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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | This is a 40-incher I caught Wednesday afternoon on Pewaukee Lake.
This fish was very healthy and put up a great fight. I noticed this scar on the other side of the fish as I took the hooks out of her.
I could see inside her and could move around her stomach and other guts.
Is it possible this fish could survive and heal this bad hole.
See attached pic.
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 propfish10x8.jpg (61KB - 342 downloads)
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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Now that is weird.....
Hard to beleive that fish would even think of eating again... Sure looks like a prop to me Mike, not sure what else could do that..??
How did it release? or didn't it..? |
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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | Mark, he said it took off great. That is a nasty hole in that fish. When I was talking to Mike, we were thinking that once the water warms a bit, that might get bad for that fish.
Mike, you should have waited till ya got back to shore to have a snack!!  I think that is actually a bite mark from a hungry guide. heh heh heh.
Edited by tuffy1 7/9/2004 7:56 AM
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| I wonder if some dummy put the fish on a stringer for a while and then got it in the motor. Have done that with pike. The second gash there looks like a prop shot too. The wound looks very fresh- how long could it live before infection sets in?
Don |
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Posts: 2515
Location: Waukesha & Land O Lakes, WI | That fish is a goner for sure, I see this at least 2x a year and it is a prop cut. And the idea that it was on a stringer on the stern is dead on....you should see what happens to walleyes. I saw a guy pull into the resort by us and pull out nothing but 3 heads!
Mike, was that thing caught under a pier or on the East end? |
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Posts: 1939
Location: Black Creek, WI | Mike,
That fish is probably on the feed cause everything it eats just falls right out (ha ha).
I think we should make all musky lakes in WI No-WAKE for the safety of our beloved muskies. Here is one I got last year that obviously danced with a boat prop. The gash was still bleeding!!!
jlong
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48.5 Prop Cut.jpg (39KB - 161 downloads)
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| Lots of holes in your stuff this year Mike.................
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Good little dig there Shady, but the "NEW" net was my partners. It was the first muskie to be netted with it. The company handled it well, they sent me a new net, 2 lure retreavers and 2 hats. Dan returned the net for a new one at Smokey's, so we are set for a while.
This fish was caught in 15 ft of water on a flat close to deep water. I suspect it was cut this Spring by a prop. The hole was somewhat old because it was healed to some extent. I could see all the organs and it seemed like no infection was started. This fish was thick so it was feeding, it was not a skinny fish. I just can't kill a muskie..........Sorry
I think it needed a skin graph...............Where is the Shady one when you need him/it............ |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | I would say that the fish will probably die of an infection unless that gash can close somehow. |
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Posts: 4266
| I'll be the first to stir the pot........
The fish with the tail gash probably has a chance to survive.
The one with it's guts hanging out is much like a gut shot deer........death is inevitable.
I'd have made chowder out of it and put it out of it's misery.
I know that none of us wants to keep a fish that is releaseable, but think about it, at some time in our lifetime we will probably have to keep one for one reason or another.
Last year I killed a small 8 ptr that limped past me two days in a row. The second time I put an arrow through his heart. I figured that I owed it to him. God put him 10 yards out in front of me on the second day for a reason. I passed up bigger deer than him every year, but I felt that I had a sort of duty to kill him swiftly before the coyotes tore him apart. When I skinned him, I found that the muscle that holds his shoulder in place had been torn in three places. Too bad there are no orthopedic surgeons in the woods. In this case, you'd have needed a vet and a donor muskie for a massive skin graft.
I don't think that anyone would bitch about someone killing a fish of that size that looked like the cow with the window in her stomach at The State Fair.
Mix outboards and lakes with muskies, and eventually one will meet the other.
Do you think that maybe the increased Holiday traffic for four days might have had something to do with it?
I hope it's the last fish that you catch that looks like that Mike. But I bet that there are more swimming around that lake that have injuries from props, maybe none that Extreme  , but lakes with heavy boat traffic are bound to result in some floaters.
Too bad they don't make bandages for situations like that. That is one big a$$ hole.(No, not you Mike). Maybe I wouldn't eat him if he looked infected, but that hole looks fresh and the wound looks clean.
Beav |
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| Well said Beav...too bad there's not a place to take such a fish, where it could be placed in a suitable tank and perhaps studied to see the long term effects of such a wound. I've had the unfortunate times too when I had to end a life of different critters; hardest one was a dog I had for 12 yrs. Not fun, but at times necessary, and a better option than a slow drainer... |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Beav, I'm surprised Sponge didn't let you in on our Southern medicinal secret bandage for such emergency situations: Duck Tape! A few wraps of the ol' duck around that fish and it would be goodern new. A poultace of fresh mustard greens woulda helped prevent infection, we coulda fixed yer fish for ya! m
ps, sorry, Oh Extreme, we've tried to mend nets with it before and it just don't weave right. I guess, neither does....oh, never mind, bummer! m |
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Beaver,
I thought about it but this fish was very healthy. It fought like it had not no problems at all. I looked at it and it was healing to some extent. I don't know if it will live or die.
I will let nature do its thing with this fish. It looked clean but I just couldn't thump her.
I know maybe I should have but if one more person can catch her it would be a good reason to release her.
If it was a deer I would have shot her because critters and yoties would have got to it. Muskies are king of the food chain---------wait we are.............
Would anyone else have let her go?
Speek up........
Thump it or release it? |
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Posts: 4266
| She looks healthy in the picture. Wound doesn't look infected. She doesn't look bad off except for the hole.
Nobody can make the decision but you, and knowing you, you did what you thought was best, and that's good enough for me.
Beav |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | I can't disagree at all with beav's logic. It's a choice to make on an injured fish. That wound looks to be alot to overcome. With that said though, I would have released it, just as you did. |
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Posts: 294
Location: Suspended | I would have let it go as well. |
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