What would you do to catch a fish? Ask any musky fisherman that question, and you’ll likely be met with a response consisting of profanity, obscenity, and a touch of witchcraft. In other words, their limits to catch a musky know no bounds. Die-hard musky anglers at their core are some of the most passionate, obsessive, and twisted individuals on the water. They’re gluttons for punishment, often fishing for weeks without so much as a follow. It’s a game of wits, extreme mental fortitude, and a lot of luck. In their desperation to tangle with the fish of 10,000 casts, superstitions are born out of necessity. After filming and fishing with the Musky Fool crew, here are six of our favorite musky superstitions we picked up on.
1. “Where’s the net (or other important gear you forgot)?”
Musky seem to have an innate ability to catch you with your pants down. Forgot the net…that’s good enough for a few fish day. Left the pliers at home…a musky will surely inhale your fly past rows of razor-sharp teeth. Didn’t bring that 12-wt…get ready for the biggest fish of the year. You get the point: if you forget something important, it’s going to be a good day of fishing. Just don’t plan on intentionally “forgetting” something—the musky gods can tell. Contrived forgetfulness just leaves you fishless and unprepared.
2. Net Garbage
Here’s the scenario: your buddy hooks a fish, you sprint for the net, scoop the fish, and look down. You both gaze upon the mythical muskellunge along with a beer can, sandwich wrapper, box of flies, and so on. For whatever reason, muskies have a knack for knowing when there’s garbage in your net. We experienced this firsthand on Fly Shop Tour—only after chugging a Two-Hearted Ale and throwing it in the net did we catch the biggest fish of the trip. For the extra superstitious, here are a few more rules to follow:
- The trash must end up there naturally; forcing yourself to use the net as a trash bag does nothing.
- Garbage doesn’t carry over between trips.
- Don’t try to recreate garbage magic.
3. Sacrifices to the Musky Gods
The almighty musky gods giveth and they taketh, but a sure way to make sure they giveth is with some sort of sacrifice. The good news is they’re not too picky with what that is. Some common sacrifices the Musky Fool crew has encountered over the years include broken rods, boat crashes, engine failures, and hooking oneself. Basically, if anything bad happens, the fishing will be good, and the worse things get, the better the musky bite.
4. The Lucky Fly
Fishing boils down to using the right fly at the right time, but musky didn’t get that memo. If you catch a musky on a fly, that fly now has good juju. In some instances, you might be able to add it to your box of lucky flies. In others, that is now the only fly that will work the rest of the year. Don’t bother replicating it either; there’s no guarantee it will work. There’s really no rhyme or reason why or how a fly becomes lucky, but once one does, be ready to go swimming, because you must get that fly back no matter the cost.
5. Overconfidence
Tell any seasoned musky veteran it’s going to be a great day of fishing, and you might as well get back in your truck and drive home. For a fish that lives underwater, they have surprisingly good hearing, and that dockside chatter will leave them tight-lipped. This same superstition applies to weather conditions, too. Murmur one thing about that perfect weather window, and you’re probably better off working on your tan than fishing.
6. Beginner’s Luck
Musky…the fish of 10,000 casts or in some cases one. Beginner’s luck is responsible for more big fish every year than experienced anglers would care to admit, and musky fishing is no exception. Perhaps it stems from a new angler’s lack of suppressed trauma from getting their teeth kicked in by a fish time and time again, or maybe it’s a musky’s trick to keep you coming back. Whatever it is, beginner’s luck is real and even a welcome sight for experienced guys—selfishly, this luck applies to everyone in the boat.
Musky Magic
No matter how long you fly fish for musky, there’s always a curveball they’ll throw your way. They’re one of the most unpredictable and unpatternable fish out there. It requires focus and dedication, which is where superstitions come into play. Perhaps there’s something to them, or perhaps they’re just an excuse to stay the course for that one fish.
