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Posts: 132
| If these people want there to be more walleyes, they need to yell at the electronics manufacturers. They're making it way too easy to find fish and effectively target them. More fish are being caught because of this than there are being eaten by muskies. When I can go to a lake that I've never been, easily locate structure and find which structure is holding the fish in a matter of minutes... I'm able to be very productive. 10 years ago, it was a lot harder to do. |
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Location: US | I don't even think it's that. I think the opposition comes from the guys that are terrible fishermen and blame the muskies when they can't catch anything.
That said, I personally know many, many walleye fishermen who can't grasp the concept of catch at release and take 6 walleyes everyday they fish. Surely this doesn't help numbers at all, especially in smaller lakes. |
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| Oh, I agree. I'm not saying anything different. Just stating that the advancements in technology could be a main culprit in the "decline" of the numbers of walleye, more so than introducing muskies to the lake. |
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Posts: 132
| It just really comes down to bad, disgruntled 'fishermen' that are stuck in their ways and thus, can no longer catch Walleyes. They are looking for a scapegoat, and unfortunately that is us as muskie fisherman and this awesome fish.
Anyone who honestly thinks that one adult muskie for every 5-10 acres of water is decimating the Walleye population is delusional.
Fisheries change, and these guys don't know how to adapt. Muskies have nothing to do with it, other than who they are deciding to pin as the big bad villain.
Frustrating beyond belief. |
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Location: Elk River, Minnesota | I would be fearful that this goes much deeper than just not wanting muskies in the water. I would wager this may be more about people not wanting more fishermen on the lake fishing around "my dock" and "my water" because "I own" property on the lake, therefore I should have control over what happens on "my water"
This is the scary part of lakes associations and groups of the like that push agendas like no more muskies. The bigger issue here is that if they are given any sort of political backing, and that backing goes through, whats next?
I get protecting the water and the fisheries, but maintaining a fishery is also the responsibility of those who use the water. Adjust slots, limit daily possession limits...
Change is slow everyone....and what I mean by that is changing the way people think about things...those who are ignorant are easily wooed by information that is skewwed.
All we can do is stay active and when feasible, engage politely and offer to take some of these people out to see just what it's all about. Many will resist just because they can...but being welcoming and approachable can, and will do wonders...even if it only affects a select few.
Steve
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Location: The desert | RunNGun - 12/22/2016 11:06 AM
It just really comes down to bad, disgruntled 'fishermen' that are stuck in their ways and thus, can no longer catch Walleyes. They are looking for a scapegoat, and unfortunately that is us as muskie fisherman and this awesome fish.
Anyone who honestly thinks that one adult muskie for every 5-10 acres of water is decimating the Walleye population is delusional.
Fisheries change, and these guys don't know how to adapt. Muskies have nothing to do with it, other than who they are deciding to pin as the big bad villain.
Frustrating beyond belief.
You'd likely be surprised to learn that majority of this crowd doesn't fish at all.
Edited by Pointerpride102 12/22/2016 6:09 PM
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| Ohh how I enjoy people yelling at me for bass fishing under a dock... I think I'll have to say that there isn't any muskie lake near by for me to fish. |
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| You don't have to be a lake property owner or member of a lake association to be irrational about muskies and their impact on walleyes. When living in Fond du Lac, I knew a couple guys who caught muskies in the Winnebago system but were very careful who they said anything to about it. Some of the hardcore walleye guys on 'bago will "gill" muskies and pike they catch fishing for walleyes so that they don't eat "their fish". I had a guy working on my house in northern WI, a good carpenter and a big outdoors guy from far NW Wisconsin. When he learned that we had muskies on the chain where I now live, he warned me that we had to get rid of them if we wanted good walleye fishing.
Not sure what it is about walleye fishermen, but some are just irrational about any fish that might eat " their walleyes". |
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Location: Tomahawk,Wis | And these are the same guys that go out and catch and kill more than their limit of eyes day in and day out.... |
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Location: new richmond, wi. & isle, mn | These are lake owners that take their pontoon out every Sunday. Not to fish, but to inspect the neighbors' lawns. They want to see who's been keeping up with their yard work.
Edited by jchiggins 12/23/2016 8:43 PM
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| Musky and or Pike have successfully coexisted with walleye in many waters for eons. They are not the primary forage for Esox. Perch, suckers,whitefish, cisco's, alewives ,etc. are.What are these people worried about their toes. I don't live in MN. but the whole thing sound ridiculous. I've yet to see a lake where the musky can eliminate a healthy perch population. |
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Location: Waukee, IA | jchiggins - 12/23/2016 8:41 PM
These are lake owners that take their pontoon out every Sunday. Not to fish, but to inspect the neighbors' lawns. They want to see who's been keeping up with their yard work.
