what do you guys use for power

It was good for me, I only got out three times and only caught one myself but I was able to put 6 people on fish, 5 of which it was their first. Biggest was 46″, my wife’s first…

Had a tough go of it Fished Mil Lacs twice,once in July,the other the last week of Oct. Never netted a fish.

I still cannot wait for next season,the “Pond” owes me one!
14 Is still pretty damn good Jeremy,good show

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14 Is still pretty damn good Jeremy,good show

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You might think differently if you knew how much time I put in this year

After thinking about it, I am almost opposite of you Jeremy. I wound up with 2 fish this year out of 10-12 days fishing muskies. I think I would have improved my odds by fishing only 1 or 2 bodies of water and tried to develop some sort of pattern. I don’t think I fished the same body of water more that twice this year, which made me feel like I was guessing for the most part on where the fish would be. I think that being on the same lake at least once every couple of weeks would make those after work 3 hour trips more productive. Oh, yeah and a PB in 2008

I ended up with 9 best a 42. Between the 3 of us that fish togeather we totaled 40 boated all but 3 from Iowa bigges a 50″

I had a good and a bad year. “Good” being that I caught two over 50 inches this year with a 51.5 being my personal best. In my third year of muskie fishing, I now have three over 50 inches in my life. “Bad” being that I caught fewer fish this year (10 muskies) than I did in my first and second year of muskie fishing. In fact, my numbers have gone down every year, lol. 24 my first year, 20 my second, and 10 this year. I think this is because of the fact that I’ve been targeting bigger lakes like Mille Lacs, and even Leech, and not fishing smaller lakes that have more “numbers” in them. But in all honesty, Mille Lacs really kicks my butt, but for some odd reason, I keep going there thinking someday I’m going to land that fish of a lifetime.

I should’ve also noted that the reason why I feel that my 10 fish year was somewhat dissapointing is because of the extreme amount of time that I put in this year. I’m not saying that you other guys had a poor year as well with about the same amount of fish caught as myself. I fished so much this year and had so many days where I didn’t catch any muskies that it’s not even funny. So please don’t take it the wrong way wth me saying that my 10 fish year was bad. Next year my goal is 30 fish!! Time for ice fishing!!!!

I must say that I feel Baby Mallard’s “one lake blues”. October/November found me in the middle of trying to teach my youngest son to hunt and shuffling career moves so I never got to get into my prime temperature ranges for the lake I dedicated my efforts to. It also screwed up my study of plastics vs. meat scenario. It was beginning to take shape but then went totally cold. It did last year too but once water got into the mid-lower 40’s, it went nuts! I never fished water colder than 52* this year.

As for my Deer Lake results, the lake’s reputation is stout as ever. A gazillion fish present but very low on seriously active fish. Follows were great for me this year…….. had more than ever! But closing the deal was my kryptonite! I had more fish slunk away at the boat than ever before. Unsure why but hopefully I’ll get it figured out before I die! Without writing logs, I’d guesstimate a total of 12-15 outings with an average of 2-3 fish follows per trip. You know, some days 1, some 6, another 3, another 2, return once more for a 4, then blank. Overall, “guessing” where the fish were wasn’t my biggest challenge on most days. BUT, 5 strikes, 4 hookups, 1 netted, only 38″. I feel downright sheepish. My goal was to take a “tough lake” and learn how to get good with “tough fish”. If I get good on hard to catch, high pressure lakes, I should be much better at success on other waters………right???

I’m a little discouraged.

On a bright note…… ……..First Saturday in May, the traditional WI opening weekend, is opening a catch and release ONLY muskie season for lakes north of Hwy. 10, starting May 2008!!! All you need to qualify is barbless hooks so here’s to an earlier start on next year’s efforts!!!

Starting a new career though and it’s going to interfere with my fishing for a couple years while I build up the resume’ to get into more available time again. I predict less outings but most should still be weekdays and I’ll be looking to pair up on a trip or two with anyone who wants to test their skills against the muskies on the St. Croix or Deer/Bone Lakes in ’08!

I’m sure you will figure them out kid. Put your time in and it will work out. I’m no expert by any means obviously, but one thing that has worked for me and others that I know on fishing high pressured lakes, is that muskies will tend to feed more at night. I know night fishing is not really friendly to people with busy schedules, but if you can find time to learn some techniques at night (especially clear water lakes), I think it would pay off with some nice results. The 51.5 incher that I caught this year was at night and it’s making me be a big “night” believer. Maybe we can get out next year some time. I’m getting ready for ice now, except this snow storm is really putting a damper on my plans.

