Released my largest Chautauqua toda

[HD Fatboy]

Awesome fish!!!!!  Congrats Adam!!

[Ivan]

Thanks again for the congratulations and all the comments. It really is a great group of fisherman on this site. Makes the decision to post pictures of a nice fish easier.

This will be my last weekend at Chautauqua for about a month so I probably wont have more pics to share. Besides, it only took me 16 years of fishing Chautauqua to get this fish, so I'm probably not going to top it any time soon. I'm ok with that though...still smiling ear to ear over this one.

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[john1947]

are the muskies difficult to release and survive? Someone told me they fight so hard like a steelhead that they often exhaust themselves so that survival after release is in jeopardy.It sure is a awesome fish.I never caught a musky beforejust a few large northerns.

[Ivan]

That's not really true John.  It depends. If you were under-equipped and hooked into a muskie on bass or walleye tackle, they will give a long fight to the point of exhaustion and would probably be hard to release.  Muskies have alot of power but not much stamina.

 

This big fish I caught was in the boat within 5 minutes or less of when it hit. Most muskie fisherman use heavy equipment and get the fish to the boat fast. Sometimes casting, if the hit close to the boat, they are in the net within seconds. Heavy line, leaders, heavy rod, big net, keeping the fish int he water in the net for unhooking, a quick bumpboard measurement and pic and then back in the water immediately. The faster you are at all this stuff, the better survival chances. Unfortunately, I can't follow my fish around after I release them, but I'm confident that the fish I release survive.  Maybe not every single one, but the vast majority.

 

Once you get a fish in the net and start to unhook or cut hooks, my thinking is always speed.  Keep the fish out of water for as little time as possible (seconds). I also don't photograph fish under 45"s usually. Some fish don't even need to be netted and can be shaken off at the side of the boat while still in the water.

 

Size of muskie and water temps also make a big difference.  The bigger the fish, the more fragile they are in terms of release.  The warmer the water temps, the tougher the release.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Ivan

[muskie magnet]

Nice fish..congrats.

[Cody]

Adam, a vey nice fish indeed !  Thanks for the post and pics.