Survival

[TRZ]

On friday when it was 98 outside, my fishing partner caught a 53 incher on 8 pound line while we were cranking for walleye. the fight took 20 min. and the fish showed no life at all while in the boat. my friend chose to keep the fish as his 1 trophy, partly because the fish never showed any life at all after being in the boat. what chance do you guys think it had of survival if it had been released? i think it was probably very low.

[EBass]

Hmm, I don't know. But 20 mins is a long time for a 90 yr old woman I mean 53" Ski. I caught a 38" Ski and I thought that was big. I was going for Bass and got it on 10lb test. Took 15 mins to get her in. But she got me all wet when I let her go so that's good.

[Walleye_GFA]

Must be a bunch of brain damaged muskies out there....

Not being smart... I mean it... humans can have brain damage after a couple minutes with no O2, with these big fish fighting and then the whole picture thing, they have got to have a few of the ol brain cells die...

Yet another reason to practice SELECTIVE HARVEST without guilt...

;-)

Wally

[muskieboy46]

i caught a 48in muskie a couple weeks ago and when i went to release it it never showed any life for a long time. i stayed there and waited and pumped it to get its gills moving and a couple hours later it finally took off.

[Fish-n-Freak]

TRZ,
Very nice fish, especially for that lake. Give your buddy a slap on the back for me. Nothing wrong with keeping a "dead fish".

I personally would have made every attempt to release her. If she could not get "restarted" I would have kept her also.

Good Fish, and don't feel bad -- odds are poor after a long fight in HOT water.

Steve

[TRZ]

Thanks guys, me and my buddy did feal rather guilty about keeping a fish that was probably as old as we are (23) but we have both released 3 that were over 40' and one was a 44' tiger. some guys might still say he should have relesed it but he will probably never keep another one unless it is dead, so i guess i feel beter now. And being out of rush makes it a real trophy- the guy at the resort on rush said it was the biggest he had ever seen or heard of out of that lake.- hoping to get my 50' out of mille lacs this fall!

[Walleye_GFA]

FYI when I say selective harvest for Muskies, I mean if its big, and it may very well not make it... that it should be a candidate for the wall... as opposed to killing one outright...

Wally

[Crappie Kid]

A friend of mine who works for a road construction company was working near Leech lake and found a 52" Muskie dead on the shore. I think some Muskie fishermen want to release the fish so badly that they know It won't live but shove it off anyways. A moral question: was is worse, a person who fishes a half a dozen times a summer for Muskies and keeps the first 50" fish he gets or the Muskie fisherman that is on his eternal quest to get a 60" fish and goes fishing for them 3 to 4 times a week catching and releasing(and unknowingly killing) numerous big Muskies. Answer: Niether of them. they're both out having a good time. Right?