experience nor my friends experiences for the waters we've fished. How can you be sure you know where/what i'm talking about? This IS very funny...

Your assumptions (what's the core word of assumption and what does it stand for BTW?) are hilarious and i'm curious since you hate this so much since everyone else has ruined it for you, why do you even bother replying here?

[scsavre]

the only good point out of PC is the ridiculous costs in muskie fishing. It is was too expensive.

My area has about 10 lakes that wouldnt make any dnr lists as having muskies. They are not hard to find though. Look for a stocked lake. Look to see if it has a river. It does. Bang, there you go. All the those lakes have muskies in them. Doesnt take a genious. I know of fish being 6 or 7 lakes down river of mine, that have a trace of muskies in them.

Me being mostly a weekend angler when it comes to getting up north. I know there are fish in the lakes down river from mine. I just dont seem to have the time to hit them. I think a lot of people have that problem. They know there are fish in other lakes. Just dont have the confidence or the time to fish em. That is good for the secretive folks then.

[AnglerX]

Those secret lakes soon won't be secret once enough people see you out there throwing Muskie lures. I'm guilty of this as well. There is a particular metro area lake that we've been fishing lately that has produced fish up to 49" in the last few weeks, a few fishermen on the lake have started asking questions. Of course we're saying we are targeting pike, but those in the know are going to eventually going to catch on in these days of immediate internet gratification and start to spread the word. Yes, these are supposed low density lakes but if you know what you are doing the rewards can be pretty great.

[Nick Kuhn]

You really can't keep it a secret. Muskies make their presence known. I've been on a number of lakes throwing bass sized gear because there were so few muskies in them. I would say on more than 50% of those trips I've seen a muskie follow said bass lures.

Still these secret lakes have some sort of false allure to them. The Wisconsin DNR intakes tons of info on muskie fishing and A2 lakes simply produce the best catch rate. The class C lakes which are similar to those you describe produce fish on the order of 5% as often. As a rule of thumb expect 1 fish caught per year for every 1 fish present in the population. Many many years of creel summaries don't lie.

http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/pubs/muskyupdatefeb2008.pdf

[PC's]

skeezy skeezy