Popularity of Musky Fishing at or near Peak?

[TheHawgTrough]

So this topic of conversation has been kicked around in the boat the last couple of seasons. Having been a little young to be part of the "River Runs Through It" generation with flyfishing, it's still been interesting to watch the dramatic decline of the guys who hopped in to that sport 20 years ago. This also may have happened a bit with bass fishing in the 90's.

With basically no more metro lakes to stock and additional lakes not being added quick enough to really spread out the fisherman, is the number of people in the musky fishing sport at it's peak or near it? Seems like a lot of the lakes were at or just past their peak (some are now)within the last couple of years. I have to think that eventually some angers will get frustrated by the packed lakes, decreasing catchable populations and lower catch rates, the overall cost and will drop out of the sport, possibly having the anger pressure stablize? Maybe we just need a meaner, badder, and larger alternative to the musky for everyone to hop to next. Carp anyone...

Thoughts?

[OnAFly]

"Carp anyone?"

I'm already there...

[RiverFish]

Carp fishing is huge in Europe....

[MUSKY18]

I honestly don't think that Musky fishing has yet to hit its "peak". With the DNR in many different states now stocking Musky in its states lakes, you might tend to see fewer crowded waters, but that will be because of more lakes and more places to fish. Look at the states out west that are stocking lakes full with Tiger Muskies. Pretty much an untapped crowd of Angelers out there who haven't yet discovered the thrill of one of these great fish hammering your bait. We are still very much a society of "bigger is better" and catching the biggest, baddest, king of the pile draws people into it. I saw a statistic couple years ago that the percentage of people coming into Minnesota to fish Musky was up like 135% from the early 2000's. Thats a ton of people just coming to fish MN. What about Canada, WI, MI and out east? With shows like Musky Hunter and Keyes Outdoors now airing, they bring yet another spectrum of people into the sport that might not otherwise think about trying it out. I think we are far from seeing the "peak" of musky fishermen.

[brad coin]

I spend alot of time over the last 8 years in the Muskies inc showbooth at various shows and I go to about three muskie expos a year through out the midwest,,,I think that it has not peaked yet,,,but Im betting that for every three people that get into it 2 have givin it up after about 5 years People find it too much work after a while,,,I remember the 'River Runs through it" trend there were at one time I think 4 Orvis fly fishing shops in the metro area that got spawned it was supposed to be the new tennis/golf for young couples.

Tournament intrest in Minn is definitly down alot of young guys in the early 2000's thought muskie tourneys were going to hop to the Bass fishing type media attention and it just dosent have the sponsor or TV intrest.

One well known pro angler has a good line- "Im just not ANGRY enough to fish muskies"

its a fisherie thats trophy managed and alot of people want quantity not quality and drop out

checkers outsells chess

[cbrooks]

I got more and more people asking me to take them out muskyfishing every year. I think its gonna grow alot more. I can see North Dakota start stocking in the future. They only stocked a couple lakes last year. The problem will be the lack of lakes IMO.

[john skarie]

What killed trout fishing was the rivers got crowded and the price of fly-fishing stuff went through the roof.

Sound familiar??

JS

[mainbutter]

Musky fishing is well past a term I'd like to dub "peak musky", and it's akin to "peak oil".

"Peak oil" is the concept of a point in time where annual oil use reaches a point that it exceeds the amount in new finds.

Similarly, I believe that we are at "peak musky", where the use of musky waters is growing faster than we're able to create new fisheries. Muskies have never been pressured this much, ESPECIALLY in a C&R manner, and especially with artificial lures.

There are lots of big muskies swimming, however they have never been pressured as much as they are now, and they have never seen (and been hooked) on artificial lures as much as they are now. It's only going to be more of a challenge to catch these big fish.

The popularity is going to grow still, especially as musky fishing becomes more popular outside of the midwest. As with much of North American freshwater fishing, eyes continue to point north for remote lakes for good fishing.

[Snag]

I'm guessing a lot of disposable income hobbies peaked just before the housing bubble and recession. I don't get out much, but I have a lot of muskie lures at 10-20 a piece.