The Spoonpluggers Forum

Jerry is one fishing fanatic! Go for it man!!

Thanks Jerry. That was very fun to watch. I’d love to pick your brain about barotrauma. Not so much for Lakers but rather for Muskie. I’ve been sharing what I learned from studying and spoonplugging (1st year) with my Muskie friends. They basically are ready to kick me out of MN if I fish for them in more than 20’ of water. You obviously target and succeed in catching Muskie. What are your convictions and experiences with the survival rate of Muskie caught in deeper water?

Thanks in advance,
Ken

Thank you Jim! Hope all is well.

MA, Glad to hear you liked it! I picked up a couple more subscribers (may be up to 40, basically all family haha) Prior to this video I was feeling some pressure to put out another. Trying to keep the momentum going with at least 1 video every 3-4 years. Lol!

Happy to talk about the muskies, love talking about muskies! The 1st thing I'd do is get some new friends because obviously they haven't caught many fish in 20 feet of water.

Now I'm not going to claim sainthood either and say that every single one of the 2200 muskies that hit my net survived, just not possible and neither is the guys using sucker rigs, just saying.
 
As you know Buck Perry says the fish react differently in the shallows vs deepwater. With lm bass this occurs at a depth of 8-10'. Than means water shallower than 8-10' is classified as the shallows and water deeper than 10' as deepwater.

 I have been fishing for muskies in "deepwater" for the the last 25 years and rarely had an issue with reviving a fish.

Let's think about this, my buddy's and I have been fishing "deepwater" for muskies in Canada for the last 18 years. 3 guys just caught 114. Now I don't think we were killing em the previous 17 years? If so we were doing a pretty poor job of it!

In my opinion one of the most important things Buck Perry ever said was, "Deepwater is the Home of the Fish". Question, why would I present lures where fish don't live?
Best of luck in 22!
Jerry

Fishermen for the most part are a selfish group. They don't realize that there are no secrets to success. I will tell you this...... As your success grows and grows, some of your friends will start to not like you any more. Be ready to get pounded from all sides because of your success. This will give you more reason to push yourself to learn even more. The musky guys, more than any other group, seem to protect the fish of 10,000 casts, so hearing them complaining about not fishing for them in the heat of the summer or deep is just something for them to complain about when they are not catching enough. There are very few fisherman out there who have the knowledge of when and how to catch the muskies below 32 feet anyways. I think that might be the depth where if you catch any fish, there might be a chance of them not doing well. Regardless of the facts, thats not something we should worry about. I caught a ton of musky below that depth and had one fish that would not go back down. I think it is a lot about how the fish are handled. A quick release is most of the time a good release. If you are going to fish for the musky, you should have the right equipment, know how to handle the fish and be ready to take a quick pic if its worthy, so the fish can be released to fight another day. I think Jerry would agree with me. It is so funny that someone made musky fishing a casting thing. Yes watching a fish follow and catching that fish on a figure 8 would be cool to watch but for most of the time, trolling is the best way to catch the most and the biggest. If I am casting for musky, I am anchored down on a contact point, not covering a bunch of shallow water in hopes of a bite. Terry said it best. You can make the musky a fish of 10,000 casts or one good trolling pass. John

Great video Jerry!

Thanks Jerry and John. I appreciate your insight. I met John Bales at Fran’s lake place last summer and he said essentially the same thing that Jerry said “you’ll lose some friends and find some new ones”. Haha. I don’t care if people attack me when I’m successful (well, maybe I do but I’ll learn). All of us want to protect our lakes and fish. But, all too often I see unsuccessful fishermen hide behind failure and blame water temps, fish too deep, fish too “educated”, moon not in the right position, cold front/warm front, blah, blah, blah. I know because I was one of them. After studying Buck’s teaching, participating on this forum and working last summer to learn boat control and presentation of lures, I learned that you can catch fish when you do the work and learn how fish use and move within structure. I’ve only scratched the surface and don’t feel I’m ready to spend much time in deeper than 15 FOW - until I learn to always know where I am on the water. When I know where I am, I catch fish. When I get lost, I don’t. And when I do occasionally catch a fish while lost I can’t answer the why. But I appreciate hearing about the successes of those fishing the deeper waters and seeing that it doesn’t have a detrimental effect on the fish.

Ken

Jerry, I compliment you for the passion and desire you exhibit to be on the water! Always enjoyed hearing your thoughts and experiences. All the best in 2022.

As a friend told me, "you sure make it look easy."

LOL!!!
Like Neil said, You make it look easy!!!
Excellent video!
Keep them coming!
Love those Electric Trolling Reels too!
Finally got one and now Im hooked! Should of done it a long time ago!!!
Great video my friend.
Steve

Nice job!

Thanks a bunch, much appreciated! Looking forward to the new year.
Ok Brett, your turn.