Musky Fishing Frustation

Well myself & ravdakot tried musky fishing for the first time last Friday. How frustrating First we did a little scouting in my power boat looking for a place to launch the Yak's. after we found a good spot, we loaded up the yak's and were on the water about 10:30. Right after we set off from shore, ravakot tells me he See's one. I paddle over, but found out I need a good pair of polarized glasses to see in the water. We both cast every lure in our inventory at him, some passing right past his nose with zero responce. We move on and found 8-10 more with the same out come. They would not even look at a lure. We did catch a few squaw fish, but after 3 hours on the water we hung it up. Will try again in a couple weeks when the water warms up. I guess that's why they call them the fish of 10K cast.

Hendog

       

Next time we go I'll have my Go Pro in hand. Those fish were about as tame as a house pet. They would just hang out 5-15' from the boat suspended over the weedbeds. Most of the fish we spotted were around 30-36", but I found one that would go mid to high 40's easily. In trying to point out that true monster to hendog, I touched it's tail with my paddle. He was a bit less tame after that, but didn't go more than another 100' or so. The water is crystal clear, so I should be able to post some really good Tiger Muskie video. More to come from this story.

Wanna borrow my U/W videocam???

Wanna borrow my U/W videocam???

Thank you for the offer, but the Go Pro is an underwater vid cam as well. Plan to strap it on a piece of PVC, and stick it in their face. Lets just hope the Go Pro isn't what triggers them to strike

not doubting the ability of either of you, but for pointers, might want to check Larry Dahlbergs site [ host of The Hunt for Big Fish]

also look at the infisherman.com site. there has got to be somethign you've missed, unless they really are pets.

Dick,
      don't know if you got my PM, but I'm on for tomorrow.

Are you guy's throwing big enough lures?  Most musky lures are freak'n huge.

Check out this site for more info...

 http://www.nwtigermuskies.com/index.html

They also have an active forum on Washington Lakes.com

http://washingtonlakes.com/Forum/default.aspx?g=topics&f=16

Are you guy's throwing big enough lures?  Most musky lures are freak'n huge.

Check out this site for more info...

 http://www.nwtigermuskies.com/index.html

They also have an active forum on Washington Lakes.com

http://washingtonlakes.com/Forum/default.aspx?g=topics&f=16

Thanks for the links. HD has been picking the brains of the local muskie anglers on Mayfield, and the general consensus across the board is that the musky down there don't like the typical giant musky goto lures used on other lakes. I think the lake is so crystal clear, and there are so many of the pike minnow AKA squaw fish that we will have to "match the hatch" as close as possible. There was only one fish caught in that tourney, and it was on a swimmbait. I picked up a pack of these

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166-cat603337&id=0055973123556a&navCount=1&podId=0055973&parentId=cat603337&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=QL&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233&hasJS=true

in 5 1/2" neon ghost minnow to try and mimic the pike minnow

http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/fishingplanner/htm/Northern%20Pikeminnow.htm

More to report tomorrow night.

buena suerte , meijo

Wow, sounds frustrating!  I went out two days ago and couldn't keep the northern pike off my line. It was probably one of the best northern pike days of my life and would have been better if the wind would have been about 10-15 mph less.  I would have loved to fish for musky, but there are none in the lakes I am near at this time.
-craig

Well I caught one. I think it is the most abused fish in the lake as it had 1/8th a tail, a huge cut on it's side, and a huge slice in it's jaw. None the less a tiger musky, and a good sleigh ride. I didn't get as good of video as I had hoped. The 3 fish I tried to tape were more than willing, but my camera skills weren't up to the job. I strapped my wrist hero on an old paint roller extension rod and shoved it it the water. The rig worked like a champ, but my aim was a bit high. All you get from 2 of the 3 videos is the water surface from below. I did get one good video that I will post later today. For now here is the pic of my beat to hell tiger right before the release. Oh and he was 34" from the tip of the nose to the tip of what tail he had left.

Looks like you need to go after the fish that tried to eat that one   Beautiful fish!

WOW! like craig says, looks like something bigger tried to eat that one.. from your description, might not have been another fish tho

Well I caught one. I think it is the most abused fish in the lake as it had 1/8th a tail, a huge cut on it's side, and a huge slice in it's jaw. None the less a tiger musky, and a good sleigh ride. I didn't get as good of video as I had hoped. The 3 fish I tried to tape were more than willing, but my camera skills weren't up to the job. I strapped my wrist hero on an old paint roller extension rod and shoved it it the water. The rig worked like a champ, but my aim was a bit high. All you get from 2 of the 3 videos is the water surface from below. I did get one good video that I will post later today. For now here is the pic of my beat to hell tiger right before the release. Oh and he was 34" from the tip of the nose to the tip of what tail he had left.

I had another good time today. It was also cool seeing the 4 deer swim across the lake. Lets do it again.

Hendog

Yeah, they are beautiful fish. I would hate to be anything smaller than a 34" musky in those waters though. That is easily the baddest freshwater fish I have ever put my hands on. Apparently 34" musky aren't even all that safe by the looks of this one. I started really paying attention to the condition of the others I was seeing, and quite a few have been chewed on. I'm not surprised with the numbers in there though. Within the first 15 min I had counted a doz different fish ranging from 20" up to 40+. Here is the only half descent video I could muster from todays outing. This fish is right around 40". One of the videos I messed up was one around 50" in cleaner water. Oh well. I know what went wrong, so next time I'll get better footage.