My son and I went out for Musky a few times. Never did get one, all that ever happened was I lost a $30 lure. But I haven't given up! Plan on making a couple trips to that lake this year to test my luck again.
I did a fair bit of musky fishing with my father when I was a boy. It was my favorite. Truth be told sometimes when he took me with him deer hunting I was disappointed not to be musky fishing.
At some point I fell in love with deer hunting and after moving out of the area for school and work, hunting deer has been the thing we would do when I could make trips home.
This is the first musky I've caught in a long time. No where near the biggest, but I wasn't fishing for musky so I had ultralight gear and it was pretty lucky to boat the fish I think, and awesome. My dad happened to be fishing with me, so it was pretty special.
We usually don't net them. We use wool gloves that help grip the fish, but didn't have them. My dad is a pro at grabbing these fish...I'm not, and it can get dicey, especially when there's a big lure. I know of a few fishermen who have ended up with hooks in their arms and been hurt pretty badly. I didn't have to grab this one, so no complaints (even if it was only a #12 hook).
I hope you and your son have some luck. They're a lot of fun to chase, more like hunting than fishing in many ways.