On 12-2, my fishing partner caught a musky that was near legal size. It was deeply hooked and in the lengthy process of getting the hooks out, the fish began to bleed fairly heavily from the gills. It bled for 3-4 minutes, and then stopped. The water temp was 44. The fish was in the net, in the water, during this time.
We had a dilema as to whether to keep or release the fish. We did let it got and after a few minutes, it swam lazily away and down. I know in warm water, it's highly unlikely the fish would have survived. But with these circumstances in cold water, was it wise to release or should it have been harvested?
I'm seeking feedback about what others have done in this situation, or what studies you're aware of about cold weather mortality. Thanks
Charlie
I've had fish die and none of them have been able to swim anywhere. Unfortumately all of these fish were under legal size and had to be released. If the fish can swim away I wouldn't even consider keeping it for the simple reason that if I did keep it the mortality would be 100% but if I release that fish it has a 100% better chance to survive.
Charlie,
Buy no means should you have kept that fish. I know it sucks but under size is under size. You did the right thing without question.
Now if a legal fish goes belly up then its your choice what to do. If a legal fish even has the slightest chance to survive im letting it go period. I will even stick around for a while to help/watch it best I can.This goes for any muskie reguardless of size. I have had two buddies along with myself that went overboard to help a struggling fish and I know some of you other guys probably have as well. Now I know thats not a real option this time of year. Point is you have to give the muskie a fighting chance no matter how bad it seems.
I personally would not know what to do with a dead legal muskie??
I wouldnt eat it, and Im to crazy about these critters to shame them by burrying them in the back yard. There is the mounting option, but its costly, and I would prefer a replica anyway. I guess I would give it back to the lady of the lake.
WE ALL KILL/INJURE FISH,… it happens. If under size, put it back. If legal, then its your decision to make.
SIDE NOTE: I talked to the DNR before about a dead Thorn fish and they said if possible set it off to the side or on the bank and call the Plainwell office. They might send a person out to scan the tag. Now we were talking about a bigger specimen so I dont know if that pretains to every dead little muskie you might come across out there. ??
I agree with both Will and Kelly. Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do about it. Myself, I would put the fish back. I have absolutely no use for a big fish dead in my truck bed. If the fish has any signs that it could paddle away, it's going back. I'm not going to eat a big muskie – don't want the mercury poisoning. I'm pretty sure that one of the first muskies Matt and I caught a few summers ago didn't make it. It was hot in August, unhooked on the floor, and out of the water for a few minutes. Then it went in the livewell because we thought it was a pike and didn't know the value of C&R. When we finally did put it back after identifying it looking at the DNR booklet, it swam away s-l-o-w-l-y and just sat on the bottom in about 8 FOW. The fish looked pretty stressed looking back at the pics.
I'll be the first to say that if I accidentally kill a legal length fish I would consider eating it… especially if isn't from a polluted water system and isn't a really old fish. My uncle used to spear quite a few muskies back in the day and they were pretty good eating. I certainly would make use of the fish in some way if was definitely dead.
Sean Landsman did a report on a large, i believe 52, or at least fish over 50" that inhaled one of his baits and was bleeding quite a bit. He released it and found it was fine and still swimming around weeks later.
It was part of that Noble Beast project. If their blood coagulates? spelling? not sure, then usually they should be ok for the most part, but you never know. If they are able to swim off on their own they have enough of a chance to live so i would never keep a fish like that.
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