Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | reelman - 2/20/2006 9:31 PM
Great! Just what we need - another law!
Yes! We need another law and we also need to change some others.
With the increased pressure on the muskie fishery in Wisconsin, rapid cohesive changes are needed in management of our resources. Stocking Leach Lake strain muskies in every lake is not a magic bullet! We (the muskie fishing community) need to work hand & hand with the DNR staff and our fisheries biologists to make things happen - that means sitting down and seriously listening to their idea's and also presenting and fighting/lobbying for some of your own.
What can we do about the "muskies are eating all of my walleyes, bluegills, crappies, perch, etc, etc." I hear this all the time here on the WI River. How can we prevent these folks from actively killing every muskie they catch? If you don't think this is happening in our state, you are wearing blinders. There is nothing in our fishing regulations that prevents them from killing every muskie they catch, i.e., the wording of our fishing regulations have to many legal loop holes.
From page number 10 of "Guide to Wisaconsin Hook & Line Fishing Regulations 2005-2006"
"Catch & Release: It will grow on you!"
"Fish you wish to release, and fish not meeting the legal limit, should be handled carefully with wet hands and played as little as possible. When fish are deeply-hooked, cut the line as closely to the hook as possible and let the fish go. ATTENTION MUSKY ANGLERS! It is recommended that you use a quick set rig when fishing for muskies with live bait."
This doesn't say I have to immediately release undersized or an out of season fish alive! The words "should be handled " does not make it mandatory, it's a recommendation only. Nor, is there any mandatory statement that the fish has to be released immediately! When we have ambiguous regulations like this, they are subject to abuse by unscrupulous individuals.
I have seen a ~30" muskie dragged ~ 10' across a sand beach by a walleye bank fisherman and lay flopping on the sand while he yells to his 350lb wife who is sitting ~ 30 yards away to bring him the pliers, she waddles over to their tackle box which is about 10' behind her and then over to him and proceeds to hand him the pliers, she then steps on the muskie to pin it to the sand while he gets the hook out. She then waddles back to the tackle box and brings him back a tape measure. He measures it. Looks at it for about thirty more seconds and picks it up and launches it back into the water as if he's throwing a spear.
oh yes it took him about 10 minutes to land this fish on his light tackle and the whole on shore process was 4-5 minutes.
Do you think this fish survived? I don't think so. The fish floated belly up down the river.
Did they do anything illegal? I don't think so.
Was he unscrupulous, deliberately taking advantage of the situation? I don't think so.
Was he stupid, and uncaring about what he was doing with one of our natural resources? Yes, I think so. But in his defense- there's not a Wisconsin fishing regulation/law prohibiting his particular demonstration of stupidity. He clearly knew the fish was a muskie and the legal size limit. If the fish had been 34", I'm sure it would have wound up in the same condition, except probably in the frying pan.
At last year's spring hearing in Mauston WI, I listened to Scott Ironside (WI DNR Biologist ) make a recommendation and plea for support of a closing of the walleye fishing on the WI River during the spring spawn period.
Scott's reasoning for this was that select group of walleye anglers using modern electronics have very effectively patterned the big females during the spawn period and are selectively harvesting limits of these big fish day after day, after day. He see's this every spring!
If the fish were only protected during the few weeks of the spawn, these big females would have a chance to complete the spawn. But they would also disperse throughout the river after spawning making them harder to specifically target. Another effect of this closing would be also to make them available to the average fisherman and our children throuhout the rest of the season.
His recommendation was soundly defeated by the folks in that hearing room. These are the same local moron's whom complain to me when they see me muskie fishing that the muskies are eating all the big walleye's, bulegills, crappies, etc. - yet these same folks catch up to 75-100 walleyes under 15" everytime they go out and they keep any fish they catch over 15". They are complaining they can't catch a legal limit. Yet they fish every day, day after day, I see them everytime I go over to the WI River, i.e., they are either retired or unemployed.
There are 1000's of under 15" walleyes in some spot's, why would any muskie need to eat +20" walleyes. The WI River is a fish factory. There are day's when the water is litterally alive with baitfish, walleye's, small mouth bass, white bass, suckers, carp. There is no way the muskies need to even consider a walleye for food, some days I think I'm even insane for trying to get them to hit an artifical lure.
Back to the original question: Yes it's one small step in a long path to fix the short comings in our fishing regulations.
"When fishing for either northern pike or muskellunge using live bait, all live bait shall be rigged with a quick set rig. The hook shall be immediately set upon the strike. A quick set rig is defined as follows:
a live bait rig with up to 2 treble hooks attached anywhere on the live bait, single hooks prohibited."
Some where in our regulations we need to say: " Undersized or illegal fish shall be immediately unhooked and released back into the water alive."
Why include northern pike? Because it's to easy on the WI River to say" No Officer, I'm only fishing for northern pike!"
Our DNR staff & the fisheries biologist's need better tools to enable them to effectively manage this resource. Law's are tools, necessary tools to prevent abuse and over exploitation of the resource. However, tools are only part of the equation, education is the other part. Some local muskie club's do a very good job, i.e., putting up posters, etc at boat launches. Typical shoreline fisherman do not use boat launches. Maybe we need posters in those area's too. We also need support from the resorts and bait shop owners.
Many will stand up and wave the heritage flag! We've alway's fished for muskies this way, it's my rightful heritage. That doesn't make it right for the fishery. They used to shoot muskies too!
Both Ontario, Canada, and Minnesota have single fishing pole law's. Ontario has Lac Seul with no keep and numerous lakes/river sections with +50" length limits.
Why do you need to fish muskies with three poles?
Why can't we have a 50" size limit on the entire WI River?
Why not mandate quick strike rig's and also mandate their method of use for both northern pike and muskies?
Have fun!
Al
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