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Posts: 252
| Just wondering at what point you guys consider a musky as caught. The reason that I am asking is that I had a 43 to 45 incher in the net over the weekend. I had just released her from the hooks and was working on grabbing my camera for a self-auto picture. When I went back at the net, the old girl jumped vertical, wiggled, and fell over the side of the net and took off like an angry torpedo.
I counted her as a catch and release because I got her into the net. Not that anyone really cares, because it doesn't really count for anything except for my stupid log book. What do you guys count as a catch? When she is boatside, in the net, in the boat, measured, or a picture is taken?
I wound up catching a few more that day, and I snapped a quick picture of them in the net before they could get the jump on me.
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Posts: 406
Location: Stones throw away...finally!! | In the net... |
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Posts: 1638
Location: Minnesota | if its in the net its caught |
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| Leader touch. |
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Posts: 410
Location: Wakefield, MI | When I have control of it, usually in the net but sometimes like a small pike I'll let it throw the hook if I can see it will come out easy. |
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Posts: 410
Location: one foot over the line | 12 feet away from the boat....I call it a "gimme".... |
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Posts: 720
| In the net. Good catch. |
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Location: The desert | Once it's on the wall. |
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Location: Madison, WI | when its in the fryer |
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Posts: 569
| Leader touch |
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Posts: 567
| Old Canadian guide say " no picture no fish " or maybe that was my brother |
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Posts: 177
| I fumbled one about 10 years ago going from the net to the pic pose still wish I had a pic of that one..consider it caught once in the net but without a pic it will still bother you |
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Posts: 199
Location: Nebraska | Lost my PB last year, unhooked, pulling out of net for photo, it flopped and rather than let it hit the deck I let it go overboard. My buddies said "no measurement, no catch" but I was OK calling it a catch when I laid my hands on it. Better for the fish and it's just a number.
Edited by Stein 7/16/2013 11:06 PM
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Posts: 39
| How about hooking into a fish and walking it up and down the side of the boat, like a dog, a few times because realize your gf 's little brother took all but the 2 walleye nets out of the boat earlier...? Catch or not? |
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Posts: 180
| In the net but I bet it's really eating at you that you didn't get the pic. I take a quick picture of every musky I catch. I have them in order in a book. It's fun to go back and visualize each memory and some day my kids can see my progression as a Muskie nut lol!
Edited by ckhawkeye51 7/16/2013 11:14 PM
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Posts: 46
| Does it count as caught if you and the fish are hooked on the same bait at the same time? |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | <p>I say in the net, it's a fish all the way. Leader touch is a saltwater thing, but that's because you don't net marlin or tuna. I'd say that's fair, but I see it as "all the way" and for muskies, that's the net. That said, it'd bug the hell out of me if I didn't get a pic or a measurement on a monster.</p><p>Edit- for a "50+" or "monster" claim it's gotta be on a bump board.</p>
Edited by esoxfly 7/17/2013 2:05 AM
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Posts: 531
| It doesn't count until you get the gaff in their side, or if a gaff isn't your taste a single "hit" shot with a .22 is when it counts...That was a joke.
I do a lot of bank fishing and carring as net isn't always an option. So if I have a fish to the bank for a reasonable amount of time (time that it would take to net the fish if I had a net) I would count it. Understand that once I get the fish to the bank I tend to free spool the reel and go to my bag and dig out my tools and walk back and climb down to the fish to unhook, if the fish come free in this process I feel its a win win, I caught the fish, and I didn't have to fish the fish in the unhooking.
I also take the approach that if I were fishing to keep the fish and bring it home to eat it (im not) that if the fish is at my feet long enough to gaff it to drag it aboard it would count as caught because my starving family wouldn't care how it was killed just that its there.
I don't count fish that are lost near the boat or bank when the net hasn't hit the water (u could have a buddy who botched the net job so bad the fish came off, I feel it should still be count as a caught fish, you just don't have a photo of you holding it), or I haven't free spooled to get the tools. Its all a judgement call, but I also do not hold every fish for a photo, I may take a pic of the bait in the mouth so not netting every fish is a positive thing for the way I do it. To add another a photo of the bait in the mouth justifies a catch for me.
Have your own guide lines and keep it consistant and have your boat partner do the same, its fishing and its suposto be fun.
