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| you have a musky follow and it swipes at the bait. you set the hook and then realize you have the fish hooked on the side. the bait comes out and you think you lose it. nope its still there. somehow the hook popped off and ended up in the fish's tail. you land the fish.
would you consider this a catch or not? |
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Posts: 17
| Well, you couldn't legally keep such a fish, and of course it wouldn't count in fishing contests and such, but I'd sure as heck count it in my personal record book. In your scenario, the fish struck at the lure, which is quite a bit different than blind snagging or intentionally foul-hooking the fish. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | Nope I wouldn't. I had one going around and round on a figure-8 last year, then I felt weight and I set hook. After a quick fight where the fish rolled on the line, the hooks squarely in the back. Did not count it. If you think I deliberately snagged it, I will let you know that I am legally blind and can't see too deep into that water. |
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Posts: 7051
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Yes. Relax, no one is "counting" your fish but you. Regardless of the circumstances, a muskie in the boat is a muskie in the boat. Stop taking the fun out of what is supposed to be fun. |
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Posts: 921
Location: Apollo, PA | You know, I fell smack dab in the frying pan, mentioning the word "count" in a post. I removed said word from my vocabulary......... LOL PS  |
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Posts: 273
| Sounds like a great fish story. Who cares what others think. Those are the type of sotries you will remember
Jeff |
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| Guest - 1/7/2007 6:28 PM
Would I count it as a catch? Huh? I'd count it as a fish I snagged.
Until I read this I thought there were no stupid questions.
if it swipes at the bait i think i would count it. in a bass tournament if you snag a fish with a crankbait it DOES count because the fish most likely swiped at it.
if you snag a fish on a figure 8 it is different just like it is in a bass tournament if you are bed fishing. you see the fish both ways. |
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| giving an "Untintentional Modified Yeti"
i like it. |
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Posts: 1456
Location: Kronenwetter, WI | One year I actually landed two fish that were hooked near the tail. If you've never experienced this it is something else. The power these creatures can generate when they are pulling away from you is incredible. One was 36" the other 40". I seriously thought I was into a 50+ each time!!! INCREDIBLE POWER!
And---oh yeah....since they wound up in my net, my journal entry for those fish reflecte 'fish caught'. Like anyone else gives a crap what my journal says....Who cares if you count it or not. |
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Posts: 20231
Location: oswego, il | If the fish tried to eat the bait and you put it in the net, count the fish. |
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Posts: 17
| Cowboyhannah - 1/7/2007 7:25 PM
One year I actually landed two fish that were hooked near the tail. If you've never experienced this it is something else. The power these creatures can generate when they are pulling away from you is incredible. One was 36" the other 40". I seriously thought I was into a 50+ each time!!! INCREDIBLE POWER!
I was going to mention that too- it's a LOT harder to land a fish hooked in the tail, the belly, or the back than one fair-hooked in the mouth. They pull like a fish twice the size. It used to happen to me occasionally while drift fishing in streams for steelhead and lake run brown trout. And no, I wouldn't 'count' those fish - they got hooked by the accidental drifting action of the current in a relatively confined space (hole or pool in the stream). In fact, as soon as I realized they were fouled, I'd break them off.
But in the open water of a lake or large river, cranking or trolling - undoubtedly the fish struck at the lure to be foul hooked thusly. I've even had the hook come loose during the battle (non-muskie) , only to be instantly RE-hooked when by accidental coincidence the treble lodges in the side of the fish. That's happened a couple times with bass, and once with a steelhead as I recall. Just a freak occurence.
Did I count them when I shared my 'numbers' for the day with friends? Sure did!
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Yep, I would count it in my personal record keeping. I landed a fish in the river on a jig what had hooked into the back fin. I counted it.
Yes, tail hooked fish fight like you wouldnt believe. I landed a king salmon that I had accidentally snagged. Felt like a world record salmon, but it was a smaller on. Had to let it go obviously. |
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Posts: 32901
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I don't really 'count' any of the fish I catch anymore. Have trouble remembering the fish I caught last month, some days. Count 'em all, remember as many as you can, and hope like mad you are still remembering them and counting them when you are an old man. Makes for good stories for the grandkids! |
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Posts: 723
| I have two stories...........
