tmag

Have to agree with muskiedreams here. I see some of the responses claim the fish wasn't handled / measured... then how do they know it was 35lb?

When I see all the snow on that fish, it is also concerning. Why? Because if temps below freezing, the fish's gills can freeze which kills them. They can't breath. The gills tend to be very delicate on ALL fish and pulled out into sub-freezing temps can cause a lot of damage, believe it or not.

Why not just pop it up off in the hole with a hookout or a pair of pliers? Probably because they wanted the pic (LOL)

Final Flight you (and the many other anglers who come to similar conclusions regarding muskellunge/northern pike) are severely mislead and uninformed/ignorant. Muskiedreams provided you with some informative reading material and in addition I figured I'd offer my .02 in response to your previous postings.

 

"...the river has never been cleaner than what it is now, so it's not "pollution" that is to blame . Cleaner/ clearer water allows these eating machines to grow to there large size in a short time"

 

Zebra mussel colonies were first found in the Upper Susqi beginning in the early 2000s and have since been documented throughout the river system down to as far as the Chesapeake Bay. Most fisherman are well-aware of zebra mussels as I'm sure you are too. They are incredibly efficient filter-feeders that can remove substantial amounts of suspended nutrients from the water column. I can't remember exact volumes but a single (1) mussel is capable of filtering over one liter of water/day. Their introduction is in large-part to blame for the clear waters you notice. In regards to clearer water being the factor that allows these "eating machines" to large sizes in a short time that is incorrect. Temperature is one of the primary factors influencing metabolic and growth rates in esocids; clarity as very little, if anything at all, to do with it.

 

"If I'm not in the boat trolling the lakes I'm on the river, 50-60 days a year(?) and I have really noticed the sufferance in the forage base..."

 

In addition to increasing water clarity, their ability to filter out large amounts of suspended nutrients in the water column deprives other species of food (especially those towards the bottom of the food chain i.e. zooplankton and forage fish). Very simply put: more nutrients removed my zebra mussels -> less food for zooplankton (less zooplankton) -> less food for forage species (less forage species) -> less food for gamefish herego less gamefish. Is this the sole reason you see a decrease in forage species or any other species? Absolutely not, it could be attributed to numerous other factors or combinations of multiple factors.

 

"You can't put 689,000 eating machines in a water way and not have an effect!"

 

You were able to read the articles above discussing impacts on other species so I won't bring that up again. There are several articles discussing survival rates of stocked tiger muskies. To think that even 10% of what is stocked survives (especially in a smaller river system like the susqi) is a severe over-estimate. Mortality of stocked tiger muskellunge is very high. Many of these stocklings end up as food for largemouth bass, walleye, birds, and other muskies. So there is an effect right there: more food for your bass and walleye!

 

Kidding aside, will some of them survive and grow and occasionally eat a walleye or smallmouth bass? Absolutely. Will largemouth bass -also a voracious predator- consume plenty of yellow perch and panfish? Definitely. Perch, rudd, alewife, etc. also feed heavily on walleye fry in the spring...if a the walleye population declines over the years is it still the muskie's fault? Questions like that can't be answered without substantial amounts of data collected over extended time periods by qualified biologists.

 

The point I'm trying to make is that ALL fisheries are dynamic and experience changes. Some faster than others and the susqi is no different. The reasons for these changes are numerous and likely a combination of multiple factors. For any angler to assume they know the cause of a declining sport fishery simply because they've fished it for a while and not try to educate themselves on can be irresponsible and furthermore hurt a fishery that people pay for the priviledge to fish with their hard-earned money (insert lake st. claire muskie bashing video here).

 

Think, Think, Think....don't assume, assume, assume

Much love Ronix  

http://www.thenextbite.tv/articles/catch-release-compilation-information

It is a shame that the state doesn't have some form of slot limit on these large fish. The bigs are the oldest and most successful fish in the system. They lay many times the number of eggs of smaller fish; great breeders. The recent pike die-off on Seneca certainly has not helped. One can only hope that such adventures return.

I don't really understand where you're reasoning that they don't survive if caught thru the ice. They are cold blooded and if to cold there bodies actually shut down. Worn that being said, I have caught numerous large pike thru the ice and actually made a "livewell" to keep them alive. I have also brought them home in a bucket 5 hours after catching them and lasting in the ice and they start slapping around once even decided to throw one in my bathtub worth some water. Seemed to live just fine until I fileted him.

I think a photo with the pike accompanying a tape measure and scale with the person's tournament number and face would be enough.

I think iceshanty.com uses this process for a online tournament.

Sent from my thinking chair...

When the air temperature is below freezing, it can freeze the delicate tissues in the gills of fish. They may swim off but will later die because their mechanism for breathing has been damaged. 

http://www.thenextbite.tv/articles/catch-release-compilation-information

Sorry to see that this thread had such a tough ending. My thoughts are with you.

MadPerry, I used to have the same issue with pics. Get a tripod for your digital camera along with a remote that will allow you to hit the shutter electronically / wirelessly from a distance. This way, you can already have a nice gill hold in the fish, click the remote with your other and then hoist her at the last second for the pic.

Thanks for letting that fish go, though. Very nice and a great pic. Pretty fish.

What a horse  

For the high-end stuff, I started out with some Orvis Tri-Spectrum's and they were good. Similar to the above, I found the Wave 580 lens from Costa to be superior. However, at the time that I got them, they only offered that technology in a glass and they were heavy plus were a bit too dark for very low light or heavy overcast conditions. I then purchased some Spotters in both the Copper / Amber lens and the Yellow. They fit better for me and better in very low light conditions. As I'm always looking at new technology, you may also wish to look at Haber:

http://www.habervision.com/content/about.html

Personally, I would recommend trying to grab a pair of the latest from Maui Jim, Costa and Haber. Take them out to the water on a sunny day and a cloudy day just to test the optics. You could go to the harbor or such and just try them on. Return those that you did not like.

Of course, a place like Bass Pro will have a variety of sunglasses to choose from. It may be helpful to get an idea regarding the frames in advance.

Many sunglasses in the more popular brands are also offered on eBay at deep discounts that are also new (i.e. you could figure out what you want and if it happens to be one of the more popular brands, frames & lens, you may be able to score them there for less).

What a nice variety of fish. Gotta love the carp on a cleo

Nice fish! Congrats. Still swimmin' or to the fryin' pan?

Actually, saving the trout has little to do with weeding out the pike especially the larger ones. Might be worth your while to check out what they, etc. Pete Maina of 'The Next Bite' was nice enough to post my compilation on their website:

http://www.thenextbite.com/node/12116

Anybody know if those fish were kept or released?