Start of the musky season

[The Frog caster]

I'm sitting here at work chomping at the bit to wet my heavy duty arsenal on the 26th. Last weekend while fishing crappies and gills I saw two musky's in 4ft. of ultra clear water. One of them followed my small lure (tied with no leader) up to the boat till I pulled the lure from the water. The other must have been a female who appeared lathargic possibly from the lasting effects of the spawn cycle. Anyhow, I'm betting this "omen" and the recent steady weather we've had in Iron county will lead to a good start of our Musky season. I'm not a convinced moon phase believer or a wind direction guy etc. as all the Musky's (4) I landed landed last year were the opposite of what techniques/conditions are thought to be gospel. Anyhow, best of luck to everyone and I look forward to reading all the reports this season. Best Regards, Larry "frog caster" Iron County fisherman for 50+ years........

[Mark Benson]

Larry:

You could scratch that itch if you could travel to one of the MI border lakes that opened on the 15th.

Mark

[Musky Mauler]

Okay, be sure to start counting your casts - - 1, 2, 3, etc. When you get up to 9,999 get ready! That elusive "fish of 10,000 casts" will be lurking and ready to pounce! Untill then, relax. They're just teasing 'ya.

[BlueRanger]

Well, I'm already at 2 for the season thanks to a pair in the 40" range that hit my bass lures last Saturday morning. I forgot my gloves at home and only had my little rubber pancake net, so I did boatside pliers releases on both of them, which only cost me one small gash on the back of my thumb...

[The Frog caster]

To the Ranger-Mauler and Mark B. .......... please forward me your home address's so I can mail each of you a stack of bibles to insure you guys don't stretch the truth regarding fish tales, fish lengths, tavern stops, or tape measures that have the first 10" cut from the end. As stated before, I look forward to your posts this season Best of luck ...... Larry F.

[ol'wildcat]

To the Ranger-Mauler and Mark B. .......... please forward me your home address's so I can mail each of you a stack of bibles to insure you guys don't stretch the truth regarding fish tales, fish lengths, tavern stops, or tape measures that have the first 10" cut from the end. As stated before, I look forward to your posts this season Best of luck ...... Larry F.

Why doesn''t everyone meet at Donners on July 4 th and wear a nametag----------------the bull could end----------happily.
tom in Scottsdale az. for one more week and then coming your way for summer.

[granz]

I'm sitting here at work chomping at the bit to wet my heavy duty arsenal on the 26th. Last weekend while fishing crappies and gills I saw two musky's in 4ft. of ultra clear water. One of them followed my small lure (tied with no leader) up to the boat till I pulled the lure from the water. The other must have been a female who appeared lathargic possibly from the lasting effects of the spawn cycle. Anyhow, I'm betting this "omen" and the recent steady weather we've had in Iron county will lead to a good start of our Musky season. I'm not a convinced moon phase believer or a wind direction guy etc. as all the Musky's (4) I landed landed last year were the opposite of what techniques/conditions are thought to be gospel. Anyhow, best of luck to everyone and I look forward to reading all the reports this season. Best Regards, Larry "frog caster" Iron County fisherman for 50+ years........

Last year my wife and I came up for a long weekend hoping to catch some fish. My neighbor, who comes to the Mercer area a few times each year gave me his "secret" to catching Muskies. There are, he claims, at least 4 lakes there with both small Northern Pike and nice sized muskies. The pike are easy to catch and we used them as bait on quick strike rigs and did extremely well, taking home 2 nice muskies for the grill. The neighbor turned us on to the taste of grilled musky (as good or better than Walleye) and are looking forward to another trip or two.

[jrhymer]

last year my wife and i came up for a long weekend hoping to catch some fish. My neighbor, who comes to the mercer area a few times each year gave me his "secret" to catching muskies. There are, he claims, at least 4 lakes there with both small northern pike and nice sized muskies. The pike are easy to catch and we used them as bait on quick strike rigs and did extremely well, taking home 2 nice muskies for the grill. The neighbor turned us on to the taste of grilled musky (as good or better than walleye) and are looking forward to another trip or two.

cpr, cpr, cpr!!!

[sjguzin]

cpr, cpr, cpr!!!