One, I was into a big fish, bull-dogging me under the boat, cork-screwing like a mad woman, I gentley pull her up on the surface, and HOLY $H%& , the bait is laying on the surface of the water, and she has the line wrapped around her about 5 times. the only thing connecting me to that fish was a couple loops around her, My partner scooped, and whala, a perfectly clean fish goes in the net, no unhooking, WOW! that was close. she was 49 and very heavy, I counted her as a catch.
The other story I wouldn't have believed had I not seen it with my own eyes. A guy by the name of Bill fishes the GB area, a couple of us were out casting end of november this year, we had some fish moving for the day. Bill is fishing by himself, Im partnered up, and so it our other buddy. All of a sudden, there is a commotion by bills boat, He has a fish on........ so we thought!!!!
Bill had hooked up with a nice 39" fish, it rolled by the boat and cut the line. took his grandma and all, fish is gone, so he thought..............
well, we were about 2 cast lengths from bill, and our other buddy was maybe a cast length from him. I looked at my partner and said, I see Bill has the net out, but no rod in his hand, and I also see a fish thrashing wildy on the surface of the water near his boat, to me it looked as if Bill was performing a net job for a ghost in his boat, well, if you see where this is going, yes indeed, the fish was trying to shake the bait out of its mouth, bill quietly used his trolling motor to get close to the fish and scooped him up. Like I said, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed it, but, he lost the fish, and still ended up catching it. Now that, is one of the greatest musky catches I have ever heard of.
When we all put our boats on the trailer at the end of the day, we stood around recapping the most excellent outing we had, and sharing a few frosty beverages of course. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | hey, for me, if it comes half way to the boat after a bait it counts for something for the day! m |
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| The Yeti - 1/7/2007 7:03 PM
giving an "Untintentional Modified Yeti"
i like it.
LMAO... classic |
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Posts: 32901
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Bob Marsh and I were fishing a MI event on the Cave when he had a fish powder a jerk bait in the timber. He played it for a half a minute or so, and she got off. He turned around to look at me in disappointment, and as he did, that fish hit again. This time, he played the fish a bit longer, and she came unzipped. He put a cast back to her, and she hit AGAIN, this time wrapping around a few trees for good measure. We went into the timber, unwrapped her from the trees, and netted a 39" muskie with her face full of hook marks.
Crazy fish. |
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Posts: 8795
| "count"?
Does a fish caught trolling count less than a fish caught casting?
Does a fish caught on a figure 8 count more than a fish caught at the end of a cast?
Does it count more if it's your boat, or if it's a spot you picked?
Does it count if you caught it fishing with a guide?
What if it actually had the bait in its mouth and managed to shake it loose only to hook itself elsewhere in the body?
What if you had it hooked, and it threw the bait as you were netting it?
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| Slamr - 1/7/2007 5:21 PM
Yes. Relax, no one is "counting" your fish but you. Regardless of the circumstances, a muskie in the boat is a muskie in the boat. Stop taking the fun out of what is supposed to be fun.
I'll second that. |
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Posts: 4266
| It's up to you and what you consider ethical.
I hooked a large fish that had the back hook right in the corner of her mouth and had the lure on the outside of her mouth....until she rolled like an alligator, and stuck the front treble in the top of her head and ripped the one in her mouth free. It would have been my biggest fish by far, but I reeled in slowly and kept the lure as upright as possible and snapped the rod tip and popped the lure out. I knew by the looks of things, if she rolled again that back treble would be right in her eye.
Do what you have to, only you are keeping score. |
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Posts: 141
| No, if you need to count a fish other than hooked fairly in the mouth then you must be desperate...just my take on things. |
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | I'm with Steve on this one.
We tend to make everything way too competitive, thus the need for counting. I have not counted fish in my boat for several years. All counting does is add or subtract from the ego factor. I am comfortable enough in my own shoes to know I need not "count" to prove I am an adequate fisherman.
It does make for a very cool memory, and that is all that matters. I myself remember a very similar fish. I was trying a new figure eight tactic several years ago, bringing the bait right at the fishes eyes on the 8 trying to trigger a reflex strike. The fish did react to it, I don't know if the reaction was an attempt to eat the bait or get away from it. Nonetheless the fish's reaction resulted in a hook up in the underside of the fishes yap. Did I count it??? I can't really tell because I don't keep a running #'s tally anymore, but did I take a picture...You betcha!
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Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | Why not count it? Consider a few games the Bears won this year. They counted those.
Kevin
Chicago Style Pizza. |
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would you count this?