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Posts: 166
Location: Gurnee, Illinois | Was out for some boating and swimming with the wife and kids on Saturday morning when I noticed a very large white belly bobbing up and down in the large waves. Too white to be a carp, so I motored over and was horrified to see a large, healthy 30# Musky upside down. I thought maybe she was still alive, so I grabbed her to attemp a revival, and when I flipped her upright, I noticed heavy damage to her right eye, cheek and mouth. Not a prop strike, but hook damage. Fish was dead, but not due to the hook rash, must have been out of the water too long. I put her back in the water to get my measuring tape, and had planned to bring her over to the DNR, but by the time I got my tape, the wind had blown me 20 feet away, and when I motored back, I couldn't find her. I don't know if she got stuck in the weeds, or she sank after burping out the air when I lifted her. She was fresh, not stiff, and otherwise healthy looking. What a shame. Please handle these fish gently and properly, there are too few of these big girls down here.  |
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Posts: 159
Location: NYC (and many weeks in MN during summer) | Anyway, the shame here is that in all probability the fish traded its life for a few photographs. Either that or the hook removal process was done with the fish out of the water. All of you on this forum already know this. Wish there was a way to spread the to the uninformed.
Randy |
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Posts: 1636
| Or.... the people who caught it did everything right and the fish just died anyways. Maybe. Thats too bad however it happened. |
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Posts: 255
| Thank you Reelwise! My sentiments exactly. 10% mortality even on fish released properly can be expected. |
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| ensure the ultimate survival of the musky, by laying off them for a while and slammin the panfish!...you'll most likely see more too haha |
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Posts: 507
| I echo Realwise's comment. |
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Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | lay off the muskies for awhile,thousands of dollars of fishing equipment just sitting around not being used,I don`t think so.A fish is just a fish,some die,some live on,just too many lakes that are stocked with muskies these days.If water temps are too warm,fish another lake thats not,it doesn`t bother me to find out of big fish being kept because there`s a chance they might die after being released.I`m all for putting them back,but there will be more,not everybody has all the proper tools or money to release a giant.It`s too bad that a nice fish died,it just funny the way some people act like muskies are people or something
BIGMAN CAUGHT HIS PERSONNAL BEST ON MY BIRTHDAY,I GOT SKUNKED......... |
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| And a fish that size in that lake has lived a very long life she could have had a heart attack |
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Posts: 146
Location: where the fish are... | who knows what happend to this "50inch" fish. Could have been anything, sometimes things just die
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Posts: 166
Location: Gurnee, Illinois | I agree that sometimes fish just die, or you can do everything right, and the fish still die. I realize that anyone including myself increase the chances of killing a fish everytime we fish for them. It's comes with the sport, and I don'
t treat them like people, because I have never been to a muskie funeral. I guess my point on this particular fish was all signs pointed to an otherwise healthy fish, with the exception of the damage caused by hooks on the right side of her face. Someone spent a lot of time removing hooks from this fish. When we are paying $25-$30 for double bladed bucktails I think there may be some hesitation to cut the hooks. If you don't have hook cutters, should you be fishing for muskies? On a lake like Silver, it's very easy to get another muskie fisherman to help you. My intention was not to get on my soapbox and deliver a lecture, because I know most here know how to handle fish. I fish Silver a lot, and it just upset me that there is one less 50" in a lake that has too few already, whether she died on her own, or had some help. |
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