any of you eat your catch?

[JRedig]

One of our fish last night came in super lively and was very very very active in the net. Everything looked fine until the release, 1.5 hours later it finally swam down on it's own. We thought we had a wall hanger...heavy bloating for sure. Kept it upright and kept water moving over the gills, eventually she burped herself 10-15 times with one big one at the end and swam off. We were extremely glad, decent sized fish, but not what i'd classify as a wall worthy. That's the most i've ever had to work a fish...thank god the rest swam off nicely.

[Barbelboy]

Alright boys, I'll admit it. I HAVE EATEN ONE. 2 years ago I caught a 50" on lake vermillion. It was hooked deeply and I spent 2 hours trying to revive it. So we made the executive decision to keep it. It's rather like filleting a VERY large northern. Same y bone structure and such. Cut the meat into manageable chunks and deep fried it. Also smoked some of it.

I thought it was delicious.

On a very evil note, I did serve some to one of my musky maniac friends. I brought it into work and told him it was a northern. I think he actually cried when I told him the truth.

[Barbelboy]

Just read the health dept link that dcmusky put up. All I can say is that if die from PCB's or mercury from eating fish I figure it's one hell of a way to go.

[Dkoy]

I just had a conversation with a cowork on this topic a few days ago when he saw my pictures in my cube, and he said muskies are very good eating. He hasn't had the fish here before, but back home its a good dish. He's actually from Russia and I'm guessing the fish he's talking about is from the esox family. According to him, they get much bigger over there.

I'd rather do a fish sandwich from the MickyD's.

[merkman]

I'd rather do a fish sandwich from the MickyD's.

[Dkoy]

only real fish I've had in the last couple months is this though,

Sushi!

Although them small guys do remind me of smeltin when I used to live next to Lake Michigan.

[zepman]

I've eaten plenty of them...my Dad was from the old, old-school and by god what he caught he ate. He was one of those guys who used to carry those "short" little baseball bats/clubs filled with lead to whack them on the head when they got boatside. He was a classic...

[john skarie]

A member of our MI club had a 48" die on him this year.

He had it smoked and a bunch of us ate it at an outing on Leech a couple weeks ago.

It was very good I have to admit. We ate it right along side smoked salmon and the muskie was gone first!

Sometimes they just die, what are you gonna do?

JS

[motley man]

Had 1 die and chunked it in 2X2 pieces and deep fried - very good - smoked is also good

[DHanson]

good topic.............

[Jaspernuts]

Nothing wrong with road kill as long as its fresh!

[john skarie]

DHanson;

Get a clue.

For you to assume that the only reason a fish could die is due to the incompetance of an angler is unbelievably arrogant and ignorant.

JS

[JRedig]

I can't believe this is posted here, should be deleted. You guys crack me up. I wonder if you are the same people that drive around looking for road kill and eating that too.

With a knipex (hook cutters) used properly I've never had a fish not swim away out of hundreds. Whether or not all of them lived is a different story as I'm sure there is some delayed mortality, but they all swam away with a chance. Eating muskie? Come on, learn how to release them better.

Seriously? Did you for get some emoticons? They die, it happens.

[eyehead]

We had a 45 go belly up on us this year after the rear treble on a DCG got hooked in her gills.....nothing at all we could do. She was headshakin the whole way to the boat and came to the net with 2 or 3 gills hangin out of her jaw. Pretty deppressing at the time, but we were on a 48"min so all we could do is let her drift away. Would of TRIED to eat it if we could......

