Articles : Remembering Muskie Times

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Remembering Muskie Times
By: Steven James Rusteberg

I remember a time when muskie fishing wasn’t as popular as it is today. It wasn’t more than twenty (or so) years ago when muskie lore and the stories out numbered muskie catches. I remember walking into sport shows when only a small handful of muskie lure manufactures attended. There were no shows dedicated to only muskie fishing as there is today. Small booths and vendors adorned the “major” fishing shows of the time, to sell their homemade lures. Most lures where manufactured in basements in small quantities and priced well under eight dollars or so.

Times have changed rapidly. Muskie fisherman now are a common sight on Illinois waters. On most days your average catch will outnumber your average number of stories. And now muskie fisherman have their own trade shows and seminars. Your average lure is mass produced by big injection molding manufacturing companies and is sold to the average angler at the low, low price of just over fifteen dollars ($25 - $150 for the real good ones??!!). I have always wondered where the muskie fisherman will draw the line on the average price of terminal tackle. In fact, \I believe most muskie tackle manufactures are limiting their sales by only allowing an angler to by one, or two of their lures in just a few select colors or styles. Their business stagitity involves selling fewer lures, at a higher margin, yet producing many more because of advancements in technology and manufacturing. I don’t get it??!!

I remember a time when muskie lures were very affordable and I would buy six to ten lures of the same style in assorted colors. Those times have changed! I remember when only two or three muskie rods were available and manufactures had a jerkbait rod and a bucktail rod. That was it. Now countless numbers of manufactures have flooded the market with everything from a “broom stick” to a muskie fly rod. It is just enough to make a new muskie angler turn the other way because of too many choices and too much money outlay to get started.

Something is happening in our “little niche” of and industry. I am not sure what that is, or where the sport is going, but (of course) I have my thoughts. I think muskie fishing is turning into an elite sport. At this rate, in only a few years, muskie fishing may become the sport for the wealthy. It may just appeal to the doctor and layer (no offense to hard working, reasonably priced doctors or layers) type with money to blow. It is something that we should not be proud of. Muskie fishing (and fishing in general) should be available and affordable for everyone.

Tournament Trails are growing in popularity and attendance. No longer is $1,500 a major tournament win like the old days. I remember when I was younger and fished D-Bar-D Resorts Muskie Rodeos. When you were able to cash a pay check of $1,500 or less it was a major tourney win. Now tournaments have grown from $20,000 purses and on upward to $100,000 purses, and beyond. Where will they stop? Will tournament muskie fishing become an event to watch on cable or on “The Wild World of Sports”? Will we ever see the ultimate release tournament called “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild World of Muskie Fishing”? Will muskie fishing tournaments only be available to advanced anglers with sponsors because the entry fee is too much to risk for your average muskie angler? Will tournaments turn into “Vegas” type events? Bass fishing has already touched this level.

Boats are another item that have gone a long way. I bet just about everyone reading this article has upgraded from wood, to aluminum boat, and maybe even into fiberglass. And if your boat doesn’t have at least a fifteen horse power engine on it you may be living in the past. Most of your muskie boats are equipped with one-hundred fifty horse power or better. Most will burn cleaner than ever before in history, a good thing and something to be proud of, but with these new advancements retail prices go up. I would be willing to bet that most have on board an electric trolling motor and state of the art technology. Electronics usually have some sort of GPS (Global Positioning System). What happened to the days of wooden rowboats, three horse power Sears Roebuck motors, and drift fishing over depths that were never accurately known? Not all things are bad! But they have become expensive for the average hobbyist angler.

There was a time when you could launch on a lake in Illinois for nearly free. Now everything, even putting that fourteen thousand dollar boat in the water costs money. I can’t believe what it costs me to muskie fish Illinois waterways. I can easily spend over three hundred dollars just to launch my boat every year in launch fees alone. Tell me this isn’t wrong! Every federal, state, county, and even private launch has its hand in the preverbal cookie jar. Access fees have become unaffordable. It is coming down to only be able to fish selected muskie waters or limiting your search to only a few. Most lakes are not muskie producers all year long so this alone will limit your success.

Even the average size of fish has gone up over the last twenty years. I can remember as early as the late eighties when a forty-eight inch fish was the upper echelon of trophy catches in Muskies Inc. records. Now, Muskies Inc. consistently has a muskie registered over fifty-five inches and fifty inches rarely make the top one hundred entries of the year. A forty-eight inch fish is just another muskie now a day. Another expectation falsely imposed upon us. Are more anglers fishing, are muskies growing bigger because of catch and release, or more waters being to become explored by knowledgeable, properly equipped anglers? Hugh, I remember an angler named Len Hartman who used to catch fish on ten pound test and a row boat? Will some of our muskie World Records fall in the near future just because of how far we have come?

Finally, I can remember a time when I caught fourteen muskies in one year… and it was a great year!. Several years later I could average fifty fish in a year with about the same amount of time on the water. Year to day, I have one hundred and twenty nine muskies on the year and I am wondering if I have learned more and become a smarter muskie fisherman, or there are just more fish to be had due to Illinois aggressive stocking program. I compete on the Professional Muskie Tournament Trail (PMTT) and it seems that everyone is having little difficulty putting multi-muskie in the boat each day. This never happened in years past. Why is it happening now? To this, I don’t know the answer?

Muskie fishing is changing at an alarming rate. Its focal point is no longer centered on one fish years, or a had full of cheap lures, or a wooden boat, and low priced accessible waterways. No, the sport is becoming elite, and I am not in favor of all the advancement. I hope in the near (immediate) future we can slow time, stop rushing, and return to what all of us have inside our heart and sole when it comes to muskie fishing. We can fish smart, we can be reasonable, and we can show an example together where our (market) sport is going. Let’s work together and enjoy muskie fishing (and all fishing) again, and prevent this sport from becoming a sport for the rich and famous.