The problem summed up in a nutshell: people with more time and judgement to spend than ambition and purpose. Rather than actually do something with their time they would rather complain about the people who do. |
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| Someone said this before, but it's an agenda driven almost entirely by ignorance and fear. The way to fix this is to make the uneducated, educated. There was a time I would have put myself in that uneducated category, I grew up catching panfish and swearing every time I saw a Muskie. Then I went to college, got introduced to fishing these darn things, educated myself and have since done a 180. The Muskie community needs to band together to overcome the negative propaganda with facts and education, it's the only real way to counteract the problem. |
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Location: Florida | musky-skunk - 12/22/2016 7:38 AM
travelingfisherman - 12/21/2016 7:23 PM
How can anyone dislike Muskies/Pike? These fish are extremely fun to catch and get much bigger than a bass, walleye,or most freshwater gamefish. From my understanding walleye don't fight much for their size, and people target them mostly for food.Muskie/Pike are a much better gamefish than a walleye, guess these people don't understand that.
I couldn't agree more but for every guy I've introduced to the sport and watched them fall in love with muskies there's another that has zero interest in them. It's kind of a personality thing. Not everyone wants to work for it and some guys care way more about the meat then the experience. Many of these individuals don't want the fish they want to eat getting eaten by something else, ironically. This is where the push back comes from. It's difficult to convince someone that every single study out there supports the fact that muskies do not target walleyes and eat relatively few overall when the angler has the anecdotal evidence of a muskie grabbing a struggling walleye they had hooked some years ago.
I also have a hard time not thinking a lot of this stems from lake associations not wanting the increased traffic on "their lake" which is 100% a side effect of muskies being introduced.
I feel that people being ignorant about Muskies has a lot to do with people hating these fish and these people will never change their opinion on Muskies until they educate themselves both on sides of the subject. Yes, Muskies are a apex predator capable of eating fish smaller than itself, but it is not a nonstop eating machine like its often portrayed. Muskies themselves are prey to other sport fish, especially when they are young. As for people being scared of Muskies, that is a unreasonable fear, you have a bigger chance of getting killed by a cow than being attacked by a Muskie when swimming in a body of water with these fish. |
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Location: Florida | 115hammer - 12/25/2016 8:39 PM
Someone said this before, but it's an agenda driven almost entirely by ignorance and fear. The way to fix this is to make the uneducated, educated. There was a time I would have put myself in that uneducated category, I grew up catching panfish and swearing every time I saw a Muskie. Then I went to college, got introduced to fishing these darn things, educated myself and have since done a 180. The Muskie community needs to band together to overcome the negative propaganda with facts and education, it's the only real way to counteract the problem.
I agree with you 100% that the fear of Muskies is driven almost entirely by ignorance and fear. This subject reminds me of what many fisherman think of sharks, which for the most part is vastly incorrect. Sharks are not mindless blood thirsty eating machines and they are not as dangerous as most people make them out to be.Millions of people swim the beaches every year, yet shark attacks are still a rare occurrence. In fact, most sharks keep their distance from a man, even when a man is spearfishing in the sharks domain,that in itself shows that sharks are not monsters like so many incorrectly believe. Hopefully more people learn to be more educated on both Muskies and sharks, and not judge these animals incorrectly. |
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Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | This is why we in the MMPA need your support. This whole thing has gone to the legislature and they WILL be pushing their agenda this year. You can help by following the link below so we can be sure to have the resources to mount a defense.
http://www.mnmuskie.org/contribute/
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Location: New Hope MN | Here is there opposition list from their website.
Attachments
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 Opposition List To DNR Muskie Stocking.pdf (37KB - 515 downloads)
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| This is going to upset some people who do not like hearing any kind of truth that goes against their beliefs... but, here goes... I'm already considered to be one of the most unintelligent people on the planet due to my level of passion and huge imagination when it comes to the possibilities of what is actually, realistically possible.
Here goes...
The Muskellunge is literally a regulator that mounts up in specific locations with the intention to pick up signals from fish that literally tell them they need to be eaten - for the greater good. An unhealthy fish is not good for the gene pool, nor is it smart for the Muskellunge to allow an unhealthy fish to take up valuable resources that are better utilized by the healthy fish.
The only places Muskellunge really display behavior even close to other predator fish such as Largemouth Bass, Walleye, and Red Piranha - is when they are stocked in Shad based, artificial systems... or, when kept in an aquarium.
