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Posts: 90
Location: Florence, Wisconsin | Well, I had my first one die on me. Luckily it was only about 24" but it still sucked. It swallowed my bucktail and I immediately cut the hooks but no go. What could I have done differently? I set the hook right away.
Bo |
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Posts: 5874
| The only thing you could have done was not fish that day. We fish with great big, SHARP, hooks for these fish. Sometimes they get hooked deeply, and some are going to die. Nothing we can do about it. I'll shed no tear for a fish that dies this way. After all, it is still just a fish. |
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| I agree with Shep. Nothing to lose sleep over. We're all going to kill one eventually, and we all probably have done it already without knowing it. Good luck next time out. |
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Location: Chippewa Falls, WI | Keep your chin up, sometimes the muskie GODS have to take them away  |
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| It happens, sorry but just do your best to safely unhook them as quickly as you can. |
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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Bo,
I understand how you feel, I had a low 40's die on me a few years ago, first one that I knew about. And the whole delayed mortality issue due to stress has been studied but even that is fairly speculative, we know they all don't make it. It's going to happen from time to time... we can only do the best we can by having quality release tools in our boats and practicing good handling techniques... And until they figure out how to use Velcro, there's not much we can do about the hook issue.
Keep your chin up... you'll feel better with time. Get back in the sadle and ride again... |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | i have had trouble with small muskys too. they always seem to get hooks the worst. |
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| just wondering... lets say you have one die... what do you do... just wondering what the DNR rule is about that |
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Posts: 5874
| Well, I think some assumptions would have to be made. So here goes. Let's assume Bo hooked this fish deeply, and in the process of trying to revive it, he put it in the livewell. At that point, he has reduced it to possession, and he's done fishing muskies that day. Whether it dies or not, technically, he is done.
Now, let's assume he did not put the fish in the livewell, but it died boatside. Release the fish to become bottomfeed, and continue fishing, if you wish.
But! The fish was only 24", so it's under the size limit on nearly every lake in the state. #1, should not have been in the livewell, so scenario #1 is out of the equation. You can't reduce to possession an undersized fish. Technically, that is. I know people who do use the livewell, and feel that as long as they do not motor from the vicinty with the fish, and release it there, they are clear to fish again that day. That will depend on which warden you contact. I suspect most would allow this. |
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Posts: 317
Location: Grafton, WI | Just had a friend call me from Three Lakes last night upset that his biggest muskie to date (39.5") didn't survive. It took a Suick straight from behind and was hooked badly. It is a thing that is bound to happen to some fish, somewhere, at some time, so don't beat yourself up over it.
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Posts: 129
| one time i was trolling a spinnerbait and hooked a 39. half way to the boat it just quit fighting, and it was stiff as a board when it got to the boat. it was the strangest thing i ever saw, and i hated the fact that fish died. |
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Posts: 2112
Location: The Sportsman, home, or out on the water | I have yet to kill one, but I know my day is coming. If i do, I hope it's legal, because my elderly neighbor is always begging me for one. rather feed him than the turtles.
Rob |
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Posts: 7
| dave k - 7/6/2006 1:05 PM
just wondering... lets say you have one die... what do you do... just wondering what the DNR rule is about that
One nice thing about Ohio rules is that there is no mnimum length, so that a fish that dies can be reduced to possession so that at least the meat isn't wasted. As I understand it, the meat is white and flakey and comparable to walleye. Please don't get me wrong, I don't advocate intentionally killing fish that can be released alive for table fare.
But it seems to me that the best use of the resource once the fish is dead is to take it home and eat it (or give it to someone who will, or mount it if it is trophy size.)
Of course, if a fish is below a legal size, it seems that the law requires it to be returned to the water even if it is dead. As much as I'd hate to see the waste, I hate fines and legal trouble even more, and I would not be caught in possession of a sub-legal fish in the boat. Some states might even have a legal catch-22 here in that it is illegal to possess sub-legal length fish, but it is also illegal to put dead fish in the water! Of course, I think most judges and juries are more likely to convict the fisherman in possession of a sub-legal fish than the fisherman who returned it to the water and "was hoping it would live."
Michael Courtney |
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Posts: 4266
| Eagles and seagulls have to eat too.
If that's the worst thing that happens to you, you're a lucky guy.
His number was up....end of story.
Like others said, the only thing that you could have done different is not go fishing, or fish without hooks.
It happens.
Did you quit and go home? Hell no. You felt bad and then kept on firing just like all of us would do.
Fishing is a contact sport. Sometimes the participants get hurt.
Fish on!
Beav |
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Posts: 2091
Location: Stevens Point, WI | It definatley is a bummer but like it was said already it will still be part of the food chain, just not at the top. A small legal fish would still make a nice mount. |
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| Fear not dude
Edited by Sponge 8/22/2006 7:11 PM
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Posts: 1504
Location: Oregon | I was working a beach seine once on the Columbia River catching juvenile chinook as part of a research project. On one particular set the net captured a whole bunch of floating debris which ended up killing about 10 of the little guys. I was fretting about them dying and doing what I could to revive them when the old fella working with me said "if you go to war there's gonna be casualties"...he just kept pulling the net and never slowed down.
Truth is that if you fish be it with rod and reel or net, some fish are going to die and that's ok so long as we put back more than we take.
Jed V. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | As usual, Sponger managed to say it about perfect. Yup. |
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had 1st die on me