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Location: Hayward, WI | Wow, that this is CRAZY long! Way to go.
curleytail |
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | Guest - 7/17/2008 8:39 PM Sorry Will but there were no Mississippi or Michigan Muskies in the Iowa Great Lakes when those Iowa Muskies went into Mille Lacs. Congrats Jonesi. You deserved that fishy. Thanks guest... That is true about the Michigan fish because none were sent over there until the late 90's (the Michgian are just WI fish). I would have to check again about the Mississippi/Leech strain though, I was pretty sure those got into the mix in the 70's. Shoot me an e-mail or pm so we don't hijack this thread. |
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Location: Des Moines IA | Great job Steve. Many more to you and all the Minnesota guides!!!!
Edited by MuskieMike 7/21/2008 7:38 AM
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | Dang Sled, how come you didn't say anything about this today on the phone?
Awesome Steve and client! Well done boys. Makes me all the more anxious for my Sept 8 day with Steve. Looking forward to actual pics.
Jeff |
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Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Most of you know Steve as a person and guide. He knows the spots and details that can put fish in the boat. Small windows are the norm on that body of water. Being in the exact spot when its that time is a good guides job. I saw Steve all week up there and he bounced all around but always seemed to come back to a couple sweet spots when it was prime time. I just left the area where he got that monster. We figured we would go after a low fiftys we had up twice before on another spot. We did have up another bigger fish but not the one we knew was there. We did get a fish over fifty that night but not like Steves client.
Congrats Bro, you work very hard for your clients and deserve all the credit for pounding like a GREAT GUIDE does.
For all of you that doesn't know how it is fishing on that pond I will explain one of the days that are more the norm than not.
Get on the water around 9am fish until 5 or 6 and eat something somewhere. Back to fishing until midnight or later. If the fish are going you take a two hour nap and hit it at first light until 10am or so. Take a nap till 5pm and hit it till who knows when, take a nap and keep it going. Thats the life of a serious fishermen or guide. Long hours on the water and short naps off the water. TOUGH LIFE!!!
I give the big water guides lots of credit. You beat up your equipment every day and never get caught up on sleep. A tuff way to make a living. I know Steve and he is one of those guides that will give you your moneys worth. Those two clients of his had to be tired after 5 straight days of pounding. I know I was.
Another plug for Steve-That boy has a great memory, he knows the spots to fish. Every spot I talked to him about he knew everything about it. The man knows how to read water, weather and moon phases. This is why he can put big fish in the boat. All he needs is clients that can pound...... |
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| here's the better picture...wow!
Attachments
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 P7160404.JPG (79KB - 86 downloads)
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Posts: 1308
Location: WI | Wow. What's the guess on weight? |
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Location: nationwide | Awesome fish Steve!!!!!!!!!!
Corey Meyer |
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Location: Land of the Musky | I see a familiar background  |
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Location: Washington, PA | Jonesi,
U Da MAN |
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Location: Glenmoore PA | congrats on an amazing fish! |
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Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | Wow!
Nice fish Captain B! |
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Location: Eau Claire, WI | a beautiful fish and congrats on the catch!
out of curiosity, now that a clear pic is available, those of you who have definitively proclaimed this to be a wisco still feel that way and how do you know that?
Thanks,
Jono
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Location: The desert | What a dink! |
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| I'm starting to understand why my bump board goes to 60"!! Awesome fish. |
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Location: East Troy, WI | the tail is freaking HUGE |
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Location: Eau Claire, WI | Muskydr, ToddM, MercKid, Jonnysled....none of you can help me out? You all have made comments here or elsewhere about WI fish in Mille Lacs. I'd like to know how you can tell that this fish is a wisco? I fish Mille Lacs and I know there are supposed to be different types in there. I'm not sure how to tell the difference so I'd like to learn what to look for.