How much do you believe some of those natural Muskies in Lake St. Clair eat? Some people might even tell you they do not eat at all. Oh yeah... most of the girth you see in the fall from most fish, even in the best of waters where Muskellunge may eat more than normal... mostly EGGS!
Did anybody tell these guys that by stocking more Walleyes in some of these same lakes... they actually decrease the chances of other Walleyes and the food they eat from reaching a certain point? Walleyes eat a #*#* load...
Stocking Muskellunge is actually a good thing in most cases when you take the nature of the fish into consideration... while stocking more Walleye in some of these lakes being talked about is literally a bad thing if they already have a healthy population of Walleye. Mixing fish that go through an un-natural reproduction process... over and over again... with natural populations of fish... has not really turned out too well as far as maximum expected growth is concerned (within reason). It definitely has not turned out too well for Muskellunge in some lakes as the maximum size when it comes to what we know about is literally shrinking.
If Muskellunge and Walleye both eat the same thing - what is the problem? After introducing Muskellunge... if the same number of Walleye are being caught... why is there an issue if the reason most Walleye anglers are fishing is to keep what they catch? Once again... they eat the same thing - only one is stocked in low numbers whereas the other either produces tons of offspring or is stocked just like the Muskellunge.
You can only catch so many at one time. Whether there are 1,000,000 Walleye in the lake or 500,000... if the bite is good or bad... if you are on a good or bad spot... you will catch the same number of fish. Then you have the other side of the spectrum where people sometimes beat their head into an invisible wall, over and over again, trying to figure out why they can not catch a fish on Lake St. Clair... or better yet - Spring Lake North... a fish that is supposed to be a nonstop eating machine according to anglers who are simply afraid of teeth or the idea that they might lose their special lure. I can understand the last part... some lures are very important to people.
I can not even count how many times I have put a Crappie on a rig on prime waters literally jam packed with Muskellunge - only for them to simply stare. The very first time I used a Crappie for bait... I was shocked after a near 30" Walleye attacked it like it would be it's last meal before a Muskellunge showed up. Or... it was simply competing for food... and literally put itself out in the open knowing deep down inside that Muskellunge are not out to get them as long as they display and signify strength instead of weakness.
#PanfishLivesMatter
All joking in a realistic manor aside... These guys do have a point. Some of these lakes do not and may have never held a natural population of Muskellunge. History is very important to people... so are the lives of animals. Not to mention a lot of people live on these lakes.
I do not want to be that guy... but, at some point... we have to be grateful for what we had, realize that what we have is beyond anything anyone imagined when taking realistic possibilities into consideration after going to war with some people - and understand that it might be about time to utilize more of the available funds to maintain and sustain what all the hard work and fighting has lead to.
I mean... 10,000 lakes... All of us need to suck it up and come together.
Then again... I'm all for stocking Muskellunge in as many lakes as possible.
Maybe we should start bringing up the idea that these fish are having a tough time reproducing in quite a few places where they occur naturally. Let's bring global warming into the picture... There are a lot of factors that can come into play that can literally wipe the Muskellunge off the face of the planet. One of those factors almost did just that in one of the most natural locations on earth - one we call the Northwoods even though you can keep going north. I remember when the guys on Lake St. Clair were worried, too...
Good luck guys.
:)
Edited by Reelwise 12/30/2016 5:45 AM
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| It's not just about eating the walleye s
Ok they don't eat walleye,,but they dominate the reefs and points and push the walleye off and make them harder to catch.
Money spent on musky stocking could be spent on more walleye.
If the size limit is so high now making it almost impossible to harvest muskies then why stock has many has in the past.
These are the things we also get told here in Minnesota when working the show booths at sports shows
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| They must have watched River Monster's "Canadian Horror" episode last year.
Edited by Booch 12/30/2016 8:17 AM
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Location: West Chester, OH | Reelwise - 12/30/2016 6:40 AM
This is going to upset some people who do not like hearing any kind of truth that goes against their beliefs... but, here goes... I'm already considered to be one of the most unintelligent people on the planet due to my level of passion and huge imagination when it comes to the possibilities of what is actually, realistically possible.
Here goes...
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
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| cincinnati - 12/30/2016 12:50 PM
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Anytime you want to wake up, match the passion, and join us in this quest... feel free to post a relevant response related to the topic of discussion.
I'll even pay for your trip from Ohio to Minnesota if you are down.
Team needs you.
Come to the tree-outs.
#TheLongestYard
:) |
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