Muskie Photo Gallery

[walleyepro]

A 51" from this afternoon - Tonka. How much do you think a fish like this would weigh? It sure felt heavy

[beatuplund]

Hey Croix, really cool picture and nice fish! Since you asked about the hold, I thought I'd add my 2 bits. It looks like you're doing it right. However holding the fish out from your body can be dangerous -- I know from experience! One thrash by the fish and its headed down on the boat floor or gunwale. I now try to just stay in a crouch for a photo so if the fish goes nuts its a short drop or I can deflect it towards the water.

[HugoBox]

Walleyepro - That's a really big fish!! Nice work.

Croix - nice fish and photo as well. I'm with you on the not keeping the fish out too long. One thing I do when alone is use the self timer on the camera to take pictures - they may not always be framed right, but it ensures that I don't have them out of the water for more than the 10 seconds it takes the shutter to go.

[bronzeback]

I'd say it's probably about a 25 pound fish. Give or take a pound or two.

[art321]

Bronzeback, 25lbs??????? If you were replying to Walleyepro's question, you're robbing the guy. Walleyepro, I'd have to give it around 35+lbs. Not real sure because I haven't caught one that big yet but it sure is fun trying. She doesn't look real fat. A girth measurement would help too. Very nice catch.

[walleyepro]

I felt that i had already put enough stress on the fish with the fight and just wanted to get it back into the water. i didnt bring a soft tape and in the heat of the moment i didnt think of just using a rope to get the girth. Next time.... when i catch that 54" x 29" i'll have the girth measurement. haha

It was definitely a fun fish to catch, that's for sure. And it beat my PB by 6-7 inches.

[walleyepro]

I was going to guess around 30-35 lbs. The fish measure/weight chart that i have puts a 44" at 22-24lbs. Which would be a thick 44" in my opinion. But i've never weighed a fish, other than a carp, so i'm not a good judge for that.

[10,000 Casts]

That looks like about a 20" girth to me could be wrong. VERY NICE FISH, bigger that anything that I have every caught. I would say between 25-30 pounds but closer to 25LB.

Congrats on teh awesome fish!

[10,000 Casts]

51 x 20 puts the fish at 25 1/2 LBS

a 44 X 20 is 22 LBS

a 51 X 22 is 30 1/2 LBS and I don't think the girth is close to there.

[hanso612]

I caught a 45 inch nothern with a twenty one inch girth that buried the needle on a twenty five pound scale, so I'm thinking bigger but not by much. With large fish girth trumps length. A lot of belly weighs more than a longer tail. Hans

[walleyepro]

I'll add a pic tonight of the release where you can see its shoulders and back. It wasn't very thick around, but had a big head. Give her a few months to gain a few pounds this fall.

[HuntBigFish]

The L*G/25-10 formula puts it at just under 31 pounds.

[MuntzAngling]

I've been meaning to put this pike up for awhile. 33.5" pike on Boulder Lake Res near Duluth, released!

Got some nice metro muskies on Sunday!

740am 46.25" 20# boga weight was released.

1230pm got a bite on a fish raised earlier from 730am. 46.5|" 22+ lbs release

Unfortunately, I lost 3 other fish that day but they were not quite this size!

[DHanson]

Nice fish SSMinner! For future reference, you may not want to weigh the fish using that boga. It puts a lot of stress on the jaw of big fish, and it could possibly break the jaw of the fish. It is fine to use them for pictures supporting the weight of the belly with your other hand, but when all the weight is on the jaw, you may have problems. I have one and I have used it for pictures myself a few times.

[MuntzAngling]

Point taken, but I prefer boga landings with a quick glance at the scale versus netting and tangling and nightmares associated with that. I do recognize the stress on the fish. Both fish did swim away with grace and were out of water less than 2 minutes for sure. Do you ever use a cradle and if so what pros and cons are there?

