No Boat to Muskie Fish

[Michael]

I Don't make enough money to buy a Muskie boat,can soneone tell me what to do? I love muskie fishing but Don't know anyone with a boat.I'm very new to this fine sport and would like to find away where I can get out on the water.Please help.I live in Carol Stream a suberb of chicago,ILL. 30 miles west in fact.I'm will to share all the cost it may involve.Please help!!!!!!!!!!

[Slamr]

Michael,
Others like you exist in my clan....yes, they are lesser memmbers of the clan, but they get into clanmembers boats. We are Chicago based, and always looking for more nutz to join the ranks....

Slamr
*can anyone tell i've been drinking tonight?
Muskies....."By Any Means Necessary!"

[chad]

Michael,
A good place to start is your local Musky's Inc. Chapter.

[Tom B]

I joined MI 5 years before I bought my first boat. I was able to fish with other members enough to learn the basics, net a bunch of fish and have a ton of fun. There are many MI chapters that have phone lists of members with boats that are happy to take others out with them. if you are a gracious guest and offer to pay for gas or other expenses, you will be asked to go again and again.

Tom B

[jm_03]

Take it from a guy that spent more then 30 days on the water this year, and counting....Make sure you pay more then your share and bring really good lunches for your hosts.

[Schuler]

I fished half this year without a boat, until i found a good deal. I got a 12 foot plastic jon boat brand new for $350. It actually worked fine for muskie fishing. If not, there is always docks and rental boats. You wouldn't believe how many follows I got off one dock.


-Zach Schuler

[jm_03]

You may want to join MI and attend some of our chapter meetings. We have a no boater list which boaters use to take non-boaters out. Our meetings are the second Wednesday of the month at the Elign Ramada near Rt30 and I90, not too far from where you live.

[Slamr]

jm_03's key to dragging all my friends away: bring GOOD LUNCH and Pay for the gas!!! AND, he'll never out fish you, so you'll always feel tough at the end of the day, at least compared to someone!!!!

Slamr
Muskies....."By Any Means Necessary!"

[ToddM]

Micheal, that elgin MI chapter is a pretty good one. They always have good speakers and quite a few members. I ran into a few having a friendly tournament on shabbona this past weekend. The boat that won it was the smallest, cheapest boat in the bunch. It would give slamr's boat a run for the money. They were fishing against guys who had 10X more money in their boats.

I am not sure what your price range is for a boat or what your expectations for a boat are. Pick up a trading times. There are some cheap boats in there. I found a trade paper at the shell in yorkville on the corner of 47 and 71 that is out of peoria and if you get a chance to get a trading paper from an area by a good river (mississippi, illinois, rock, kankakee) there are tons of cheap john boats with motors and trailers. I have seen them for as little as 200 bucks.

[tomyv]

slamr,
I had to get drunk this weekend in order to drown my sorrows of another fishless weekend. Went out friday, and today, with no luck. Where did they go?

[boro]

Slamr,

That's part of his deal. Why do you think he misses so many fish with us? When he does hook a whopper he shakes it off. He's just trying to not out fish us so we'll bring him back for more. A good lunch helps too.

:)

[Slamr]

So that's it!!! I didn't think anyone would screw up that often on PURPOSE. Never realized he was so slick!!!
***also, tell him to grow a pair and call Ed himself....I CAN'T GO UP NORTH AGAIN!!!

Slamr
Muskies....."By Any Means Necessary!"

[Lungin]

Slamr,

You're getting married very, very soon!!! That's the kind of leverage most married guys wish they still had! You CAN go north again. Make it so!

Brad

[Darren B]

Like Todd says...you can pick up a pretty cheap johnboat rig for pretty cheap if you search the used boats sections of the trading times or boat trader online. These smaller rigs can even be towed with midsized cars.

Also keep in mind that there are plenty of places where you can fish for muskies where you don't need a boat. The Shabbona lake shorelines(where 2 of the state record fish were caught by shorefisherman) is a good place to go, as is the Fox River. Plenty of muskies near Aurora and South Elgin on the Fox.

[Ranger]

Mike,

You don't need one of those zillion dollar Rangers or Tuffies, and you sure don't want the payments! Get 'yer own boat!!, and you can do it cheapo. Here's my suggestion...try to find an older 14' aluminum semi-deep v, like a Blue Fin, with a 10-20 horse motor on a decent little trailer. Over time you can add a fish finder and trolling motor, replace seats, add lights, etc. Don't get a 12' boat, they're too small for bigger boat wakes and way too small for 2 people musky fishing. A 16 footer may be too big for you to handle by yourself on a windy day at the boat landing, and you can get hung up in shallower water on rivers. 14'ers are safe, stable and light, they're great in shallow waters, and you can pull them easy with that v-6 in your car. Shop for one in the fall for the very best deals (try to find that old guy that didn't use it once last summer and now he's got to pay to store it for another dang winter.)

About 10 years ago my Dad and I split the $1,000 cost of old Blue Fin w/ 18hp motor, that had been modified by its handy first owner. The smartest thing the guy did was pull the front two bench seats out, trim down the larger of the two and rivet it back in toward the front of the boat (but not quite as far forward as the original front bench seat). He then strengthed the bench seat top surfaces with .25" sheets of aluminum, which did a fine job of supporting the $5.00 used pedastels and seats he found at a boat junkyard. Then he added a strong marine grade plywood floor between the seats and in the front of the boat, with a nifty battery box in the front, too. Man, I dragged that little boat a thousand miles behind a Subaru Wagon with a 4 banger engine. Over the years I've upgraded things like the motor, electric, etc, when I could afford to. It works great for us.

Hope these ideas are helpful..

Rick