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Posts: 7039
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Do a Google search for "Muskie", number one return on there is for Wikipedia. Not a single thing about C&R in the article, let's change that. I have a Wikipedia account, so let's change the way the Wiki reads. New muskie fisherman are going to do a google search, and this is what they'll read first online. Let's give them another idea about this new species they want to pursue.
How would you put a one paragraph description of Muskie C&R? Something positive.... |
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | The decision whether to keep a legal-size muskellunge is up to the angler, but remember that muskie fishing has evolved into a sport where success is no longer measured by the number of fish caught and killed. Voluntary catch-and-release along with higher size limits will make the fishery even better. Experience has shown that they do survive well if they are handled carefully. Anyone who releases a muskie should give top priority to the health of the fish.
Utilize these release techniques to ensure the future of our sport:
Be prepared by carrying a long-nose pliers or hook remover, jaw spreader and a wire cutter or small bolt cutter capable of cutting your heaviest hooks.
Don't play the fish to complete exhaustion.
If at all possible, KEEP THE FISH IN THE WATER! You can measure it and remove the hooks while it is held horizontally in the water. If hook removal might injure the fish, cut the hook with a small bolt cutter. The embedded portion can then be more easily removed with a pair of long-nosed pliers.
If you want to take a picture, do it quickly. A fish's body is designed for life in a weightless environment. Always support its weight horizontally to avoid possible injury to the spine and the tissues around the head.
When the fish is ready for release, hold it upright in the water and allow it to regain its strength.
Anyone who has ever released a musky knows the thrill and sense of pride that comes from watching it swim away to grow larger and fight another day.
http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/musky/muskywaters_catchrelease.html |
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Location: Illinois | Musky are a limited resource, and to keep lakes full of muskies, the large "keepers" (or legal fish) are commonly released back into the lake to live again. This enables many fisherman the chance of enjoying the thrill of catching that big one. This practice is called C.P.R., an anagram for Catch, Photo, & Release. Here are the steps for achieving a successful release: net the musky, unhook the musky while keeping the net and fish in the water, lift the musky out of the net, take a photo, gently let the musky back into the water and let it swim away. The picture can be brought to a taxidermist who can replicate your fish into a mount called a reproduction. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Muskies Inc's John Underhill did quite an article on this topic for the MI website, complete with lots of photos. Probably more than the one paragraph you were looksing for, good read none the less:
*link removed per request of a MI Chapter President. Reason: link allows non-MI members to view "members only" sections.
m |
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Posts: 7039
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | New policy: if you didnt take 5 minutes to answer this thread, you dont get to:
-rip on people who kill fish.
-tell people what fish is ok, and what isnt to keep.
-rip on companies with pictures of dead fish.
-tell about how passionate you are about C&R and educating the masses.
I am willing to wager if I delete this thread, wait about 2 weeks and re-post it, but making it into a contest where you get a reel, or a rod, a hat or a lure or something else free, the response would be enormous compared to the two and a link that we've gotten so far.
Respond to this thread, don't respond, but do us all a favor: keep your opinions to yourself until you're willing to give even a few moments of your time to help the thing you say is so important to you. |
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Posts: 7039
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Mr. Remer, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your short, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. |
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Posts: 5874
| I wonder how long that post would have stayed up, if one of "us" would have posted it.
Having a bad day slamr? |
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Posts: 7039
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | I guess life's just not fair Shep. |
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Posts: 691
Location: nationwide | I will comply to the "new policy" and in the past I have not even posted about people keeping fish, regardless of size, or companies with dead fish pictures and I am not one to get up on the soap box about catch and release. And if I do manage to hook and land what I think is a musky over40 pounds . . . . out of the flowage . . . you will hear the thump for miles. Now for my September trip with Jonesi on Mille Lacs . . . I have no intent on keeping anything I catch regardless of size but reserve the right to get a replica.
Now I am leaving for Alabama for a few days.
Corey Meyer |
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| thank goodness you do not catch a 40lber then. And i know for fact even if you wanted to keep one on Mille Lacs with Jonesi, he would tell you to fly a kite.
So, yet another response that does no good.
Slamr, I think something similar to the first two posts would be great. Its just how do we get it into the correct hands and make it stick. As for the other posts, well nuff said.
Brian Maxey |
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Posts: 8781
| How about just a sentence?
