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Posts: 93
Location: Minneapolis, MN | With all the chatter lately about proper landing techniques and how to minimize stress on the fish, I was wondering about the best way to land a muskie from shore. The potential stress factors being somewhat different (rocks, dry land, no net, shallow water, etc.), what steps should be taken to best handle/release the fish safely? |
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Location: Illinois | Excellent post I've never landed a muskie from the shore, but I would think the best way would be to wear waders or knee=highs when possible and still use a landing net. As far as pictures go, I would mount my camera on a tripod and set it to timer and try my best to get a good one in one try. If you can fish from a peir, I would guess you could use a net in that case as well! I look forward to reading what other people's experiences because I've never heard how one goes about a safe release of the fish. |
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Posts: 444
| I fish the mpls regions smaller lakes from shore, I hand land all mine, since i dont have a net, it requires getting in the water deep enough so your not pulling the musky on shore through the sand and rocks, This year i lost my biggest tiger, right next to the dock that if i had a net and someone to operate that net it would have been a for sure thing. My experience with getting pics done as been really good, usually a crowd gathers before you can land your catch and you have tons of ready and willing photographers, i have even had strangers come up ask how they can help and have had them fetch my pliers and setup my camera for me... |
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Posts: 2024
| Stinger,
You have a PM. |
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Posts: 291
Location: Minneapolis | I've caught a fair number from shore and piers. I use a boga grip; it's a little sketchy for really big fish, but fish up to the low-40" range work fine. I don't wade in unless I absolutely have to. Most places that are good for shore fishing have a decent drop (breakwall, etc.).
Reach down, boga-grip the fish, leave it in the water while I unhook it. I do that from my boat on smaller fish, too.
From the pier, where the reach down to the water is longer, my favorite technique is to give 'em slack and try to water release it after I've taken a good look. The ironic part here is that it almost NEVER works. When you want to shake a fish off, it will NOT come unpinned. When you want to keep it hooked, it will shake your lure in a heartbeat. |
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Posts: 1636
| I wade the Fox River. The shore is full of rocks, sticks, mud, beer bottles, socks, blow up dolls, etc.
Hooking a fish doesn’t come as often as it should with the effort you have to put forth, so I try to get the fish in as soon as I can. That way you don't stress the fish out and it doesn’t beat itself up on whatever it can hit or swim into.
Once I get the fish to shore, I keep it in shallow water, and keep it away from anything that can do any damage. I never take the fish over land. I wear waders and keep a pair of long, needle nose pliers in the front pouch along with a good pair of hook cutters. To keep the fish secure, I lean on my knees OVER (not on) the fish.
I usually have a backpack or a box I can put the camera on to take a picture if I'm fishing alone. Having a partner with you just makes it a lot easier. If you can’t take a quick picture, release shots look cool! The more fish you catch and release, the easier it gets.
Edited by Reelwise 11/15/2007 7:51 PM
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Hey I do a majority of my fishing from shore in the Wisconsin River where it is very rocky. Netting a fish in rocky areas where you can wade is extremely difficult, even more-so if you are fishing alone and wading in. Once I hook a fish I start walking to shallower water. Keep the fish away from rocks as best you can. Like reelwise said, if you lean over the fish, not on but over it gets prety easy to get ahold of them. I like to try and turn them on their side as they tend to stay a bit more docile that way. From there it is just simple release tactics. Always keep your pliers and knipex in the pocket of your waders. Then guide the fish back to deeper water and they usually find their way no problem from there. |
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Posts: 11
| Like Pointerpride said, we do quite a bit of fishing from shore for these fish on the Wisconsin...From our experience if we are fishing from the shore we have figured out that the easiest way to land them is to bring them up sideways or parallel to the shoreline, and try and have the other guy jaw-bone grab the fish as quickly and safely as possible. Usually we have at least one of us wearing waders in case we need to revive the fish...other than that, all standard catch and release practices will work fine from shore...so far it has worked well on some really nice fish for us so good luck... |
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Posts: 1296
Location: WI | I've only caught one, a 25 incher. It was on a sandy beach, no problem handlanding or releasing that one. |
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