panfisher

Thanx for that insight. Guess there is more than loose natural gas resourcing techniques and Asian carp Great Lakes infestation to worry about as far as our waters are concerned! Please keep posting on any new researching of musky habitation you may be involved with....

Some excellent head work here and exciting biology experiences Ronix 51...Frankly I'm jealous! ....I don't target musky as some of you guys, but all fish, fishing and fisheries interest me. Obviously the fly fishing trouting purists have nothing over you musky guys as far as "getting into it" (the entire scope of the fishery) is concerned. Could you please tell why high hybrid musky numbers would be an issue with other Esocidae members in the same waters??

BTW kappy... The 'eyes in Honeoye have always tasted great to me and some of my other fishin' & eatin' buds...

Laker cheeks.... never tried them. but 'eye cheeks are great!

Boy, those lakers from Keuka seem a little stunted... Big heads on small bodies....Maybe it's just me....Kinda looks that way too.....

Right on.... those Sutton spoons work great!! Surprised U didn't nail any smallies, too....

As far as fish tasting like the river..... many fish species often pick up a "muddy" or, well, a "muddy/vegetable" or weedy-like, tainted flavor. Even out of salt water. The sense of taste and the sense of smell are very closely related....describing these "tastes" of mud, bottom of the river and water weeds is a good comparison. I have had just killed, clean fresh, just alive, beautiful healthy northern pike from the St Lawrence River, caught by me from clean, clear flowing water areas, which had this "fishy, muddy flavor" to their otherwise beautiful fillets. Same was true of beautiful, fresh channel cat meat from the International Rift of the same river. I have had fillets of pike from Mendon Ponds (Hundred Acre Pond; the big one) caught in the middle of summer in the dark channel between that and Deep Pond that was beautiful and sweet. Here's one... While fishing the south end of Canandaigua Lake in September a few years back, I caught 2 largemouths under the same dock just north of the launch at Woodville on the same black plastic worm, one just 3 or 4 casts after the other. They were twins in size and weight, about 3/4 lb. apiece. Having been aware of this "muddy flavor" in the past in some bass I've eaten, I wanted to try something. Both fish were reeled in with the same speed. Both were put onto a stringer and kept alive until departure. They were both gutted after being klunked on the head and put in fresh ice for the ride home. Upon arriving at the kitchen, the 4 fillets (beautiful) were seasoned and breadcrumbed in the exact same way. I made sure to keep the fillets from each different fish with each other so as not to mix them. They were both fried in the same large cast iron skillet at the same time with fresh peanut oil....Excellent results! But, alas, the fillets from one of the fish had that sort of muddy/weedy taste, and the ones from the other were creamy and absolutely scrumptious, with no "off" flavor, the way bass can be! BTW, the largest chain pickerel I ever landed, over 4 lbs and 32", came from there that day on the same lure. It's flesh was also cooked and consumed in the same way and tasted wonderful. The main thing here though is there seems to be some chemical "thing" going on in fish that can affect their flavor in unexpected ways. I did not sexually examine the 2 bass, as I am not an ichthyologist. Maybe there has been some research into this fish taste thing published somewhere, but it does sort of baffle me. I have had fresh frozen whiting that had that flavor too. And factory frozen fish are processed immediately and frozen. And we're not talking about some freezer burned or refrozen fish either. I have stumbled upon a marinade that works well to actually make this "muddy/weedy" taste in fish, well, taste great! But, you can't always do that with your fish cooking, and, as with those bass from Canandaigua, you can't always tell until it's cooked. And I have never had a walleye that tasted like that, but I have never caught one out of the Genesee at Rochester. Had one from the upper Genny from the Portageville area that tasted great. One thing I do know. We must do everything we can to keep and continue to improve the quality of our great waters here in New York...and everywhere! Our lives depend on it ......

Man!!!!!!

This is truly awesome!! I cannot check out LOU everyday, but it seems that in the last two weeks, this is the third daughter who has caught their first king while with dad, and they were all trophy, or at least really nice fish, for anybody!!! U folks are making it look EASY! and I know it isn't, but.... And hats off to all who have worked for many years to bring these Great Lakes and all of our freshwater fisheries back to their high state of greatness, in spite of the somewhat bad ways many waters were treated in the not to distant past.... And let us not begin to go backward with these fisheries and recreational habitats!

