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Posts: 17
| HI guys this is my first post so bare with me I caught my largest muskie last june in Canada, It was a 55" plus caught on top water had her in the net in less than 30 seconds and backin the water in less 30 seconds It happened so fast that i never even saw the marks until i released her some people think it was hit by a prop or a bigger fish I tend to think prop. Also I am thinking about getting reproduction of her but i didnt get a girth measerment any of you guys that have dealt with alot over 50 give me a safe estamant, Also would like to here jakes opinion Thanks.
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Posts: 536
| I guess I have not for sure seen a wound on a fish that I know is from a prop but I would think it would be more on the back instead of the sides. It looks like wounds from battling and landing a fish to me but you can tell there not from you there older than that so maybe someone else caught it recently? |
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Posts: 17
| The owner of the lodge we stayed at is the one who thought maybe a skeg hit her when she was up spawning and then she slapped the prop with her tail when she took off it didnt look to be real fresh. |
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Posts: 906
Location: Warroad, Mn | Great fish! Don't know about the girth, but it looks like it's early in the season so the fish hasn't had a much of a chance to recover from the winter and the riggers of spawning. I would guess that nothing hit this muskie other that another muskie. It's very common to have what I call spawning sores (they must have some great sex). I've seen many fish that had much bigger wounds. I don't know how they do this as I watched many a muskie when spawning. They mostly swim around side by side with big smiles on their faces. Doug Johnson |
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Posts: 210
Location: VA | Caught by another angler WHILE he was trying to motivate the boat with the trolling motor on and the fish hit the TM prop?
DR |
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Posts: 999
| Being a June fish I'd say those are spawning cuts. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | leech lake strain - 2/1/2011 6:26 PM
I guess I have not for sure seen a wound on a fish that I know is from a prop but I would think it would be more on the back instead of the sides.
Why could it not be a prop? It looks like a prop mark, after hitting it once, the prop turns and strikes it again. From the marks we should be able to find out the pitch of the prop if the muskie is not moving. |
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Posts: 17
| SHE WAS CAUGHT JUNE 29TH |
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Posts: 906
Location: Warroad, Mn | Half the fish in the LOTWs have marks like this in the early part of the season. Some are lots worse that this. By mid July most of them have healed up. Doug Johnson
Edited by dougj 2/1/2011 6:57 PM
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Posts: 425
| I caught a fish in Leech Lake a couple of years ago that was totally messed up (first pic). Fins were cut, red bleeding marks on it, looked like she had a disease or something. She acted perfectly fine though, released her fine and swam off like nothing was wrong. And I could never of gotten a straight answer? But I'v also caught fish that came to the boat hooked in the back (second pic), so that could also be a possibility. The fish could have been caught before and have been hooked in the back and those could be scars from the hooks? But it could be anything....prop, battle with other fish, spawning, bad handling, etc. If I had to guess one, I would say spawning marks. And for the reproduction, if you send LAX the pictures he will estimate the girth perfectly.
Edited by 50"skie 2/1/2011 7:04 PM
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | I would also say spawn marks and girth would probably be around 20-21 inches. |
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Posts: 17
| THANKS FOR YOUR IMPUT JAKE CONGRATS ON YOUR 57 AND YOUR REPRO LOOKED GREAT I WILL BE TAKING SOME PICTS TO THE MILWAIKEE SHOW TO SHOW LAX THANKS BY THE WAY YOUR GOING LAX WILL BE GETTING ALOT OF WORK. |
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | If she was preoccupied with the spawn she may have been hit by a trolling motor prop. About the right size wound. |
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | As Doug J and others said, spawning bite. The most common area for spawning wounds is in the back 1/3 - 1/4 of their body. Prop scars leave multiple marks close together even at 1000 rpm.
Edited by Will Schultz 2/1/2011 7:33 PM
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Posts: 422
| I would also agree they are most likely marks as a result of the process, but you never know. The good thing is, it doesn't seem to be bothering her and looks to be healing. Also, someone like Lax or Fittante will be able to give a close esitmate.
Nice Fish! |
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| Caught this little guy (sorry it's a pike!) a few years ago. Guessin' he got hit by a bigger pike while I was reeling him in??? 
