Fishing for compliments?
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11/07/08 Eric Sharp
Most people who catch a 45-pound muskellunge are delighted to tell you about it. If they caught two in a week, they'd be crowing from the rooftops.
Not Dennis Tuck.
Michigan's most dedicated — not to mention obsessive — muskie angler would rather let the furor die down. That way he can resume fishing anonymously for the species that haunts his days and his dreams from ice out to freeze up.
It was about 10 days ago that Tuck, fishing with two other anglers, caught a 54 1/2 -inch muskellunge that weighed 45 pounds on two hand scales. That fish was released.
A week later, fishing alone on the same water, he caught a 56-inch fish with a 28-inch girth that he couldn't revive.
Tuck took it to a post office, where it weighed 45 pounds, 11 ounces. It then went to a taxidermist, who found the remains of a 25-inch fish in its stomach.
"Only the skeleton was left of the fish it ate," Tuck said. "The meat had disintegrated. I wish I'd caught it before it digested the other fish. That muskie would have gone over 50 pounds."
Tuck's muskellunge almost certainly will be the biggest in Michigan this year. Since word got out, his phone has rung steadily with calls from anglers who want to pump him for information about where and how he caught it.
He's not talking, saying, "I wish I'd kept my mouth shut. I don't think it's such a big deal. I've caught and released bigger ones. I will say it wasn't around Traverse City. It was farther north."
Tuck lives and breathes muskellunge. His wife, Jeannette, said he came home one day and "was acting like a little kid doing something he didn't want you to know about.
"It turned out he had caught a big muskie he couldn't revive in the lake, and he snuck it into the house and was trying to revive it in the bathtub in our walk-out basement."
He's not talking, saying, "I wish I'd kept my mouth shut. "
ME TOO x 1,000,000,000 [smilie=bangtard.gif]
A week later, fishing alone on the same water, he caught a 56-inch fish with a 28-inch girth that he couldn't revive.
Not true… he killed it because he thought it was 50#.
I've caught and released bigger ones.
Umm… [smilie=bs.gif]
"Hamilton Reef" said:
he snuck it into the house and was trying to revive it in the bathtub in our walk-out basement."
Because ALL anglers know that's the best way to get a fish revived. Take it out of the water for LONG periods of time, then put it in a (probably warm/hot) bathtub. Then, I don't know, maybe slap it really hard a couple of times, get its heart going. Oh, and don't forget to run the chlorine-filled-tapwater backwards on its gills to wash out any impurities. [smilie=bangtard.gif]
I probably should have kept my feelings out of this… Don't get me wrong, I don't mind someone keeping that once in a lifetime fish – it's their right when they buy a license. However, a person that keeps harvesting that "once in a lifetime" fish bothers me. A person that says he should have kept his mouth shut then gives an interview to the Detroit Free Press bothers me.
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But did he try mouth-to-gill resuscitation? 🙄
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"Will Schultz" said:
I probably should have kept my feelings out of this… Don't get me wrong, I don't mind someone keeping that once in a lifetime fish – it's their right when they buy a license. However, a person that keeps harvesting that "once in a lifetime" fish bothers me. A person that says he should have kept his mouth shut then gives an interview to the Detroit Free Press bothers me.
Well said.
Should be a boat parade next fall "North of Traverse City"… Nice… How do you go from "fishing anonymously for the species that haunts his days and his dreams from ice out to freeze up" to having an article in the Freep??? Once again the EGO ruins it not only for himself, but potentially for many others.
Hmmmm. Never heard of this Tuck guy. Maybe thats a good thing. North of Traverse could be anywhere. It happens every year on my favorite waters too, whether it be the spear or the average fisherman a 54+ dies as a trophy and someone just has to tell me about it. Mixed blessing there. Yeah, I want to know, but I don't want to know……….you know? Here's a great link…..maybe someone should forward it to Tuck.
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"Chasin50" said:
Should be a boat parade next fall "North of Traverse City"… Nice… How do you go from "fishing anonymously for the species that haunts his days and his dreams from ice out to freeze up" to having an article in the Freep??? Once again the EGO ruins it not only for himself, but potentially for many others.
Maybe a boat parade but really doubt it. North of Traverse city is pretty vauge. There many thousands of acres of water on 20 lakes that could be north of Traverse city. As you know Michelle and I go up there every year and we see no one else Musky fishing. We catch a few and then we are gone. I see a guy now and then on the upper chain but not at all like down here. And also with that 56 already gone why bother going back to that lake? She has been whacked. After all the fish whacked on Black a few years ago why bother fishing there either? Its tough enough catching them up there when they dont get taken out. I dont like seeing the advertisement any more than you do but I dont think it will start a parade ,after all she gone. Now if he had released her and gave GPS location ha ha ha . I might be inclined to join that parade. I am sure all of us would. I am also sure some of you know where that fish was caught and were not talking at the outing. I know this, Any one of the lakes in the Chain or Indian River systems can produce a new state record or even way beyond that. For that matter so could Thornapple or Sanford. So could Saginaw bay or the Detroit river, Lake erie,Michigan or Huron. The St. Marys river or even the mighty Lake superior. I wont loose any sleep over that article. It will be forgotten in a few days. What puzzels me is how a 56 by 28 wasnt a new state record. I think it must have been much skinnier. Say 56 by 23 or 24. Mike
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