Well stated Guppy35.... ! And to all, THANX for bein' there !!

Yes... Very decent smallies in open waters over the depths! I suspect that this is true in many of the regions bigger waters where smallies exist. Just about all of the fingers and many others including the Big O and Erie. Btw, had the biggest smallie I have ever seen on the end of my line, right under the boat next to shore off steep drop off on the west side of the east branch of Kueka south of Kueka College. I firmly estimate 6 to 7 lbs.....! On blue plastic worm fished sort of wacky style (straight down from boat but hooked thru the head), well before that technique was, well, popular. Kueka has some biggies.....

Yes, indeed!!!! Maybe cold and clean cold water (as in tapwater) has healing effects on some of the tougher species......

Salmonite.... No, you're not gullible! Compared to the salmonids, basses and perches seem to definitely (at least in my experience) be somewhat tougher. And I would say bass are tougher than perches. I have had largemouths (years ago) that were out of the water on a stringer carried through the woods and in a plastic bag in the trunk of the car for 1/2 an hr (summer weather!) before putting them in cold water in the sink with water just trickling in and then draining out of the other side of a double sink...gone to sleep for a few hours, and then finding them completely alive and sound as if nothing had ever happened! Released them to the canal (just down the street) as I felt they had earned their lives! Have had perch "come back from the dead" many times while preparing them for cleaning, after ice fishing and having them lay on the ice inside a shanty and then a bag for the long ride home...and I mean flapping and breathing! Did not spare those guys, though ! And have done similar things to 'eyes and had them come back.... They were not spared either! Not all of the time, but enough to convince they are indeed more durable than one might imagine....

Nice fish....beautiful and still bright!! Extra good because it was the only one caught.....

Very very nice......! Too many great fish being caught for first timers . I'm downright jealous! Great story!!!

First king.... great! Who needs fancy electronic doodads anyway? A digital camera is quite enough!! Great job to you all..... !

Man.... Your first king..? Really, REALLY, CRAZY AWESOME!!! Call up the state chamber of commerce and have them pay U guys for a commercial.....Sswwweeeeeett!

Now U know why it's touted as the "lake trout capital of"..... Oh well. The state? America? The world? (I think not!) What's that sign say? Great catch! Good story. And I think we all lose some stuff some way or another. At least you received some redemption...and quickly!

And nice sunset photo, too...... !

Beauteous smallies, B! And that foot looks as if U were trying to camo yourself to make it easier to catch 'em....

Nice work, and good thread...only to add that perches and basses seem to be a little tougher and resilient to some mishandling. I have kept some of both that had similar issues (not breeder sized, but up to 5lbs or so) in live well and/or under trickling tap water in the kitchen sink, become sidetracked and gone to bed, only to awake and realize the fish still needed to be filleted, and found them healthy and swimming straight up (in their confined space) and happily released them into some nearby waters, such as the barge canal, to continue their lives. Definitely a good feeling to see them swim off!

Just to expand a little....After hearing this about the 'eyes in early spring in front of the Oak and having landed a nice 8lb (or so...), my biggest ever, while setting original Rapalas out in close-to-shore, early spring salmonid trolling right at Hughes Marina in Wayne county, leads one to surmise that the large walleyes over at the BO Quinte may be expanding their numbers in the Big O. Could this be a growing fishery here, where very large walleyes throughout the lake enter into the bays and rivers to spawn? Has this been going on for years and been ignored (at their benefit) for the great salmonid fishing? Was this a historical event in the past before settlers came upon the Americas and fishing (and all "outdoors") environments were impacted by industrialization and development? Will trophy walleye fishing grow to take its place, along with the original atlantic salmon seeming to take a new hold in the lake and make the lake even mo' better than it is now? Or will the bigheads and black and other "asian carps" also settle in and goof it all up just when it gets good?? .....hmmmm

Fisherman 21..... Can U shed any light onto these deformities and their causes....?

This IS really weird! Looks like nicely healed injuries from some close encounters of the third (human) kind....Nicely because the fish seem to have survived and lived on. Hope it is not some "born with it ", Thalidomide baby (anybody remember that?) type thing.....

The one thing about jigging for lakers is that U can really appreciate the fight those guys give...much more so than trolling!