I threw in the towel a few weeks ago. I ended up with 8 for the year with at least that many coming from my partners. Not even close to my goal of 20. However i am stoked for next summer! I caught three that were what i consider pigs! 49-48-46! Also got to put the net under a few nice ones as well for a few rookies. What a awesome time being in the boat when someone loses there virginity! For what its worth, i had alot of action at midday and other not so prime times.

I wish we could get a night bite on our Clear waters. Weekends are busy with pleasureboaters and more and more muskie guys out and about. Although alot of our fish were boated between noon and 5. Only a few a dusk and maybe only 1 or 2 before noon. No topwater and no night bite here to speak of.

Thanks for the encouragement Baby Mallard! Uh… yeah…. if we can orchestrate an outing together for ’08, I’d love to share the boat and see what I can learn! In the meantime, I hope your ice shapes up! I gotta go work!

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I wish we could get a night bite on our Clear waters. Weekends are busy with pleasureboaters and more and more muskie guys out and about. Although alot of our fish were boated between noon and 5. Only a few a dusk and maybe only 1 or 2 before noon. No topwater and no night bite here to speak of.

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no topwater bite at all here. midday bite almost all yr. slow at what i thought would be prime times . blue bird days produced fish. let down by really good condition days w/ overcast, wind, storm approaching, etc.

I can relate to that slow rollin, same deal here prime days are like the dead sea clear blue flat days produce multiple fish. Guess thats why we fish when we can and take what we get.

Try and eliminate unproductive water. I put in more time on water that I had never fished before this year and seem to spend time in places the fish were not. Would love to top 45″ next year

Could you clarify what you mean by unproductive water? A lake as a whole or areas with lower number of encounters?

I’m curious because I focused on a high populus/high pressure lake this year and honestly, I managed to see fish almost everywhere on the lake, save the open water basin. I tend to follow the “food = predator presence” theory as much as I can and on this particular body of water, open water forage tends to be a largely absent factoring. I’m not sure if it’s because of the thermocline or not but until the lake turns in the fall, I rarely see anything on the graph out there.

Anyway, on my water of choice in ’07, I did encounter a lot of fish but the consistant areas of old weren’t so consistant this year and it was possible to see one almost anywhere. Yet, in spite of much regularity with follows, the hook ups were hurtin’ for me. So, in light of what/how I did, I’m curious to understand better what you mean by eliminating unproductive water.

what I mean is to actually get a plan of attack down before I go out. This year I would spend time thinking weeds and I would find active fish on rock piles late in the day. I just need to figure these guys out more and stop spending hours focused on the same structure when it is not working.

Ahhhh,……. …… gotcha!

Glad to see some of you guys hooked into some nice fish. Oh yeah, most important goal for me for next year is to not break 3 Diamondback rods!

I don’t feel bad now I only broke a Techna AV, but since my wife must love me she got me a G Loomis to replace it with.

I’d have to say that my year sucked I screwed up the only real chance I had at a nice fish so instead of putting the screws to her, I opted to over think the situation I did get out with a few new friends which was a blast, (thanks Dave Scott, and Kid) but for the most part I fished alone which gets boring and frustrating so I developed a defeatest attitude but thats why they call it fishing I have high hopes for 08′ and am hoping to meet more people to get out with aswell as cultivate those new friendships I developed this year Eventhough I didn’t even put one in the boat, I did enjoy seeing everyone elses pics It helps me to remember why we do what we do

What do you guys use to power up your trail cams. I bought mine and it used 4 d cell batteries and found out they were short lived. I went to radio shack and bought a male jack that inserts into the camera, just like the battery pack that I could have bought but thought was too expensive. I bought a length of wire and two alligator clips for hooking to the battery. I haven’t used it enough to wear down the lawn tractor battery yet but the salesmen behind the counter said it should run along time with few charges, 325 amps. This season will tell.

6 D batteries in my moultries, take 100’s, if not thousands of still pics and 5 second videos.

4 C batteries for the Wildview’s

4 D’s in the Cudde and its got 75% power left after over 500 pics so far this season…they have duracell in em

4D’s in my Cuddes. I use Duracells, seem to be better in the cold than Nevergizers….

big G