Would not release advice

[ToddyP5]

My wife caught her first musky today. 44" on a green eagle tail in 17' of water. Big fat fish.

When I was netting I could only see about 2 inches of the eagle tail coming from the fishes mouth and it was gushing blood in the water. Needless to say I had to cut hooks and the fish seemed real strong but was bleeding badly.

We photoed and released but the fish would not revive. I held her for about 20 minutes but she would not come around. I could tell it was dead. Very sad day....

What is the proper thing to do with a fish when it will not revive and dies? Keep it? Let it lay? Can some one offer advice please..

[RuKiddingMe]

Man that is a tough one, luckily I have yet to have it happen to me (that I know of) to be honest I don't know what I would do.

I'm very interested to hear what others have to say.

RU

[Esox_Magnum]

I hate seeing floaters, and since I can get mounts done on the cheap I would have it mounted. Sadly a dead fish at some point is part of the risk we take. Any fish that won't swim away for me won't be wasted as long as it's a leagle fish.

[croixflats]

I empathize what your feeling and all but you are talking about a fish.

Take it home fry it up or pickle it. Dont let it go to waist.

The person that killed takes ownership and should step up to the plate and be responsible. Leaving it there and give back to nature IMO is a cop out to taking responsibility. After all your intention was to catch him and you should be prepared for an outcome that was not desired.

I'm off my soap box now. Didnt mean to come across judging/judgmentall as you were asking a question and all. It is a good question and I have asked myself the same things.

[DHanson]

Unfortunate to have happen. Do what you want with it. All of the scenarios above are fine, but it really comes down to what you want to do. Personally, the few times I have had this happen I have let them be. Plenty of wildlife that will get a meal off of it, so either way it's never going to go to an entire waste. If it's a big fish, you can always donate the fish to a local taxidermist. I have no interest in eating a muskie, it's not why I fish for them.

A good trick I have for fish that swallow baits is to lay the fish upside down in the net with the fish in the water and use a knipex to cut hooks through the gills. Have saved many fish this way. Sometimes though there is nothing you can do if they lose too much blood, which sounds like what happened in your case.

[PostFrontal]

We've had it happen once. Same thing as you but it was a Large Killr Eel that was all the way down it's throat. We only do replicas but we decided that it would be better to get it mounted, then drop it in the lake and forget about it.

I'm sure you/she are disappointed that it died, that stuff happens. But don't lose sight of the fact that it was her first muskie. So it should be a happy occasion. This way you can appreciate it for years to come, and we use it as a teaching opportunity to new people we take out fishing about catch and release.

[jeffreyd]

however if it is a 48 inch min on the lake then you cant mount correct? it would only take place on a lake with a lower size limit.

[DHanson]

Yep.

And starting next year I believe it's a 48" minimum statewide for MN.

[BoxMN]

Toddy, duck hunters see this more often, when they drop a can or a redhead, or more recently a bill... what to do? I have let them lay in the past, to be "legal" in the bag. But last year a new guy dropped a can, and I went out of got it and said, "we'll take the tag if they come and ask us".

It stinks, but if you did all you can, and it won't revive, I would take it and tell the CO the whole story, and let the chips fall. When I was younger I would have let it float, but things change as you get older. So... it won't go to waste if you let it float, and "I" won't give you heck for it, but for me, I would take it home and see what ski tastes like, if it dies or is very likely... IHMO.........

[50inchpig]

Unfortunately I've had this happen twice in my boat in the past 3 weeks. The thought of butchering and eating a musky disgusts me, especially coming off the lake at midnight or later. I did make a few phone calls to see if anyone wanted it, but both times I ended up letting it float. You work them until you're sure and then you work them some more. Took the 1st one pretty hard but sometimes there nothing you can do.

******get a hook pick, soon or later this will save a fish for me, there's no other tool that can do what it does.

Congrats to your wife though, getting the women involved = more time on the water for us and good memories. Life goes on and you've learned a good lesson on the fragility of fish. Some other fish will feed of the carcass and some big musky will eat that other fish. So it goes.

[propster]

Not so easy to keep a sub 48 on a 48" min lake. Even if you kept it with the intention of finding the nearest CO and explaining the situation, what's the chances you'll be believed if you got stopped on the way there or by another enforcement dept? "Officer, really I was on my way to explain what happened and ask permission..." might not fly. How would you folks who recommend this route go about it?

[ToddyP5]

Thanks everyone for the open chat here. I can tell you that I put my happy face on for my wife but it has been hard. It was the first fish in my boat that has been caught that would not release. This sport has become what it is today due to CPR.

On a positive note I will tell you that my wife has finally realized how powerful this sport is and why I can forgoe all that "quality time" with her just to "see" a fish come to the boat. Now she is planning our next trip, hopefully it has a better outcome.

