With the hot days and warm nights we've been having it's important to remember that on many of the inland lakes in Southern Michigan we'll be seeing water temps at 80 and above. This can be lethal for a muskie and if you are going to fish during this time here are some tips that will minimize mortality.
– Fish only when the water is cool. This might mean that you only fish for a few hours in the morning or at night.
– When water temps are high, limit handling and time in the net. Only the top couple feet of water are going to be too hot for a muskie to survive. This means that you'll want to get the fish unhooked and released quickly so that it can get back down to cooler water.
– Fish larger deeper lakes or rivers during this time. Many larger bodies of water will never get above the low 70's, therefore they are always safe for the catch and release of muskies.
Good luck.
Good point Will-
With the hot weather we have been having in southern Michigan, the surface water temperature at Thornapple Lake has soared. Last week, the surface temp jumped from 77 F to above 84 F in some parts of the lake.
Please be very careful (I know you all are) if you plan on fishing at Thornapple Lake. We don't want to lose any tagged fish.
Chris
CMU Grad Student
Lake St Clair is getting warm. Saturday surface temps were as high as 84 degrees by 5 pm. Good thing we only got one fish in the morning when they were at 77.8. Sunday the lake turned over and started at about 76.5 and rose all day. We did not even use the net and measured in the water with the big floating stick.. All released well. I cant say the same for some of the released tournement fish. I had to sink a dead 47 incher because it made me sick every time we trolled by it. Boga grip holes in the lower jaw. We caught 22 fish and only got three pics. We were running down rods and kept time out of the water down to less than 15 seconds. We were able to stop the boat and shut down. All went back fine with minimal handling. If we were running the boards we had to release them without pics 42 to 45 inch fish and no pictures. The bottom line is this, we were far easier on these fish by passing on the pictures and measuring in the water without the net. every fish just turned and swam down on its own . This is really the best way to release fish in warm water. dont take them out at all unless you have everything ready to go,boat stopped,engine off drifting with the wind etc. The nice thing about St. Clair is the changing water temps due to wind, waves,currents and such. When we left today the temps off the Red Barn were just over 76 at 11:00 am on the surface. That was far better than saturday when we arrived. Kingfisher
found out the hard way about how important release tactics are this year. Will has said many times that even the most cautious releasers will have some fish die and it just can't be avoided sometimes. I must admit that I always thought that my release tactics were good enough that I would never kill a fish… I was wrong. I caught a 35 inch fish last week that, to my disbelief, swallowed every inch of an 11 inch jerkbait. I noticed that there was blood coming out of its gills and netted the fish very quickly and got the hooks out with surprising ease. The rear hook was in the gills but the hooks came out without any tugging and no need to cut. I pushed the fish down and couple feet under the water and she took right off. I still didn't feel too good about the bloody gills and was wondering if she made it. A buddy found seagulls eating a fish that size in the spot I caught her two days later. I can't help but think that I should have taken the rear hook off this bait since 90 percent of fish are caught on the front hook. Other than that, there was nothing I could to make this a better release. This fish may have died regardless of the water temps but I know that the warm water didn't help at all.
I hope you all don't think of me as a muskie killer now. I just wanted to write this to show you all how important it is to be the best releaser possible. I take every step to make sure that I am not killing fish. I remove excessive hooks (except in this case apparently), almost never take pictures, net or hand land fish as quick as possible (stopping the boat immediately when trolling as Kf pointed out), cut hooks, no time out of the water, and even try to avoid catching smaller fish by quitting on figure 8's or not throwing back at them.
As fishing pressure increases we all need to be leaders and show new comers how important it is to release fish with the best tactics possible.
Don`t feel bad Big Jon……..we all are responsible for killin a few…..even Will has admitted to it.I killed a fish at bankson years ago that got tangled in one of the old beckman nets.Could get it out to save even MY LIFE.I felt sick afterwards,that`s why I stopped netting fish from 93-2000.Suicks are tough on fish.I think Will or someone else said they take off the back hook or something.Hit happens…….
Dave
There are about 20 different opinions on that from 65 to 85. First off extra care must be taken releasing these fish as soon as water temps get to the mid 70's say 76. On a hot blistering day with air temps in the 90's and water temps at or near 80 you have situation where if you pull a Musky out of the water it will die almost every time. If water temps are at 80 its a good time to leave the muskies alone however if you fish for them like Will says in the early mornings and at night when (air temps) are much cooler the threat of fish mortality is greatly reduced. When water temps are this warm and you fish(leave them in the water). Nights have been cooling off so it wont be long and we will all be back at it but this is the time of year when we all must forget a few photos and just get them back down quickly. Deeper clearer lakes will be a little cooler and clear shallow lakes will cool faster them deep er stained lakes. Hope this helps, Kingfisher
The Kid and me headed out to Murray for some morning fishing today 7/22.The only reason I told him that I thought it would be ok was due to the forecast for the last few days of the week to be in the 70's with the nights getting down to the 60's, which I thought would bring the surface temp on Murray down to about 78. We checked the temp once on the water and it was 78 so I felt ok about fishing along with the cool morning air temps, infact I put on a jacket while trolling . We did'nt catch or move any fish but had a good time on a nice cloudy cool morning. But for me with the very hot weather forecast for the coming week I am not planning to do any more muskie fishing for about 2 or 3 weeks until water temps start cooling down some.Time to start filling the freezer up with some Bluegills again.
I know its been a while since I've posted, but I regularly check up on the general forum. Yes I live In GR, born and raised westsider. Had to sell my boat back in 03 and have since been fishing with buddies//river.(Currently looking for a nice 16 footer used though) Started experienmenting with cats last year in the Grand. I've always wanted to try it, but never knew the river our the right tactics. Finally I've figured some things out. There are enough big cats in the rivers to keep everyone satisfiedand when you really start to put out what the big ones want, it can get your heart rate right up there with a 50" follow. They have been around a while and will still be swimming when were lone gone. Best thing about it, muskie gear works great.
57
27