I'm assuming the "cpr" was for the keeping of a couple muskies... Seems that most Muskie fisherman I know practice the catch-n-release method. As a fly-fisherman, we always released our trout. However, what size of a Muskie, if any, would someone consider keeping and having it stuffed on their wall?

Also wondering if Northern & Muskie taste the same?

[Floating Dock]

I think the 50 inch mark would be the minimum. I personally would not have a real mount even if i failed to revive a trophy fish. I would get some good pics, eat it and have a graphite reproduction made for the wall.

Northern and Muskie taste pretty much the same (excellent) as long as you keep them alive until they are filleted and then take the time to remove all of the bones, reddish fatty meat, and anything else that doesn't look like nice firm yellow flesh. We had a TFF northern for dinner last night along with a few panfish. I steamed them on top of a lemongrass coconut yellow curry with the last butternut squash from the root cellar. Mmmm.

[granz]

I think the 50 inch mark would be the minimum. I personally would not have a real mount even if i failed to revive a trophy fish. I would get some good pics, eat it and have a graphite reproduction made for the wall.

Northern and Muskie taste pretty much the same (excellent) as long as you keep them alive until they are filleted and then take the time to remove all of the bones, reddish fatty meat, and anything else that doesn't look like nice firm yellow flesh. We had a TFF northern for dinner last night along with a few panfish. I steamed them on top of a lemongrass coconut yellow curry with the last butternut squash from the root cellar. Mmmm.

Personally we like Muskie a lot better than Northern. We try to keep a few each year so we have some to eat thru the winter. We don't keep as many as we used to due to the possession limit. When the last 2 kids moved out it really had an impact on our meals. You are right tho about the bones and reddish meat, but if it's a decent size there's still quite a bit of meat left.

[skywalker11]

Personally we like Muskie a lot better than Northern. We try to keep a few each year so we have some to eat thru the winter. We don't keep as many as we used to due to the possession limit. When the last 2 kids moved out it really had an impact on our meals. You are right tho about the bones and reddish meat, but if it's a decent size there's still quite a bit of meat left.

Muskies should not be table meat, eat the other species who only need a couple years to mature, there is a reason the world banned whaling in the oceans(besides japan), they live long and reproduce slow, same as your muskies. If every family kept a couple a year, there wouldnt be any left.

[the other andy]

I'm sure there's a few lakes around Mercer that the muskie population could use some thinning. The Flowage ain't one of them.

Team High Life had a pretty slow opener (Sunday) although we did raise 2 fish in the 40-45 inch range.

[Musky Mauler]

Using a "snake" (small northern) with a quick-set ("more humane") sucker rig to catch a musky? Hm-m-m. I really never heard of that. Isn't there a rule against using certain kinds of fish as bait to catch another kind of fish? Or, just that only apply to the use of gold fish or cray fish? I've not pursued an answer to that question because it never occurred to me to try such a clever thing with northerns. Besides, I'd much rather cast a black bucktail all day long.

As for keeping - rather than releasing - a legal-sized musky, I sure don't have a problem with that, either. If the DNR feels that doing so will endanger the breed, they'll certainly adopt a rule mandating catch-and-release of all muskies. Or, they'll up the minimum size to that previously-mentioned fifty inches. (That'll be the day!) Until then, if somebody wants to take a legal-sized musky and have it mounted, so be it. Personally, I'm of the opinion that the phony mounts look way too phony, anyway. To my own (prejudiced?) mind, nothing beats a real mount prepared by a taxidermist. Personally, I feel that its much better it is to be able to say, "That's one that I caught" instead of "That's something phony that somebody created for me."

It used to be that you could proudly show off the musky that you caught. Other fishermen would be openly envious - - maybe even to the point of buying the lucky angler a Kugel. I guess we've now become a fishing society where a possessed legal-sized musky has to be hidden from view and snuck out of town like contraband. Rather than feeling proud, the fisherman is considered to be a shameful speciman. When and why did such a thing come about? Obviously, there's a mercinary purpose lurking behind the birth of this current scheme - - and its been cleverly cloaked in the guise of "sportsmanship."

