muskiedreams

Tournament fishing hours are 7am till 3:30pm. $25 for Muskies Inc. members and $35 for non members. Rules will be the same as last year using the Muskies Inc. points system scored by individual angler. There will be an optional big (longest) fish pool for $5. Big fish takes all. Registration at the Mayville launch 6am til 7:15am. Awards will be handed out at the Mayville launch at about 4:30pm. Then we will have a cookout and raffle.

Yes . It is on June 11th. It is an open tournament except it is $25 for Muskies Inc Members and $35 for non members. Tournament starts at 7am. Registration at Mayville launch 6am till 7:15 am. Will post more info in a day or two.

Looks to be close to 40"

I don't know if it is true but I have heard that very often the town judges let fishing regulation violators off easy. I think the arresting officer has to be present. But if certain judges don't take the charges seriously, or they accept the lame excuse of "I didn't know", the DEC officers probably feel they are wasting their time. In Canada, they seem to be more serious about violators.

Do they actually have eggs and milt but just not fertile?

Nice!! Looks like it has a few old scars.

I think there could be a little confusion about the new opening date. Some people think it is the third Sat. in May (maybe confusing it with the old statewide opener and the current great lakes opener of third Sat. in June). But it is the last Sat. in May. Also, early on, when they were talking about changing it, third Sat in May was a date that was talked about (or maybe it was considered). Maybe they thought it would make it easier for musky anglers to plan a combination musky fishing weekend and a family weekend over the Memorial Day weekend. LOL. Of course there will be years when musky opener and Memorial Day don't fall on the same weekend. Just remember: 1) Purebred Musky: A) GREAT LAKES WATERS: Opens 3rd Sat in June. Closes Nov 30th above Niagara Falls, Dec 15th below Niagara Falls through the St. Lawrence River. Min size is 54" throughout. B) INLAND WATERS Purebred Musky: Opening Day is LAST Sat. in May (not 3rd or 4th but could be 4th). Closes Nov. 30th. Minimum size is 40". 2) Tiger Musky: Statewide opening day is the same as pike and walleye; 1st Sat. in May. Minimum size 30" except 36" in Otisco Lake. HERE IS THE CONFUSING PART and this was done to avoid identification issues. In waters that have purebred muskies, tigers follow same rules (season and size) as the purebreds. EXCEPT in Chemong, Tioga and Steuben county's, the Chemong, Tioga and Susquehanna rivers and their tribs, the season opener for purebred muskies and tigers is same as statewide tiger (1st Sat in May) but Min size is 40" (same as inland purebred).

Either to keep others from seeing what you are running or to keep them from running over them. Sort of like a cloaking device. Maybe the Klingons will sell you one.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow. I won't be able to make it.

Not enough info here. Is it leaking around the seal where the fitting goes through the hull? Or is it leaking from the body of the pump? Or is it leaking at the fitting where the hose that goes to the livewell is connected to the pump? Or is there a crack in the hose? Knowing exactly where it is leaking will help to determine what can be done to fix the problem. It looks like there is a second livewell pump as well and it looks like the port to the left where there is a plug, is the drain port for the live wells. Seeing the plug there makes me wonder why that plug is there. Maybe the livewell drain plumbing also has a leaking issue?

That is good if you want to try and educate the shore fisherman. That is really a never ending endeavor. But you really can't compare the practices of an uneducated shore angler to that of knowledgeable musky anglers competing in a catch and release tournament. I really don't think that fish pictured can be compared to the condition of a fish released by a responsible angler. That musky does not look like a fresh kill or recent catch. If it was kept by an angler who just threw it on shore without knowledge of or concern for the regulations, it is just not a good comparison. No offense intended here. How shore fisherman handle the fish is a real concern and will be a constant issue. One thing that might help is if we were able to get permission to post educational signage at public access locations such as the causeway. Of course, if they aren't interested in reading them or don't care, there is not much more you can do. Although you might have a few thoughts of what you would like to do with them.

Justin, It seems like you are expecting that we can make arbitrarily changes based on what you believe should be done. This is something we cannot do. The members deserve to have a say. Therefore it is just not possible to make significant changes based on a discussion between a few members. There must be further discussion to weigh all the pros, cons and other concerns. At which time members will have a chance to voice their opinions and concerns as well as have an open minded discussion about them. In changing a basic rule of a tournament like that, there will be other rules and/or procedures that will be affected which will have to be discussed as well. This may also mean that other changes will also have to be considered. The current rules that we are going by are Muskies Inc. general tournament rules. A majority of the chapters as well as other organizations such as the PMTT use the same rules. These are all conservation minded organizations and anglers. There have been many changes to the way we fish and hold tournaments over the years. The biggest changes have been to encourage catch and release with emphasis on methods to minimize mortality and changes in season, size and creel limits.. We all do still enjoy catching muskies and many of us enjoy competing in tournaments. So we must all work together to maintain a healthy balance between still enjoying our sport while practicing practical conservation methods.

