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Posts: 152
| My thinking is...water temps 80 degrees plus puts a higher strain on lunge safe releases. Should i wait until water temps fall back into 70's or is it ethical to catch and water release fish in this high temp range? Newer to musky fishing am I...feedback is appreciated. |
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Posts: 75
| Just make sure you have ALL the right Equipment for releasing a fish. With those water temps the fish can go down just because of the fight! Make sure you keep them in the water and if necessary cut the hooks and BE READY WITH THE CAMERA. To many photo's make a difference between recovery and death... |
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Posts: 152
| I have all necessary release tools. still leary of fighting, netting , safely releasing fish. dont ever want to kill a ski no matter the size. surface temps here in WI were 82 yesterday. Thinking i should be bass whackin til temps come down some?
Tnx for feedback. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | Lungemadness - 7/22/2011 3:36 AM
Thinking i should be bass whackin til temps come down some?
Tnx for feedback.
best to check with Travis first ... he'll let you know when it's good to do it. his research team is assembling the data as we speak. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | 
Edited by CiscoKid 7/22/2011 7:20 AM
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Posts: 20263
Location: oswego, il | Time to let them be. |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | Once the temps reach above 80 I stop targeting musky. I often fish a samll river in Northern Illinois (the Fox) and right now I could be killing the ski's if I wanted (literally and figuratively) because with the water being so low they are schooled up in the deeper holes. It stinks because there are still tons of people targeting and catching musky around here and water temps are 85+. But these are also the same people that catch the musky, put them on the ground to get hooks out, and take a million pics before "successfully releasing" them so I guess there is little chance of survival despite water temps.
Does anyone have a good, easy to understand article/website about musky and high water temps so I can try and educate these people? |
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Posts: 32935
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I switch to electroshock fishing after dark. Far less stress on the fish, and with muskies, definitely as difficult getting the big girls to stay still long enough to get 'em properly stunned as it is to get them to eat.
And no hooks to remove.
Seriously, over 80 degrees in the top 1/3 of the water column, I stop chasing muskies. Just kidding about the electroshocking. |
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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | I would lay off of them for a bit, especially as hot as it's been the past few weeks (this week especially!). I know of a few nice fish that died the past week or two around here unfortunately. Salmon tastes good (to some people), so I'll keep filling their freezers for them (I can't stand eating salmon, but man they are a riot to catch at night!).
Not to be "one of those people", but please go easy on the 'skis down here until the water cools down a bit. Dead 50's don't fight very well. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | water temps are way too high in the Madison area to chase skis..
going to go get something for the frying pan tonite  |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | we'll be chukin' leaches n lizzards at the historic boat-houses on the chain tonight ... good news is the humidity is coming out of the air and it's feeling much nicer outside! have a great weekend boys ... sure wish i was on the boat out on the big pond joel. that was a hoot!! |
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Posts: 3242
Location: Racine, Wi | Sled, if I get some a week or so before I head up that way again in August, I'll bring some up for ya. Not sure how long they keep in the freezer, but if they keep for the next few weeks, I'll have some for ya.  Dang 'hos are everywhere this year, and are perfect size (lots of 5-7#ers). |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | we can talk geno into smokin' some for us. we'll take all you got, just wish we could get down there soon. |
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| There was a recent discussion on this in another thread. I'll spare everyone a full rehashing.
People way too often say that once the water temps hit 80, they quit fishing but just a day before when temps were 78 they were practicing CPR. This never makes sense to me. So they can handle it in 78 degree water but once it hits 80 you shouldn't even go fishing anymore? Taking a fish out of the water is very likely to be the most stressful part of the whole ordeal. Pretty simple rule I follow, once temps hit 80 I don't take the fish out of the water, not even for a picture. The additional stress of warm temps gets reduced significantly by not making them have to hold their breath for an extended period. 85+ I hang it up, you're not going to catch much anyhow.
If 82 is your mid-day temp then you're not killing fish, just take extra precautions by not taking the fish out of the water. If you NEED a pic, don't go fishing. |
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| Think of it like a threshold the closer you get to 80 the less oxygen the water can hold.Once it hits 80 the top four feet of the water column hold so little oxygen the fish suffocates. So to the second part of your statement water releases near the surface is really not good either. It's best to stop fishing for a while to protect the future of the sport. |
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Posts: 20263
Location: oswego, il | 80 is a.good benchmark. We don't all carry oxygen meters with hs to determine just what condition a lake may be in. Some lakes are in better shape than others when the water gets hot. While 80 is not a set in stone go/no go it is a good rule of thumb. |
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Posts: 692
Location: Pelican Rapids, MN | I agree that fish can handle 80+ if handled properly, or not handled at all. I like many others use 80 as my benchmark for taking a break. It's a tough call with guiding as its a job, and i need to make money, however most clients want a good pic or something of that nature to go home with. So when the surface temps start in the AM at 80+, I urge them to reschedule.
Was supposed to guide yesterday and today, but when out on the water testing my new trolling motor, I noticed the water was almost 85 degrees over 20 ft. Too hot! The clients rescheduled, and I greatly appreciate their understanding!
Finally got to do some needed repairs and put the rods down and go paddle boarding great way to enjoy the bath like water!
Edited by Jsondag 7/22/2011 8:55 PM
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Posts: 1460
Location: Kronenwetter, WI | I avoid the heat of the day and stArt fishing evenings and early mornings. Then only do 'net releases'. The two i got today seemed to like that approach as they took off like rockets.
