# why do I fish for musky?



## Jackfish (Apr 15, 2004)

 Caesars Creek  after about 2 zillion outing without a Musky  I get within one headshake of getting a hog.. I had a monster hit me close to the boat  saw it all in slow motion, she comes up, quick pauses I yank the lure forward, she darts in and engulfs my bulldawg  SWEET  I pull hard just as she turns, gills flare out  I can feel her weight  then, no, cant be, she turns back towards the direction of the set, shakes hard a couple times, and expels the lure  all within about 3 feet of me. 

This lake hates me.

Trolling is going to be the answer! Until I snag up. No worries, I have done this a million times right? I get back to the snag and try to work it from all angles.. no luck. Hmm, time for my handy lure retriever. I get it hooked onto my line  feeling very confident (havent lost a lure since I got this after all). Some nice phantom wake (these are all over the lake) hits at just the right time  throwing me off balance for just a second (enough so that I think Im getting wet)  but I manage to recover  and realize I just dropped my lure retriever  which now resides at the bottom along with the lure it was sent after. . No worries right? I have a backup. Out comes the lure retriever pole. Working the tool, I realize Im stuck on a tree. I cant get to the lure, as some type of branch is blocking me  I cant feel the weight of the other lure retriever either. Not even sure why, I didnt think I had too much stress on the line at this point  but my rod apparently did  and decides its days of fishing are done  proclaiming this with a loud SNAP.

Now I did see something more elusive than the Musky I was chasing at this point. A helpful boater on Ceasers Creek...I have heard about these, but dont think I have ever seen one. Another Musky hunters comes up and asks if I need any help  this somehow reminded me of that feeling of being a teenager and getting caught by your parents doing something dumb - realizing someone else watched this  one of my dumbest moments ever on a boat. To confirm I was indeed not the sharpest tool  he asks looks like it did a number on your rod? 

But the kind fisherman attempted to help me work the snag  even going so far as to hook on a weight swivel to attempt to shake it free. Pretty cool to have some random stranger be that helpful  and was much appreciated. No clue if he was a member on this site  if so and reads this  thanks a ton for the effort!

So, lost my best musky, lost my nice musky lure, lost my handy lure retriever, lost my musky rod. Yet for some strange reason I cant wait to get back out there.


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## ShutUpNFish (Apr 17, 2007)

Thats a great story! Sorry for the bad luck, but everytime out on the water sure makes for an adventure nonetheless. I enjoyed the read....Thanks!


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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

Great story! Again, sorry for the bad luck..

Your story reminds me of my first 5 trips for skies (except I didn't hook a fish for about 12 trips) 

Good times...


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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

Good read. I think most of us can relate. I have lost lures. I have broke a rod. I have lost a big girl. I have had others help me out. Though, I cant recall ever having all of that in one trip. Yikes! Better luck to you on your next trip out. You are paying your dues to the musky gods and they will smile on you eventually.


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## Muskyman (Jan 30, 2005)

Yea, we have all been there. I got snagged pretty bad a couple weeks ago. And as luck would have it, I couldn't find my lure retreiver for the life of me?!?! So, I used the next best thing..my anchor! With the 10# missle coming at it, I got my lure back. I don't think anyone saw, but that definately would have been a Kodak moment. A snagged $30 bait turns you into Magyver real fast.


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## Tatonka (Aug 23, 2007)

What date did this happen? whatever date it was you may want to stay in the house every year on that date as it wasn't your lucky day.
I have lost lures and been bummed by it for a week or so but to have all this happen in one outting would bum me out for a long time, but I do understand what you said about how you can't wait to get out there again


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## LUCIUS (Nov 22, 2007)

Sorry for the bad luck but musky fishing is just an infection and that kind of day
wont stop any of us ! I think we all have goofy days like that.


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## bubba k (Mar 29, 2006)

Two weeks ago, I lost two lures in about 15 minutes.....my cowgirl lodged in a rock and my Jake broke off on a snag when trolling (I had tightened my drag to get a snag out earlier and forgot to loosen it back up.....the leader broke after trolling into a rock when going 4 mph.....almost snapped my rod!). Needless to say, I was very depressed in losing two $20 lures. Well, it didn't get any better when I retied, changed lures, and went back to trolling -the new lure I put on needed tuning, and I worked on it for 15 minutes before finally giving up. It ended up being a wasted day, and I was ready to give up all together. That was my 5th straight trip without a bite! Well, my next 3 trips yielded 4 hookups and two skies landed! AND NO LOST LURES (knock on wood). In the words of Jimmy V., "Don't give up....don't ever give up"!!!!!!!


