Muskie Talk With Josh Borovsky
Category: article
Feb 26th, 2007 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Feb 26th, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Josh Borovsky operates a muskie guide service throughout the state of Minnesota, with an emphasis on water of the Twin Cities metro area, Mille Lacs, and Lake Vermilion. He is a successful tournament muskie angler, including a PMTT World Championship victory in 2005.An accomplished fishing educator, Josh frequently writes articles appearing in Esox Angler magazine, and has been featured on television in episodes of The Next Bite and Lindners Angling Edge. Josh is also a seminar speaker offering Seminar presentations throughout muskie country.Josh BorovskyWebsite: http://www.promuskieguide.com/email: [email protected] : (612) 508-2759 Josh sat down with MuskieFirst to answer some questions about himself and his fishing career.M1st: How long have you been guiding for muskies, and what do you like most about being a guide?Josh Borovsky: I have been guiding since the late nineties. It was always something I had in interest in doing even as a child. I enjoy seeing the excitement in my clients especially if it’s someone’s first muskie, biggest muskie, or a first figure 8 muskie. Sometimes I think I get more excited than they do!M1st: What sets you apart as a guide? What do you do that is unique or different?Josh Borovsky: I am really making a strong effort to focus on my customers and what they want to get out of the experience. I used to think everyone just wanted to catch fish and that was it; now I know better. Different people want to get different things out of a guide trip. Some people may want to learn new spots, some a specific technique, some want a 50 incher or bust, others might be very happy with a 37 incher or just entertaining their business clients for the day.For this reason, I am designing a survey for my clients this year so that I can custom tailor the guide trip ahead of time specifically to their needs and expectations. I have also created an evaluation form for my clients to complete after the trip. The evaluation will give me feedback on how I can continue to improve as a guide and better meet my customer’s needs.I also have a degree in elementary education and a background in working with children and adults who have special needs. I think that skill set gives me a lot of versatility when it comes to communicating with a wide variety of clients of varying ages, needs, and abilities.M1st: What can clients expect during a day on the water with you? Josh Borovsky: I guess my short answer would be they can expect to get what they want. If they want instruction on particular techniques, then that’s what they’ll get. If they want to target big fish and swing for the fences, then we will. If they want to fish 16 to 18 hours we can do that. If they want to fish eight hours and take a lunch break in the middle of the day we can do that too.It’s hard to answer that because of the way I run my guide service. The answer to the question depends on the specific person I am talking to and what they hope to get out of the experience.M1st: Tell me about “Pink Days”. What are they, and why do you think they are special?Josh Borovsky: Every year, I make my own custom moon calendar. There are a handful of key days that I highlight in pink. Basically, these are days where there is significant overlap between the perigee of the moon and a full moon or new moon. It usually only happens a few times each season. For the past seven years in a row, the biggest fish in my boat has been caught on a pink day. I charge guide clients slightly more to fish on these days, but theyve found it to be well worth it.M1st: What do you see as key to becoming a successful muskie angler?Josh Borovsky: I would have to say being a reflective person is most important. I think this applies to a lot more in life than just muskie fishing. Generally, when things go well, they go well for a reason and when they don’t go well there’s usually a reason behind that too.Consistently successful muskie anglers (and successful people in general) tend to look at their successful experiences and try to replicate or better yet refine them. They also look at unsuccessful experiences and ask: How would I approach this differently next time?M1st: How can someone get ahold of you to schedule a guide trip, and what are your rates?Josh Borovsky: My new website is up and running at http://www.promuskieguide.com/ It has full information on how to get ahold of me, as well as my rates. I have a wide range of options to meet the clients needs, including 4-hour Metro trips for $200, 8-hour Metro trips for $325, and 8-hour trips on Vermilion, Mille Lacs, or other northern waters for $350. Its only $50 extra to have an extended day