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| I ask this because I feel the people that frequent these types of boards are more enlightened to keeping and growing the sport.
I've stated in the past that I have been fishing skies for 20+ years, never having knowingly killed one. Although I did use single hook setups up until the time I read the CFMS in MHM. So I no doubt did kill some fish. I have not kept a walleye in 5-6 years and that includes a 29" released.
I have a 15 year old son who has been fishing them for 10 years, his release rate is 100%.
The reason I bring this up is that serious musky hunters are a small percentage of total fishermen. I can educate myself, my children, friends, etc, but not everyone. A couple years ago a secretary at work caught a 37" panfishing of course, she kept it and ate it. Biggest baddest fish her and her boyfriend ever caught. No way they were putting it back. The first thing she tells me when she hears the vote did not pass is how glad her and the boyfriend are.
These are the types of people that have the catch and kill mindset and always will. They are not interested in the fishes current or future well being, just their own satisfaction. And believe it, there are lots and lots of these people out there. Personally I think if she would ever catch another one she would kill it just to get my goat.
The spearing I cannot control nor the narrow minded people. But, I can educate who will listen and hopefully they will pass it on. I know there are some older hunters on here that remember the 60's and 70's. Fish were not released by anybody then. I have my father-in-laws photo album, every picture of muskies is a dead one. That was just the attitude at the time.
Enough ramblin for now, sometimes you have to step back and see a larger snapshot than the closeup. Progress is being made just slowly in people years time. |
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Posts: 78
Location: Pardeeville, WI | I never have and probably never will unless its a potential WR.
I probably would of until I got serious about the sport and found out
how dedicated Muskies INC. and most musky anglers are dedicated to catch and release.
I read about the positives of catch and release from experienced musky anglers and the information on how catch and release has helped fishing over the past 10-15 years. Its an no brainer to me. Why would I want to keep a fish? In fishing you actually have the chance to let it go and feel good about it. Someone else could catch that fish when its over 50 inches.
In this day and time anglers can get great pictures, with the new cameras and the new digital cameras you can get awesome pictures. Im a computer guy and believe me this is only the beginning of the wireless revolution.
Once they get the security rock solid on wireless you are going to be able to take digital pictures and 5 minute long video feeds and have that recorded straight to a laptop or hard drive. You will be able to email that to whomever you want. You will have the whole thing recorded digitally on video! You can actually do it with todays technology.
Not to mention replicas. I can easily go pay $500 bucks and get a kick ass replica that will last longer.
Why would I take the hassle of keeping the fish? Starting the boat up and getting off the lake. Driving around all over the place to look for a spot to take the fish which Im suppose to keep cold?
I would rather get about 5 great pictures of the fish and pop that baby back and start casting again. 
With the technology we have now and will have 5 years from now it will make keeping fish (especially muskies) pointless. |
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Posts: 1536
Location: God's Country......USA..... Western Wisconsin | Sorry to say that I kept the 1st legal that I caught while actually targeting Muskies. Seemed like the thing to do at the time. I have wished that I would have never killed that one. Would be way cool to be able to say that I never killed one and have released them all. That was roughly 30 years ago. I have not intentionally killed another one since. I believe that I never will. My guide clients do not keep any Muskies either. This may cost me an occasional client but is well worth it. I don't live bait fish because I believe that you can lose a fish from time to time doing this. I don't troll anymore for the same reason. I used to speed troll hellbenders and spoonplugs and saw some mighty torn up fish. It is a great tactic, but seems to be hard on the fish. These things cost guide clients as well. I say, so be it. Remember this is just the way I feel, not trying to foister my opinions onto others. These are just the practices that I follow. I feel that I have to make up for the ones that may die just because they were caught and handled. We all know, or should anyway, that all released fish may not live. Most certainly do live and if you keep one it is then absolutly dead. So I just try to do my part in keeping as many alive as I can and still do what I do. I do eat some panfish and an occasional Bass, but I put all the larger ones back and really love to see those fish swim away. I guess I practice "selective harvest" to some degree as I like an occasional fresh fish dinner. Well enough from me for now.
