muskiedreams

It would be nice to get more opinions on a 3 largest fish rule from anglers who consistently catch > 3 as well as those who are new and/or have limited time to spend on the water and/or resources limiting their success. There should be a certain amount of advantage for those who spend more time on the water but also a real possibility of a rookie winning a prize and gaining valuable experience and incentive to continue in the sport.

If we limited entries to legal size fish, there would be a huge possibility in some tournaments that there would not be enough team results that qualify for three prize places. With going to the team format it is more likely than it would have been with the individual format. The size limits set by the state was for the purpose of limiting the number of fish that are kept, especially by meat hunters and incidental catches. It wasn't and couldn't be intended to limit catch sizes and prohibit photos. With that said, this is were efforts of MI and other musky fishing organizations to educate the public on proper C&R and the importance of it. We still must try to make sure that we don't cause mortality in our tournaments through stressing education of and the importance of good CPR practices. I think it might be worthwhile discussing the possibility of raising the minimum size to qualify for particular waters depending on looking at statistics from past tournament and maybe non-tournament catches. For instance, raising the limit on Chautauqua to 34, 35 or 36 inches but still using the points schedule for each size. Maybe we could also consider giving 1 or 2 points for fish caught and released that are under the minimum size to enter, requiring only an in water picture (minimum) to qualify and in water or out of water measurement or guesstimate optional. This might help for occasional tournaments where the fish just have lock jaw and only one boat gets qualifying fish but others get dinks. The Lunge Log could be a valuable tool for the purpose or determining catch size ranges and trends per body of water if we could get all members to log in all their fish with quick in water measurement being acceptable. Maybe there could be an incentive such as each Lunge Log entry qualifying for an entry into a monthly drawing for a prize. We could also try to find and review past tourney records and maybe tourney records from other chapters and clubs as well as keeping an accurate log to help determine any appropriate changes to minimum entry size for a body of water. If any of you are familiar with the C&R data that the NMA keeps you know how valuable it is. Especially because of the awesome work that Tony Schime puts into formatting and analyzing the data. They do try to encourage members to log in their catches but Many members don't constantly log their catches and they don't have a diary format which can be much more helpful to determine catch rates as well as catch rates for a particular size range. The NYS diary studies are great for that.

If you limit the number of fish per team, I don't see how it can be controlled. I don't think you could make a team quit or somehow not let them enter any other fish once they have caught the limit. If you limit to three and they catch more, they can easily just report the three longest unless you have a reliable real time method of tracking all catches. If it is just limited to three and they can just report the three largest, it will have no affect on leveling the playing field. I believe that in trout and salmon tournaments that limit to three fish use impartial monitors on each boat to record the catches and enforce the rule. The points system was designed to help level the field between seasoned and less experienced anglers as much as possible. A 38" fish earns the same number of points as three 30" fish (12 pts). A 44" fish earns the same as two 36" fish (18 pts). And the team system helps a little more by insuring that one boat cannot take more than one place, although if they are entered in the big fish pool they could get that as well as 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. With a format of prizes based on single fish length, there is a much better chance that one boat can take two or more prizes. Although there is still a chance that a newbie could take one of the top prizes. With the team format, if we have a big fish pool, it should be required that all or none of the anglers on a boat can be entered in the big fish. IMO, the points system along with team format levels the field as much as possible and along with other measures, reduces the possibility of cheating or gaming the system as much as possible.

Welcome Kaptag. Yes, quite a few of our MI Chapter 69 members use this board as well as a huge number of anglers throughout the state. We have our meetings every other month on the third Monday at 7PM at the Henrietta Moose Lodge The next meeting is March 20th. We have members scattered throughout the state. Some are even near you. We have a tournament on Otisco Lake in May for tiger muskies which is the closest event to you.

CV Bass League is in Pennsylvania. It is called a League. Is it something like a bowling league? Or is it a club. Also, I wonder if it only applies to out of state groups.

This may be due to complaints of rigs being parked on the edge of the road from residents. On bass opener, which is also formerly musky opener up until last year, I have heard that they can be parked up to and beyond Waneta Lake Road on both sides on opening weekend. The Lake Association has a lot of clout in Albany through the county legislature chairman whom some of you may know. He was also instrumental in pushing for the gas storage facility at Seneca Lake. Also, some of the residents really don't like the idea of there being public access on the lakes. Some of them think the lakes should be for residents only. It would be nice if they could expand the public launch area to include more parking but it might be easier said than done. I will try to find out more info about this from locals and maybe from region 8 contacts.

I googled it and came up with nothing. Maybe it is a club limit because of limited parking at the launch.

How about a tournament where it is limited to Lamoka in the AM and both lakes in the PM?

I know. It was brought up a couple times. Our secretary, Clint takes notes. I got the impression from him that that he would have a lot of rewriting to do to make them understandable and relevant.

