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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | If muskies disapeared, what would be the fish that you pursue most often?
Mine would have to be Chinook.....just love catching them!
Mike |
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Posts: 32880
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Pike. Then Largemouth Bass. Then crappies. |
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Posts: 469
Location: Downers Grove, IL | Smallies. No doubt about it. |
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Posts: 199
Location: Nebraska | Smallies if there were more here. Otherwise, largemouth and pike. |
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Posts: 1120
Location: West Chester, OH | Yes, smallies. |
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Posts: 136
Location: Chicago | walleye's ,bass and big pike..... |
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| ditto on the smallies. |
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Posts: 8773
| Wow...
Smallies
Pike
Walleye
LM Bass
Crappies
Or I'd just move to FL and become a saltwater guy...
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Posts: 136
| The hardest fighting fish out there, the summer run steelies on lake mich, and its tribs. |
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Posts: 723
| sturgeon with hook and line instead of a spear. I already spear em, but catching them on a rod is pretty fun too. |
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Posts: 201
Location: Stevens Point | trout
smallies
sturgeon
catfish |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | beavers or snapping turtles ... caught a beaver a few years back ... unbelievable experience. have had a few big snappers hooked, but haven't made it to the photo session ... YET ... maybe pelicans or seaguls from the casting accuracy angle of that sport |
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| Steelhead,,a muskie wishes it could fight has hard |
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| Bassin
Smallmouth and largemouth depending on where I am at, pike and walleye on occassion too |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | Smallters for sure. Then maybe some Big Pond screamers. |
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Posts: 8773
| I'm beinning to think they already HAVE  |
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Big pond screamers for sure for the fight and action.
Walleyes and Smallies when on inland lakes. |
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Posts: 53
| bass of any variety, pike, steelies and chinooks |
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Posts: 1769
Location: Algonquin, ILL | First I would hunt down the fool that killed the last one, then off to Florida for Barracuda, Guess who I would use for Bait
Seriously though, Monster Pike would be my fish of choice
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Posts: 654
Location: MPLS, MN | I'd move to Key West and fish Permit and Baracudda.
If I stayed here Smallmouth hands down. I grew up a block from the Mississippi.. |
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| If they went extinct? It's happening right now! I've caught 1 freakin' fish all year. Ha ha. |
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| Bluegills - big bull gills
The reason I hate muskies is every time I plan a bluegill trip the musky sickness attacks and the big gear gets loaded in the boat. I just can't control it!!!!! |
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Posts: 53
Location: Tomahawk, WI | Smallies
Pike
Big largemouth
Catfish
I'd love to try steelhead. I like fish with some weight and strength to them. |
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Posts: 132
Location: Chicago, IL | smallmouth, walleye, pike, largemouth etc. |
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Posts: 281
Location: Girdwood, Alaska | It would have to be either smallmouth.... or salmon on Lake Michigan |
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Posts: 1168
| Gar, LM Bass, Carp...oh wait.
Actually it would be stream trout for me. Honestly haven't done too much muskie stuff at all lately...the brookies have been calling my name with some regularity the past few weeks.
BTW, A-ROZ really meant to say he'd be chasing after catfish. |
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Posts: 3864
| Carp, first, and flathead cats second.
Carp are my first choice, without a second thought. Carp get big. Really big. The monsters (20+ pounds) are not easy to hook, and when you do, it's like hooking a buick. They fight longer and tougher than any muskie anywhere. If you hook a 30-40+ pounder, you better bring your lunch and your dinner. Bigger rivers everywhere are full of big carp.
Flatheads get big, too. But you have to find rivers with the correct conditions that hold those guys. Holes here and there on bigger rivers. But, you can hook a 40 pounder in the right spot.
Now, I'm just talking BIG fish above. And that's where I would go. To goof around with you kids, smallies, largemouth and those ultra wimpy walleyes, I guess so. |
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Posts: 223
Location: minneapolis | if muskies went extinct I'd fish for...........
nothing
seriously- I'd quit. |
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Posts: 3864
| Oh you lyin _____. I'll take you out to do some carp and you'll never look back.