The one last thing I would like to add is, if you visiting this site for the first time or are just starting to fish for these great fish, LET 'EM ALL GO, you will look back on it and feel great. If you get lucky and catch a trophy, get a replica made. They look great, last longer and are the same price anyway. Then in 30 or 40 years you can tell all the new Muskie Firster's that you NEVER kept one and it does feel WAY COOL. |
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Posts: 1046
| I have never kept one in 10 yrs. targeting muskies, but I can`t say I never will! You just never know! I been doing alot of research on the skin vs. replica and to everyone I talked to in most cases a replica IS ALMOST DOUBLE what you can get skin done for, and from most the people I know with fish the skin still looks alot better too!So as I said before you just never know, it still comes down to cash-ola! Handy |
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Posts: 736
Location: Hartford, WI | Yup, I killed the first one I caught back in 1985, why because I didnt know any better and it was my first fish. I havent kept once since and have no reason to unless its a WR.
Jim |
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| I think education is the key, and would personally not keep one as it stands NOW...nobody can really say that they would never do something until the moment arrives, and I say this in relation to a world record fish, and I have been on this earth long enough to say I'd never do a certain thing, yet did it anyhows. One thing to remember, is that if someone does catch a fish of legal length, and decides to keep it, they will not be ostracized by me, nor should they be by anyone else; if it is done lawfully, then it is their right. Would I encourage release? Of course, but to verbally dog someone for following the law only serves to create animosity, and the good chance they'll keep the next one for spite. Each person has the choice to decide for themselves, and others can only offer advice in a kind way. I refuse to belittle one who keeps a fish, and will not put on a pedastal one who releases every fish in a life time; all are the same, depending on attitude. |
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Posts: 32884
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I have kept a few, and must say that muskie isn't a very good food fish. Yuck. Haven't killed one since the very early eighties, at least on purpose. I killed a 50 on LOTW a few years ago. It took a topwater, and jumped immediately, landing on a rock that was up on the reef . Broke it's back, killed it dead. A friend of mine had released a fish that size on the Goon, so I had this one mounted and gave it to him for Christmas. This is the last one I intentionally killed. It was a very long time ago (over 20 years). If I ever do decide to bop another, it will be one like TM alludes to in his answer. This mount is absolutely a piece of art, and will remain over my fireplace 'till I kick off. .
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Posts: 5874
| I haven't killed one, at least that I know of. Haven't caught one big enough yet. Don't know If I ever will keep one. If I should, I certainly would be careful to whom, and where, I would admit it.
I've always thought to myself that I would like a nice mount, and that I would pay the extra $50-75 for a graphite replica. But I have noticed lately, that the replica's are going way up in price. I don't understand this. If it cost less for a replica than a natural, perhaps more incidental catches would be released, and replicas made. |
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Posts: 1536
Location: God's Country......USA..... Western Wisconsin | Just a reminder to everyone about "skin mount" versus "replica" that in his chat here on Muskiefirst, Ron Lax stated that his were both the same price. It may be that his skin mount is higher I don't know about that. Only that he quoted the same per inch cost for either way you want to go. Plus, if you have looked at any of his replicas at the shows, these are great. Very well done and realistic. This is the way I would go. That is if I ever get one big enough to worry about. |
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Posts: 2091
Location: Stevens Point, WI | 100% CPR all the way! |
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Posts: 1430
Location: Eastern Ontario | Never keeped one yet, all of 600+ muskies caught aboard my boats have been released. If I ever was to keep one the entire world would know it.  |
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Posts: 150
| I have only been Musky fishing since October and have only caught 7 to date. The largest was a 45" and the small was a 32". Every one was released. Now for Walleye, I fish lake Erie and it is a Walleye factory. I only fish Erie to put fish in the frezer. When that gets low I go to Sams club and get the Halibut steaks that are already breaded and ready for the oven. They only cost about $3 a pound. Hard to beat and very tasty. See ya on ther water.
RandyW |
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Location: Woodstock, IL |
Edited by dpratt 4/19/2003 3:52 PM
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Location: Woodstock, IL | Unfortunately, I have kept one that was 47". I nabbed her on a 14" sucker with a quick-strike rig. Somehow she got the wire leader in her gills and there was blood everywhere. I decided to keep her rather than let her die. She's been hanging in my family room ever since.
There are days that I regret it and I will never keep another one, unless it is around that coveted 70 lb. mark.
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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Doug,
Don't beat yourself up over that one...nice mount by the way.
If we catch enough of them over time sooner or later something like that may happen. Somewhere in my mind I think it almost more humane to do what you did than to let it die an agonizing slow death only to be eaten by birds or turtles...
Personally I have never kept a musky, and unless something happened like what Doug talked about in the previous post or I had a record fish they will all be released.