"The success of today's muskie fisheries depends largely on catch-and-release fishing; stocking is expensive, mortality rates are high, and muskies are a slow-growing fish, taking many years to reach a large size." |
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| With the popularity of Catch and Release growing in the angling community, more people are beginng to fish for larger game fish instead of targeting fish for the table. Muskie fishing is gaining popularity becuase of this. Anglers who fish for the elusive muskie have embraced the concept of Catch and Release. Most will tell you that they will not keep a fish even if they think it will make the record books. The reason for this is growth rates. It can take upwards of twenty years for a fish to reach "trophy" quality.
Make sure you have all the necessary tools needed to release one of these toothy critters (their teeth can be well over an inch long).
Long needle nose pliers
Jaw Spreaders
Large Net
Bolt Cutters
To end this post I will say this winter has been wwaaayyyyyy to long and we all need a little soft water.
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | I wont try and write something up word for word, because Slamr will likely change it anyways, but for good reason, he's a bit more eloquent with his writting than I am. But here are some key points I think should be highlighted in the write up:
-explain low population densities
-sometimes being difficult to catch (lots of the time actually)
-how a fish stresses during the initial hook up and fight
-keep battle to as short of time as possible
-use a quality net, talk about treated bags and such
-discuss the importance of proper release tools (long pliers, hook cutters, jaw spreaders)
-Explain how Catch and Release is now the most common practice done by musky anglers.
-minimize handling time
-when to cut hooks
-explain how removal of one fish affects a population
-perhaps site pictures of the same fish being caught multiple times, showing that catch and release really does work
-how to properly release a fish, not the torpedo method...just hold it upright till it gains its strenght and takes off on its own
-Also need to explain how to measurea and properly hold a fish for a good picture
-Tell about replicas and how they compare to a skin mount.
-Emphasize how cool it is to catch a musky, and by releasing it they are giving themselves, as well as others that much more of an opportunity to experience the same thing. If they harvest that fish, no one else gets that opportunity.
That keeps out all negative comments and provides a good way to teach others about catch and release.
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Posts: 8781
| Wow, Mike -- that would be a book, not a paragraph... |
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Location: Illinois | Slamr: Fight the good fight because it's the right thing to do. Sure, people "talking the talk" and never "walking the walk"- I could see where that might get pretty old from your point of view.
I think you were on to something that is vitally important: educating the unknowing. I hope you'll look into the wikipedia thing further. Even though you did not get a big response from this thread, it is still the right thing to try to change wikipedia and help the ignorant masses.
It's a good point you brought up, and now you've made it. I am a zealous contestant in most contests. I DO get excited about winning something for free. Guilty as charged! I will always be that way. Free stuff rocks the casbah and the shareef don't like it... rock the casbah... rock the casbah
Mike W |
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Posts: 2015
| maxey - 3/19/2008 1:07 PM
thank goodness you do not catch a 40lber then. And i know for fact even if you wanted to keep one on Mille Lacs with Jonesi, he would tell you to fly a kite.
So, yet another response that does no good.
Slamr, I think something similar to the first two posts would be great. Its just how do we get it into the correct hands and make it stick. As for the other posts, well nuff said.
Brian Maxey
Thump heard around MN if it is a sure state record!!! |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | esoxaddict - 3/19/2008 1:31 PM
Wow, Mike -- that would be a book, not a paragraph...
Yeah, it could get lengthy, but might as well educate them in what to do as well as how to do it, and why what they are doing is so important. |
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Posts: 2378
| Can you link to other sites in Wiki?
Maybe link to here...the Jonesi release tools video, articles concerning mortality and the effect on the fishery, etc.
