Is it June yet???

[minnesotamusky]

Is it June yet??? Going through Muskie Fever withdrawals......

[delmuts]

i feel your pain!!( in more ways than one!!) i spent yesturday sharpening and cleaning the hooks on my lures. ( i can verify tha tthey are needle sharp !!!)

[Random guy]

I caught myself watching ol Al Lindner talking about "the four calander periods of the musky. Summer, summer peak..."

Cave Run, Kentucky here I come!

[RuKiddingMe]

No doubt guys, thank god work has me running like a chicken with my head cut off, it helps to ease the pain. Ok not really but I keep telling myself so. Why can't we just be like bears, and sleep from season close to season open and never know any different.

Hopefully the shows coming up will help a bit.

RU

[RK]

Hiya,

You know... this will probably sound like heresy, but most years, by the time ice up rolls around, I've had enough. I run pretty hard during the season, and combined with family obligations, a full time day job, Esox Angler, writing for Outdoor News, plus the odd piece for In-Fish and others here and there, by the end of the season, I'm pretty much out of gas. The 1st weekend in December was the first weekend I'd been home for 2 days over a weekend since the 1st weekend in August. I was home 3 weekends between April 15 and Dec 1. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but by winter I'm ready to do some other stuff for a while. Going to ice fish hard (I love pike through the ice) and I'm just now getting lures unpacked after moving this past July. Realizing that I have a really obscene number of lures, many of which I'll never, ever use. Plus about 10 rods I really don't need. Next spring, a muskie fisherman's garage sale, I swear...

By the time about March rolls around though I start getting itchy. Then the fishing dreams start, and I'll be setting the hook in my sleep. I haven't really elbowed my wife badly yet, but it's just a matter of time. By about mid-April, I'll be a complete basket case like the rest of you For now though, I'm pretty content to watch it snow...

Cheers,

RK

[minnesotamusky]

Hey RK,

I know how you feel. I get a little burnt out towards the end too. I think for me, it's just knowing that I can't go now and thinking about the long winter ahead. I enjoy ice fishing just as much as everyone else, but there's just something special about muskie fishing. The girlfiend dosen't understand it yet, but I'm working on it.

Hey, if you need to get rid of some of your muskie lures, rods or reels let me know. I'm always looking to add to my collection.

[delmuts]

i envy you guys that do a lot of muskie fishing. i usually only get to go after them once or twice a year. and i don't ice fish, so ??? come on spring ! let me know about that garage sale too!

[MetroSteve]

RK,

I hear ya! I too feel the need for a bit of a rest by Dec. Must be getting old. What's really sad though is that just like the heroin addict, if there was a fix, open water, i'd be on it now! I'd be pounding the water, even though my brain was telling me to take a break.

As it was, I spent at least one day every weekend since memorial day on the water.

I get away with it cause its 6 months on and then 6 months off. I think I would have to move out if the season went all year or I got addicted to ice fishing too.(not sure how that could happen though)

Anyway, RK, if you live in St.Paul, I live in Mendota Heights, you know there is a temptation that flows by us all season long. The old miss... I have some reports of ski's in our area from some old timers. shoot me a message if you ever want to investigate it further.

Off for the winter, and yes, going through withdrawl,

Steve

[Random guy]

RK there will be NO REST! Suck it up! I have already had all of my reels reworked,tuned all the lures ( hope pool water floats the same as freshwater), fixed the rods, re-organized the boat, entered the years data onto the spreadsheets, all that is left is to wax the boat and pick a lake. I'll rest when I'm dead. MUST FIND FISH!

[RK]

Hiya,

Man I don't get around to cleaning reels and stuff till March. That's sort of calculated though. You have to pace yourself during the offseason. Get it all done too soon and all you have to do is sit there and think about the fact that it isn't muskie season yet. It's a good way to go stark raving looney.

What REALLY hurts in my case is the magazine publication cycle. Right now I'm editing articles for the spring issue, and in Feb I'll be working on summer. It's pretty painful reading articles about fishing bucktails in July when it's -20 out and the boat is a snow covered lump in the back yard. Then in mid-summer I'm workin' on the fall issue, and it really puts an exclamation point on how short the season truly is.

On a slightly more serious note though... Muskies can really take over your fishing life if you let them. I used to be 100% hardcore to the point where I was missing out on a lot of awfully good fishing for other species because all I wanted to do was fish muskies. Not anymore. A few years ago I just stopped and realized I'd forgotten how much fun bass and walleyes can be. Plus ice fishing, which helps take the sting out of ice-up and the muskie season being over. Don't get me wrong - if somoene told me I could only fish for one fish for the rest of my life it'd probably be muskies (though smallies would make it a close race), but there's a lot of fishing to be done out there besides muskies.

Steve -

Yeah man, I know what you mean about the River. They're there. Look at the # of fish the DNR puts into Pig's Eye... One of those deals where there are too many places to fish and not enough time to fish them all. Lots of other places in MN too where there are underfished muskies, and several of them are river populations.

Cheers,

RK

[cjac]

Well, I got to tangle with a Sailfish last week in Puerto Vallarta, so I have a bit of a "fix" to carry me for a while.

Interestingly enough, we ended up hooking it on essentially a muskie set up. 7 foot med heavy with a standard Shimano reel and 50lb mono. The guide spotted the fish and threw back a live minnow on this set up, and then we were hooked up! It was not the typical pool queue and the Penn reel the size of a coffee can!

Fish was just about 8 feet long, as best we could tell along side the boat! Quite the thrill!!

Happy Holidays to all!

Chris