Love ya, Peg. |
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Posts: 223
Location: minneapolis | prove it  |
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| carp
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Posts: 350
Location: WESTERN WI | TARPON! I would then have to move way south and put myself on the gulf or something and flyfish for tarpon. They are pound for pound the best fighting fish period. Cobia are fun to catch as well.
Freshwater=Walleye |
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Posts: 1316
Location: Madison, WI | Anything bass.
Northerns
Walleyes
panfish.
Love casting to much to give up the sport... |
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Posts: 1310
Location: Washington, PA | Smallmouth. |
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Posts: 7037
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | "dont worry about bringing the smallie gear" - Thomas Poncious Varner III, April 2006
Personally, I'd like to say I'd only saltwater fish, however if I had the money to do that, I'd have moved already. Muskies, though fun to catch, are pussy cats compared to so many saltwater species. Living in this alternate universe where there are no muskies and I still dont have the money to move to the ocean, I suppose it would be basically fishing the Big Pond for smallies/pike in the harbors and on the shoreline rip rap, and open water for chromers. |
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Posts: 69
| Well,back to Smallies and Pike,before I took up Musky fishing. |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Well I have never fished for any other kind of fish, so it would totally be a guess but I would have to say Tarpon if I lived near the ocean....
I have no idea what smallie fishing is like, or salmon, or pike, or walleye....never done it, sounds boring, to easy and not worth it.... |
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Posts: 341
| The best fighting fresh water fish.....Smallies |
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Posts: 69
| Too bad Smallies don't run in the 10-12 pound range.My biggest is 4 1/2,and what a fight. |
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Posts: 2378
| flatheads and big pike. big, mean fish that can outfight a muskie anyday
Otherwise, I'm in the same boat as Slamr. Saltwater only would rock, but the money isnt there.
Edited by BALDY 8/30/2006 11:15 AM
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Posts: 556
| any kind of bass i like both LM and SM.
big pike not the little things.
i would try tarpon because they look like fun.
and eye because ive fished them for ever and they are very fun even though other people dont like them and call them bait and stuff i still like them. |
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Location: Lake Tomahawk, WI | For freshwater it would have to be big catfish, pike, kings, and walleyes (nice to be able to eat something you catch once and awhile).
Saltwater would take the cake for the winter months. Icefishing is fun for me for about 2 weeks. Tarpon, cuda, yellowfin, mahi mahi, grouper, yeah that's it. Someday maybe have the seasons pegged to where I can partake in such variety.
J.Sloan
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Posts: 1764
Location: Ogden, Ut | Maybe big lake trout. Or stripers and cats. If traveling out of state, big pike.
Then again, hooking into a wakeboarder or personal watercraft might prove to be a good fight...
S. |
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Posts: 654
Location: MPLS, MN | MikeHulbert - 8/30/2006 9:26 AM
I have no idea what smallie fishing is like, or salmon, or pike, or walleye....never done it, sounds boring, to easy and not worth it....
Salmon and Smallies both fight better than a Muskie. Pike are just bonus fish and walleys are boring unless you want a fish fry IMO. Seriously you should try fishing Smallies on the Mississippi River sometime in MN spring. Unreal how much fun it is to catch a 4-5 pd smallie in the river current on light tackle. I mean don't get me wrong Muskies are my favorite but there are other fun fish to pursue. You need some variety, at least I do... |
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Posts: 113
| Living in Colorado I have to have variety to keep myself from going crazy. Smallies, flyfish for brookies, Browns in the fall with 7"rapalas, and Pike on the Yampa river zara puppy's only. I have caught some huge carp, but not enough of a challenge. But you put me on a lake with smallies....its over. But Thank the Good Lord we have muskies right? |
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Posts: 1504
Location: Oregon | MikeHulbert - 8/30/2006 9:26 AM
I have no idea what smallie fishing is like, or salmon, or pike, or walleye....never done it, sounds boring, to easy and not worth it....
Too easy Mike? We will have days go by without a single bite while fishing for steelhead in driving winds and temps in the 20's and 30's...it's not easy!! Like any fishing tho, it can be easy when things are "just right". I would say the qualities that are found in a musky fisherman are nearly identical to those needed to be a dedicated steelhead or salmon angler.