By the way, length measurement only counts if you actually measure it.
Edited by anzomcik 7/17/2013 5:29 AM
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Posts: 75
| I would say in the net and with the hooks removed. That is when it is under control. You can lose control of it later, but for that moment at least, its been caught. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | Normally I'd consider when the fish is in the net a caught fish. If it's one that I purposefully unhook while in the water (not common), I'd consider that a catch too.
I don't agree with no picture, not caught. If I catch a fish that I feel is stressed, bleeding, etc and don't take a picture, but I had control of the fish, that was a caught fish.
In your case, you caught it! |
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Posts: 1220
| I think you should be very liberal here, a really good follow, a swing and a miss, barely hooked, not quited netted. Go ahead and count them all. Absolutely no need of a photo, I BELIEVE YOU...I really do. Especially now, when the waters are reaching over the 80 mark, just claim what you want....bringing her into the boat for a photo is only going to make her look smaller and people on the boards will only criticize you if you put up a photo with a measurement. Leave them in the water and say it was a "Fifty," that's what I say! |
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Posts: 174
Location: Ontario | If you asked the fish what had happened, It would suggest it had been "caught ". |
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Posts: 256
| In the net. |
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Posts: 661
Location: Roscoe IL | I would think,,, If it's a members only contest for muskies inc and you did't measure it then it's a no catch considering your fishing for points. If you get her in the net in any other capacity it's a catch. Not sure how this would work in a tournament situation? |
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Posts: 1516
| Is it caught if your net man doesn't get it into the net but knocks it off the hook instead? |
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Posts: 182
| beerforthemuskygods - 7/16/2013 8:26 PM
12 feet away from the boat....I call it a "gimme".... :)
Seems like have my hookups are half that distance in a figure 8. |
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| I consider it caught when I think to myself “Aww crap, now I have to unhook this thing” Sometimes that’s in the net sometimes it’s just next to the boat
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Posts: 427
| What are the water temps in Kentucky? |
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Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | I fumbled my first 50" while lifting it out of the net, didn't get a measurement (or picture) so it wasn't verified but I still counted it. I caught a 49" a couple hours later and there was no question the first fish was at least 50". Have to admit I had some nightmares that night. Felt better when I got a 51" the following day
I still think the "unmeasured fish" was bigger though.... maybe 52+". |
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| When you see one super shallow in the sun ignoring every lure you throw at it. |
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Location: Cave Run Lake KY. | hoosierhunter - 7/17/2013 10:25 AM
What are the water temps in Kentucky? You can call Cave Run Report at !- 606-783-7001 if they don't answer call back as they update it. Last Sunday the temp was 80* |
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| I was fishing with the late, great Eric Genson and fumbled my PB out of the net. He turned around and said "What happened? She "sasquatched" ya." I asked what he meant..."you know, crazy story, no picture" he said. If there's no pic... it didn't happen! Seriously though, in the net or full control for water release.
Edit: You cannot claim a measurement without measuring! i.e...you can't say "46" you must say mid/upper 40s. Also, you cannot claim an unmeasured fish as a "50+"
Edited by Ben Olsen 7/17/2013 6:17 PM
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Posts: 174
Location: Ontario | So if your fishing a week before the season opens for walleye and you snag a muskie, get in a cradle, and release it....and someone asks, did you catch anything ? Do you tell them you "caught it " ? |
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| you tell 'em you snagged it!
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | I would say that's caught and counted. What about where you have a partner that is diddling around getting the net and the fish comes off at boatside? Or you have the fish there ready to net but old Slowpoke Loco is taking his good nature time in getting tired butt up, or how about where your Mr Reliable goes to net the fish and knocks the lure out of it's mouth......
Netman (every boat needs a good one) |
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| Netman - 7/18/2013 8:06 AM
I would say that's caught and counted. What about where you have a partner that is diddling around getting the net and the fish comes off at boatside? Or you have the fish there ready to net but old Slowpoke Loco is taking his good nature time in getting tired butt up, or how about where your Mr Reliable goes to net the fish and knocks the lure out of it's mouth......
Netman (every boat needs a good one)
If you intend to get the fish into the net but fail to do so, it is not a catch. If you don't get the fish in the net, but didn't want to net it anyway, it is a catch. That's the way I look at it.
