EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a story hardcore musky angler and guide Glenn McDonald wrote for the summer issue in 2024. Hopefully we will find out how Glenn did on opening day in 2025!
The meme of ‘expectation vs reality’ can be highly exaggerated in the real world. In the world of a musky angler, slash, YouTube content creator it can vary wildly. During the opening weekend of 2022 and 2023, things pretty well went according to plan. 2024? Things didn’t go according to any plan I had.
Muskies are muskies
They are not the fish of 10,000 casts for no reason. They will test every ounce of grit you have. When fishing goes well, you feel like a superhero. When it goes bad? That just sucks, no nice way to put it.
Coming off two great seasons, expectations were high, but within reason. Having been musky anglers for over a decade we understand things will not always be easy. With muskies, you have to put in the time and earn ‘the bite’.
Off-season expectations
The off-season is such a great time, not only to look back on the season that was but to look ahead to new goals for the following year. We take time to decompress after the long musky season, that for us ended on November 17, 2023. From the third Saturday in June until ice up it feels like a sprint. We go hard, or as hard as weekend anglers can go. Mixing in editing videos for weekly YouTube content, writing for Hooked Magazine, various musky podcast recordings, and staying ‘connected’ in the musky industry, my schedule is full.
Some time to reflect helps get us recharged. As I started with regular content on YouTube in early January, we seemed to be right back up to speed. Dave Chaval and I attended the Minnesota Musky show in March, and followed that up with a visit to the Muskies Canada Odyssey in April, with fellow 54 or Bust member, Richard Madussi.
Attending these winter shows is a great way to get back into the scene and see what’s new and hot in the industry. Always great seeing old friends and company owners, the musky community is truly a ‘big, small family’.
On with the show
For us, at 54 or Bust, we knew we wanted to take our video content to the next level. New cameras were in order. So during the off-season, we ordered three of the latest action cams to set up around the boat. I also ordered various filters for the cameras, from polarizing filters to anamorphic lenses to simulate lens flares for cinematic effect. All of this was unproven before opening day, more on this later.
Dave and I both purchased new (used) boats over the off-season, mine in the fall and Dave’s just before the season. I added a full array of lithium batteries to my Pro Guide. I also added some additional mounts from ArcLab industries to support cameras and live scope poles. We expected some minor issues, but, more on this later.
The musky season may start in mud June, but that weekend rarely ever tells the story of a season. In the past, we have experienced heartache and failure on opening day, as well as triumph, with multiple fish days. We always go in with the goal of let’s start with the first one, and work from there. Easy, and attainable, we hope.
The reality
The reality of musky fishing can be harsh. Days of struggle, utter defeat. Moments of sheer excitement, bookended with more struggle. The grind of a musky angler is real. Social media hides the hours spent on the water behind a quick ‘grip and grin’ photo that gets a bunch of thumbs up.
Our goal on opening day was to catch a fish and, beyond that, get the new cameras into rotation and working properly. Before we could even attempt those two, I failed at another pre-season goal. This was not the plan. All the batteries were installed correctly, new lithium charger, and a new volt gauge to monitor the batteries. I checked and double-checked my connections. Everything tested good at home, in my yard, beside my garage. Back into the water and no power at the key. Fail!
Turns out the connection at the battery came loose on the road, a quick reinstall after cleaning each wire ring on the battery connection and we were good to go. Save!
On the water, finally. Humminbird graphs, both of them shut down. There goes all my mapping. Fail #2!
In this case, I didn’t have an on-the-water fix. They turned back on but shut off a few times throughout the afternoon. Back at the garage that evening, I found a power wire with various rub marks, exposing the copper wire inside. Shorting out while traveling on the water. A quick fix with new wires, solder, and sealed connections, and day two went without a hitch. Save #2!
Finally fishing our first spot, on opening day 2024, cameras are rolling. Fish on! Twenty minutes into our season I am hooked up. After a short battle and into the bag fish number one of 2024 went. On the board! The best part of catching a musky is the feeling of success, knowing you made the right calls on bait selection, location, and timing. Remember, muskies do not come easy.
For the record, a week before the season we recorded a video talking about lures we are looking forward to using in 2024. In that video, I highlight the Mini Mad Tail from Mad Chasse Lures, fast forward a week and it’s caught a musky in our first video of the year. A quick picture is sent to Mathieu Chasse and he confirms it’s the first ever caught on his new lure. Finally a win for Team 54 or Bust!
Action cameras are like muskies
Thankfully the new cameras caught all the action of the first catch of the season. Shortly after that, on our third spot of the day one camera shut down, displaying a power error message. I removed the battery and powered it from a powerbox, as we always do. Moments later the same error message shut down. Fail #3
I switch back to an older model camera and we continue. Briefly. Half an hour later the other new camera goes off, with the same error message. So much for the off-season camera upgrade. Fail #4
Back to another older camera and we finish our day off. We have several fish look at baits and miss a few chances. High winds, sore arms and hands and we cut our day short. Not a failure, but almost feels like it. I honestly expected some issues going to new cameras, I certainly didn’t expect two new ones to fail so quickly. After some research, it appears to be a firmware issue that has a workaround. A
The takeaway?
Our opening weekend reminded me so much of the ‘expectation vs reality’ meme. We pictured a video with some fish catches, a few minor issues but an overall success. The reality was that it took six months away from filming and running cameras every second day and things didn’t go to plan. I should have planned a day of bass or walleye fishing to test-run all the camera gear before the season. Lesson learned, the hard way. Now it will be a mad rush to fix issues on the fly, in the middle of a busy season.
New boats, new gear, and new accessories? Test and test again before you throw it all into active service. Again, the lesson was learned the hard way. This one is easier to manage for me, albeit I have to be more diligent in routine maintenance and inspection of wiring and connections.
Musky season is a five-month sprint in Northwestern Ontario. Shorter for the casual angler, but for us, we are here until the landing is frozen over. We will have more issues, we will have more solutions. We will catch more muskies and you can follow our journey every step of the way. In November I hope our reality equals expectations.