Thanks,
Jono
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| First off, great fish! You can't positively ID the mille lacs fish as there are a lot of "mutts" from the original stocking of 3 different strains. The DNR Biologist in charge of the lake, Rick Brueswitz (I know I spelled it wrong) came and gave our MI chapter a quiz and asked us to ID the strains of 20 fish that he had pics of. Best score was 10 correct out of 20. Best score at the DNR office was right around the same, 50%. Very hard to confirm without a genetic test, which they are currently doing on the lake. |
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| jono ...
the fish that steve's client caught last year was suggested to be a wisconsin strain original stocking. it was discussed by many and my input was only conjecture.
the whole thing i've spoken toward all these years is that fish grow based on where they live and that the forage of a mille lac or vermillion isn't matched in wisconsin where the south-of-the-border folks claim "there are no big fish in wisconsin" ... green bay shows otherwise and logically so.
no idea what genetics are in that fish jonesi is holding in this post but wherever her parents were from ... they taught her how to eat like a pig. |
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Posts: 32955
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I believe the Wisconsin strain fish used on Mille Lacs were discussed at length on the research board awhile back, I'll look for the link.
Sure, that could be a Wisconsin Strain fish. It could also be a Spot. I've seen that coloration and pattern on both, variations abound. |
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The small spots on the tail end of that fish look an awful lot like the big girls you find in Cass and Leech.
Hard to tell, but appears like spots are on the gill plates and head area.
Is that common on WI fish?
If I had to guess, I'd say that fish has the characteristics of a Leech fish more than a WI.
Wish a guy could find out for sure.
JS
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Post by Cory Painter on the Research Board:
Got this from a source at the WI DNR. Very interesting Info I thought I would Share.
Minnesota’s Musky Stocking Program Timeline
(Source: Jerry Younk, Minnesota DNR Research Biologist and Statewide Musky Program Leader)
1982: MDNR is pressured to stop using Shoepack fish.
1982: MDNR stocks Leech Lake fish into several new lakes (no muskies
previously) for use as future sources of broodstock. These include Plantaganette, Little Wolf, Elk, Owasso (not used now), Rebecca, Pleasant, and Island (used only as a back-up).
1982-1987: MDNR stocks Wisconsin-source fish in many waters, including Mille Lacs during 1984-1987, as Leech Lake fish grow and mature in broodstock lakes.
1989: MDNR starts stocking Leech Lake strain fish exclusively throughout the State of Minnesota.
1990: Final year of evaluation of strain stocking study in Lake Waconia, Minnesota. Results confirm that Leech Lake and LCO strains are superior to Shoepack.
1996-1998: MDNR biologists age and tag adult muskies in 132,500-acre Mille Lacs.
1999-2005: MDNR biologists document reports of tagged fish that are caught, harvested, or found dead in Mille Lacs.
Mille Lacs Musky Tagging Study Results
(Source: Rick Bruesewitz, MDNR Treaty Assessment Biologist at Mille Lacs)
Stocked Year Class Source of Stocked Muskies Number Stocked Number Tagged
by MDNR 1996-1998**
1984 Wisconsin 3,250 12
1985 “ 4,300 9
1986 “ 2,000 7
1987 “ 4,400 32
1988 Leech Lake 0 in 1988* 6
1989 “ ? 19
1990 “ ? 2
1991 “ ? 4
1992 “ ? 1
1993 “ ? 3
1994 “ ? 1
* Even though no muskies were stocked in 1988, a few yearling fish of the Leech Lake strain were stocked in 1989 that belonged to the 1988 year class.
** Includes only those tagged fish that have been reported since 1998 as caught & released, harvested, or found dead.
Interpretation and Summary
(Dave Neuswanger, Fisheries Team Leader, Upper Chippewa Basin, Wisconsin DNR, Hayward)
Ø Of the 96 fish recaptured to date (as of 2005) in this study, 60 of them
(62.5%) were fish from Wisconsin, stocked during 1984-1987.
