running. These are big bodies of water, and this approach means that you will have a head start on fish locations and presentations at the start of each trip. Some of the more successful fishermen I know book the same week at the same resort for years and years. As good is Canada can be, it isn't necessarily where I would recommend a beginning musky fishermen start. My hourly fishing average is actually much better in Wisconsin for numbers of musky caught and I still catch many trophies fishing close to home. I know the same is true throughout much of musky country. Putting time on the lakes that are closer and more accessible provides a solid experience base that allows the fishermen to be more effective when they fish other lakes. What you don't often see in videos or read in magazines or hear at seminars are the days, sometimes weeks, when fishermen go without catching anything. If you want to catch a trophy musky, catching nothing is part of the price that comes with success. There are no magic lures, secret techniques or shortcuts to success. Sure there are always people that just get lucky, but for the rest of us, all we can do is make the commitment necessary to build upon our knowledge to improve our instincts and insights while on the water and continually refine our techniques to make us more effective over a lifetime of fishing. When I conducted my interviews for my book "All Pro Muskie Guides", I asked every one of the guides the same question: "Why aren't more big muskies caught?" Their answers were pretty much the same. Big fish are cautious, wary and they have become "water smart". Some muskies spend their lives in deeper water and never come to the shallows where most fishermen spend their time. My friend Tom Swanson thinks that some of them that don’t get caught get lucky and just fall between the cracks. Maybe nature
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