Just an idea |
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| Very nice justin. problem with that is how many fish 2 pounds shy of the record are goiing to get clubbed before the record gets clubbed or mysteriously dies. Seems if it was a record clubbing it is ok but if it is not then it died due to stress or bad hooking. How many 48-50 lbers are going to get whacked this year and when they find out they are shy of the record "totally swallowed the pounder" "never had a chance to live"
Brian maxey
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Posts: 2015
| I was refering to Jonesi holding what he knows is a 57Lbs + fish GUIDE STEVE JONESI STATE RECORD HOLDER 58.7 POUNDS!! |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Luke has it; collective effort across all mediums we can collect. Interesting how 'other' places blast MuskieFIRST for encouraging this sort of conversation to be held by reasonable debate as to how one might reach a palatable and productive method of increasing awareness about CPR while as carefully as is possible discouraging the very behaviors that would set back real efforts to do so twenty years with those not so cool and 'in the know' as we . There's a group of folks most of whom I have never met who are very adept at keyboard abuse, yet not so adept in person or available when something actually can be done to improve this sport, it's you Slamr is talking to. You know who you are, and no amount of insulting those who stick their collective necks out on the block to acquire some measurable change will alter that. Real, measurable action created by a little of YOUR energy to improve this sport might, but not if you wear the effort on your sleeve and holler how cool you are and how uncool anyone who disagrees with you is, that comes off as just plain rude...stop all the bashing and use that energy to get something done and your future message board opinions might be taken more seriously. Debate it, sure. have a differing opinion than others, sure. That's the spirit of good debate in the first place. Right or wrong, it's open debate that many times leads to action, on that count maxey is exactly correct in my tiny, nearly insignificant opinion. But your opinion is just that as well, and as far as anyone can tell, none of us has been appointed the Czar of this All, so we had all better allow that EVERYONE'S opinion is valuable as long as it is presented in a reasonable fashion. The trick is to keep pushing what you think is right by allowing others to engage you, and through that process obtain allies, and identify those folks and groups who would damage your efforts/agenda to improve the sport and minimize them as much as is possible through positive action.
Some of us are not cut of the cloth to take a chance out 'amongst the English' like that. That's fine, no one has drafted you in any way. The silent majority is alive and well, and some of the time happy, some of the time of the time disgusted with all this banter, hoping those who DO feel the need to make something happen will well represent them well. I salute you all, and welcome you again to the madness.
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Posts: 8781
| There was a lengthy discussion on here a while back about getting sign printed and laminated, something you could put up at boat launches to inform those who may stumble across the incidental muskie how and why to release it.
Someone said they'd design it, someone else said they'd look into getting it printed, someone else said they'd look into finding an image that wasn't copyrighted, or requesting permission to use one that was. Many people volunteered to help put that sign up at their local launches.
Then the topic faded in favor of more senseless griping, bashing, and chest pounding over who is better, smarter, who is honest over the size of their fish, who is right, who catches more fish, who knows what they are doing and who doesn't, and whos got more hair on their %^&$.
And thats the way it goes on the internet -- once the discussions start heading towards people agreeing and actually getting something done instead of arguing over who is and isn't a muskie god everyone loses interest. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Addict, not necessarily. There's been a TON of positive happenings driven by message board debate, look around. it's not the Internet that's the problem IMHO, it's Human nature. |
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Posts: 457
| I can't really write anything better than that which has already been said. I thik that mention of them being a necessary apex predator, maintaining the balance of the aquatic ecosystem, proper procedure, also an explanation of mortaility rates affecting year classes. I'll try to key in a biologist friend of mine, as well, if we could get some input from predator managers in areas with established fisheries (MN, MI, WI, ONT).
Good topic Slamr, no matter how much I try to NOT like you, you always manage to find a way to change my mind.
(Tongue planted firmly in cheek on that last statement) |
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| I have participated in this topic various times over the past few months. I will do my best to keep this above board.
I don't think that it is a stretch to say that all those who visit the boards more or less share the same common goal.
It doesn't take long to see that there are is wide gap between somebody like myself who grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago and the northwoods of Wisconsin. For some fishing is truely sport, others a way of life and means of putting food on the table.
If what was kept was the legal size and meant for the table, god bless. But keeping for trophy still appears to have quite a gap in what is considered acceptable practice.
The quality of replicas available now days makes the need of keeping fish for trophy a thing of the past.
In watching musky shows, it still appalls me to see how a well known musky guy with his own show and sponsors is advocating "boca" grips and picking up fish by the jaws for photos and stressing the ease of the tool with no mention of the stress or damage to the fish.
I applaud the efforts of this board for permitting the conversation and debate on this matter. New musky fisherman are coming to this and other boards daily in search of answers from which rod, reels and tackle to purchase and without exception they are also informed on the need of preservation, propper fish handling techniques and the importance of both.
As much as we discuss and debate this topic, it would be most helpful for those who have built a name in this sport or have a platform to reach the masses (like tv shows) would spend a minute to properly illustrate techniques and discuss the need and benefit of CPR.
It is the guys with the following that can create much more of an impact then some guy from the south side of Chicago surfing the board because he is bored at work.