Zach, did you get the email for the November meeting? We did elections at the November meeting. Below is a copy of an email I sent out to the membership on Nov 16th.The current officers were all willing to go another year and there were no new nominations. Also I just sent out an email for the meeting this Monday. Sorry for the short notice. This coming Monday, November 21st is the final membership meeting of the year. The meeting is at the Henrietta Moose Lodge at 7pm. Zach Baker's award: Back in April at the Banquet, we voted for the Mark Troy Memorial award and Zach Baker was voted, almost unanimously, to be the recipient. Unfortunately there have been some delays in having the award made. That is currently being rectified and Jim should have it for the meeting on Monday to present to Zach. We have been discussing changing the name of the award for some time. Jim and I recently just came up with a new name for the award that better describes the meaning and purpose of the award. We decided to call it the "Outstanding Member of the Year" award. We will be having nominations and elections for Officers and board members. For anyone who wishes to be nominated for a board position or an officer position, please contact me or Jim Reynolds and/or come to the meeting to get your name up for nomination. Also, for anyone who wants to contribute as and be named for nomination for a new board position, or you would like to contribute your time in another way, this will be a good time to bring it up. Your support can be very helpful to grow the chapter. You can reach me at XXX-XXX-XXXX and Jim at XXX-XXX-XXXX. There will be no guest speaker so we will just have an open fishing forum. So bring your questions and concerns or news and interesting topics for discussion. And bring you pics and stories from this season's adventures. The season is winding down fast. I hope you have all had quality time on the water this year and some successful C&Rs. If you are not fishing or doing anything else on Monday, please join us at the meeting. Stephen Glassic VP, Muskies Inc. New York Chapter 69

I wouldn't do it without having permissions. That said, I think it is an eye opening article that highlights some very real concerns that the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes are facing and the importance of having people like Dr Farrell providing sound research and management. I think the article deserves more public exposure.

Muskies are just not as hearty as bass or walleye and many other species. Also, they take much longer to reach a mature spawning age. That fish in the picture took more than 20 years to get to that size and it was probably the only one of several thousand fingerlings (8" to 10") that made it to that size. As most muskie anglers on this forum know, regardless of what the regulations are, these fish need to be respected in order to sustain their future survival. The main reason they are still around now is because forward thinking anglers realized years ago that the only way to sustain the fishery was to promote proper catch and release, including proven methods to maximize survival. See Musky Catch and Release - Reasons, Tips, Questions and Experiences. If they hadn't there would be very few, if any muskies left today. and they would average much smaller. In the winter with below freezing temps, the longer you keep a fish out of the water in the cold air the more you are reducing their chance of survival even more so than normal. Eyes and gills can get frostbite damage. They may swim away but their remaining hours or minutes could be limited. Some muskie anglers won't even take most of their fish out of the water (they do a boat side release with or without a big coated net) especially late in the season when temps are below freezing or in the summer when water and air temps are high. Some will not fish for them when water temps are above 75 or 80*F. Without this kind of dedication, that guy probably would not have caught that fish. Holding or hanging a musky vertically can cause internal organ damage and subsequent mortality. so almost all musky anglers measure the length and maybe the girth. I am not saying that you should not fish for them. I am not trying to rip on the guy or say that he should be ticketed or prosecuted. I am just saying that they need to be handled as carefully as possible. Many people just don't realize how precious and vulnerable a muskie that size is.

That isn't what I said. Just read the regulations. They are there for good reasons, not to be joked about. That doesn't mean someone can't take a picture while a hook is being removed. This is a posed picture which increased the time the fish was out of the water and also reduced it's chance of survival. When you hold a fish out of water, it is the same as suffocating it. And if it was weighed, especially if hung vertically, he may have sealed it's doom. The rules are there to help sustain the fisheries for future generations. It takes many years for a musky to reach that size. It deserves better consideration. I guess if you don't understand that, you never will. I have said what all respectful anglers understand. Why do you think this post didn't get a lot of congrats responses. I mistakenly did and will edit it to read different.

Technically even if you were not aware, taking a picture of a fish caught out of season is illegal and posting it could be incriminating. Even though it can be exciting to see a fish like that caught through the ice I want to remind everyone that since the fish was caught out of season while fishing for pike, it should have been unhooked and released immediately. The sooner you release it the better chance it has to survive. And even though it swam away, doesn't mean it didn't die later. That is why the rules were clarified in the 1015-2016 regulations. The revised rule is stated as follows. Fish caught during the closed season must be unhooked and released immediately. They may not be handled for any other purpose, including taking a picture.

I have heard that stocked hump backed muskies happen quite often. I don't remember what the cause is said to be. Something to do with being hatchery raised. So there could be more than one in Otisco. Some of the Chautauqua guys probably know. I'm not saying it isn't the same fish. It very well could be.

It should have been immediately unhooked released since it was out of season. Weighing and posing for a picture may have sealed it's doom.

They are getting ready to close a nuke plant downstate (two reactors), so I wonder how they will make up for that energy loss. And I wonder who will pay for the demolition and clean up there. There is always trade offs. The trick is to find solutions with the least amount of impact while balancing the cost and practicality over the long term. Not an easy thing to do due to unknowns. Fusion sounds good but it is something that they have been trying to accomplish for decades and nothing of any large scale has emerged with that technology. Unfortunately, us taxpayers often have to clean up the mess left by old energy infrastructure as well as other abandoned industrial sites. Heaven forbid the 1%ers who profited from them having to foot the bill. At least some of the costs are covered by re-licensing fees for hydro-electric plants. We are paying for the plugging of many oil and gas wells, scattered around the country, that have been abandoned for years. But I think companies are being held more accountable these days. Probably not enough though.