For anyone who wants to bring a youth to the tournament, there is no youth category but Muskies Inc. has a new promotional program to try to get more youths interested. Each chapter can give 10 free youth memberships (under 18 yo). They are with online only magazine and they can not be children of current members. This will qualify them as MI members for the tournament so they don't have to pay the extra $10 entry fee.

When we first started the chapter and were discussing rules for tournaments, many of us were more used to tournament formats of prizes based on longest (or heaviest in the case of trout and other gamefish tourneys). We were concerned that nobody would like the MI points system. Now it looks like it may be preferred by more anglers over the1st, 2nd and 3rd longest format. Of course we also have the optional big fish pool which most entrants usually choose to participate in. Obviously there will be no changes in the scoring or prize structure for the tiger tournament. It definitely will have to be discussed further and vote on any possible changes. It appears at this point that most comments are opposed to any changes. But there does seem to be support for going from individual to team. One change that we voted on at the January meeting is that anyone who is not a Muskies Inc. member (any chapter) will be charged an additional $10 entry fee. Many other chapters do the same.

Did your grandson want to make sure you don't get away?

That background is looks like NY Harbor to me. That is lady Liberty in the Pic. Or did you just change it after NPike's comment? Mike, Wasn't it was supposed to be a secret about muskies in there?

I think what he might be talking about is working the shallow to very shallow water. From what I have heard, that is where the smaller fish tend to be in that lake and the big ones roam in open water chasing the alewives. But that doesn't mean you can't get a big one in shallow. I imagine it is more likely at night in the spring when the alewives move shallow.

Tigerhunter, After some of the comments here and thinking about different viewpoints and options, I realized that this is something that should not be done in haste, should be discussed further and any significant proposed change should be voted on by members. Then if we decide to try any changes, it should be on a trial basis and not with all tournaments. If we were to do something like that at a tournament in the Upper Niagara river with the 48" state minimum there, it would be highly likely there would be no qualifying fish. The same thing could also happen at Chautauqua or Waneta with a 40" minimum. The Mark Troy tournament on Waneta Lake is determined by length and judge boat(s) and everyone is kept informed on what it will take to get on the board. The judge boats have still measured many fish that were obviously too small to be in contention but some anglers have occasionally not bothered if they knew a fish was too small to matter. That way they can get back to fishing sooner rather than waiting for the judge boat that is not really needed. It could also give them a chance to catch another fish if they are in a feeding window. One thought is that documenting all fish caught helps give an idea of average size caught, etc. which might be useful to see yearly trends but for this purpose, a quick in water measurement or guesstimate is good enough. But with this type of format, anglers could be encouraged to just release fish that aren't in contention and not to call the judge boat unless a judgement call is needed. So it would help reduce unnecessary handling. I know there are some people who prefer the points system and some who prefer winners are determined by longest fish. I can go either way except I do like a big fish pool with the points system. But since I have never even caught a musky in a tournament and only one small one was caught in my boat in 2 different tournaments, it hasn't mattered much to me. I have caught what would have been the longest fish, on the day after. A little to late. LOL. Occasionally, I have seen a tournament where there were not enough fish to claim all the prizes. It happens sometimes and it does become somewhat of a letdown. But anglers might be very discouraged if it happens due to rules that disqualified some fish.

Tigerhunter, The answer to your question is yes but I am beginning to think it will be best to discuss this further and bring it to a vote of MI NY Chapter 69 members. Since the tiger tournament is only a little more than 3 weeks away, it may be impractical to try to make a change to hastily. Also this is something that might have to be decided upon for each tournament. The main objective in this discussion is to try to keep handling of fish to a minimum in order to minimize the possibility of delayed mortality.

Ivan, I understand what you are saying but in many states, the minimum size is 30" so I think that was a major reason MI decided to count fish 30" and above. Since NY State has set the minimum size to 36" for tigers and 40" for purebred muskies, the reasoning is to respect those size limits with tournament rules to minimize unnecessary handling of sub-legal fish. Anglers can measure a fish if they want to since it is not illegal. I still am not 100% in favor of making this change. I am leaning toward the need for further discussion. Another way to reduce unnecessary handling of fish is to go with 1st, 2nd and 3rd longest fish and keep anglers informed throughout the day as to what size is needed to get on the board. With the team method, wouldn't there have to be an equal number of anglers per boat (probably two)? I can see how it can help keep things honest. You say that anybody can luck into a big fish which is true. But that is part of the attraction of a tournament for anglers who are new or haven't fished the body of water before. It helps to level the playing field a little even though the seasoned anglers will still have better odds of winning. Often our tournaments using the points system also include an optional big fish pool with $5 per person who opt to enter and the entire amount goes to the biggest fish.