Musky Season poll. Voice your thoughts

[Pete Stoltman]

Associated with the thread about the season extension, here's a poll. Select one of these or give us your own thoughts.

[Mark Benson]

I say leave it as it is... We put enough pressure on them the rest of the season. Our neighbors to the west close their season the day after we do as well. I certainly am not opposed to leaving it open longer, but am not sure that it is necessary to fish later into the season.

Mark

[ToddM]

I still think ice up is the best way to end the season with a december 31 regardless close.

[Pete Stoltman]

Ok, I'll chuck my two cents in. If it stays the same I'm ok with that however, my preference would be to open with gamefish and make it c&r only until the usual season startup. Frankly, I don't think it hurts the fishery a bit. We frequently catch muskies before the season while walleye fishing. It's usually smaller males who have no need of recovery time after spawning. The bigger spawning females generally aren't interested in chasing down baits until they feel recovered so I doubt that we'd be doing any damage to them. I will usually go fish on the research lakes that have no closed season just for fun a time or two before the musky season opens. Sometimes see fish but often the bigger ones just move off or ignore whatever I'm throwing at them. Likewise when our neighbors in Michigan open two weeks earlier than Wisconsin I'll fish the border lakes and have had mixed results over the years. As long as I'm doing a standard quick release on the fish I have serious doubts that I'm doing anything to damage the fishery.

Now here's the part that I'm sure some could take issue with. Would I like to have the opportunity to guide for muskies 4 weeks more? Yes I would. Let's face it regardless of what business you're in the opportunity to improve your business is always attractive. I'm sure the tackle shops, motels, restaurants, gas stations, etc. wouldn't mind a shot at the additional dollars generated by musky fishermen visiting the area too. The northwoods economy is based on tourism and while the local chambers of commerce continue to promote their weekly berry festivals, bike trails, birdwatching, etc. fishing is the girl that brought us to the dance. If I thought for a second that fishing the early part of the season would hurt my favorite gamefish and sport I wouldn't even hesitate to shout out against it but the reality just doesn't bear that out.

As far as the proposal to extend until December 31, again I'm ok with that but the reality is that other than a few of us knucklehead locals who fish until the bitter end of the current season, people just put their musky gear and boats away around the beginning of November. Ask a bunch of bait dealers how many suckers they end up with languishing in their bait tanks after the first week of November. Most years it's pretty tough to find a lake you can have access to fish once December hits so practically speaking the open water season is done. Want to fish muskies through the ice? Well I guess ok I don't have a big problem with that other than the mentality of some walleye anglers who decide that musky they just put on the ice will go great right next to the walleye and taters on the dinner plate. Again I doubt that it would have much overall impact on the fishery but as far as improving the tourism as the originator of this proposal suggested, I just don't see it being much of a factor.

So there's my thoughts. Think about them, discuss, tear 'em apart, etc. This is all just speculation at this point.

[Pete Stoltman]

Interesting to observe the numbers thus far. Looks like there have been over 80 people to look at this thread/poll but only 7 voted. Maybe it's just not as interesting as I thought it was. By the way, just in case it matters to you, your vote is anonymous. You're only identified if you choose to post a comment.

[Pete Stoltman]

Just a casual observation. As the results show so far, most people I've talked with about this issue are either ambivalent or prefer the concept of opening with gamefish with the provision that it's C&R only until the last Saturday of May. Not much support for the idea of keeping it open late. Just doesn't seem to interest too many folks.

[Jeremy Hopland]

My "two cents" from afar... When the regular gamefish season begins, guys are out fishing; so it only makes sense they'd like the opportunity to chase the "mother of all north american gamefish". In the fall there is one other thing the typical RFRG-type of guy will be doing... Hunting! Archery season for deer, followed by the gun season, followed by the muzzleloader season, not to mention all of the other animals that are in season at that time of year. I think a lot of guys put fishing on the "back-burner" with the opening of the hunting seasons (as the hunting season is much shorter than the Muskie season).

[Pete Stoltman]

You make an excellent point Jeremy. The fellow who brought up the proposal thought that extending the season in the fall would help the economy. Frankly, better hunting would improve the economy more at that time of the year. That's a whole other can of worms that I'd prefer not to get into with this topic.

[Pete Stoltman]

I had an interesting chat with one of the research guys from Escanaba Lake on this topic yesterday. His basic take was that opening earlier wouldn't really hurt the fishery and as most of us have observed spawning fish aren't all that interested in chasing lures anyhow. He did like the addition of making it c&r during an early season though.