of over 10 hours, and an extra $50 to fish one of the Pink Days which I believe are key trophy fish activity times. I can also negotiate pricing for multiple-day trips, multiple boats, 16-hour marathon days, and even some shorter evening trips in the Metro area.People are always welcome to get ahold of me directly:phone : (612) 508-2759 email: [email protected]: How did you get interested in fishing tournaments? What are some of your career highlights?Josh Borovsky: I competed in tournaments as a child and really enjoyed them as a kid. I became interested in tournaments as an adult for different reasons. I still enjoy them at times, but there are also times when I ask myself why I am out frothing the water with 100 plus other boats when I could be somewhere else with the muskies all to myself. Fishing tournaments as an adult is more of business decision: tournaments offer an avenue to build relationships with sponsors and other successful anglers in the industry. Tournaments have also provided some great learning opportunities that have made me a better angler. Obviously, the biggest highlight would be when my partner Troy Zuelke and I won the PMTT World Championship in 2005. M1st: How has tournament fishing impacted your approach to guiding? Josh Borovsky: I am not sure that tournament fishing has really changed how I guide. With some clients I almost feel like I am in tournament mode. With others it is totally different. Again it really depends on who I have in the boat as a client and what their skill level is along with what they hope to get out of the day.M1st: What tournaments will you be fishing in ’07? Josh Borovsky: That is still up in the air a little a bit. Right now it looks like I will be fishing the entire Minnesota Muskie Trail (MMTT) and probably the Professional Muskie Trail (PMTT) event on Cass Lake. I might be adding to the list as I am still in the process of negotiating some contracts with potential sponsors. Once that is finished I will make some final decisions and updated information will be posted to my website.M1st: You are often featured in Esox Angler magazine, where do you draw your inspiration for articles?Josh Borovsky: When I read an article, the reason I am reading it is to learn something that will help me catch more fish or bigger fish. So obviously, I try to include a lot of “how to” and when possible the “why” behind the “how to”. I try to touch on things that tend to get overlooked in other articles or go more in detail on a topic that others have covered. But, the more you do it. The more challenging it becomes to offer fresh/new ideas on something. There are only so many things write about so I try to bring a different perspective on them. M1st: Esox Angler also features pike and walleyes: how do other gamefish species or baitfish species influence your thinking and fishing for muskies?Josh Borovsky: At times they influence me. Obviously, there is food chain down there and if you know where parts of it exist, it helps piece together the puzzle. I think the crossover between saltwater tactics and muskie tactics intrigues me most at times. Issues such as thermal currents, using towers/saltwater boats to spot and target fish, and some high speed trolling baits have potential muskie applications. M1st: You’ve been featured on television shows such as The Next Bite, Lindner’s Angling Edge, Ron Scharas Minnesota Bound, and Gander Mountains We Live Outdoors. What is it like “under pressure” trying to boat muskies with the TV camera rolling?Josh Borovsky: The first time working with someone new is always the most stressful. Especially, if I am the one who made the call on what lake we are fishing and when we will be there. Luckily for me, I have had the “camera horseshoe” with me in the boat on the first time trips. While it’s a little nerve racking, it’s a great feeling when you come through under pressure, especially right out of the gate.M1st: Josh can be seen on upcoming episodes:Minnesota Bound on Kare-11 (MN): 2/25 10:35pm and 3/03 6:30pmWe Live Outdoors on The Outdoor Channel (nationwide): 3/05 11:30pm, 3/09 7:00am, 3/11 8:00am, 6/04 11:30pm, 6/08 7:00am, and 6/10 8:00am.M1st: You also present seminars on muskie fishing. What can people expect when they see you in person?Josh Borovsky: Well, I try to do the same things with my seminars that I do with my articles. I try to ouch on things that I think are important but overlooked. At times I will say this is one of those little things that might only help you catch four or five more fish this year. But here are 10 more of those little things and when you add them all up it can really have an impact on your success. I also usually have my seminar attendees evaluate my performance to rate what they found most valuable/interesting and what they found least valuable/interesting. I