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Posts: 132
Location: Missouri | muskie! nut - 2/1/2011 6:46 PM
leech lake strain - 2/1/2011 6:26 PM
I guess I have not for sure seen a wound on a fish that I know is from a prop but I would think it would be more on the back instead of the sides.
Why could it not be a prop? It looks like a prop mark, after hitting it once, the prop turns and strikes it again. From the marks we should be able to find out the pitch of the prop if the muskie is not moving.
Have you ever seen a known prop mark on a muskie??? |
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Posts: 1106
Location: Muskegon Michigan | Here is a 47 inch Michigan Muskie that had a huge bite mark across its back. Would have liked to see the big one that tried to eat it. I lost the original picture . this one was compressed so you cant see the detail in the bite. It was really bad on the side facing Michelle. The gut sack was almost open and spilling. This fish was grabbed from above and behind by a much bigger fish.
Edited by Kingfisher 2/3/2011 4:22 PM
(47 inch spotted bitten.jpg)
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | i'll echo what the other guys say....time of year and girth of the fish makes it look like spawning scars, also agree with Hulbert on the 20-21 inch girth |
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Posts: 203
Location: Alexandria, Minnesota | It looks like spawning scars to me. I would get a rubber coated net too. Nets like the one you were using can cause big gashes and fin damage to the fish.
Edited by Dave Williamson 2/4/2011 3:51 AM
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Definitely spawning scars. |
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| Great Stories Man! |
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | i say spawn marks. we see them all the time at wingra in the early season. seem some that look like they went through a meat grinder. they can be really rough on each other. |
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Posts: 17
| jay lip ripper - 2/4/2011 4:26 PM
i say spawn marks. we see them all the time at wingra in the early season. seem some that look like they went through a meat grinder. they can be really rough on each other.[/THOSE MARKS ARE FROM ALL THE DAM KAYAKRS THEY LOOK LIKE SURFACE LURES OUT THERE HAD ONE PAIR OF YAKERS YELL AT ME BECAUSE I WAS USING A TROLLING MOTOR THEY SAID IT RUINED THE LAKE!QUOTE] |
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Posts: 8772
| This was a story told to me by a friend of mine. Knowing the area, it would not surprise me one bit!
Lady at Wingra Ramp walking little fluffy dog: "What are you fishing for?"
My buddy: "muskies."
Lady: (yanking dog away from the water) "What? MUSKIES? There's MUSKIES in here?!"
Buddy: "lots of 'em!"
Lady: "Buh... that's HORRIBLE. Somone should DO SOMETHING!!!"
Buddy: "we're doin' the best we can. We put 'em back when we catch 'em though!"
Lady: "WHY?!"
Buddy: "So they can get even BIGGER!"
I guess the lady went stomping off all kinds of angry... |
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| Spawning scars or net scars. The net doesn't necessarily remove the skin like that, but makes it susceptible to an infection which would kill that. Teeth wounds and prop wounds would be deep and leave very different looking scars. See the pike pic... |
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Posts: 32
| SOmetimes there are huge scars from big predatory birds like eagles and osprey talons that look like prop cuts
The pic doesnt look like it in this case though
I would say spawning |
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Posts: 146
Location: where the fish are... | pretty sure this was a prop gash, if it wasnt i would be super suprised. Good clean 40" fish though, she nailed a tube on the last day of our trip last fall. |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | I'm not sure. The mark on the initial fish seems more like some sort of impact. I'm familiar with spawning scars... and they are more of a "rash" type wound. Here is a fish that I caught a few years back in mid June. Some fish at this time still had spawning scars, but this one I felt was a gash from a prop. Deep flesh wound still bleeding. If this is a spawning scar.... I'd hate to see the male that did that!!
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Posts: 272
| I'm going to go ahead and nix the prop theory. Not that it couldn't happen, but unless its an unbelievably lucky whisp of a glancing blow, me thinks pretty much any strike from a prop snaps the spine of a musky, if not cuts them in half.
Google "manatee scars" once. Those things weigh HUNDREDS of pounds. Check out the damage. Not saying props don't occasionally strike muskies, I'm just saying that IMO most of the time....nobody ever catches that fish again.
A 7-armed band once said, "Love bites." The spawn is a rough and tough game of posturing and positioning. Lots of teeth, sharp rocks, waterfalls, etc. involved.
-Eric |
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