# The curse is broke



## WeirPhishin (Oct 25, 2020)

Was finally able to get one in the net yesterday at Salt fork. I’ve been out to West Branch 5 times previously with nothing to show but several frustrating trips complemented by gear breakages. Nothing major in repairs but annoying and time consuming. 

My buddy and i fished the ohmc may madness tournament yesterday at Salt fork. We fished it last yr and I was lucky enough to catch a 38” and come in 3rd place. We were excited to try again a have the entire day to fish for Muskie. We headed to the northwestern side of the lake early and within 45 mins I had a bite, set the hook and fish on. Felt like a decent size Muskie and as it appeared from the water it was a 15” channel. Cat snagged in its side by my 10” Poseidon and merely felt like a 45” musky. Disappointed for sure. Few hours later my buddy hooks one that turned out to be a 10” white bass on his 5” spoon. I had one smaller Muskie swipe and swirl at my subsurface blade bait but never got hooks or really committed. But we had at least seen the target species.

Around 3pm we went to a bay I had caught a small Muskie at last year. I put on the same chatter bait that worked there last year and hooked a fish in 6’ of water. I had switched to my lightest musky rod which is just a heavy action 7’6’’ bass rod and felt like it was a muksie! A quick fight and we were able to successfully bag it. Probably within 50yards of spot I caught one last year. Was only 32.5” but was a Muskie and a tournament fish! Seemed others struggled that day as only 6 fish were caught for 31 anglers. My 32.5” was enough to get 2nd place and $137 in prize money. So that was really cool. Feels great to get one and only makes me want to catch another one.

my buddy’s wife joking quipped one day after several unproductive trips that I haven’t caught a Muskie since I’ve had a vasectomy and thought there maybe there was correlation between the two. That perhaps I had the dreaded post vasectomy no muskie curse. Only one way I could break the curse and that was to just keep casting.


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## cincinnati (May 24, 2004)

Congrats on a beautiful, fat fish!


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## MuskyFan (Sep 21, 2016)

Keep casting and they will come. Or that's what I keep telling myself. We musky fishermen are an off-shoot of the sado-masochist...we punish ourselves by chasing these fish and, at the same time, try to include/invite/indoctrinate others into the same soul wrenching "sport".  So far been it's a fishless year for me but, damn, have I set the hook on some impressive stumps, rocks and branches.

Congrats! And keep grinding.


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## floater99 (May 21, 2010)

Nice job


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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

Ive hit WB 5-6 times myself and im in the same "no fish zone" as you... This quick spring warmup has them in lock jaw.. I think. Im marking a ton of them but can't get any bites. May have to resort to trolling next time I go..GASP! lol
How has your panoptix operated this year? Still happy with it? I'm getting the itch..


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## WeirPhishin (Oct 25, 2020)

BaddFish said:


> Ive hit WB 5-6 times myself and im in the same "no fish zone" as you... This quick spring warmup has them in lock jaw.. I think. Im marking a ton of them but can't get any bites. May have to resort to trolling next time I go..GASP! lol
> How has your panoptix operated this year? Still happy with it? I'm getting the itch..


interesting, well makes me feel a little better Im not the only one struggling this year. I haven’t even seen a follow at WB yet.
I have found a couple on my panoptix but as you mentioned getting them to bite is another story. The Muskie can also be non cooperative in swimming in my transducers beam for very long. We love then panoptix though. Really opens up the world underneath the water and give you something to watch when racking up your 10,000 casts. Unfortunately I have not found a truly effective way to use it to slay Muskie but I still enjoy it a lot. I fish a lot of 10 fow or less and the panoptix doesn’t really shine in shallow water, especially with heavy weeds. At the end of last year when we moved to deeper open water, that’s where the panoptix really shines.

‘is it necessary? Certainly not. Is it really cool? Certainly yes. One draw back is when you have all the tech and gear loaded on your boat and you don’t catch **** you look like an ass! Hahahaha

I’m planning on heading out to WB this afternoon/evening and have no fishing partner if u wanted to come? Supposed to be rainy with clouds 🦈


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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

WeirPhishin said:


> interesting, well makes me feel a little better Im not the only one struggling this year. I haven’t even seen a follow at WB yet.
> I have found a couple on my panoptix but as you mentioned getting them to bite is another story. The Muskie can also be non cooperative in swimming in my transducers beam for very long. We love then panoptix though. Really opens up the world underneath the water and give you something to watch when racking up your 10,000 casts. Unfortunately I have not found a truly effective way to use it to slay Muskie but I still enjoy it a lot. I fish a lot of 10 fow or less and the panoptix doesn’t really shine in shallow water, especially with heavy weeds. At the end of last year when we moved to deeper open water, that’s where the panoptix really shines.
> 
> ‘is it necessary? Certainly not. Is it really cool? Certainly yes. One draw back is when you have all the tech and gear loaded on your boat and you don’t catch **** you look like an ass! Hahahaha
> ...


Thanks alot for the invite! I would of taken you up on it but i was out of town until today... Interesting about what you say in shallow water regarding Panoptix... can you change your setting to "front" transducer mode or whatever? I wonder if Hummingbird 360 is still the better option? Still trying to figure the best option out...


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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

Nice fish! I finally put a fish in the boat on Saturday. New PB, 46"r and fat!!


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