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Posts: 11
| i have heard different things on whether or not split fins heal. has there ever been any research done on the topic to prove one way or the other? id be very curious in finding the answer. anyone ever catch a fish that has its fins split then catch it again, maybe the next season, and find its fins healed up? |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | There has been a 49 inch muskie caught by several of the Cap City members on Lake Monona about 4 years ago. It was a skinny fish with about a split rear tail fin making it easy to identify. |
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| I caught a 45" twice within 15 days a couple years ago. There were minor fin splits the first time around because we had to pull the boat off the rock wall due to a strong, direct wind, and this forced the fish's fins slightly through the net mesh. 15 days later the fins were completely healed and the only indication of the fish having been caught before was the tear in the upper right mandible, which was also healing.
Obviously, you want to minimize fin splits to ensure the musky's safe release, but if they happen they're not going to kill the fish. |
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| If you net a fish you are almost certainly going to split fins to some extent. In Canada 5 or 6 years ago we caught a 45.5" muskie that seemed like it had been caught before due to some split and damaged fins...no doubt being in our net probably didn't help anything. Two years later we caught it again a few hundred yards away and this time it measured 47. The fins were not healed and looked the same as two years prior, however, the fish was obviously still in pretty decent condition and still alive so..? |
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| I used to have a bass in an aquarium and it would occasionally tear it's tail, took about 2 weeks to fully heal but it was a small fish. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | I'm pretty sure split fins heal. Early in the season, not long after spawning I catch all kinds of beat up looking fish with ratty looking fins. They seems to heal up. The last couple years I have been fishing a little deeper/farther off structure than most people, and I think I am catching some fish that aren't getting caught very often by others. Lots of these fish are very clean looking, but i would imagine they still get beat up during spawning.
Long winded answer basically saying I have a feeling they heal up after a while.
curleytail |
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