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Posts: 1265
Location: Stevens Point, Wi. | I kept several back in the sixties, and agree with Steve,yuck! Have only kept one since. About 8 years ago I caught a 46" on the Wi. River that fought so hard I think it had a heart attack. After several runs and one huge leap it came into the boat without so much as a quiver. It never moved from that point on, in the water or the livewell, nothing worked, so on the wall it went. I've also had a partner have one die. A 44" totally engulfed a Talliwacker from the rear. The only thing we could see when it came to the boat was the nose eye of the lure. Everything else was down the gullet. Even a surgeon would have a hard time saving that one. I think no mater how good our intentions are, some are going to die. The only thing short of not fishing is to give it your best shot and hope for the best.
C'mon May |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | I have not kept one yet either..but I will. I do intend to keep one big one for the wall of my home office to keep my only mounted Whitetail company.
I am not ashamed to say that I will keep one someday. Fish are a renewable natural resource. Lake St Clair (Michigan) has so many that non musky fishers think they are becoming a problem. Also a big ole' hog at the tail end of her life would live on forever on my wall instead of being turtle food and gone.
I do practice CPR all the time except for a fresh walleye or salmon ocasionally for the grill. Who would want to eat a Bass?
Don't beat me up for intending to keep one someday. The graphites do not look the same as a skin mount and they are way more expensive. How is it possible that a fake cost more than doing all the actual work of a skin mount? Seems like a crime to me. -lobi |
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Location: Woodstock, IL | I agree that a graphite reproduction looks fake. I can always tell the real thing from the fake. However, like I mentioned in an earlier post, I won't keep anything unless it pushes the state/world record. I doubt I'll ever get a reproduction, even a 40 pounder, due to the "fakeness". |
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Posts: 50
Location: Far Northwest Chicago Suburb | The first legal sized musky I caught was a keeper and mount. All the rest of my musky that I have caught since have been successfully released. I believe any fisherperson has the right to keep their first legal musky, but the rest should be released unless it is a possible world record. Another point for this thread could be about the age of the fish you catch. If it is a fifty plus inch fish, the musky naturally has reached maturity and even old age. How long will those kinds of musky live after a long tumultuous battle? If certain waters have consistent musky stocking programs and a quality natural reproduction why shouldn’t fisher people follow the size limit instilled on that lake or region?
I also hear that forage for musky like Cisco, perch, sucker, bluegill, crappie, duck, and muskrat; are declining in numbers. If we are always releasing big muskies, and restocking every year, on certain bodies of water, this may be the answer, or at least one answer to the forage problem everywhere. Why is it that somebody can take fifty crappies in one day but not take out a musky at a certain length? I think we need to rethink some of are planning. No, no we must dump as many musky fingerling in that lake every year for our club, but not a single forage fish! C’mon people think!
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Posts: 477
Location: Iowa | I confess. I kept my first legal musky when I was a kid. Ashamed? NO, at the time that was a real accomplishment for me. Will I do it again? Probably not. There will always be people who keep a fish or two, but we can't stop that. Higher limits means they will keep bigger fish if they catch them. Bashing someone for keeping a fish will not stop them from doing so, it would make me do it again, just because someone told me I can't do that. All we can do is try to persuade them from doing it again and do everything we can to make sure the ones we catch swim away healthy enough to hit again.
Edited by Lone Stone 4/20/2003 8:04 PM
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Posts: 20211
Location: oswego, il | I have not kept one yet but we do have one on our wall from 1971, eagle lake when a guy who was with us caught it and was going to eat it. We convinced him to let us mount the fish.
Get this, he caught it from shore, ultralight shakespere spinning combo, 4lb line with a 0 mepps. 44" |
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Posts: 578
Location: Sheboygan Falls, WI | I have been musky fishing for 20+ years (34 years old now) and have kept only one. Back in 1990 I caught a 49 1/2" long, 25 1/4" girth, 38 1/2 pound fish out of the Three Lakes Chain. My goal was a 50" fish and our measurement at the time was 50", but needless to say, I am honest enough to hold to the fact that it was only 49 1/2" after official measurement. I have yet to crack that magical 50" mark with numerous others since up to 49 1/2" being released. Will I keep another fish? Like many others out there, if it is a no brainer world record, it would be very difficult to do. I am not worrying about that right now though as my sights are on that 50" release.
Living here in Wisconsin I am looking for what I call the "Triple Header of 50" Releases". That to me is a 50" release out of a body of water in Canada, Minnesota and Wisconsin. I have seen them in all three, now I just have to connect. I am hoping to do it this year. (In my dreams, right?)