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## fffffish (Apr 6, 2004)

I feel your pain one year at West Branch I lost 12 lures but average about 3 a year so far this year I am at 4. My favorite lake to fish is Salt Fork just love to be on that lake. It took me 4 years and 26 trips to catch my first muskie there most of the trips were 2 or 3 day trips with a few week long ones. If I had not seen other people catch muskie I would not have believed there was any muskie in the lake. But it has paid off my first fish was a 45 and I have put at least 1 fish in the boat every time I have gone since then.


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## MadMac (May 2, 2005)

I've only lost one lure this year and I snag about four times per trip. I had a guy at work make me a lure knocker that never fails. The one I lost was hooked on a steel cable in a bunch of Christmas trees with cinder blocks. I was trying to get the lure knocker past the branches and the cable cut my line.


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## g1pper24 (Aug 21, 2009)

i have had many discouraging days as a new musky angler. this was my first year at it and many lost baits later i am still learning. funny and cruel story but very nice of the guy to stop and help ya out. better luck next time.


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## BITE-ME (Sep 5, 2005)

Hey Jackfish - That was me on the water Saturday. Don't know how much help I really was. I know what your saying about most people's bad manners on that lake, particularly the pleasure boaters & even some of the fisherman (except the muskie guys of course ). Don't even get me started about the idiots at the boat ramp 

I too feel your pain with the broken rod... I've snapped my fair share. After learning some hard lessons first hand, here are a couple of helpful hints I can offer all the fisherman out there that are as dumb as me:

 -Don't leave your rods hanging outside the boat while fishing through standing timber on a windy day... CRACK!!!
 -Don't leave your rods hanging outside the boat when docking the boat... SNAP!!!!
 -When snagged up trolling, don't leave the rod in the rod holder & thumb the spool while the motor is still in gear in an attempt to break it free.... KA-POW!!!!
 - St Croix has an excellent rod repair/replacement program.

Caesars muskie bite can be pretty tough, it's deffinetly not the easiest place to fish. A lot of you are probably already aware of these two websites listed below, but they have some good info on Caesars muskie fishing from time to time.

www.soma56.com
www.tomdietz.com


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## BuckeyeTom (Apr 6, 2004)

Enjoyed your story man. Anyone who hunts muskie will have days where it would have been better to stay home.....BUT it is the thrill of the hunt! Knowing the next cast could be the one....keeps us going. I always tell people when they see the pics or hear the good stories that muskie fishing is a TOUGH sport. Not for the weak, inpatient, and definately not for an average weekend angler. It helps to be a little off, twisted, or just one that enjoys punishment,lol. I've went swimming for rods and lures before!

Jackfish, Keep chasing them and post a pic when you get that CC Husky Musky!


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## Jackfish (Apr 15, 2004)

Wow  great responses guys  thanks for the support - it sounds as if most of you have had days similar to this. 

I dug out my backup rigs and stumbled across a rod my dad bought me about 15 yrs back  I think I stopped using this rod because I thought it was too heavy for pike fishing  should work great for throwing those musky lures however  and really looking forward to putting it back into service - and this will make a better story once I land that hog!

Bite-Me  thanks again for the effort! You have no idea how dumb I felt once I realized someone had seen that unfold. I am going to copy that bait shaker clip you used  good idea. I tried that last ditch effort of cutting line and tying direct to boat, hoping that #50lb was enough to pull it free  it wasnt. 

Best of luck to all of you on the water!


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## sploosh56 (Dec 31, 2008)

I think everyone has had a day like this. Man do they suck


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## magnus (Mar 10, 2008)

Some days are ugly out there jackfish. I got a new lure last week, in under an hour it got a fish. Went out yesterday thinking it was going to land its second and we snagged it. Tried to pop it out, didn't work. Then tried to get the lure retriever down there, well it was like a 20 plus mile per hour wind and we were getting blown all around. After 15 minutes and almost getting blown onto dryland we had to chalk it up. So we lost a new favorite 20$ bait and the flouroleader, we called it a day shortly after that! Like Tom said, some days its better to stay at home, and i knew yesterday was gonna be one, but the thrill of the hunt got me out there anyway. Stay positive man, like many guys stated thats called paying our dues!! I bet you got a nice one coming soon


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## magnus (Mar 10, 2008)

Bubba, great Jimmy V quote man, how good of a job does that do to sum up musky fishing.


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