Michigan Muskie Alliance

I guess we all have our comfort zone in how we handle fish, as this thread is showing. What's really great about the timing of this discussion is that it gives us all some time to think how we have handled these critters in the past, and re-think any improvements that we can make in a few weeks. Tha...

Mike, it sounds like you are gun-shy because of your bad experience with that one fish. I think what the other side is saying here is that the scenario you described is VERY rare with the big finsavers. We get our fish in the net as quickly as possible because they really chill out once in the bag. ...

My first piece of fishy feedback on the invisibraid - african cichlids love it! I soaked again to get a good look at it underwater, and they chewed the crap out of it. Mmm...delicious dyneema.

Something else to add - Duke and I often get the net in hand and ready to scoop BEFORE a fish is hooked. This is done on throwbacks to hot fish, figure 8's when it's obvious they are probably going to take a swing, and also when entering into an area where a customer has been pinpointed. We have lan...

Oh man!!!

The invisibraid is perfectly round, and has a tighter packed, higher thread density than the Stealth. Haven't had any chance to test durability in the field yet...though I see the real Pete (Maina) was touting it pretty highly on the last few 'The Next Bite' shows. Sounded like the next generation o...

As John knows, I can't help much on the trolling line - only do that about 2% of the time. Plan on bumping it up in the 3-4% range for 2008 though. Until I get more serious about it, I'll just do the superbraid, light drag thing. But as far as the ultracast invisibraid goes - I picked up some 80 lb ...

It seems the further north you head, the deeper the angst runs towards the DNR. That's equally true for hunters and fisherman...and that culture is propagated by gun shops, bait shops and guides. As just one example, when I asked 2 of the die hard spearers up here a few years ago why they choose to ...

Too funny! I sent that pic in ages ago, along with a slew of big-ish fish that fell for sq burts...based on advice from Pete M, I was hoping for some freebies to show up at the door in exchange. Now that he isn't associated with mania tackle anymore, it will probably be a long wait!

It had been tagged, but unfortunately was eaten upon release by the infamous, and well-documented 8 footer.

Was this another bait shop tale, I wonder?

Yeah, I was typing as you were talking so as not to miss anything. Important stuff. Also, I didn't want your backwoods Breckenridge writing skills to cloud or misconstrue the point...

Just an FYI here - the collecting biologist on Budd said that the majority of dead fish collected were over 33". Given that Budd received 1000 Iowa fish in 2005, and only a handful of that year class turned up dead (in a lake that is known for having VERY high fingerling survival), I suppose you cou...

I'm sure Bryan will chime in later, but from what I was told the fish (and another caught later) had a few open sores, a blood-filled eye and bright red fins that appeared to also be filled with blood. Bryan said after checking out the sample pictures on the DNR website he was pretty convinced it wa...

Well said c-lunge. In fact, there is actually some good angler evidence to suggest that Sanford has had symptoms of the virus for a number of years, peaking in 2004 and tapering off after that. Probably similar stories on high traffic waters around the state. Another interesting side point is that l...

Tragic stuff…a matter of when, not if at this point I suppose. Just heard from a biologist that Sanford is also VHS positive. No fish die off, but tested fish from this spring (pike) did have the virus. We can only hope that the eventual musky mortality is say 1%, or 10%, not 90%. The dead muskies t...