I told someone who frequents this board last year that I would keep a small one, and only one, sometime to eat to see what it is like. Guess what? I caught many last year and couldn't do it. I have too much respect for these fish. I will go catch a bunch of the "green snakes" and fry them up instead.
Releasing Everything,
Chuck |
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| I like the way this post is going, real civil. I have no issue with people keeping a muskie, I've got a couple of friends who mounted their first legal. I don't blame them. it took me four years to get my first. Threw it back without a picture as we didn't have a camera with us. Then I told myself first one over 40" nah threw it back. Magic number now, I don't know. I had one up to the boat 2 falls ago on a quick strike with a 21" sucker. This fish had my 6'6" Lami at 90 degrees the whole time. Don't know if I would have kept it or not, at the time I said this is one for the wall. It feels different holding them in your hands though. (Although I did not get the chance with this fish)
As far as catching a world record, I really have no illusions about catching one anymore. More of a youthful innocence thought I guess. If I did though it would get stuffed in a livewell or ski locker and latched shut and mounted. It would be nice to put an end to the clamor of Sprays fish and have people agree on a fishes size. |
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Posts: 16
| I just recently became interested in Muskie fishing after having a close encounter with the biggest freshwater fish I had ever hooked last September on Lake Andrusia, MN. And it wasn't until this winter (reading the different Muskie message boards) that I became familiar with the practice of CPR. I have always used the state-published guidelines for length and creel limit and have kept my fair share of fish for table fair (Never a Muskie). After boating my fist Muskie (a 40" on Kincaid Lake) a few weejs agio, I am a firm supporter or CPR. I got much more satisfaction from watching that beautiful fish swim away than I ever did keeping a fish (my wife thought I was crazy). I will continue to keep the occasional perch, crappie or sunfish for the table but you can bet I will never keep a toothy critter, trophy or not. And that 40 incher I caught a few weeks ago, I am having a fibergalss repo made (being my first muskie) from pictures I took and should have it hanging on my wall by fall. |
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Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | I have kept 1 and we ate it, not no bad, a lot like fish, ha, ha. The fish was a 38". I'm actually glad that the limit was only 34", so the birds didn't get it. 1 for 700+,, I'm not feeling too bad! 
Edited by jerryb 4/20/2003 9:45 PM
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | Yes I kept one back in the mid-eighties when I was young and not so well educated on the CPR deal. A not so fat 44 incher that hangs on my wall to this day reminding me that it is way cooler to release them than to keep them.
On a side note, I am a big fan of the graphite reproductions. Both Fittante and Lax do unbelievable work, I don't know about those that say they can tell the repros from the skins, I can't. They cost about $12 an inch, I think the extra couple bucks an inch is worth having the fish swimming. |
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Posts: 132
Location: Elkhart, IN | I kept a 37 last year. I never took it out of the water, followed it for 45 min, it turned over and died. I gave it to my neighbor and he smoked it. I didn't like it at all, neither did he. I like orange roughy much better. I didn't plan on keeping one ever.
Short of not fishing for them, all you can do is be careful with them and remember stuff happens.
Brian
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Posts: 544
Location: Alsip, Il | I havn't kept one since 1988, when I got my first 50 incher that weighed 38lbs. This may not be a popular opinon but I still don't see anything wrong with anyone keeping a fish for mounting hopefully at least 40 inches or longer, or if the fish is not going to make it. Sometimes I think we deify (probally misspelled) including myself too much. Al |
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Posts: 2059
Location: Belgium | Even though I don't fish for muskies (for obvious reasons: we haven't got them over here), I have never even considered killing a pike that I caught. The only fish that I have kept are a few coalfish, some codd and a mackerel. All for food during a holiday in Norway and they are all sea-fish species. |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | I kept a 40"er that ate a single hook(before I was educated about quick strikes) and did not swim away. We ate it and it was very good. My dad used to keep the legal muskies he caught in the mid 70's and we;d eat them at camp. They were some of the best tasting fish we ever ate. That being said, dad still feeld guilty about the muskies he killed back then, and hasn't kiled one since about 1980. He released a 49.5"er three years ago, that really made him happy.
I plan to keep one musky and only one. It will be a special fish, and it will come from the WI river. It will be over 40lbs(already released my first 50"er), and it will reside in my living room, dead center. We release approximately 90-100 muskies per year out of my boat(not that I need to justify), and I would like one mount at some point in my life( though it may never happen). I too like the skin mounts better(as handy said) than the graphites, and I set the bar where I feel it needs to be for my personnal trophy.
Good luck in 03!!!!!! |
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