I had a low 30's to the boat a couple weeks ago with only my 9 year old nephew to run the net, so I just told him not to net it. I let it shake the hooks and called it a catch. Then last week I hooked an upper-40's beauty way out, got it to the boat, and it was freaking out - within netting range - for about 10 seconds before throwing the hooks. I wanted (very badly) to get this one in the net, but failed to do so. Not a catch. Still recovering from that one. |
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Posts: 252
| hoosierhunter - 7/17/2013 9:25 AM
What are the water temps in Kentucky?
I guess it depends on where in Ky a person is fishing. My buddy and I were in Barren River yesterday and the water temp was at about 74 degrees and then we moved up into a blue hole fed stream and it was 60 degrees. My buddy caught this 42 incher and I went ahead and took a picture of it in the net before we took it out, just in case it escaped before we could snap a picture of it out of the net. The fish released well in the 74 degree waters.
Edited by KentuckyMuskie 7/18/2013 4:17 PM
Attachments ---------------- TMMBb.jpg (105KB - 183 downloads)
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Posts: 556
| You caught it !! To bad you couldn't get the exact length and photo--but you landed it. I have had a couple smaller ones jump and get free also after putting them in the net--wasn't to concerned because they were nowhere near my PB. Keep the next one in the net !! |
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Posts: 7
| I have never caught a musky. This summer, while on vacation in Wisconsin, I met up with a friend and he took me down a float of the Flambeau River. I desperately wanted to catch my first "ski". He caught a low 40's fish (we didn't measure it) and he released it. A few minutes later, we were moving back to the middle of the river, and I just had my topwater (Tyrant Crusader) boatside plopping along. When we got back in the middle, right before I picked it up to cast, I started a quick figure 8 and a small (30 inch?) musky took a swipe at it. I continued to figure 8 and with each turn, the musky took a try. On the 4th hit, I got a hook in him. I was using a very heavy rod and since it was boatside and happened so fast, I just lifted him up over the boat. Before we could do anything, he flopped off, hit the edge of the boat, and landed back in the river. He swam off. I wanted so bad to have "caught" that fish. Had he flopped off and went straight down, he would have landed in the boat. I'm glad he didn't, because I know it would have hurt him, but I came oh so close. I hope he wasn't hurt bouncing off the boat. He sure swam off quickly when he got back in the water. Obviously I couldn't count him, (even if I was inclined, this would have been my first musky so I couldn't do it for sure, lol), but I said I was about as close to catching one as I could get without doing it. Hopefully in a few weeks here in Southern IL I will break the streak at Kinkaid.
Edited by shootist 8/19/2013 4:17 PM
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Posts: 716
| Simple answer...when YOU decide to release it. If you didn't get to that point you didn't catch it. |
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Location: oswego, il | when you have posted the picture on this site. |
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | I consider a fish caught once you gain control of it. This can be in a net or boatside water release.
Lots of muskie fishermen are now water releasing fish without touching the fish. I do this on lots of fish during the season. Exclusively when the water temps reach that upper 70's mark. Once the fish is to the boat and I have the leader line in my hands I consider it caught. I can net a fish much faster than I can get the leader into my hands at boatside.
Why bag a fish and hurt them if you don't have too. Water released fish swim off stronger and less damaged than a fish bagged.
A simple snip snip or grab and twist with a long nose pliers is my prefered method on fish under 40 inches. Client fish are different. If a picture is needed I bag the fish and unhook them to avoid injuries to clients.
Also I take a quick picture as the fish gets to the boat before the water release for my records. Now I got the date, time and bait used on record. That's nice to go with the manual fish log I do every time I get off the water.
I would rather see fish swim off healthy with a water release than tell a guy it was not a catch because he didn't net it. That's just not rite. A quality fishory is more important than personal numbers. |
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Posts: 144
| If I have to un-hook it, net or no net, it's caught. |
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Posts: 380
Location: Michigan | I am glad i am not the only one who has gone through this dilema... I recentl lost two nice fish that i was hand landing... I had the gill hold on them (more than once in one case), but the fish escaped me. I consider them caught, but i didn't get a measurement, whcih is driving me crazy... So for me to sleep well, i need a measurement on a nice fish... |
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