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Posts: 52
| I don't advocate fishing for skies before season but I do advocate changing the season. Having opener this late is absurd and at some level we all know it. For crying out loud how many times have I heard "well in the spring downsize, use a large bass sized lure". Hmmmmm......
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I think it was stated already, but in lager lakes such as Leech, Cass, Winnie, and Vermillion (which has been found to have very successful natural reproduction), spawning is normally in May, and not unusual to be going on during Walleye opener.
Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with having it closed for awhile after spawning is done. They are easy target to sight fish when they are up in the shallows and actively feeding to recover from spawning. Successful or not, fish do go through the act of spawning.
Nothing stupid about a later opener.
As far a downsizing lures, most of my early fish are on 10" crank baits. Not sure why lure size would matter in determining when you should have a season open.
Maybe that's good advice to those fishing before season opens?
JS
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Posts: 52
| ---I think it was stated already, but in lager lakes such as Leech, Cass, Winnie, and Vermillion (which has been found to have very successful natural reproduction), spawning is normally in May, and not unusual to be going on during Walleye opener.
Fine. So customize the regs so the metro or at least the tiger lakes are fishable earlier. I have no problem with expending effort to nurture natural reproductio in sp. lakes.
---Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with having it closed for awhile after spawning is done. They are easy target to sight fish when they are up in the shallows and actively feeding to recover from spawning. Successful or not, fish do go through the act of spawning.
Nothing stupid about a later opener.
Well yeah there is something wrong with it because alot of us would really like to go fishing... Again, can't we target seasons so that the regulations fit the biology of the lake rather than just pick an arbitrary date???
---As far a downsizing lures, most of my early fish are on 10" crank baits. Not sure why lure size would matter in determining when you should have a season open.
Maybe that's good advice to those fishing before season opens?
The point is everyone and their mother are on the lakes right now throwing X-raps and hooking muskies.
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Posts: 215
Location: Twin Cities | The current opener date might seem late to you and me, but the DNR did not just pick an "arbitrary" date for opener. The DNR used all their resources, knowledge and research to find a time when muskies were safe to fish under fair conditions. Although the current and past years warm springs probabaly does not parrallel what the origonal opening date parameters were, it doesnt give us the right to complain or fish b4 the season opens. Should the DNR look into split seasons and/or special start dates - sure, but will they? We can only hope.
Imagine if the situation was flipped, and MN muskie opener had been in the height of the Z spawn due to an extremely cold spring, would anyone be saying the opener should be later, and not fish till the spawn was over? Highly dought it, although we should if we cared.
Take the good with the bad. Leave em alone - Good article and good discussion. |
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Posts: 2378
| Even the Losers - 5/18/2007 7:57 AM
I don't advocate fishing for skies before season but I do advocate changing the season. Having opener this late is absurd and at some level we all know it. For crying out loud how many times have I heard "well in the spring downsize, use a large bass sized lure". Hmmmmm......
MN currently has what is widely considered one of, if not THE, best Muskie programs in the country. That can be attributed to the regs that the DNR has in place.
Why mess with success?
Just because we want to go fishing a few weeks earlier is not a good reason to change the opener date
Edited by BALDY 5/18/2007 10:15 AM
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Posts: 52
| I'm willing to meekly submit to the will of the apparent majority, and will as soon as you guys acknowledge that a late season on metro muskie lakes makes no sense. Deal? |
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Posts: 3149
| ETL
Im with you on the early tiger openner in fact I posed this question to Ron P head of dnr fishereis almost two years ago at the french lake sprearing meeting where he was present,,,at the time he sincerly liked it no humoring,,,Muskie anglers should push for this,,,it would be on the 'Designated stocked tiger lakes" that dosent mean people get to go out and fish Mille lacs and Vermillion and say their fishing tigers. |
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Posts: 7049
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Not to throw a monkey in the wrench in this argument, but there is something none of you have brought up: while muskies are spawning (at least my experience and others) is that they dont eat lures or livebait presentations. If you believe this statement, then the "leave them alone and let them spawn" argument has really no merit. Down here in IL and IN, where there is no closed season, we fish year long, and the fish just dont eat during the spawn. These arent bass or panfish that are more easily taken during the spawn, its actually the opposite.
So, if that is true, what you're saying is that you want fish to get to spawn before they get killed? If that is the case, then what you really mean (if they dont eat during the spawn) is that no one should fish for them ever, because they might get killed, and then not get to spawn. If you fish for them before the spawn or after, it's really the same argument: dont kill them, let them spawn.
