|
|
Location: Eau Claire,WI | Here is what I faced yesterday afternoon. I was fishing my home water,a river,near a dam,my #1 spot for toothy critters. I missed one,caught a little 28"er on a small glider then put on a Mag Double Dawg. Not 2 trips around the eddy and she hit. The fight was short and sweet,nothing out of the ordinary until I saw NO part of the lure,only my leader in her mouth! Hmmm,I might have a slight problem here!!! I held any judgement till I opened her mouth.I knew from that point on,it was make or break. I could see only one hook point,deep. I tried for several minutes to free any hook by any means I had,cutters,hook pick and pliers. I would work on her for 15 seconds then back into the river,she NEVER came out of my net and I gave her plenty of time to recover between attempts. I decided to use my trolling motor and head a few hundred yards to some shallow water so I could get out of the boat and work on her from a different angle. I managed to get all the hooks out and sad to say but some gill material as well.My hands were a bloody battered mess,blood all over the place,mine. I let her lay upright in my net,she wanted to go belly up. I headed back to the dam,with trolling motor, to try and get some higher oxygenated water through her gills. That lasted about 5 minutes and I new she was lost...Now I spent an hour and 15 minutes trying everything I could think of to remove those hooks,even thought of mouth to mouth!!!! I was bummed,had a sweet chat the the Musky Gods and myself...I realized there was nothing more I could have done,the way she ate this lure and the way the hooks were imbeded into her ,I had little to no chance. I took her home,wrapped her and into the freezer.Today I called the taxidermist and dropped her off. He will do fantastic job on her!
I have been at this game of musky fishing over 20 years,caught hundres of fish and this is the ONLY musky I am 100% sure did not make it.I am positive there were fish that died a few days or even weeks later. I also understand that this DOES and WILL happen,NO matter what we as anglers do! Barbeless hooks would not have made it any better...
So my question to you fellow musky fisher people,What would YOU have done???? Keep it,it was a legal fish??? Leave it in the river and let the birds eat it??? Take it home and eat it? I did think of that.. Or maybe do what I did and show the Beast some respect and have her mounted at a taxidermy shop?
She was 48 inched and 28 pounds...Thanks for reading ...
Attachments
----------------
 DBLDawg48 (Copy).JPG (68KB - 223 downloads)
48andme (Copy).JPG (69KB - 229 downloads)
|
|
| |
|
| Not your fault. I would probably do a burial at sea |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | I think what you did was the right thing to do. If the fish was going to die anyway, you might as well remember her for the rest of your life as she sits on your wall. There are always going to be hard time and bad memories but at least you chatted with the musky gods and I am sure they understand. Clearly she was hungry and wanted that dbl dawg more then you wanted her to have it. I think you did the right thing. You tried to do more to save the fish then a lot of guys would, that within itself says a lot. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 567
| Had almost the exact same thing happen to me last year. Long story short I hated it, but in the end its a contact sport. Not much else you could do. My vote is you did right. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 8844
| If it's dead and it's legal there's no sense wasting it. Yeah, crayfish and turtles gotta eat too, but they have enough food already. Probably would have taken a trip to the taxidermist. What to do with the meat afterwards is another question. Maybe smoke it? I can't imagine it would be very good baked or fried or anything at that size. First thing I would do would be check the DNR mercury advisories for wherever it was caught, and then decide if I really wanted to eat it or not.
I can tell you what I wouldn't do. I wouldn't beat myself up over it or lose any sleep over it. Lures have hooks. Fish long enough, and they're going to wind up where you don't want them.
Edited by esoxaddict 9/24/2012 4:54 PM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 291
Location: Oconomowoc, WI | Not sure what else a guy could do. By the sounds of it, you did everything right. Fish are gonna die sometimes. You can and should be very proud of your trophy! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | it`s just a fish,mount it or feed the animals,wild life animals or the ones at your dinner table,lol |
|
| |
|
Posts: 8844
| I can't help myself:
1. Moment of silence
2. Prayer to the musky gods
3. Re-play scene in your head 100 times
4. Stay up all night fretting
5. Contemplate going barbless, never fishing with bulldawgs again, even taking the hooks off your lures
6. Must mourn for at least 7 days. This includes abstaining from fishing, sex, sports, and your favorite foods
7. 40 hours of community service
8. Must purchase 100 musky fingerlings for stocking
9. Must admit publicly that you suck, you know nothing about fishing, and you killed a fish because you wouldn't listen to those who know better
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 2069
| i'd have done the same as you and spent an hour+ trying to revive but dead is dead at that point...I'd fry a couple of pounds and give the rest to guys that I know would eat it as well....its very good fried up like walleye fillets you just have to cut the deboned filets into small pieces. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 410
Location: Wakefield, MI | esoxaddict - 9/24/2012 4:53 PM
If it's dead and it's legal there's no sense wasting it. Yeah, crayfish and turtles gotta eat too, but they have enough food already. Probably would have taken a trip to the taxidermist. What to do with the meat afterwards is another question. Maybe smoke it? I can't imagine it would be very good baked or fried or anything at that size. First thing I would do would be check the DNR mercury advisories for wherever it was caught, and then decide if I really wanted to eat it or not.
