My one and only Muskie, caught in Fox Chain of Lakes, Illinois
Muskie
Muskie are a fine fish and very challenging to catch. So challenging, in fact, that I’ve never really understood why people bother pursuing them. I caught one in my life, a 35” fish caught in Fox Lake, Illinois. I’m glad I got one (after a long day of casting and trolling) just so I can say I caught one but I have never felt any desire to fish for them since then. One Muskie caught in 10 hours of casting is considered a “good day”, and definitely not every day is going to be a “good day”. They fight ok but are definitely nothing special in the grand scheme of things. To me they seem like almost the same fish as the Northern Pike, which are much more aggressive and plentiful and you can load the boat with them on a good day. Muskie do get larger than Pike but you are likely going to have to put in many, many hours of casting to get a big one.
My friend Gary from Wisconsin frequently pursues them and on some of his trips after fishing exclusively for Muskie for three or four days he sometimes only gets one in the boat. If I fish exclusively for one species for that long I want to be catching a bunch of them. Even when fishing for Marlin I expect a better success rate than that.
I’m sure Muskie fans will leap to their defense and passionately extoll their sporting virtues. While they seem like a fine fish I have no desire to put in the time necessary to pursue them; there are a lot of other things I would rather catch. Obviously I don’t have much to say about how to catch them, so here are some resources:
Muskie are a fine fish and very challenging to catch. So challenging, in fact, that I’ve never really understood why people bother pursuing them. I caught one in my life, a 35” fish caught in Fox Lake, Illinois. I’m glad I got one (after a long day of casting and trolling) just so I can say I caught one but I have never felt any desire to fish for them since then. One Muskie caught in 10 hours of casting is considered a “good day”, and definitely not every day is going to be a “good day”. They fight ok but are definitely nothing special in the grand scheme of things. To me they seem like almost the same fish as the Northern Pike, which are much more aggressive and plentiful and you can load the boat with them on a good day. Muskie do get larger than Pike but you are likely going to have to put in many, many hours of casting to get a big one.
My friend Gary from Wisconsin frequently pursues them and on some of his trips after fishing exclusively for Muskie for three or four days he sometimes only gets one in the boat. If I fish exclusively for one species for that long I want to be catching a bunch of them. Even when fishing for Marlin I expect a better success rate than that.
I’m sure Muskie fans will leap to their defense and passionately extoll their sporting virtues. While they seem like a fine fish I have no desire to put in the time necessary to pursue them; there are a lot of other things I would rather catch. Obviously I don’t have much to say about how to catch them, so here are some resources:
