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Posts: 1060
Location: Palm Coast, FL | We caught a couple odd looking fish this past weekend along with some other nice looking fish...
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | That last one is easy, Humpback of...Notre Dame! |
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Posts: 1060
Location: Palm Coast, FL | We also thought of "Brokeback" muskie lol |
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Posts: 619
Location: Verona, WI | Are you fishing near a toxic waste dump/nuclear power plant/asbestos dumping ground? I like the rhino musky personally.
Shane |
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Posts: 1080
| You know....I always find it humorous when out fishing and someone catches a fish...or...if you're watching a fishing video/show, of any species...whenever a fish is caught..no matter that fishes size or natural colorings or characteristics....the undoubtedly popular saying that naturally comes to people's minds to say is, "Nice fish."
I think...the three photos above, could be those limited times..when the saying "Nice fish" may not be heard or mentioned. LOL!
Man....yeah...you'd think catching that many deformed fish in such a short time span, matter of a couple of days, would lead people to believe that these fish were caught near some toxic waste dump. Knowing exactly where those fish came from, by I.Ding the background...that's certainly not the case. I'd think this has to do with mother nature doing her thing. I wonder if stocking efforts have lead more fish to be like this vs. naturally reproducing fish? Either way...mother nature is mother nature... |
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Posts: 313
Location: On your favorite spot | LOL Mack - first thing I say when I see a follower, no matter how hard I try, is "There's one - NICE FISH!"
I think I've said it so much my partners don't even pay attention anymore. Nothing like saying "Whoa - nice fish!" Then she eats and ends up being a sub 40". |
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Posts: 1080
| I know....I find it hilarious that I've never once heard anyone say, "Wow...ugly fish." Or..."That fish is crap." Or..."Bad job....that is not a nice fish."
Sure...some Groupers and other scary looking salt water species...even get the token saying, "Nice fish" when caught. And they're not the prettiest thing on the planet...
Take a look at the "beauty" of some cat fish....some can be #*^@ scary looking...yet...they'll always get the nod of approval, "Nice fish" when caught. But somehow...these pix that Vince posted....hmmmmm....I just seem to think there's bound to have been a different response/reaction/saying when those were being netted and unhooked. LOL! |
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Posts: 1080
| By the way Vince...those first two fish....those are nice fish.
See!
There's that saying again. LOL!
Where you're standing at and the direction you're facing...I could wake up in the morning and look out our window and see you standing there with those fish...right in front of our place. I know the spot well...unmistakable.... |
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Posts: 27
Location: Bargersville, IN | Mack, I would think its more of a high pressure, over handled, and/or mishandled thing on that body of water i.e. man being man rather than mother nature being mother nature or is that the same thing. Man, now I'm confused. Hey, Vince, nice beard! lol |
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Posts: 716
| I hope you didn't drink any of the water......yikes |
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Location: oswego, il | Some muskies will do anything to keep from being "legal".
Cool fish pics, thanks for shareing.  |
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Location: Land of the Musky | Those are funky! LMAO. Some guys can't catch one fish and you catch multiple odd balls!  |
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Posts: 1060
Location: Palm Coast, FL | Thanks for the comments guys...I think lol.
The 2 deformed fish were caught in very different areas of the lake. Mack...if you live on the lake...what are you dumping into it? 
Here is a question for everyone...on the last picture...is that a vertical or horizontal hold? I am surprised I haven't gotten blasted for those that think it is a vertical hold.lol
Edited by Vince Weirick 11/27/2007 7:34 AM
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| the number of stupid looking fish in that lake is out of control.
Way to much over handeling, way to many fish in 585 acres, way to much pressure, etc....
That lake is on a serious DECLINE |
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Posts: 1060
Location: Palm Coast, FL | Guest...what do you consider on a "decline" to be? |
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Posts: 1080
| Vince...I don't live on the lake full-time. We just have a cottage up there.
I'm certainly not dumping anything in the lake. But..with as many people that live on that lake, with yards...and fertilizer and the such...who know what all and how much goes into that lake...potentially...helping Mother Nature do crazy things to fish like this. Well..I guess...at that point...if these fish are the result of something like that..maybe it is more mankind than Mother Nature...
I can't see how those two fish, with the spinal deformity could be mishandling or over handling by mankind. If mankind was to have mishandled those fish to the point of doing that kind of re-work to their spine, you'd think those backbones/spines would have been broken, causing spinal cord injury, thus killing the fish. Those just seem too extreme to have allowed the fish to continue to live, thrive and survive like that. Those fish, with the exception of their obvious characteristics, appear to be healthy fish. If it WAS mankind...well then...this is proof that these fish just simply are not as fragile as most make them out to be. That's not to excuse mishandling...no way, that's not what I'm saying at all. Mother Nature can be cruel to the animal world...just as Mother Nature can be cruel to mankind as well with birth defects. Not every single specimen will be prefect out there...
That one pic of the messed up snout/upper jaw on that fish...that "could" potentially be result of mishandling by an angler ripping that snout up like that..but..that growth or bump...again...leads me to believe a bone deformity...again...could be Mother Nature's work.
I wouldn't be so quick to rule out Mother Nature to jump on the bandwagon of too much pressure and mishandling. Sure..there is a lot of pressure on that lake..and a lot of mishandling going on...but my vote is M.N. has done some work here. You have to figure....out of the thousands of muskies in that lake...that there are bound to be a few crazy looking fish. Vince just seems to have been fortunate enough to "hit the lottery" and catch so many looking like that in such a short amount of time. Sure, I've caught some oddballs out there too from time to time....but....it's the exception...not the norm. There are lots of nice looking (there we go with the saying again...LOL!) and normal looking fish in that lake. There's just so many fish in such a small body of water.
Edited by MACK 11/27/2007 9:18 AM
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| the avg. size fish in that lake has gone down.
the avg. number of fish (quality fish, not 24-40 inchers) is WAY down
messed up looking fish wish messed up jaws, crazy scares, split fins, etc, is unbelieveable.
That lake is on the decline for sure. It is no where near what it used to be.
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Posts: 1080
| Guest - 11/27/2007 10:33 AM
the avg. size fish in that lake has gone down.
the avg. number of fish (quality fish, not 24-40 inchers) is WAY down
messed up looking fish wish messed up jaws, crazy scares, split fins, etc, is unbelieveable.
That lake is on the decline for sure. It is no where near what it used to be.
I do agree with this. I've noticed the same thing. And the fish you do catch...are pretty thin. Which makes me think the numbers of muskie in that lake are too big...too much for the size of water and the forage base to handle. Seems maybe it's out of balance? But...the stocking efforts of this lake operates under the idea of a brood stock lake, correct? Meaning...they overly stock this lake in effort to pull numbers each year to spread around other lakes as well? Or am I misunderstanding that?
I think the word's been out for quite a while about this lake and it's perceived downturn....just by looking at some of the numbers of boats on this lake nowadays as compared to others. Sure..there's still lots of boats out there on this body of water...but...I don't think it's to the levels of what it was two and three years ago.
I don't know this for sure, as I'm not a guide, but I'm not seeing as many of the guides on this body of water as often anymore either. Maybe I'm wrong on this, which certainly could be the case since I'm not up there that often to make a claim like that....so...don't flame me for thinking that. In my limited exposure up there...seems the guides are preferring to take their clients to other bodies of water chasing after better quality fish...which...I certainly do not blame them.
Everything, including lakes, go in cycles. This lake has been the hot bed for Indiana for years..and places like this (internet) have certainly spread the word and the masses came....maybe it's time to for a down turn to cool it off for a while and let it recoup? (I know I'm thinking aloud here and saying some things that will probably flare up some dispute....sorry for that...) |
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Posts: 61
Location: Avilla, IN | Results from the May tournament on this body of water are very revealing. Out of 35 fish registered, not one was over 40". The other 2 bodies of water involved produced the 10 biggest fish. How long can a system support such a high number of top of the line predators per acre? This Fall, of the six 40"+ fish I have caught or netted from this lake, I would consider 5 of them thin, or underweight.. Not the kind of condition I would expect to see in late Fall. |
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Posts: 1080
| Exactly.
I didn't fish much at all this year or last year, in comparison to previous years. Family obligations, ie, young kids, have changed my time on the water, but from my experiences out there this year, both fishing the Classic in May and fishing on my own...the average size and quality of the fish from this lake is down. To the point where...I've opted to fish the other surround lakes more often. And that's hard to do, not physically...but mentally... when we have cottages on this lake and we have a pier to dock the boat and and it's just too easy to crawl out of bed in the morning and just flop into the boat and go or staying out late and just easily docking at the pier to run to help the wife with the kids or run to the fire pit to play a game of baggo with friends vs. having to pull the boat and trailer to another lake, bypassing, what's right out in front of our cottages...right beneath our noses...all in efforts to find better quality fish.
Edited by MACK 11/27/2007 1:09 PM
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Location: Bargersville, IN | Exactly! |
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Posts: 1060
Location: Palm Coast, FL | I have done some research on the size/numbers of catches in Webster using the Muskies Inc. log. Here is what I have found:
I have attached below a snapshot because it was not lining up correctly.
*2007 is not complete yet.
I am not seeing any trend here. The average size of fish caught has been withing 2 inches over the past 7 years. In 2003 there was a massive weed kill that drastically affected the fishing. This had nothing to do with fishing pressure.
I myself have fished more of the other local lakes this year but still fish Webster quite a bit...6 in the boat yesterday with the largest 45.25".
Edited by Vince Weirick 11/29/2007 7:57 AM
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Posts: 785
| I want to catch a rhino fish!! All my snub noses are hornless. |
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Posts: 1636
| 658 fish registered last year...297 registered this year and its basically december. Yep, thats not a big drop at all........
But like Hulbert said, you can't really base it off of the llunge log.
Edited by Reelwise 11/29/2007 1:19 PM
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Posts: 1060
Location: Palm Coast, FL | Reelwise,
How do you consider it a decline after one year drop? It dropped in 2002 and 2003 and rebounded for 3 years straight after that.
Last year...a number of fish were caught in December. We may not get that this year because it may be iced over soon.
I do agree as the numbers show that there is a decline this year...but it is only a year and not on a decline.
My numbers are not down and I have fished other lakes. Fish are still eating on all lakes.
There are many factors that could show a decline in number of fish reported...one for instance is that Hulbert did not enter any of his fish this year. Could also be the price of gas and not as many people driving that far to fish here. |
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Posts: 385
| So, you're saying not many people are fishing Webster this year, and that's one reason the numbers are down, because people don't travel due to gas prices? That lake gets pounded more now than ever. Every day of the week. Being that I started fishing there over eight years ago, I would say there is no comparison in the quality of fish that used to come out of that lake, and what's coming out of there now. I really think they need to cut back on the stocking and spread it around a little more. Barbee getting 5 fish per acre every year will probably start showing signs similar to Webster eventually, but I hope not. Just curious where IN DNR came up with five fish per acre for stocking? Why not 2 to 3 fish per acre? |
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Posts: 1060
Location: Palm Coast, FL | Matt,
I have noticed a huge increase of people fishing the Barbee Chain and Tippecanoe this year. I constantly see people out of my living room window fishing the chain.
I am not saying that Webster does not get pressure. I am saying that I have noticed this year that more people are fishing different waters than before. So does this mean that less people are fishing Webster...maybe, maybe not??? I am also saying that my catch ratios are not down but rather up on all the lakes I guide on. |
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Posts: 1080
| I have to say, I've had more 3, 4 & 5 fish days this year on Webster than in the past few years, but, the size and quality of those fish, were not what they were compared to years ago. Still a lot of fun, no doubt. Just not what I'm looking for. :shrug: Granted...I have not fished much at all these past two years due to having kids now. My time on the water has been severely limited...and my overall numbers reflect that, understandably.
Yeah..I agree....the Lunge Log is not intended to be a measuring device to speak for a particular lake's condition. There's only such a small percentage of people that turn in their entries. There's no way to capture and document every single fishermen that fishes those lakes and how many they catch.
I don't recall ever reading or hearing any reports on how the DNR did this past Spring with the netting of fish when netting for milt and eggs. Did those reports show any findings?
Edited by MACK 11/30/2007 8:07 AM
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Posts: 61
Location: Avilla, IN | Mack, you can view the stocking results at Mike Ice's site. The Indiana DNR had major problems with the stocking program this year (mainly weather). Webster and Barbee stocking numbers are down, Tippy the same, Loon and Skinner may be deleted from future stocking, they received 0 muskies this year. |
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| Crooked hat, crooked fish
Keep it real guy |
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| Indiana had a tuff year all around from my own experience and other guys I know who spend alot of time out there. From the concesus I got, last winters open water most of the year did not give the fish much of a break. Is that the reason, got me.
As for the "hump back" and the snub nose, I would have to think it has more to do with them being hatchery fish, then simply saying mishandling.
Jamming a ton of fish in holding pens and the handling they go thru before the ever hit the lake damages alot of fish.
I doubt anybody would agrue that if you ever "broke" the back of a fish during a release, it would ever live to be caught again. |
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Posts: 512
| Hey Hoop,
Just saw this.
Hard to say and an interesting comment about hatchery fish.
However, I've caught pickerel with humpbacks before and, without doubt, nobody's stocking them
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| Sad to say that the spinal disorder of your fish is also showing up in crappie caught in Dewart Lake about 7 miles from Webster Lake. Not to mention the eye abnormalities of bluegills caught in Dewart Lake! Crappies are also suffering from exterior fungus patches. All of these issues have appeared in Dewart Lake in the last 5 years and the DNR has NO concerns or alarm!!! I love living in Kosciusko county!
Nice catch though!!!! |
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