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Posts: 238
| Of course we all want to catch those 45+ inch fish, but based on my 10 limited years of experience, that isn't what most of us is catching. Lately I've been wondering if people that downplay those pesky 3-foot dinks truly are disgusted when they catch them. I for one am thrilled with a muskie of ANY size that I can fool. And I brag about them, too, regardless of size and without exaggerating their size. I don't get out muskie fishing that often and feel lucky to boat 1-5 muskies per year. Muskie fishing would loose it's appeal for me if I had to wait 3-5 years between catching anything of official boasting size. Too much emphasis is placed on stereotyping what's really a trophy. Little ones - even those cute 22 inchers - mean that the fishery is replenishing itself. Someday that little one might grow up to be a 45 incher or your personal best. The 30-40 inchers are the majority of the ones most of us see and catch. And those aren't small fish. Ask any bass or walleye guy.  So what do you guys and gals think? Does it make you mad when you see and catch sub-40inch fish? Very interested in your feedback.
Thanks,
D2Bucktail
Dave Dawson |
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Posts: 1769
Location: Algonquin, ILL | All of them are fun and a joy to catch & release, the enjoyment factor just goes up when you replace the inches with pounds
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| Any musky sighted or caught is PRICELESS! |
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| Every area is different. On some of the MN lakes catching a 35" fish is tougher than catching a 45". Wonder what those lakes will be like in 10 years? |
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Posts: 2515
Location: Waukesha & Land O Lakes, WI | The only time I dont like a shorty....Tournaments. Other than that, the young ones have such cool coloring. |
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Posts: 2037
Location: lansing, il | a musky in the boat is a musky in the boat the way i look at it. however i dont argee with targeting small fish, especially sub legal fish. if im seeing nothing but small ones i try to move on, and if a fish is what i consider under 34" im really not even going to work it on a figure 8 if it follows. ive seen lots of damage done to small fish, especially when those low 30s hit those big baits, those hooks can tear up a small fish. but if they hit my bait have no problem catching them. |
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| I feel the same way about hooking fish around the mid to high 30's! I've marked up a fish that has not only matured beyond the early years (a feat in and of itself) but small fish are normally so brillaintly coloured and marked, it's a shame to even ding them up a bit, as noted. But I don't see myself pulling baits away from any muskies, no matter what size anytime soon Sure do a lot of that pike fishin, though. GBay went to a trophy legal mark, 54, which is awesome. Other lakes are still using 36. On most of the waters I fish, you won't see a fish under 44-45 all season. I got a 37 on the Upper French 2 weeks ago that was my smallest GBay/trib fish by almost a foot! She was a clean fish also. |
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Posts: 148
Location: DES MOINES, IOWA | I go to Ontario to enjoy mother nature,and to get away from the stress of my job,and the City in general.Sure we like catching bigger Muskys, but some trips are 30" trips,and that,s Musky fishing.Last trip my boy did good,but I got shut out.I must have had 80 plus follows, and couldn't get a taker.A 30" hooked Musky would have been welcomed. |
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | I love every musky that visits the boat. Some I like a lot more but even the short guys put a smile on the face.
This question reminded me of a day on LOTW this year. I hooked a decent fish on a bucktail. It felt like a high thirty to low forty inch musky. A ways out from the boat I saw the spots. Now I am not a very big pike fan and hate dealing with them when I musky fish so I tried to shake it off. It didn't work so I brought the fish to the side of the boat and realized it was a really good pike, about 40 inches. As I am debating taking a picture of this thing, it occurred to me that it was still just a pike and gave it slack line to try to get it to unhook itself one more time. Well the fish went ballistic just as my boat partner had a low thirty inch musky chase his bait to the boat. The musky spooked from the commotion. As I reached over the side of the boat to unhook the unruly slimer I apologized to my partner for spooking away his musky. That's when it struck me, we put more value on the low thirty inch musky than a 40 inch pike. Weird things happen when you get addicted to musky fishing. |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | Most of the waters I fish are for fish that are exclusively stocked. Little or no reproduction. In waters like that, you have good established year classes of fish. In those situations you will catch alot of smaller fish, just because they have not been caught and are less educated. The bigger ones are there but you will catch more smaller fish than bigger fish. Bait size does not matter, my biggest two fish this year have come on 4 and 6" baits and some of my smallest sub 30 fish have come on 10" baits. |
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Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | Norm,
The 40inch Pike story touched home with me. I target muskies in Indiana but to catch or land a 40inch class pike in these waters, well, it just reminds me how many people fish for big pike up north and never catch one that big. I'll gladly accept any musky that falls for my tricks but I won't minimize the 25"+ pike that has enough nads to eat a 10 inch bait |
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Posts: 335
Location: Orland Park | I don't like catching fish in that range......not that it's not awesome, but those seem to be the fish that get jazzed up with hooks the worst and have a better chance to get hurt, especially if you're throwing a 3 treble lure. Anyone else have similar problems? Put a big fish in the net, it seems to throw the hooks while in the net. If it doesn't throw em, I have a much easier time getting a grip on a big fish to get the hooks out with the tools. |
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Posts: 561
Location: Monee, Illinois | 30-39 okay 20-29 no way...but then again a fish is a fish, how greedy have we gotten, a 30-39 inch largemouth/walleye or anything is huge. Now we are talking about not liking musky that size. Think I am going to go after some 20 inch crappie
Edited by pgaschulz 8/20/2004 10:54 AM
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Posts: 1939
Location: Black Creek, WI | Of course I enjoy catching Thirty Something fish.... muskies or pike.