I guess most all of us working class anglers fish for what we have closest to home. Here in Oregon we have salmon, steelhead, bass, and sturgeon so that's what we fish for. We of course also have cats and various other spiny rays and tons of trout in all the surrounding streams. After you catch 10,000 crappie and 10,000 trout you pretty much start looking for something that pulls a bit harder though. I do hope to catch a tarpon some day and also a peacock bass or two, they look like they would be a blast!!
Barring some catastrophic disease I don't think Musky are going away anytime soon. Musky have been here a long, long, time. The greatest threat at some point in the future may be changes in global temperatures....as the lakes warm up the musky will find it harder and harder to make it through the summer months.
jed v.
Edited by RiverMan 8/30/2006 3:59 PM
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Posts: 276
Location: in front of my comp | carp!
then pike, small mouth, walleye... |
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Posts: 136
| Billfish |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | Good thread!! As a 365 day per year angler, and a multi species kid before being old enough to handle Musky gear, I'd definately pick up the Smallie bug again. They, along with Brown trout, are in my opinion the closest cousin to the Muskellunge(even closer than Pike tempermant and habitat preferance wise). Big stream run Browns in the Coullee region would be another fish that I would target at more than just between Musky season times... I love chasing the Steelhead in the spring and would extend my season for them by travelling during the months of May and June in pursuit of the next run. Would have to take my love for Channel Cats a bit more seriously as well. Taking a few more trips to the Carib for sails would also be in order, as would more frequent trips to Alaska for big Kings and Pike. Hole hoppin' gills and deadbaitin' pike would still get the nod during winter and I'd extend my winters through travel north as well both early and late. Would bowhunt alot more seriously than just the rut week as well. Probably the one thing I would not target, other than during the ice season and a short spell during the spawn ion spring would be Walleyes. |
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Posts: 921
Location: Apollo, PA | I enjoy fishing for steelheads, walleyes (yummy), and smallies. I love to fish, and it doesn't have to be muskies all the time.
Live a little and relax!!!!
Its good to love muskie fishing and not be so full of ones self to enjoy the others too! |
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Posts: 12
Location: Omaha | I would be chasing flathead catfish and pike if I could not chase after muskie anymore. |
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| Alligator Gar |
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | hey hulbert tarpon are nothin but ocean carp!!! when you catch a 7 ft sail then come talk to me!! |
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Posts: 561
Location: Monee, Illinois | I would chase King Salmon or Steelhead |
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Posts: 1080
| Life with no muskies?
I'd do as I've always done when I'm nowhere near any muskie waters; fish for whatever is around or near me:
- Pike
- Panfish, ie, bluegills, crappie, perch, etc
- Walleye
- Both Large and Smallmouth Bass
- Catfish
- Striped Bass, Wipers
- Salmon & Steelhead
- Get into whatever saltwater fishing I could get into, money and time permitting:
- Amberjack
- Barracuda
- Back drum
- Bonefish
- Bonito
- Cobia
- Flounder
- Grouper
- Houndfish
- Jacks
- Kingfish
- Mahi-mahi
- Blue or Black Marlin & Sailfish
- Peacock bass
- Permit
- Redfish
- Shark
- Snapper
- Snook
- Swordfish
- Tarpon
- Tuna
- Wahoo
Heck...anything that swims and eats, pretty much. As long as I'm on the water and fishing for something....I'm a happy camper. I'm easy to please.
Fishing in general has a been a love affair of mine since I was a young boy...I wouldn't see that change if one species was no longer available for whatever reason. |
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Posts: 699
Location: Hugo, MN | I'd quit fishing and work on my golf game. Maybe some trips to South America for the Peacock Bass, a little topwater action!!
Edited by marine_1 8/30/2006 8:50 PM
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Posts: 756
| I think we are missing the point here. First of all, the fact that I've been a cop for many years, I would first try to find out who was responsible for this terrible crime,allowing muskies to become extinct. Then I would lock-up every dnr worker in charge of the musky program. Then, I would investigate which politicians who were involved and lock them up to! After that, I would chase big northern pike in the spring, and play golf the rest of the year. Kdawg |
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Posts: 208
| I would have to obsess about bow hunting for whitetails 12 months a year rather than just 6
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If Muskies went extinct?