[DHanson]

Thanks for understanding and not taking it personal. I use a Frabill muskie net. I usually don't net them unless they are really big fish, 45" plus, or if the fish is hooked deep. The sub 45" I will just do a quick water release, pop the hooks out and on they go. I have been around a lot of nice catches of muskies over the years and unfortunately I have witnessed a lot of fish dieing even when trying to successfully release a fish. I witnessed a 53", 49", and a 44" just this year that didn't make it. These are just the ones that I know for sure died, who knows how many have delayed mortality.

Before I started muskie fishing, I would have thought these were tough predators, and they are in a sense, but in reality they die very easily. It is important to have a good net, long pliers, hook cutters, and a mouth spreader. Get a knipex. Cutting hooks is easy and it is most times neccessary so you don't rip the hooks out of the fish and cause further damage to the fish. I don't have a cradle. It is a two man operation and I fish by myself too often, but I think it would work fine with 2+ people. Unhook the fish in the water, and if you need pictures, I would aim for 30 seconds or less out of the water. It should really only take 15 seconds and bam the fish is back in the water.

[bronzeback]

Bronzeback, 25lbs??????? If you were replying to Walleyepro's question, you're robbing the guy. Walleyepro, I'd have to give it around 35+lbs. Not real sure because I haven't caught one that big yet but it sure is fun trying. She doesn't look real fat. A girth measurement would help too. Very nice catch.

girth measurement would help a lot actually.

and like 10,000 casts said, that fish isn't anywhere close to a 22" girth.

So yeah 25+ pounds.

[DHanson]

Not that it really matters, but I agree with bronzeback and 10,000 casts. When I looked at the pic I was guessing 19-20 inch girth. Who cares about the weight anyway? It's an awesome fish and you should be proud of it, I know I would. There is really no business in weighing fish when it comes to muskie fishing. All the die hards go by length, and if you happen to get the girth measurement, great, there are length/girth formulas to get you very close to the exact weight. Attempting to weigh a muskie is risking the life of the fish.

[MuskieJunkie]

Here's a 43x18 from Leech last weekend, caugh on a crankbait on a weed flat.

[HotPocket]

got out muskie fishing hooked two 41,42, and lost a nice one. Working best for me is a red eye wiggler or a big doctor285.

[bassNspear]

Nice looking fish Brian

[fishcast]

Nice fish SSMinner, sounds like an great day! Nice fish muskie junkie!

Been to long for me since my last one. Lately been fishing a lot, been out about 11 times out of the last 14 days for mostly all skies mixing in some pike time and occasional carp on the fly arm breakers. Lots of follows, boils, and heartbreaker lost fish...... but finally!

My first skie (other than a real small bonus tiger while bass fishing) on conventional tackle. Caught it on a shumway screamer which I had just got in the mail from thorne bros that day. Came out of wood cover.

Not huge but probably around 30" and hit on the figure 8!

Got up at 4:30 this morning and at 5:30 in complete darkness had a skie blow up on my pacemaker (and I started shaking like mad). I kept reeling, felt pressure, and set the hook. Put up a good fight and got it in close and flicked my head lamp on to see a skie in the 40's but it ran back out rolled around and popped off! I was dissapointed (and shaking for about 20 minutes afterwards), and had another blow up about a half hour later I that missed my pacemaker. But at 7:40 I felt a lotttt better after catching this 38.5" skie on my 9 weight. Caught it in an eddy on a fly I tie which I call the "limedogger" after a fish kayakman caught who also took this nice pic.

[superbee]

51.5" - released

[redbandit]

Hats off to you many times over!! What a reward on for you on the fly after all the close calls. I'm jealous of all your time on the water. Looks like you've had a great season!

Did you wade out for the muskie? There's something about wading and stalking with the fly let alone landing a nice muskie. What an accomplishment, congratulations!

[walleyepro]

Thanks for the replies. I was only looking for a girth estimate for the replica that is going to go above the fireplace.