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| JK, I don't think fish will "suffocate" when temps hit 80. How would any muskies survive in Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, etc.... where temps are upper 80s for several months? Nobody knows what the thresholds actually are, 80 degrees is a guess at best.
Cowboyhannah, if low dissolved oxygen levels is the biggest danger, dissolved oxygen does not get added to the water overnight (no sun and typically no wind). When the DO peaks in the middle of the day when temps are in low to mid 80s, the amount of DO will only drop from there and will be at their lowest levels at sunrise. So if you think it's fine to fish in the mornings, why not fish throughout the day?
http://www.fl-seafood.com/i/aquarium_do_figure1.gif
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Posts: 132
Location: Missouri | guest 1 - 7/23/2011 9:11 AM
JK, I don't think fish will "suffocate" when temps hit 80. How would any muskies survive in Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, etc.... where temps are upper 80s for several months? Nobody knows what the thresholds actually are, 80 degrees is a guess at best.
In those states the surface temps are prett irrelevant to their survival as long as the lake is deep enough for the fish to get out of the warm water. The surface temp is not the temp of the entire water column. When the temps get hot the fish go to deep cool water.... If a person fishes for them in that deep cool water bringing them up to the hot surface WILL kill fish.
Why be selfish and try to catch 1 more fish when the water gets hot. Just give it up at 80. So what if not all the fish will die. But why take the chance.?? |
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Posts: 1237
Location: South Portsmouth, KY | guest 1 - 7/23/2011 10:11 AM
JK, I don't think fish will "suffocate" when temps hit 80. How would any muskies survive in Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, etc.... where temps are upper 80s for several months? Nobody knows what the thresholds actually are, 80 degrees is a guess at best.
Cowboyhannah, if low dissolved oxygen levels is the biggest danger, dissolved oxygen does not get added to the water overnight (no sun and typically no wind ). When the DO peaks in the middle of the day when temps are in low to mid 80s, the amount of DO will only drop from there and will be at their lowest levels at sunrise. So if you think it's fine to fish in the mornings, why not fish throughout the day?
http://www.fl-seafood.com/i/aquarium_do_figure1.gif
The muskies survive fine down here in the south when the temps get over 80 as long as your not fishin for them. its the stress of catchin them in the hot water which hurts the fish |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | saw a bunch of people out on the chain enjoying some fishing while running errands today ... must be a bass tournament coming up with lots of pre-fishing going on. saw one guy make a solid hookset on a pretty decent fish that must have been buried deep in the millfoil right next to bj's sports (pretty cool). i did see some bulldawgs bein' chucked in savemore bay.
i thinki'll put a light and siren on my boat and go educate everyone. |
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| riverrat, where do they go to escape the heat? Below the thermocline? There isn't any oxygen below the thermocline once the lake stratifies, the deeper you go the less oxygen there is: http://lter.limnology.wisc.edu/slrecent30.html.
muskie_man, I agree that warmer temps = more stress but by not taking them out of the water, stress is greatly reduced. It doesn't make sense that you can CPR in upper 70s buy you can't even CR in low 80s. I'm with you once temps get in mid 80s though.
Jsondag, I understand your position. Tough to tell a client before you go fishing that if they catch anything they can't even get a picture. |
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Posts: 793
Location: Ames, Iowa | When I quit teaching in 9 years maybe I'll become a researcher and get these ?s figured out relative to EsoxM. Ought to be some more great threads and posts in the meantime.
"I was completely confused about the White Album for awhile"
Now that was funny Steve. By the way, doc says I have to go back to just squeezed lemon on the salad (a Sworral invention I think) instead of dressing. |
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Posts: 20263
Location: oswego, il | So if 80 is ok when is it too hot? |
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| If you handle fish properly 80 is OK; but over this creates problems as all has to go well. I like early morning because temp is usually cooler but not always. As the day progresses temps do nothing but increase in these conditions. |
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| High Water temps push fisherman away and if the only water you fish in is 25' or shallower then leave the skies alone. but you'll notice fish move to deep water this is were you would want to fish. better water for fish and every little stress to fish in deepwater(35'-90') trolling or casting for suspended skies is the place to be in high water temps. I've ntice this year they are fat and alive in the deep end of the lake. |
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Posts: 692
Location: Pelican Rapids, MN | Obviously, every lake is different - LOTW get that water into upper 70s touching 80 and the fish go berserk and see to release with vigor - Some of the clearer MN lakes those fish shut off or if caught have a tough time releasing. I have found that the dirtier the water, the fish are more tolerable to the warmer temps, and those cleaner water fish have a slower recovery time.
I agree that targeting open water muskies can be a great technique when the water is on the rise, however, when the upper columns in the water become heated the oxygen is decreased. Lets say for example, the area is 50 ft. deep, Thermocline is set up at 25, and surface temps are 81 degrees. The fish are going to suspend in the area with the highest oxygen levels. Probably the 15 - 20 ft mark on the locator. A fish that is brought quickly to the warm oxygen depleted layers of water will often result in a hard or slower release.
In the past, I have noticed fish that live and thrive in the shallower water seem to fare better being caught in it. The deeper cooler water fish are the ones that have the toughest time with the stress - Just what I observe. |
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Posts: 112
Location: Nielsen's Fly-In Lodge, on Rowan Lake | IMO it is very important to get that fish to some shallow water and let her rest .Don't let them go in deep water they just can't recover and yes have all the right tools |
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Posts: 60
Location: Lake Minnetonka | Sooooooo...is this fisherman theory, or was there actual studies done by professional biologists? Wondering... |
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