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Posts: 114
| I recently released a 45" in West Okoboji, Iowa that 45 minutes later decided to lose its equilibrium and went belly up a couple of hundred yards away. It had taken off very nicely when we released it. We worked with it for nearly an hour and it still had gill movement but we put it on board and harvested it. I took the head to the DNR and found that it had been stocked and freeze branded in the spring of 2005 as a 12 inch, year old fingerling. It was caught in the spring gill netting operation in 2009 as a 33 inch female and p.i.t. tagged. It wasn't seen again until spring 2013 when it was again gill netted as a 43". I caught it in September as a 45" a few miles from the netting location. They do grow quickly! |
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Posts: 2327
Location: Chisholm, MN | Very interesting! |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | That's about right for a female. Did it have a floy tag (one that sticks out of the body)? |
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Posts: 114
| No external tags. The p.i.t. tags are inserted under the skin in the cheeks.
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| thanks for sharing. I spoke a few years ago with a taxidermist friend who would examine the Cletheral bones. In Minnesota on one particular body of water most of the 50" he would mount were about 13 years of age. Some as young as 11. That lake has a reputation for kicking out numerous 50" fish. The MI lunge logs indicate the same. Another nearby lake he that he would mount 50s from they averaged about 15 years of age or more. That lake does not kick out near the portion of 50s. My thoughts are that most muskies are expiring in Minnesota and Wisconsin around the age of 13 to 15, if so, that explains why some lakes have longer fish than others. Sounds like that 45 was on pace to be a 50. |
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Posts: 34
| 2 inches in less than a year? That is amazing. Thanks for sharing.
So if I released a mid 30" fish 5 years ago, by now it could be pretty big. Good to know.
Edited by Jimmy_S 9/27/2013 8:44 AM
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