Western PA:

Muskie

That’s a big girl, too bad she didn’t make it.

Savage Voyageur: "That’s a big girl, too bad she didn’t make it. "

It happens fishing th,at some will always die. Not blaming anyone there. Just want to comment playing a big fish like that, than taking him out of the water for pictures is a no no.

Most die hard Muskie fishermen have a cradle or big net and never take the fish out of the water if possible. If you do, you don't need to take 20 pictures.

Yes, it's a shame that a trophy of that size didn't make it. It's a beautiful area up there and I'm surprised that a muskie of that size would be in that body of water as compared to say, Lake Erie! There must be monsters swimming in the depths of that Great Lake.

HighnDry: "Yes, it's a shame that a trophy of that size didn't make it. It's a beautiful area up there and I'm surprised that a muskie of that size would be in that body of water as compared to say, Lake Erie! There must be monsters swimming in the depths of that Great Lake."

Great food source in Leech for them: Tullibee, perch, a occasional walleye and suckers.

With this heat I wonder what the water temperature was. When its pushing 80 degrees the mortality rate for muskie really goes up due to lack of dissolved oxygen.

ColdLabatts: "With this heat I wonder what the water temperature was. When its pushing 80 degrees the mortality rate for muskie really goes up due to lack of dissolved oxygen. "

Oh boy. So people should stop fishing for muskies?

Zwater: "

ColdLabatts: "With this heat I wonder what the water temperature was. When its pushing 80 degrees the mortality rate for muskie really goes up due to lack of dissolved oxygen. "

Oh boy. So people should stop fishing for muskies?"

I used to be very skeptical of the delayed mortality argument for high water temps, but I started doing some research after hearing several well known guides see it first hand. Fish caught the day before would be found floating dead in the area the next day when they would be out fishing again. I could link a study or two about this topic if you'd like. I'm not one to tell people what they can and can't do when it is totally in their right to fish for a fish in season, but i quit targeting muskies when its 80 degree water temperature.

I am not saying stop fishing anything. My only point fish are cold blooded and metabolism and heart rate are very low when it is cold. They have the ability to take a lot of stress and need less oxygen uptake when it is colder.
My point was just handle them faster and release faster, and avoid removing especially big fish out of the water. Like I said many muskie fishermen have a cradle and will unhook in the water and even just cut the hooks of if they have to.

Seen many. Numerous studies showed that fish released in a large pen will die later when temps get about 65 degrees F, or higher. I will give tournament holders they have made great strides in protecting fish.

This is a story from Florida told to me by the head of the Army Corp of Engineers about a National tournament held in the reservoir there. They had a catch and release tournament there and the tournament organizers released all the bass caught and complimented himself on the fish released alive. The next day the Corp individual went to the end of the dock the next day and the whole bottom of the lake was solid white bellies of dead fish.

Like I said most tournament people have made huge strides in keeping fish alive, but I still cringe when the water gets real warm.

Go muskie fishing just be prepared to release them or any fish. Also if your in a numbers game of catching fish do it when waters are cooler.

"My point was just handle them faster and release faster, and avoid removing especially big fish out of the water. Like I said many muskie fishermen have a cradle and will unhook in the water and even just cut the hooks of if they have to."

I'm with you, Mr. Tree. My two biggest muskies were mid-forties fish. Not giants, but big enough for me to treat with all due caution. I released one in the water beside my canoe and the other, I was solo camped on an island, so I pulled its head out far enough to unhook it and then eased it back into the water. No pictures, but my mind's eye was snapping its shutter like crazy.