Fishing gurus, experts, or just hacks like me???

[Ed Spoerl]

...blue bird post cold front NW winds..... a south-south west facing sand bay protected by the wind, can make your day!

[fishwizard]

I’ve been on the road far too much in the past week, and not a mile of it in pursuit of muskies. A real shame. I must say I’m glad to see some real discussion has sprung forth from the loose threads that were hanging out there. If I were a thinking man’s type of muskie fisherman I’d jot much of these ideas down in a notebook to reference on the water, but alas laziness prevails, and not surprisingly I’m so far from retirement that the word shouldn’t even be used by me. The worst part is that my one opportunity this summer to once again fail at attempting to apply our resident guru's vast knowledge lessons on the always beautiful LOTW, doesn't sound like it will now be happening. I guess there is always next year...?

Thanks Dave, for bringing back that sour pit in my stomach for being too slow on the draw. Of course, I blame the camera owner who only lent it to the Star to use with a case straight from Fort Knox, making quick draws nearly impossible. I guess he knew who he was dealing with, and so we must all live with the great shot that never was. But since we’ve gone there I must bring up the complete lack of hookset on a slow-rolled spinnerbait monster who swam along the side of the boat with the spinner blade just fluttering on her cheek before opening her massive mouth and swimming away up on 5 Rocks.

Ryan

[dpear]

Ryan,
I don't remember ever losing a muskie.Guess its possible,anything is possible.I do practice catch and release though so its possible you didn't see the release part.Who knows?

[fishwizard]

Somewhere there might be a video tape that possibly wasn't taped over that knows. Somewhere...

[dpear]

Stories,stories stories.I throw hats,don't set hooks,drop rods in lakes,nets in lakes,and on and on.Rumors,lies,slander.I can't recall a single instance of any of it.
There may have been a time or two the fish missed my bait and it appeared it got off but I can't recall a single true loss.

[NETim]

Okay, now I'm beginning to understand the 20 minutes of black screen in a certain DVD I bought.

[fishwizard]

Tim,
You have to flip the dvd upside down and play it backwards to see all that good stuff. All the rigged hooksets, the other guys who hand off the rod once they had a fish on, and the scuba divers pulling on the end of his line, etc., etc.

Actually it's been so long since I've been able to watch the dvd, after loaning it to a friend who never gave it back, that I may have just imagined all that stuff. Try the upside and backwards trick anyways and let me know if it works.

Ryan

[musky1969]

Yes we have caught a bunch trolling "Current" areas does not matter natural or wind produced, best was 4 passes 4 fish in a very tight spot to troll. I am also hoping to try to get up to Heaven yet this fall working very hard from a loss we had this spring when our biggest customer decided to go BK and owed us 90K (Ouch that hurt). First summer in 16 years did not get up there Maybe the muskie gods will let a little extra money our way so we can get up there. Hope everyone up there is safe and has great trips.
Darren

[Fisher]

Darren, if you need a place to stay to cut costs so you can make a trip up north this year, I may have something you could use for free. Its nothing special, but has heat, TV, beds, etc. just no running water after next weekend (8th). Anyway, if your interested just let me know.
Thanks

[dpear]

Ran into this while trying to research the difference between water movement at night vs day.Kind of interesting.

http://saltfishing.about.com/od/tide.../aa070517a.htm

[dougj@wiktel.com]

You've love it up here right now! Gusting to around 35 MPH or more for the last three days and suppose to get real windy tomorrow (wonderful!!!!!!!).

I doubt that the fish even know it's windy, but I sure do!

We got three today, on the calm side!

Doug

[dpear]

Good stuff.Now we are getting somewhere.I think.Keep it coming.
Was just reminded that this thread has gone over 10,000 hits.Wow,should we move on or keep going?Been fun but is it too unwieldy?Blame Fishwizard,not me,he won't shut up.

Anyway,recently we've discussed some good stuff.I know the target is 'out there'.I know how to reduce the meaningful water out there(shrink the box).I know to key on 'movement' and bait concentrations.I know the surface is a great edge to focus on.I know speed 'triggers' and can make me more efficient- especially at certain times and under certain conditions(high riding bait for instance).So how about lures like these-traveling up to 20 knots? http://www.candhlures.com/Wahoo-Lures/
Courtesy of a Florida friend who also is a muskie guy-LOTWs muskie guy sometimes.A few here may recall some years ago when I tinkered with these types of lures.Never really gave them much of a chance-hard because of the companion laughter and ridicule and the fact no other bait was compatible in terms of speed.Sooooo,instead of practicing what I preach,ie,'Fish Alone',I converted them to jerk baits and promptly destroyed them since they aren't a numbers bait for sure.NOT this time!!!!!!