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| I posted on another site a suggestion that the musky community add a page to the MNDNR regulations book on proper C&R. That way i thought it would reach alot of the "uneducated" people out there, I also thought it would help stress the importance of catch and release of Muskies to all those Lucky walley guys... Never got much of a reponse.... |
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Posts: 20219
Location: oswego, il | Alot of good information here. In regards to catch and release, I think framing it in a way that tells the reader it has improved musky fishing to being the best it has ever been from it's(insert adjective here) of the 60's and 70's. |
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Posts: 1184
Location: Iowa Great Lakes | Many suggest putting signs up at launces and ramps, answer honestly, how often do you spend enough time at a ramp to read the board? I spend as little time possible getting in and out of the water.
I don't have the words or have the ability to write but when you come up with something keep it short and to the point, put it on Wikipedia if you wish, my thoughts were if you want the masses to see print it off and take it to the local gas station, bait shop, anywhere fishermen gather to shoot the bull and tape it to the cah register, next to the fish pictures on the beer coolers ect. At least more will see it, some will read it and want to learn more others will read it and think they know everything already and nothing we can do can change them.
I do fish to eat as well as fish for fun and when the day comes my catch cant be released it will be eaten. |
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Posts: 170
| I think any "tag" line or sentence should NOT start out in a condecending way. It should begin with something to the affect of, "while it is legal to harvest any fish that falls within the rules set by the DNR (or whatever applicable)"...then follow with a positive stance on why a release is better for all the reasons that many have listed.
Another 2 cents worth... |
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Posts: 2089
| Wow.I would never tell someone to fly a kite if they wanted to keep a fish. I'd tell them they have to swim back to the landing with it. The expectations are known long before the barge departs. How did I get in on this one? Steve |
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| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Muskies/Muskie Angling
Muskies are among the largest of freshwater gamefish and are reputed to be the 'fish of 10,000 casts' Muskie angling is steeped in lore and story, yet is currently one of the fastest growing segments in the US and Canada. Capturing a large Muskie is a challenge, and is frequently compared to 'hunting'.
Muskie populations represent extremely low density when compared to other gamefish in most waters, and are slow growing, living to 20 years of age and more and reaching lengths of as much as 58" and weights close to 60 pounds. Muskies of almost any size were frequently harvested as a prized trophy in the past. In recent years, that has changed!
Management techniques have changed dramatically since the 1980's, heavily influenced by Gill Hamm's visionary Club, Muskies Inc; now an Internationally recognized conservation oriented organization. Many conservation groups have worked with Muskie biologists to develop fisheries across the Muskie's range over the last three decades that support Muskies large enough to have been near legend less than two decades ago.
Most Muskie anglers now practice CPR, an acronym representing 'Catch, Photo, and Release', returning their trophy Muskie back to the waters to grow even larger perhaps for other anglers to CPR in the future. Some biologists suggest many muskies are caught and released several times in their long life, supporting the CPR concept.
Many taxidermists have reacted to this trend by creating exact fiberglass replica mounts of Muskies up to the largest now regularly captured, reducing the need to harvest a muskie for it's skin to zero, increasing the trophy potential of many Muskie fisheries in the process.
Dozens or resources exist on the World Wide Web and on magazine racks exploring the sport, providing information about techniques, equipment, and tools of the trade.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slamr,
Submitted to your userbase respectfully as a possible very rough draft. |
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Posts: 699
Location: Hugo, MN | mikie - 3/19/2008 4:23 PM
Muskies Inc's John Underhill did quite an article on this topic for the MI website, complete with lots of photos. Probably more than the one paragraph you were looksing for, good read none the less:
*link removed per request of a MI Chapter President. Reason: link allows non-MI members to view "members only" sections.
m
Interesting you'd think MI would want everyone, members and non-members alike, to have access to a CPR article . . . But, I guess not . . .
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | marine_1 - 3/20/2008 12:12 PM mikie - 3/19/2008 4:23 PM Muskies Inc's John Underhill did quite an article on this topic for the MI website, complete with lots of photos. Probably more than the one paragraph you were looksing for, good read none the less: *link removed per request of a MI Chapter President. Reason: link allows non-MI members to view "members only" sections. m Interesting you'd think MI would want everyone, members and non-members alike, to have access to a CPR article . . . But, I guess not . . . Marine_1 Of course the article should be avaialble to everyone that wasn't the issue. The problem was that the link posted provided backdoor access into the muskies, inc website and members only area bypassing the members only log-in. That is the reason I asked Slamr to remove the link, not because people shouldn't see the article. Here is a link to the article on a public forum though I'm not sure Slamr and the mods will like this much better (sorry dudes) since it links to another website.
http://www.thenextbite.com/forum/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=8&Topic=699... |
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Posts: 386
| GREAT topic, Slamr, and your comments are EVER BETTER! |
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