Ø Of the 13 tagged fish reported since 1998 that were over 50 inches long
when reported, ALL of them have been Wisconsin-source fish (Kalepps Fish Farm, which got its broodstock from north central Wisconsin lakes and
hatcheries) stocked during 1984-1987. The biggest was a female 54.9 inches long and 16 years of age.
Ø Of those 13 fish over 50 inches long, 5 (38%) had been harvested by
anglers.
Ø Of those 13 fish over 50 inches long, 2 (15%) were found dead >2 years
after being tagged.
Ø Of the 26 tagged fish reported since 1998 that were 45-50 inches long when
reported, 19 of them (73%) have been Wisconsin-source fish stocked during 1984-1987.
Ø Many Leech Lake strain muskies are now of trophy size in Mille Lacs. They
should sustain the excellent trophy fishery that began with the stocking of Wisconsin-source fish. |
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Posts: 1086
| GREAT fish you guys! Way to go Jonesi to put your client on a fish of that caliber! :thumbsup:
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Posts: 726
Location: Eau Claire, WI | Thanks for the info Steve. That is cool to see but still does not definitively say anything about this fish so anyone saying in this thread what this fish is....they are only guessing. Without a tag, no one can say for sure one way or the other. The info above just says some of them are wiscos and some are leechers. As the fishery ages, it will be interesting to see how the size structure holds up. to my eye this fish does not look like a wisco fish, it looks like a leecher. Without a tag or an accurate age measurement, its all a guess. I do have a fish of this size, heck look at Lambeau's from this year...to me this fish looks more like that. For comparison, I'd love to see pics from guys who have north central WI fish that look like this fish. Please send them to me!
If I am reading that info correctly, based on the number of tags reported above, it's interesting to note that the wisco fish were tagged almost 2:1 (60 wisco: 36 leecher) over subsequent stocks of Leechers so you are not starting with equal sample sizes. That would skew this just a bit don't you think?
Jono |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I'm not sure what is skewed. I think the idea was to track the fish overall, mortality/harvest/etc rates, not a comparison of strain's potential since the MNDNR went to 100% Leech lake fish in '88. The data shows a predictable timeline to recapture, IMHO, and indicates both strains reached trophy size in Mille Lacs. |
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Location: Eau Claire, WI | Yes Steve I agree with you about the "both" having potential and I wasn't calling the study into question.
My point is that if you just look at the total of tagged recaps without looking at total breakdown of tagged fish, some will jump to the conclusion that most if not all of the big ones are wiscos without due respect to number of tags and age/time in this system. Some of WI fish are indeed big but not all trophy specimens are from WI sources. There are people out there who like to say that all the big ones are wiscos to support the notion that genetics is not a factor. In this case indeed WI fish get big too but that doesn't prove 100% that any WI source will do the same.
It will be interesting to see in another 10 years what is happening out there when all these WI fish from the initial stocking are dead.
Just fun with numbers Steve. This thread started like there was some definitive evidence to prove the fish's source. I've seen a few big WI pigs from ML and they look nothing like this one.
Have a good one and thanks again.
Jono
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|  Steve great fish! Really looking forward to fishing with you on The September Dark moon. Should my partner Joe or I be fortunate to catch a fish near that caliber, you will have the privilage of seeing us howling at the dark Moon. HaHa! Gary.
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| I spoke with a MN DNR biologist that works on Mille Lacs, he said that there is evidence of natural reprodcutin of BOTH LL and WI fish in Mille Lacs. Therefore, we cannot assume that any fish caught is "pure" Wisconsin or LL strain. Especially based on looks. The future may show many different color patterns creating a LL MUTT-which is halarious to me.
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Posts: 441
| Awesome fish, guys!!!!!
Congrats!!!!
Edited by bucknuts 7/30/2008 9:27 PM
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Posts: 507
| LL and WI strain 'mutt'; that IS very funny. |
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