get many of my topic ideas from the evaluations and the feedback helps me to constantly improve what Im doing. I make use of multi-media presentation tools, such as power point and video clips for most of my seminars.I have several seminars coming up this spring. I will be doing two different seminars at The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sport Show on Saturday, March 17th and Sunday, March 18th. at noon each day. I will also being doing a couple of different seminars on March 31st and April 1st at the Grand Opening of the Gander Mountain store in Eden Prairie, MN and will be speaking at the Twin Cities Chapter of Muskies Inc. during their April meeting. My website contains updated places and times.M1st: What is “Muskie Camouflage”?Josh Borovsky: It is a clothing line designed to help anglers blend in with the sky/background and I believe it helps catch more fish at boatside. The camouflage designs are actually digitally enhanced photos of the sky from underwater on sunny and cloudy days. There is also a greenish pattern for shore fisherman that is a digital image of the shoreline/tree line from underwater. M1st: What on-the-water experiences led to you the concept of muskie camouflage?Josh Borovsky: Yes, many winters ago I was reviewing my fish photos from a previous season and I noticed that all of the photos of fish that had been caught in the figure eight that year involved me wearing blue or grey shirts. That got me thinking because I really didn’t wear those colors that much back then. The next season I decided to wear grey shirts on cloudy days and blue shirts on sunny days as much as possible to see if there was a difference. My boatside catches and figure-8 catches went up dramatically that year. That was all it took for me to believe that clothing matters in improving boatside conversions.Obviously, there are people who have caught fish at boat side without camouflaging themselves. I ask them to think about how many more fish they might be catching if they tried to blend in. To me it’s kind of like a bow hunter saying I know a guy who shot a deer wearing blaze orange while bow hunting so I guess I don’t need camouflage after all. I know that Ive had fish follow up to the boat and spook away when I make a move into a figure-8; I believe my silhouette was more visible due to wearing contrasting colors to the sky. It makes sense to me to make it more difficult for the fish to detect my movement by wearing clothing that camouflages it against the sky or shoreline. It cant hurt and it might help put the odds in your favor!M1st: Where is Muskie Camouflage available?Josh Borovsky: Images, pricing, and ordering information for all the products should be available through my website very soon. They will also be available in early March at the Minnesota Muskie Expo in Blaine.Hopefully, you will find it at a retailer near you in the future. M1st: You’ve been successful in obtaining a wide range of sponsors. What do you think you offer to potential sponsors that makes you appealing to them?Josh Borovsky: By now you have probably noticed a theme with my answers. Whether I am guiding, writing an article, or giving a seminar, I try to take a “customer centric” approach to all of them. The same concept applies to sponsorships in my opinion. Get to know your customers and offer them what they want. A good resume obviously helps. But I think too many people get caught up in talking about what they have done instead of what they can do for their sponsors.M1st: One last question, on a related theme. How has your background as an educator impacted your approach to guiding?Josh Borovsky: Specifically, my background is in Elementary Education, and I think it has been a huge help. In my opinion one of the keys to being good teacher is to find out where the kids are at right now and where you want to be at in the future with a particular skill. The tricky part is then to break things down into small enough steps/concepts so that they can take those small steps and build on each other to get to the end goal. If you can do that with kids you can do it with anyone, adults included; we all have room for learning no matter how old we are! Obviously, I get some real experienced muskie commandos who need no instruction what so ever. But it does especially come in handy when working with beginners and youth. Sometimes seeing the progress of someone who couldn’t cast five feet at the beginning of the day and long bomb them at the end is more rewarding than the catch. I always try to make time on the water with a learning experience for clients, whatever their level coming in!MuskieFirst thanks Josh Borovsky for his time and sharing some of his insights.Josh BorovskyWebsite: http://www.promuskieguide.com/email: [email protected] : (612) 508-2759