By the way musky tastes like it looks; mean, foul, and full of muscle and bone.

[guideman]

If you fish for Muskies long enough, it will eventually happen to you. Keeping a sublegal fish isn't an option.

If a CO finds you with it, you can talk until you are blue in the face and then he'll write you up.

I keep the cards of all the local DNR guys in my boat at all times. If this were to ever happen to me, I would make the call to one of them and explain the situation. If they aren't interested in the fish(sublegal) I would let it float away and let nature take care of it.

"Ace"

[john skarie]

If you want muskies to grow they gotta eat.

Feeding the bottom of the food chain with a sub-legal isn't a bad thing. It's not "going to waste".

JS

[Muskiefool]

It happens so dont beat yourself up the ventral aorta is subject to damage with no chance of release, if its legal keep it to avoid wanton waste, if otherwise send it back to nature.

I had it happen to a large pike last year, it happens.

[ac777]

If it's legal, I would see no reason not to keep it. It's just a fish, there will be more. To me, I see leaving a dead legal fish as want-on waste. They have a rule in Alaska for their moose that once you shoot it, you leave no meat behind, and the rack is the last thing to pack out. You may have shot it/caught it for a trophy/sport, but leaving waste is no way to deal with it.

Now if the fish was under slot, that's a different ordeal, I wouldn't want to get caught with it, but I also hate to let a dead fish go to waste, but you gotta do what you gotta do I guess.

Congrats on the wife getting her first Musky!

[Silver Scale]

If it's a legal fish keep it and either give it to a taxidermist or eat it. If it's not a legal fish you can't keep it and since none of us likes to see floaters I would pop the air bladder and send it to the crayfish.

[JRedig]

Dead fish don't go to waste...it's called the food chain.

[Tim_Anderson]

Toddy,

Not that this describes you... I am just talking off the cuff from my experience.

Back in the day, catching fish was such a big deal for me. They had to be measured and photographed. We went through great lengths to do it. And then we could show our pals or family. We could verify it at a muskies inc. meeting. But at some point it became redundant for me.

And now when I am guiding, I have this same thing to face all the time. While I would just prefer to unhook a 40 incher in the net and immediately let it go, I have to realize that my client would really love a good photo. But what I do always depends on the fish's condition.

Last week someone who regularly fishes in my boat caught a 50 incher, give or take a little. It was hooked badly under the tongue (right where the gills come together) and through the tongue. Normally I would cut the hooks on this fish by turning it upside down and working in from the back, but from that angle, I couldn't see the hooks at all, so I had to work from inside the mouth. The whole process took about 20 minutes. I worked on the fish for 20 seconds with head out of water. Then put it back in and let it rest for 5 minutes... and so on.

We finally did get it unhooked, and thankfully it never did bleed. But we had a decision to make. And Steve is the kind of guy who always puts the fish first. He (we) didn't want to further stress this fish by taking it out to measure and photograph. So we got a rough measurement in the water, took a couple of release shots, and after holding her tail for a few minutes, she let us know that she had had enough of us. We both felt very strongly that we had a successful release, but both wondered if it would have turned out as well had we photographed and measured the fish out of water.

When fish are really bleeding, we generally don't take them out of the water, period. And in spite of it, sometimes they die. You gotta accept that. And just so you know, this has happened to me before. The fish did alot of head shaking on the way in, and in the net, and tore out a couple of gills on it's own. It bled out in the net and was never able to right itself on it's own.

My mother is kind of old school. She loves fish, and is always nagging on me cuz I let everything go. Well, I think I finally fixed her. I felt like a complete [PoorWordUsage] for doing it. This eerie feeling came over me. Sort of like I was doing something really, really wrong. The fish was legal, so I cleaned it and gave it to her. Ugh! "Here you go mom"! "You're always giving me a hard time about letting go all the big ones... so you can have this one. Happy eating. Maybe it will be edible in some chowder or something."

She invited me over for chowder last night, but somehow I just couldn't do it. So I went fishing instead.

[sbro73]

The more I read about, the Hook Pick seems a necessity in every tacklebox.

[Musky Buck]

It's a tough situation and one none of us ever want to be in, we like lip hooked easy to remove but the muskie doesn't play by the book always. Just do your best, be prepared tool wise/net and take care of em.

[JRedig]

The more I read about, the Hook Pick seems a necessity in every tacklebox.

I thought the same thing...had A LOT of fish in my boat this year so far and haven't used it once, quite a few were very deeply hooked...it's not a magic wand...

Heck, I had it for most of last year too and never touched it come to think of it.

[muskydeceiver]

Buddy deep hooked a 47" 2 weeks ago. Hook pic saved a ton of time....not a magic wand, but it does have it's place....