I can tell you what I wouldn't do. I wouldn't beat myself up over it or lose any sleep over it. Lures have hooks. Fish long enough, and they're going to wind up where you don't want them.
My taxidermist donates the meat to needy families if you don't want it.
I would have done the same thing, but I haven't had the problem of a big one dying on me yet. Mostly because I have yet to catch a big one  |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | It's always too bad to lose a fish but it sounds like you did EVERYTHING you could. I had one die on me this year. First time it ever happened too and we did everything too. This fish wasn't hooked badly when it hit my net but I think it took a hook deep and tore on the hookset or during the fight because it was bleeding.
Anyway we worked it for well over an hour, close to 2 I think, including putting it in the running livewell as I've heard that can help sometimes. Finally I let go of the fish and it just sunk - pretty sure it didn't make it.
I felt bad about it but after a while got over it with the realization we're going to lose one now and then.
The only suggestion I might have (which you might have even done) is take the Dawg apart with your cutters. Maybe cutting the bait in 1/2 or 1/3s would have given better access to the hooks? Or maybe not. If the bait was that deep the damage might have been done and nothing would have saved her.
With a fish of that size, if I had the cash at the time, I would have taken it to the taxidermist too.
Last thing. THANK YOU for working so hard to save this fish.
Tucker |
|
| |
|
Posts: 45
| Did you have a jaw spreader? You can usually get to the hooks to cut them on a 48 if the mouth is held open. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 280
Location: McFarland | Happened to me this year too and with my first 50". Only difference was that I was able to cut hooks and remove the cowgirl she swallowed pretty quick. Don't know if it was the fight that killed her or something else, it was mid-late May so water temps weren't an issue at the time. I spent nearly two hours trying to get her to go again, the one time I tried to let her go she just swam in a big circle right back to me on her side. Taxidermist did a great job though as far as I am concerned.
Edited by ski' patrol 9/24/2012 9:37 PM
Attachments
----------------
50.jpg (29KB - 210 downloads)
mount.jpg (47KB - 218 downloads)
|
|
| |
|
| who mounted that |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | bummer... Keep your chin up. It's bound to happen. You did everything you could do so don't feel guilty.
IMO, you really only have two options:
1) mount it
2) let the turtles have her and donate some $$ to stocking efforts. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 293
| I had a fish die on me earlier this year...hit a mag dawg, bait was gone. Netted the fish, and the fish opened shook and the bait came popping out. Me and my buddy were like cool! Because the way the bait was inhaled it didnt look good....instantly after the bait came out the water in net just turned crimson red...we got the aeroator going and had the fish in the livewell, but in less than 2 minutes she was as dead as a door nail. Thought for sure she had to have tore a gill, but nothing torn just a small puncture hole in back under the gills....wierdest thing ever. The fish was 42" and we ended up keeping it and I gave it to a guy to smoke. Needless to say just a #*#*ty experience all together, but when you think about the size of the baits, and the number of hooks on them I'm really suprised this kind of thing doesnt happen more. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 280
Location: McFarland | @ AndyM it was mounted by Jensen taxidermy in McFarland. |
|
| |
|
Location: Eau Claire,WI | 'ski,AWSOME mount!!!
Thanks for all the help and advice! I did have a set of large jaw spreaders... I did beat myself up at first but as I was heading down the river I new I was doing the right thing.Hell,she never came out of the net till I got to the boat landing...LOL I know that I did everything I could have to save the fish,I spent a lot of time on her,something like 90 minutes. Like was said before,sometimes they die. She will grace my wall and the memory will last forever. I did learn a few things from this incident, have a pair of mechinics style gloves and also a 12 inch pair of needle nose pliers. Heading to shore instead of being battered by the rocks should be an immidiate option when muskies are hooked deep.
Thanks again for your support and help,like I said before I am more than fine and my wounded hands are starting to heal! I might go after this ones momma tomorrow!!! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 145
| Another thing to consider is double jaw spreaders. Gotta give credit to Paul Schlagel on this one because I saw it on his site.
All you have to do is duct tape two normal spreaders together side by side. Looks and sounds kind of like a joke, but it sure works well. It provides more jaw opening power on big fish and grips way better. It has saved at least 2 four footers for me that swallowed dawgs.
Would not leave home without them anymore. Best part is that it is about the cheapest release tool you can find! |
|
| |
|
| If you fish long enough it will happen, it's unfortunate. As for the mount Jensen Taxidermy does good work as far as I can see. Color and markings are right on. My guess is that he learned to paint fish from Dennis Rinehart. |
|
| |