Note that the photos of proud fishermen holding a large musky always feature a REAL musky - - not a replica. That certainly speaks to the fact that there's sure a difference between a replica, and the real thing. To tell the truth, I wouldn't hang a replica on my own wall. And, I do believe that the next 49-1/2" musky that I catch WILL find a place on the wall, even though it doesn't make the suggested (tongue-in-cheek?) 50-inch minimum. I'm certain that if it ever happens, I'll just hafta live with the shame of it all. (Hey, I should be so lucky as to feel ashamed about it!) Those who are happy with replicas are okay in my book, too. After all, some like Fords, and some like Chevrolets. To my mind, it's just that the owner of one shouldn't feel proud while the owner of the other is made to feel ashamed. Same goes for mounted muskies. It's the fisherman's choice.

Personally, I'll either catch or catch-and-release as the mood strikes me. But, I'm sure not going to waggle my finger at anyone who wants to keep a legal-sized musky in accordance with all the current rules.

To each his own!

[Mark Benson]

MM:

I do know that it is legal to use pan fish as bait so long as they are used from the same body of water and they are of legal size (if there is a size limit) and said bait fish is committed to your daily bag limit. I am thinking that northern would qualify, but would need to research further to be 100% sure.

Mark

[AndrewR]

What generation is this? The 1940's?

Please, if anyone wants to keep muskies, do everyone and the DNR a service by fishing the "dink regulated" lakes that have instituted the 28 inch rule for the 2012 season. Good eats to thin the herd so more big fish populations can be established for the future.

[DonH]

This goes back to the early 70's, but I was staying at O'Meara's Resort (later became Idle Shores) for a week in either late September or early October. There was a "Musky Rodeo" going on, but I wasn't paying much attention as I was concerned with the walleye fishing.

One evening as I was heading back to my cabin from the fish cleaning shack, the guys in the cabin next door invited me over for a beer and some freshly grilled fish. They were grilling a musky, as were several other guys in the other cabins. I have to admit, it was delicious. This was way before Catch & Release became popular regarding musky fishing.

Soon after that I caught a couple of legal muskies and ate them. I also have a 40" northern on my wall that the taxidermist insisted I take the meat home to enjoy. Tasted just like musky to me and our entire family enjoyed it. Again, this all happened in the early to late
70's.

Today, the muskies would be released to live and fight another day as I agree 100% with Skywalker11. With today's technology (large, fast boats that cover water quickly, sonar, side imaging sonar, etc.), muskies need all the help we can give them.

On the other hand, the northern???? Where's the charcoal?

[mofferman]

Completely agree. Older generations weren't educated on the benefits of C & R or selective harvest, but we are. Its a shame that anyone would take a musky to eat it, especially the bigger sizes. After fishing many northern wisconsin lakes, canadian lakes, and minnesota lakes, I have caught and seen so many more 50 inch musky in canada and minn, but majority of my time is spent in wisconsin. Coincidence.....don't think so. When Canada Implemented the 54 inch minimum, the musky fishing has gotten better every year. IMO, its just selfish to keep a fish that could end up creating so many more memories for future generations by catching that fish again along with the spawn that fish will produce year in and year out. Don't mean to start anything, its just hard to believe with so many great eating fish like walleye, northern, and panfish that people actually eat musky. We all know thats what the older generations did and were taught, but that doesn't make it right.

[Big Dave]

Do you see Musky at the fish counter at Triggs??? No!!!! You know why, thier popoulation in a typical lake is a fraction of the other species.

Its a trophy fish, not a fish to throw on the grill. Do you know how long it takes a musky to get to legal not to mention trophy size??

Many Many years.

[ol'wildcat]

Do you see Musky at the fish counter at Triggs??? No!!!! You know why, thier popoulation in a typical lake is a fraction of the other species.

Its a trophy fish, not a fish to throw on the grill. Do you know how long it takes a musky to get to legal not to mention trophy size??

Many Many years.

I'm sure glad that we're not talking about black Angus cattle. It takes 3 years to raise one for butchering. Great eating too.
No catch and release here in Iowa.

[Flambeau dreamer]

muskies grow at a rate of three inches per year until they hit around 36" or so. From then on they grow at a rate of 1 1/2 inches per year. This info came from an old Muskie Inc. magazine.
My personal best on the tff is 47 1/2 inches..... thought that a fish that lived as long as this one did, deserved to be released..... as do all muskies!

[JayandCade]

Caught both of these Saturday on the same cast with a 5" Rapala and 8 lb test. Thanks to my son Cade's nice net job. The musky was released. The northern didn't survive the 30 minute ride.