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| What is your standard boatside mannor for handling and measuring muskies. | |
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| I could almost write a short novel on this one. I'll try to keep it short.
Let's start with the fact that I carry a 30 pound BogaGrip, Lunge Locker stainless gaff, and Beckman XD Finsaver Pen aboard. I am equally proficient with all 3. Lightly hooked fish go in the net, no question. Smaller fish I try to put on the Boga, and bigger fish on the gaff. (The gaff provides the most superior control over big fish without question!) The latter 2 also include the use of kevlar-glass weave gloves to protect my fingers and knuckles from teeth and hooks.
First item of business is to remove the hooks, with the fish still in the water where possible. If they don't come out REAL quick, they get cut out.
Measuring the fish... I have a 60" fibreglass seamstress tape measure attached to a 62" piece of wooden moulding (incidentally, that floats much better than the dozen or so tape measures that litter the bottom of a variety of lakes in my area). The measuring stick is readied. The cameras are set. The fish is swung over and measured, and then goes up for a quick photo, and then back in she goes. Under normal circumstances, out of water time is under 20 seconds. When fishing alone, fish under 45" don't get photographed, so out of water time is often under 10 seconds. If you have an instant camera, great. If not - for SLR's 1/500th sec at F5.6 on sunny days, f4.0 on overcast ones gets the job done. A polarizing filter is helpful on super bright days.
It's a pretty smooth and easy process. With practise, you'll get better and better, until you can almost do the measuring and release process in your sleep. (Don't sleep when removing the hooks - the wake-up call could be mighty painful!)
Easiest way to get fast releases and avoid delayed mortality is to get fish in as quickly as possible (don't overplay them), and keep out of water time (where the gills are out of the water) to as short a period as you can.
Steve Wickens | |
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| Once the fish is in the net at boatside:
1) The net and fish remain in the water at all times while getting the hooks out. NEVER PULL THE
FISH INTO THE BOAT WHILE THE FISH IS STILL IN THE NET!
2) Bolt cutters to cut the hooks. (NOTE: ALL tools should be handy prior to starting fishing).
3) Long needle nose pliers to get the hooks out.
4) Fish remains in the water while getting the camera and ruler ready.
5) Quickly take the fish out, measure, snap a quick photo, get the fish back in the water.
NOTE - If something goes wrong (i.e. camera problems, etc....), GET THE FISH BACK INTO THE WATER, WORK OUT THE ISSUES AND THEN GET THE FISH ONLY WHEN READY!
6) IF the fish appears to be hurt, I will fill the 60" livewell up in my Tuffy and put the fish in there
and give it time to get its bearings straight.
7) Once the fish is back in the water and ready for release, grab onto the tail and hold it upright.
Let it get its bearings straight. When it is ready to go, you will not be able to hold on to it. It
will swim out of your hands when it is ready.
8) Remain in the area for 15 - 20 minutes and make sure it is OK and doesn't come back up. If the
water is really warm (80+), I may stay in the area for as long as 30 minutes to make sure. I will
generally continue fishing the same area during this waiting period.
9) Get back to fishing.
10) Hopefully repeat the steps above soon!
The whole idea is to make the resource the top priority and minimize the actual time it is out of the water. | |
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Release question fo the pro's