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Posts: 1283
| A nice/big Muskie??? Im happy for any muskie, but some of you have seen hundreds.
Whats your idea of a decent fish.? |
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Posts: 166
Location: Merrill, Wisconsin | For a novice like me, any fish successfully boated AND released was a good fish.. |
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Posts: 558
| Anything over 40 is a decent fish in my book. I would take them all season long, with some bigger one of course. A big one i would say 48 plus is a healthy musky. |
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Posts: 131
| The lake I fish the most has some long fish in it. A 50 " er or above usually has a huge head and skinny body , not true of all of them but most . For me on this lake the 46 , 47 " er are usually the best proportioned fish for a good fight and photo.... |
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Posts: 32803
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Any muskie is cool. |
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Posts: 1284
Location: WI | Depends on how long ago my last fish was caught. |
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Posts: 158
| 48" and bigger is what I consider a big fish. |
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Posts: 1416
Location: oconomowoc, wi | sworrall - 8/13/2014 10:49 PM
Any muskie is cool.
what he said |
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Posts: 192
Location: Quebec, Canada | JKahler - 8/14/2014 3:25 AM
Depends on how long ago my last fish was caught.
+1, but always very happy with any muskie. Although I'm always happy with a catch, it feels like there are couple factors that will influence the happiness lever such as mentioned before, time since last catch but also obviously size.
35 and under = at least, you're not getting skunked on the water today
35 to 40 = almost there, hopefully, you got a decent fight, some jumps and water splashing by the boat
40 up to 45 = decent
45 to 48 = very nice fish
48 up to 55 = big big fish, who cares about the fight quality... the faster in the bag, the better.
55 over = trophy; manage to catch, picture, release asap. moment lasting forever.
Edited by Drakl 8/14/2014 9:34 AM
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Posts: 1023
| I've always considered a 40 inch fish a big fish.
Under 40 are still cool, but at 40 they tend to get a little more girth and width to them than sub 40's.
Trophy to be is 47+.
50+ is Giant. |
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Posts: 255
| Don't get to fish much, so I think "what would be a good or great day?" Anything over 34 would be good- picture worthy. If I could get a 42 I'd be pumped. A 45 or over would be a dream. |
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Posts: 284
| 45"+ |
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Posts: 609
Location: S.W. WI | vegas492 - 8/14/2014 8:41 AM
I've always considered a 40 inch fish a big fish.
Under 40 are still cool, but at 40 they tend to get a little more girth and width to them than sub 40's.
Trophy to be is 47+.
50+ is Giant.
Exactly |
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Posts: 441
| I think it's about the lake you fish.
Growing up, fishing a small lake in Vilas County, a 40 inch fish was a big fish.
Now, fishing Lake Vermilion, a 50 inch fish, is a big fish.
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Posts: 20181
Location: oswego, il | sworrall - 8/13/2014 10:49 PM
Any muskie is cool.
said it perfectly. |
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Posts: 256
| Any muskie in the boat is special. Little ones are important because that is the future 40-50 incher.
I would consider 38-44 to be a really nice fish, a 44-47 to be a big fish and 48+ to be a really big fish. I read a lot of old muskie books and we don't realize how good we have it now. I've read about guys who fished their whole life to catch one 48 inch fish. |
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | A 37"r was nice, but a 39 would of won the league last night.
Bummer
Netman |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Dunlap - 8/14/2014 9:20 AM
45"+
+1 |
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Posts: 572
| I'll also say that it depends on the lake. We have a family cabin in Northern Wisconsin in the middle of a bunch of action waters. I love getting out on these lakes even though there's very little chance of a 40"+...small lakes, very little development, beautiful scenery and rarely do I see another angler. A 36" is a nice one on these lakes.
In Canada or most other waterbodies, I agree with the 45"+ number. |
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Posts: 910
| I feel like after 14 years of fishing LOTW, the 45 inchers start to look and feel like big fish. I've caught some pretty nice 43 and 44 on LOTW, but for us, it seems like when they hit 45 they get shoulders on them!
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Posts: 7
| i've caught them up to 55.75" (last sept.) but any musky from 30" and up still makes my knees shake. they are all the most exiting fish to make strike and spend a few seconds with. |
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Posts: 537
Location: Gilberts IL/Rhinelander WI | I'll go 42" for a good one , 46"+ for a really nice fish, 50"+ for a giant fish. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | as others have said, sorta depends on the waters you are on.. a nice musky in WI to me is 40" or so or bigger, a big fish is 45" or so or bigger.. now cross the border and that goes up a few inches to where a big fish over there to me is 48" or bigger.. all muskies are cool tho no matter the size... |
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Posts: 26
Location: Sauk City WI | 40+ is big 48+ is trophy. My dad fished a long time and only broke 4 feet once so I kinda consider a benchmark |
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Posts: 553
Location: 15 miles east of Lake Kinkaid | BNelson - 8/14/2014 2:51 PM
as others have said, sorta depends on the waters you are on.. a nice musky in WI to me is 40" or so or bigger, a big fish is 45" or so or bigger.. \..
My thoughts exactly on Illinois as well. 45" is a big fish, anything 48"+ is a trophy |
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Posts: 1283
| MuskyMATT7 - 8/14/2014 8:55 PM
BNelson - 8/14/2014 2:51 PM
as others have said, sorta depends on the waters you are on.. a nice musky in WI to me is 40" or so or bigger, a big fish is 45" or so or bigger.. \..
My thoughts exactly on Illinois as well. 45" is a big fish, anything 48"+ is a trophy
Kinda the reason I asked. Im In IL also and wanted to see what people from other states thought. |
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Posts: 215
Location: Wisconsin | sworrall - 8/13/2014 10:49 PM
Any muskie is cool.
I agree with this 100%. All of them are! |
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Posts: 910
| I've been lucky enough to catch a handful of really big muskies in my life. I haven't caught even close to as many muskies as a lot of the guys on this message board.
I found myself do something crazy last week on LOTW and had never thought about it until after it happened.
I was extremely lucky to catch a 52 and 50.5 by Wednesday of a week long trip.
I had about a high 30s maybe 40 inch fish go into the figure 8 and I pulled the bait out of the water. My buddy was watching from the back of the boat and was like WTF?
My reaction was I had never even thought about it but my reasoning was I was there to catch big fish and didn't want to "bother" with catching or netting and wasting my time with a "short" fish.
Wow. How a guy gets spoiled after so many years on MN waters and LOTW.
I was shocked at myself when I did it. Still can't believe I did it.
Ball Cap |
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Posts: 54
Location: North Fork, Flambeau River | For me..any Muskie works for me... |
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Posts: 1039
Location: North St. Paul, MN | Any and all are "nice." Every single one is the future...small ones = future...mid size ones = future...and those giants = future.
Now to me, any fish over 40" is big. That's closing in on 20lbs. Go to your local fitness center and grab that 25lb plate for bench pressing. I think it's heavy. Heck even a 36"+ fish can be "big." |
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