Personally, I'm fine with closed seasons, I suppose one could say "at least it gives them a break a certain part of the year" or if you believe in fish conditioning (which scientifically is very difficult to mate lures to muskies even if they are caught) and since it is the law up in MN, then it SHOULD NOT BE DONE. I just wanted to bring this point into the conversation.
And why you cant fish specifically tiger lakes year round makes zero sense to me, except where there are natural muskies, if again believe that you can catch muskies when they are spawning.
*let me state AGAIN: if the season is closed, and you are targeting muskies (either directly or tacitly) you are breaking the law. There is really no ethical debate around that. However, if there is an open season on one species and closed on muskies, should you not get to target the first? Muskies eat whatever they want, whenever they want. Be they mag dawgs (illegal), 6" jakes (iffy), small spinnerbaits (bass primarly, but...) or worms (there is at least one state record out east {might have been broken} where a VERY large, as in over 40lbs, muskie ate a worm that a kid shorefishing was using for panfish) muskies will eat them. Sorry, but it's always going to sting when a walleye/bass/panfish angler boats a muskie by happenstance, when the season is closed. But, let's not let that feeling become something negative. |
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| Hooker, I was just quoting you buddy...Also being 800-1000 miles away gives one a much clearer picture of what is going on than emotionally soaked pawns within the mix. Relax and enjoy the upcoming season...Are things really that bad?...BenR |
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| I had no idea it was illegal to fish with a mag dawg before the muskie opener. I couldn't find that page in the MN or WI regs. We all know what you meant Slamr but it isn't illegal and you know it. |
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Posts: 7049
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | So what you're saying is that you would think that a MNNR or WDNR Conservation guy would believe you were targeting PIKE in a lake with muskies in it, if you were fishing a mag dawg in April or May? I do believe it was pretty obviously stated by me that my thought process was going under the law that is based on officers' interpritation? |
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| I am guessing one of the reasons MN has not gone to multiple opening seasons is because it can be difficult to enforce. (Might work with Tigers though) If someone has a muskie in their possession, they could say they caught it on whatever lake the season was open in. Supposedly, this is part of why they set the new end of the season date. (They wanted to prevent harvest through the ice, but staying open till freeze up is too hard to enforce since it varies from lake to lake.)
This will be the next big debate. (I know probably a different thread but seems to apply here.)
How do you feel about people who will fish for "Northern Pike" in December after the Muskie season is closed? And when this debate is over, I am sure it will leave most people wondering why the DNR just didn't keep the season the same, but say that Muskies are "catch and release only" statewide after Dec. 1st.
Here we go again? |
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Posts: 1243
Location: Musky Tackle Online, MN | muskiefreak - 5/19/2007 9:36 PM
How do you feel about people who will fish for "Northern Pike" in December after the Muskie season is closed? And when this debate is over, I am sure it will leave most people wondering why the DNR just didn't keep the season the same, but say that Muskies are "catch and release only" statewide after Dec. 1st.
A catch and release season after December 1st is definitely where my vote goes. I've only fished muskies once in December, so it's not like this has a huge effect on me personally. But to me, it only makes sense to go to catch and release only over a closed season. You wouldn't have the grey area of what people are targeting. You're eliminating the harvest issue, which is apparently the concern. I'm not sure how a closed season would be better or easier to enforce.
Keep in mind I'm referring to winter fishing here. Having a closed season until the first Saturday in June makes perfect sense to me.
They've already gone to a catch and release only season when it comes to smallmouth bass after a certain date. Seems like a natural to extend that to muskies....
Aaron
Edited by AWH 5/20/2007 11:09 AM
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Muskies do eat pre-spawn, and the stress of a capture can cause them to "abort eggs", mainly it's the handling involved in the un-hooking/release.
You can't pick a small window that will fit year in and year out of when to protect them, so the late season takes care of it all over the state.
Why shoud the DNR take on the responsibility of enforcing different season on multiple lakes, just so a few guys are happy?
It ain't broke, don't fix it.
Fishing for tigers ealier, fine, makes sense.
JS |
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Posts: 2361
| One thing many people are missing also, though musky may not spawn successfully in many lakes, they do have sex, and while wandering around dopily enjoying both the foreplay, the act-and the afterglow smoking a cigarette, they could be very susceptible to snagging operations. In fact they are more susceptible to snagging at this time than any other portion of the year. |
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