So DHanson.....from my post earlier in this thread. How could've I released this fish alive???? I COULDNT....I dont care what kind of hook cutter, Jaw Spreader, EMT i had with, this fish was toast. If you fish musky long enough odds are you WILL have one go belly up. I dont care how many hundreds you have caught, it will happen sooner or later. Sorry man, but guys like you make me mad. You give musky guys a bad name with the whole i'm the S#%* attitude!!! Have a good one

[trolloni]

Here we go you drew out an eliteist dont try an argue ,i also would try everything to keep from hurtin a big fish , but like you say it couldnt be avoided , which is true, you have the right idea to try and utilize the resource as long as the fish is legal lenghth you can keep it if not it has to go back you cant even keep it for fertilizer , just have to let the turtles and crawdads and turkey vultures clean it up , what a nice scenario the dnr forces upon us , oh well its probably going to get worse dont let any of this deter you from fishing for em keep on enjoying the muskie fishery !

[TBone1]

What really amazes me is the fact that this thread went 4 pages b4 going south!

[10,000 Casts]

From what I have seen in the past, most of the people that have eaten a Muskie have either only caught 1 in their life and it wasn't on purpose or don't fish for them very often and never catch any.

IMO there are just somethings that you just don't do. Go catch some hammer handles if you want dinner.

This reminds me of the guy that told me how much he loves to eat loon... I was just thinking, you have got to be kidding me.

Also just remember that every Muskie someone eats cost the DNR $5000 and that costs everyone $$$. That is one expensive meal.

[Gordie]

This reminds me of the guy that told me how much he loves to eat loon... I was just thinking, you have got to be kidding me.

they taste like bald eagle thats an awsome joke man

[delcecchi]

I have eaten Musky a bunch of times, many years ago. My uncle was a taxidermist (maybe THE taxidermist) in St Paul. When he got fish in to mount the only part he needed was the skin and head and fins, all in one piece of course.

If the customer didn't think to ask for the meat back and the fish was nice and fresh it went in the pan or freezer. Also got venison neck and some pheasants etc.

Musky isn't bad, but that was then and this is now. I won't even keep a big northern much less a musky (not that I seem to catch any legal muskies anyway).

On lake vermilion this summer it was sort of hard to get a meal of fish. The walleye were all too big, in the slot. A 24 inch northern is barely worth messing with. People disapprove of eating smallies. I'm too lazy to fillet a bunch of sunnies.

I guess I will have to get out the electric knife and some worms next summer and break down and eat sunnies. :-)

[john skarie]

10,000 casts;

This post posed the question about eating one if one would happen to die.

It wasn't about intentionally targeting muskies to eat.

I'd bet my last dollar that some guys I know who have eaten muskies have caught more than you could imagine, and have also done more to protect and enhance our fishery than about anybody who ever lived.

JS

[RumRiverRat]

From what I have seen in the past, most of the people that have eaten a Muskie have either only caught 1 in their life and it wasn't on purpose or don't fish for them very often and never catch any.

IMO there are just somethings that you just don't do. Go catch some hammer handles if you want dinner.

This reminds me of the guy that told me how much he loves to eat loon... I was just thinking, you have got to be kidding me.

Also just remember that every Muskie someone eats cost the DNR $5000 and that costs everyone $$$. That is one expensive meal.

How do Natural Reproducing Muskies cost the DNR 5k?

[bronzeback]

That's a good question. . .

question for you-

How do muskies naturally reproduce? And in what percentage of Minnesota's musky waters does the rate of natural reproduction create a sustainable/fishable and lasting population?

And I believe 5,000 a head for a muskie is a little steep, I'd like to see the figures on that..but the point remains that they are an expensive species to maintain.

[TBone1]

I'm not sure on the reproduction facts etc. but I do remember reading some of the cost of buying muskies a few years ago was about $25 for a fingerling and up to $1000 for a adult .I'm sure this depends on the size of the adult.

[RumRiverRat]

So we should stop eating Walleyes too, because it costs so much to stock them.

[john skarie]

To cost to produce a 50" muskie can be very high.

You have to consider the cost of stocking the whole year class and how many of them actually make it to 50".

In other words if 10 fish make it to 50" and you spent 10 grand on stocking that batch of muskies from which they came then you spent $1000 per 50 inch fish.

Real figures can vary for obvious reasons, but the investment to get trophy fish is substantial.

JS