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Posts: 6
| I have been in the game for quite a while. I have caught a number of “legal” fish, some would call them trophies, others would get them mounted. To date I have yet to keep/harvest a musky. I practice CPR, have all the “surgical” tools, keep fish in the net, don’t fish for them when the water temps are high, handle with care, ect. Well yesterday I boated a 52 out of lake not too far from Chippewa Falls. It was on a sucker set up on a mew quick set rig I bought from a local bait shop. It was a very odd set up but as I have fished quick sets for a long time I figured I could adjust a couple of the treble hooks bybstarighten a shank and make it work like the ones I make. On this set up, there was a medium size single shank hook at the very front of the rig. This hook is supposed to go through mouth/nose of the sucker. Usually, I use a bait needle and a rubber band for this part of my rigs but on this one it had a hook. Anyway, fish hits the sucker and heads out for deep water. It hit at 3:58 pm. I was fishing solo so I pulled the other sucker, put my casting rod in the locker, and set up for the hook set. I set the hook at 4:00 pm. Point is fish had the sucker for less than 2 minutes. Well the rig worked fine, fought the fish, netted it, and then to trouble starkes. I cut the trebles like I always do. This were both in it mouth, that darn lead hook though was in it’s through. I could see it but with it being so deep I went for the jaw breakers and the fish rolled. Well I look back and the hook is in the net now. Odds are the fish ripped it out of its throat. No bleeding or noticeable injury other than when I hoisted her to measure and take a photo I could see about a 1/2 inch hole in the throat. Measured the fish and she was not too cooperative and she keep fighting while I was taking the picture. Fish was out of the water for maybe 45 seconds before back in the water. I cradled her until I felt the tail making strong kicks. Let her go and she spallled me and went straight back down. I fished the area for about 1/2 hour and saw her come up twice. Both times she was up right and swam back down. I am not sure what happened next but I never saw her again. I am concerned about the throat injury and am just curious if anyone has any input.
Not sure what I could have done to prevent this other than not using that type of rig again, which I won’t, but I have been stressed about it since. The thought of killing it and just donating back to the turtles just isn’t sitting well with me. I am not a believer of cutting the line and hoping the hook works it way out after reading the mortality rate on this practice from the WI DNR’s study a few years back. I know a quick set it supposed to boom boom in terms of fish hits and drive the hooks set but this was a momentary laps of time. I think the fish hit the sucker head on because to have the head of the sucker that far down the throat already seems odd given the short time from the hit to hook set but I could be wrong. Suggestions? |
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Posts: 2275
Location: Chisholm, MN | I think a fish can live through that. Personally I think 45 seconds out of the water is a little long though. I take videos for my solo pictures and I get them in and out in 20-30 seconds and I don’t take a picture if I feel the fish is stressed. Which they are stressed most of the time but obviously you got a 52, you want a picture. But regardless, the water is cold so yours should be fine. I have seen sucker rigs coming out of fish’s stomachs that the have swallowed. Their body just rejected it and it came out the side of the fish. The fish was alive too. For how long, I don’t know but they are resilient if you don’t stress them too much out of the water. |
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Posts: 214
| but obviously you got a 52, you want a picture. Why...Why...Why... |
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Posts: 6
| When I say 45 seconds it was likely less than that. I had the bump board out and ready before I put my phone on time delay for a photo. The time delay was 45 seconds which covered the measure measurement, turn with the fish, pose, and back in the water. Now that I replay it it in my head the time out was likely more in the 30 second range as I know it took me a few seconds to get from the phone back to the fish and lift it out of the net. I am not in the school of keeping them out of the water longer than needed. This was my largest Wisconsin inland fish so I maybe took a bit of vanity over common sense. Looking back and knowing the throat injury I should have just went from net to water and taken a video of her swimming away. I never thought I would have investing this much thought/emotion into it but it has been bugging me all day! |
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Posts: 536
Location: deephaven mn | you are very thoughtfully and aware of how precious the resource is. you acted appropriatly. Hooks can and do kill fish but we need them to complete the job. Killing fish aucks. This one may have made it. Most fish swim away just fine we dont have any proof the lived, most do. All we can do is our best and then give some money to keep stocking going, to replace the few that we might have killed. |
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Posts: 32785
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | You did a great job and released the fish. All anyone could do! |
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Posts: 20178
Location: oswego, il | Things happen to all of us. Some circumstances you cannot predict. It's hard to say if the fish will or will not survive. If you fish Muskies long enough one will die on you. We don't even know if this one will. |
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Posts: 1179
| Buy lots of release tools and have extras in the boat (more then one pliers of mine are resting on the bottom of certain lakes)
Have a nice big net or better yet leave them in the water. And don't photo them to death!
Any time we have a fish on our line it has a chance of dying. Hook injury, heart attack, heat stoke ECT!
Hope for the best. |
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Posts: 1200
Location: E. Tenn | Had a mid 30s get hooked in the throat this past spring...managed to carefully cut the offending lone treble... fish took off like a scalded dog..., Did it survive? We'll never know, but it did a heck of a lot better than a similar sized one that once netted, quivered a few seconds, and died.. It was lip hooked, but still died.. Why? Who knows..
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Posts: 64
| You are jamming hooks into a living organism. No matter what you do, every now and then they aren't going to make it. |
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Posts: 32785
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Muskies Inc will soon have a report out on angling mortality and hot water, stand by for that. |
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