Thread: Accidental catch ...

Great fish,Crappiepappy!

Here's mine,at the taxidermy shop,being "dried".49-inch beauty.It's still there waiting to be placed on a piece of driftwood.The fish was gut-hooked,and was not responding to being released.So......my decision was to have it on the wall.



The fish was caught on Lake Mille Lacs in early fall while trolling for walleye.It was caught on a blue/silver #7 Rapala.
__________________________________________________ ____________

My other wall mount muskie.A 50-incher!This was caught many years ago,on Yellow Lake in Webster Wisconsin.This fish was longer,but way lighter,than the above fish.

great looking fish, bud !! Them "Silvers" get pretty big down here, too. There's a couple of lakes that are primo for Muskie ... maybe you heard about them ?? Cave Run Lake is the more productive one, but Green River Lake has a good population, too. There's a few rivers that have some decent populations, as well.
F&W identified mine as a "Tiger" .... stocked by them. I believe they said it was a cross, and sterile, meant for "put & take". I don't even think the local Muskie Afficionado's even care about people taking them. But, boy do they get hot when someone removes a Silver .... you'd think they thought you'd just stolen the family dog, or one of their kids ...cp

Silver muskie? Never heard of that fish. Is that a local name for another fish?

Originally Posted by GRIZZ

Silver muskie? Never heard of that fish. Is that a local name for another fish?

It's just what we call a "true" Muskie ... as opposed to the hybrid version, like the Tiger (Muskie/Northern Pike cross).
***************
Here's some clarifying info I Googled up:

Distinguishable markings:
The muskie, has six to nine pores (usually seven) on each side of the underside of the lower jawbone. The lower half of the muskie's cheek is not scaled. The lobes of the muskie's tail are more pointed than those of the northern pike. The muskie usually has darker markings on a clear background. These marks are categorized into three categories:

Barred musky, Has vertical bars with a clear background.

Spotted musky, Has small dark brown or green spots down the length of the fish.

Clear or silver musky, these fish have virtually no markings, they are very silvery sided with a darker green-brownish back.
****************

And a lot of Muskie "clubs" and "shops" are referred to as "Silver Muskie _____" ... so I always assumed that was their full/correct name .. a Silver Muskie.
.......... cp

Thats interesting CP. I live in muskieville and I've never heard of them referred to that way. We have both true muskie and tigers in Chautauqua and I have caught plenty of both, but always when I was fishing for something else. I have caught 50 inchers of both. Chautauqua used to be the premier muskie lake in the world many many moons ago before they were as popular as they are now, but like pretty much everything in my unfortunate lake they have been mismanaged. Funny thing is that no matter how they screw this lake up it still manages to be outstanding in one way or the other all on its own despite the DEC's efforts. Something I'm truly appreciative of. For example, right now the truly outstanding walleye fishing we have had for 10 yrs is winding down every year and the muskie numbers are going up again though mainly the huge numbers are smallish fish. It also has 5-7lb potential for smallies almost anywhere on the lake. I'm sure there is a 8lb plus state record swimming in the lake. Unfortunately, the crappies are out of sync with the cycle and have been pretty much dinks for 8-10 yrs. Before that this was a crappie heaven. I spent much of my spare time in my teens, 20's and early thirties catching crappies. Man I miss the way the lake was then.

to the top of the page ... to get rid of a banned spammer's post artifact

........ cp

Crappiepappy that muskie is nice, but it sounds like it sure was expensive. :D

Originally Posted by Gibbzilla

Crappiepappy that muskie is nice, but it sounds like it sure was expensive. :D

Yes, it was a bit of $$ .... and that's in 1985 dollars, too ... LOL!! But, it was done by a National Award Winning taxidermy outfit. And it still looks as good, today (22yrs later), as it did when I first got it !!

Normally, I'd have just released the fish and just told the story ... but, having caught it on such "micky mouse" equipment, and such light line, and it being a "legal" (length) catch ... and my first (and, as it turned out, my only one) ... I decided to pay the price, for tangible proof :p

Now .... if I can only "land" a 3lb Crappie ... and get it mounted ... then I'll have all the mounted wallhangers I want. Well, that is, of course, unless I happen upon a 6lb or larger Smallmouth or possibly a 2lb Bluegill or Shellcracker .... Then I might have to reconsider ....LOL!!

....... cp