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| I am sure some of you guys in Minneapolis have seen the fishing page this morning. If not, there is a picture of a guy holding a 50" from Minnetonka saying he is going to of course "put this one on the wall." Even though it is a perfect picture and he is a proponent of catch and release this is the exception. It is really too bad since from the looks of the head on that fish it was destined to be a 54"+ in a couple years. Finally, his tackle was of course 10lb. test with no leader and a net that was too small. I think we need Ontario's 54" size limit state wide. |
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | I agree....I hear of too many muskies being taken out of Tonka that can be monsters one day......What can do we do to get a new state limit? |
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Posts: 267
Location: Right behind you (tap, tap) BOOO | Holy cripes, the head on that thing is huge... It is his right to keep a fish he paid for a license just like you and I, but to see a fish like that harvested is really sad, that could have been the new state record in a few years...
Education is key, I can see how fisherman can get excited about a large fish and what they would condsider to be a trophy, and I have to beleive most people just don't understand (or even care) how few of these fish there are. I'm all for the 54" min. like Canada especially on MN throphy waters, Minnetonka, Mille Lacs, Cass, Leech, and the list goes on.
Further more what kind of Musky angler intentionally targets muskies with 10lb test no leader and a pan fish net... To bad that monster didn't bite him off at boat side...
Esox23 |
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| A legal catch and he got it on very light tackle. It is a trophy fish and I have no problem with his keeping it. CPR is great but it is always a choice and never a requirement. If the limit moves much higher all muskie fishing will be catch and release. There is room for the harvesting of non-trophy fish. |
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | I disagree - As I stated previously, there are too many BIG muskies being taken out of Tonka. Yes, he has the right to keep it as he did pay for a license......If we continue to let these anglers take out 50" fish, it will only hurt the fishery! Those 50" plus have the potential of a record a few years down the road.
You nailed it on the head - "what kind of Musky angler intentionally targets muskies with 10lb test no leader and a pan fish net"
His plan was not CPR, he plan was to bring it home!
I will say this - Congrats to him on the catch! |
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Posts: 120
Location: Chicago, IL | marine_1 - 9/1/2004 10:41 AM
I'm not trying to skewer this guy at all he has every right to take a 50". Maybe I am mistaken but it does look like this baby had a head to grow into what do you guys think? I am against any limit increase, I think 40" is plenty big.
I always thought that the reverse was true. I mean that a fish with a huge head compared to its body was past its peak for growth. Can anyone clarify this?
Look at the 51X29 Mille Lacs fish... it had a tiny head compared to its body which would suggest that it had some more growth ahead of it.
Dan Hardy |
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Posts: 7123
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | I have an idea: instead of speaking of how much we all disagree with someone actually keeping a fish, or mishandling a fish, or whatever with a fish.....why dont we think PROACTIVELY about what we CAN do to preserve and promote the fishery.
I am all for positive discussions about the benefits of C&R, but I do believe that 99% of the people who frequent this board and others, are all in the C&R boat. Some a bit more fanatical about it, some more laizze faire, but we all agree that to whatever level we deem necessary, we will care for the fish that we catch, and we will release them.
Lets think more PROACTIVELY! What can we all do to spread the word of C&R? What can we do to educate people? While I agree we all have the right to have feelings about people keeping muskies, I do see the constant deriding on this board of people who keep a fish as somewhat a waste of energy. Not that the points arent valid, but its like we're all yelling to each other "this sucks" and the response is generally "yeah, this sucks", but is that message reaching outside of MuskieFIRST?
Who has ideas about what we can do to help the fisheries, instead of getting upset about them after the fact? |
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | I have seen at some launches where there are signs of Practice catch and release, etc..
Perhaps that can be a first step with the DNR???? |
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Posts: 743
| if i lived in MN or the Twin Cities metro, i'd be upset. This guys reminds me of half the indiana musky fisherman i see. Mono, 10 pound test, spinning reel and 3 rapalas. a bluegill net.
If someone doesnt' jump on his case, then he'll never learn. Matter of fact, he's been rewarded for killing his fish by putting it in the paper. It would be guess he thinks all the muskies are naturally reproducing in there for him to keep. or at least the ones big enough to keep. he needs to be personally address in person, on the phone, in email or a letter explaining how much money the DNR, the Musky Clubs have spent to grow one 50" musky. i'd guess and say the MN dnr has to stock over 20,000 to grow one 50". That's alot of money.
We need to stop making excuses for these guys. There is going to growing and growing # of anglers who are gonna occasionally target muskies and will do w/ thier bass rods. They need to know.
