how long did it take you to get you first musky?

[urban cowboy]

I went two years without catching anything. Hired a professional muskie guide/tournament fisherman and caught my first fish the next day. It was like the light bulb turned on. I had no idea what muskie fish actually was until that day.

Good luck. You will never forget your first muskie!

[tolle141]

+1 on hiring a guide

Try some action lakes as well. Crescent and Dumbell up out of Tofte have high densities of Shoepack strain (26-34 inch) muskies that can teach you a lot and build your confidence. A bit of a drive, but you can easily boat 4-5 by noon.

I did that with the musky in my avatar so I could check the kayak musky off the list

[broodwich]

I caught a 38 inch muskie within the first few hours. Next day hooked into another but lost at the boat. Then went 3 months without even a follow. Then I joined MI and became a student, I listened to every story and accepteded all advise. That fall I boated several muskies, many over 45 inches. I did very well for the next few years. It wasn't luck either I worked hard and dedicated lots of time fishing, reading, and when someone spoke whether it was at the access or at a club meeting I listened and applied it. My advise is listen to others, even the talk'ers give out subtle hints. The most useful advise I can give people is muskies are hard work and those who work at it do well, those who expect to do well fail.

[setterguy]

2 years and then hired a guide. Caught one that evening with him. Crazy day the day the tornado hit Walker.

Have many in the boat now but most of it is due to confidence, time on the water, patterns and most of all keeping your wits about you when you see/hook/land fish. Plenty has to go right to land a big fish the more experience you have the better.

[JPenny]

I've always been dedicated to catching big pike and usually fish too far north for muskies. But when I started to write for Esox Angler magazine at the start of that wonderful publication, I met some of the high profile muskiemen and became friends with several of them. My first official muskie outing took place on Oct. of 2003 with my good friend, Jack Burns (RIP) on LOTW. It took about 1 1/2 hours and I landed my first muskie that measured 48". No doubt that going with someone experienced made a huge difference. We've caught a few very nice muskies since then with my wife getting a 50"er on a Top Raider and I got a 51"er on a Believer.

[mattpaumen]

I've only caught three muskies total and have spent a total of about four hours actually fishing for them. Two of them were caught while I was trolling for Walleyes. The one time I actually fished for them, I got lucky and caught one in the first ten casts on a figure eight. That was a hoot and I can see how a person gets hooked on musky fishing! The biggest one I caught went 50 inches and I caught it 10 minutes before the musky opener on a #6 Rapala Husky Jerk of all things!