Norm's example is a good one. We all seem to get that "disappointed feeling" when we see the spots instead of stripes.... but here is my explanation for that. If we truly do put more value on a musky like Norm suggested in his story, perhaps it is simply a reflection on the population of that species? There just seems to be more pike in a given system than muskies..... so it must be "easier" to catch a pike? However, a BIG pike is a rare creature as well, so I've learned to appreciate them just as much as a good musky. Kinda like a big walleye.... a 15 incher is just a walleye and we toss 'em in the fry pan.... but a 30 incher is a real trophy and we hang them on our walls. Why is it a trophy? Cause there are a lot less 30 inch walleyes in a lake then there are 15 inchers.... thus its more difficult and challenging to catch one.
So, the next time I catch a 38 inch Pike.... you can rest assured that I will take my picture with it and release it with just as much respect as any musky I catch.
jlong |
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| I take my friend Musky Midget's wisdom on this one.
He says " I like them in all sizes but given a choice I'll always take the big ones!"
Of course he was talking about his choices at bar close vs. fishing but the glove does fit.
S-
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | I love 'em all too. As a matter of fact all Esox! Big pike are big pike. Sure I'll still admit if I had caught a pike but no Muskie that I didn't catch any Muskie but will still tell of the Pike.
Itchin' to break the 50 " mark still. |
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Posts: 44
Location: ashland wi | Muskies of 30 in or more i tally on my count for the year,i have went to some really good numbers lakes by my home and i'll tell ya they can be just as hard to catch as the 45 incher,any northern over 34 is a nice one ,i caught a 47in 26lb northern a few years back and that thing had more tricks up it's sleeve during the battle than any 45 plus musky i've caught . when going to numbers lakes it is bucktails only,for the same reasons posted above,besides they thrash to much to have a 3 hook lure stuck in them and the net at the same time.had it happen once with a 33in and what a nightmare ,actually tore the net open.
PROPWASH. |
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Posts: 1430
Location: Eastern Ontario | I don't like fish in the 30's I will pull my lure away and shake off anything under 40 inches. The last 2 days me and clients have only had that problem once out of 6 fish or 4 of 12 this week.
I do take my name seriously. |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Any day a Muskie hits the Frabill is a great day. A 38" muskie is no dufferent than a 50" muskie, it's just not as big yet! |
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| Just got back from LOTW and no fish over 40"  Well I have to start packing for LOTW maybe I can get some big fish this trip. All I can do is think about the Winnipeg River trip. |
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Posts: 132
Location: Elkhart, IN | I can honestly say I really dont care to catch a 30"er again. It's not that I catch many big fish either, or, even many small fish. Heck, I only have two over 40" this year. The little ones just don't do it for me. I start getting excited at about 36" or so. I usually won't try and figure 8 one that size really hard though.
I know guys that will figure 8 a 30" fish or throw back to a 30" fish. I think that’s cool. It's just not for me.
I say YOU do what YOU want to do. Don't worry about anyone else.
Brian |
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Posts: 7123
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | And beware of Boro...if you catch a few 40"ers in a day, and he's getting blanked, he will attempt to cut your hand off by dropping knives on you.
Yes I know this good from personal experience.
No Boron, I never forget anything. |
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Posts: 110
Location: NEW LENOX IL | MUSKIHNTR, I FELT THE SAME AS YOU. I WOULD NOT FIGURE 8 ON SHORTYS BECAUSE OF THE STRESS AND POSS. INJURY TO THE FISH. THIS ALL CHANGED A COUPLE WEEKS AGO IN A TOURNEY I WAS FISHING. I HAD A CUTE 25" FOLLOWING A BUCKTAIL ,AT ABOUT 10' FEET FROM THE BOAT THE LITTLE DUDE TOOK A HARD RIGHT AND ROCKETED OUT OF SIGHT . OF COURSE I PICKED MY BAIT OUT OF THE WATER JUST IN TIME TO SEE A LOW 40" COME FLYING OUT FROM UNDER THE BOW OF MY BOAT, SHE STOPPED AND WAS LOOKING FOR MY BAIT. SHE WAS ONLY ABOUT A FOOT DOWN AND ABOUT 8 FEET FROM ME . I PITCHED OUT THE BAIT AND BROUGHT IT IN FRONT OF HER BUT I GUESS SHE LOST INTREST CAUSE SHE JUST SANK OUT OF SIGHT.
THERES ALWAYS TOMORROW
DAVE |
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Posts: 132
Location: Elkhart, IN | Slamr,
Me thinks the knife slipped toward your juggler because you were being less than friendly that day, lucky for you I have bad aim.
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Posts: 9
Location: Anprior Ontario, Canada | Agree somewhat with trophymuskie somthing better than nothin. However it really agitates me when I know there's a 30 pounder right there and its the liitle dink that hits your bait. BYE BYE, BIG GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!! #*^@ #$%@&* son of a %*&!# |
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Posts: 7123
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Look mullet boy, I was being very nice to you.....I even offered to let you use the "magic bait", but nooooooooooooooo, you wouldnt take it. YES I yelled at you....only after you netted my first over 40"er in like 14 months on the OUTSIDE of the net. If that fish had come off because you caught that front hook on the outside of the hoop..... |
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