If this guy caught this one, he can surely catch another so someone needs to bring him up to speed.
I have not been at the Tonka ramp in long time, but does the MN DNR have info posted about how much effort is put into a musky program? and how releases should be considered for these fish? and all that jazz. In Indiana we have musky information centers at most ramps. I bring many new anglers over the read the info. they are normally quite suprised by all of it.
DJS...54" statewide would be sweet. keep dreaming.
tomcat |
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Posts: 7123
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | I agree Tomcat about education....but does "jumping on his case" AFTER the fact help? The fish is dead now. The next guy who decides to bring a fish home....then we "jump on his case" too?
Can we try to think of MORE we can do instead of just jumping all over people because they did something we dont agree with? Can we be more PROACTIVE versus just having this knee jerk reaction everytime someone kills a fish?
ANY IDEAS???? |
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| Slamr is right we need ideas. Mine is the 54" size limit. These fish are put in by the DNR and thus all this B.S. about I bought a liscence and I will do what I want is just that B.S. How about catch and release on all artificial or stocked lakes. That would include all of the metro waters and would be sweet. If you need to kill one head to North Central Minnesota and have at it! Also what about a muskie stamp we have one for geese and several other animals and no one is calling that pompous or arrogant. |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | If that fish is 50" then I'm a stinky pike.
Tonka fish with big heads are old fish. VERY few tonka fish if any have the potential to get to the state record. Problem: wrong kind of food to get fat. Not many suckers and no cisco. They're eating bullheads, crappies/sunnies, and carp. None will get a muskie huge. Big, yes.
I just hope that all the people who shell a guy that comes across that "fish of a lifetime" and keep the fish, and get flamed back. Get off the high horses people.
Just got off the lake. Fished 2 hours, saw 7. 5 over 40, 3 over 45. Lots of fish there, the lake isn't going to miss a couple.
Can't we just be happy for another angler? After all, it is just a fish...  |
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| What about that week were you see 2 fish Treats? Are there plenty of fish then? |
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Posts: 202
Location: Angola, IN | Well, everyone can do what they want. If you want to kill muskies, go ahead. If I want to confront you about it, I will. It goes both ways.
There is a high kill rate on a particular Indiana lake (Skinner) and it's partly due to the fact most hardcore musky guys don't fish the lake. If they did, more of these "locals" would be confronted and taught to do the right thing.
I even have a hardcore musky guy (who frequents this board a lot) wanting me to go fish the lake and police it for the weekend.....and straightening these guys out.
If you want to be politically correct in your effort to "educate" new anglers about CPR, go right ahead. To each his own. |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | OK, let's say we get a limit of 54" on a body of water. What exactly does that mean? According to the fisheries people I have spoken to, this:
1) Some bodies of water will not support that large a limit, and will not improve in any way, as most if not all the Muskies there top out way before 54". It also dictates a total catch and release only fishery, which I do not support on many waters for a large number of reasons I have stated before as we beat this dead horse.
2) Most if not all Muskies in some bodies of water we are talking about are 'put and take' stocked, with the intent that there will be harvested fish. If the harvest totals are dropped to zero, the number of stocked fish will be lowered. Net result for the water? A poorer fishery with fewer year classes, and fish that at 14 years or so
are topped out well under the 54" limit and die of old age. Those are 'wasted' fish too, and as much turtle food as one that is poorly handled and dies. The argument, you see, is not as one sided as we frequently present it here.
3) SOME waters will support the limit. That is where the limits should be placed, but not by a group democratic decision on MuskieFIRST. The decision should be made by the Fisheries folks who are in charge of managing that water, no one else. Ok, now we get what we want, and a system is given a 54" limit. What happens when someone decides to keep a 54.75 inch muskie? Is there a point at which the purists will agree it's OK to harvest a fish? No, probably not. Many would say NO muskie should ever be kept. That doesn't match up with management stratagies on many systems, and it is, in my VERY humble opinion, a really bad idea to MANDATE total release. We are far, far, far, ahead with the political process that is in place to encourage CPR, educate the folks we can, and continue to push forward with our desires to see more muskie stocking across the range in the US.
Hey, one more thing, it seems to me the guy was NOT fishing Muskies. I would bet he was fishing bass, like many do over there, and stated he does support CPR as a standard but harvested that fish as a trophy. Is there an article link?
I didn't see the paper, but those accusing the guy of premeditated 'murder' of a fish by targeting it with very light tackle and no leader are making a pretty large and somewhat elitist assumption. |
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