releasing trophy muskies??

just a question: how many of u would release a trophy musky if u had 1 in your boat?? whatever size u consider a trophy is fine but if u actually got 1 what would u do with it??

just been wondering seeing many pics of muskies on shore looking like they are being kept. wondering if most of these fish are getting caught by walleye guys accidentally or what percent of musky guys would keep a fish.

i understand every1 has the right to keep any legal fish that they want to keep but with management these fish keep getting bigger and bigger.

my answer to the question is a trophy to me is anything 54 or bigger and i would get a replica made, especially if it’s a fatty! even if it’s pushing state/world record in my boat it would be released unless maybe if i had an accurate scale and could prove the record b4 killing it.

weigh in your opinions guys i’m interested to hear from u!

ps- u can’t catch a world record fish killing state record fish! haha bringing the world record back to MN!

It doesnt matter to mr what species it is … ALL BIG FISH are released from my boat period !!!

CPR is the only way

JMHO Jeff

Myself as a walleye/trout/salmon guy, has no interest in keeping them at all. In fact I hate when I get them on and could care less if they are 50 inches. I get a lot of them on the St Louis River fishing for walleye and they just outright mess your stuff up lol. Almost as bad as sturgeon.

I WAS WONDERING THE SAME THING, AS FOR ME I WOULD NEVER KEEP A MUSKY REGARDLESS WHAT SIZE. REPLICA ALL THE WAY.

Unless any big fish is hooked deep and on the way to mortality, I release it.

CPR for me. The #1 thing I think about when holding a 50+ fish is the number of years she has made it to get to her magnificant feature. Have to respect a 20yr old fish in her home before you repect her in your own.

i like these answers guys, sounds like you all have much respect for the fish! i think the thing with most people is we get posessive sometimes and think we need the fish on the wall to prove something or to say it’s “ours”. may just be human nature.

i hold a world line record for salmon or at least i did for a while. But salmon are a put and take fishery and they die young (4 years) so i’ve got no problem with one of my clients keeping salmon. Lake trout, rainbows, different.

Walleyes, muskies, northerns we do pics and tackle box weighin and replicas all the way.

If you caught a trophy fish, someone has already released it. What a shame it would be to keep someone else from such a great picture!

All the fish on my wall currently are replicas. Same with my dad’s wall. After seeing so many replica fish (which look better than skin mounts) I see no reason to kill a fish. Unless you are going to eat it.

CPR all the way in my boat.

In the case of a record sized fish….clobber. Without a question or an apology. If it isn’t a record, then I would release due to the fact that I have no interest in a 4-1/2 foot long fish hanging on my wall. If it was a record – clobber, verify, register, and skin mount. Replicas are not for this guy. Give me a good old fashioned skin mount any day.

T

I think responses to your question are going to somewhat depend on the attitude of the forum, that being said, none of the musky hunters I know, least those I remember talking to, plan on keeping them, a state record might be different though.

Would I?
No, and a replica both costs to much and just doesn’t look like a well done real fish to me, plus I have one on the wall I wished I’d let go already, just not into mounting fish anymore.

I’m not into hanging a large Musky by the gill plate while it’s hauled around to take pictures or get it out of the
net while the person (many times a Pro) proclaims C&R is the only way either…but that’s just me.

I release all the musky’s I catch, other species depend on whether I’m in the mood for fish or not.

Al

I am a big bass guy and I release every bass I catch. I don’t eat them because i love fishing for them. If someone with me wants to keep them I don’t let them keep anything over 15in and thats the end of it. I have caught a couple in the 7lb range and thrown them back no hesitation but if i do get one in MN in the 8lb I will probably mount it… only one fish though. I also love muskie fishing and throw back everyfish I get but once again if I did infact get one in the boat over 53in I would consider mounting it.

I think you started this thread after seeing the pic of the 55″ in the general discussion forum that was kept. Just so you know, they tried to release the fish, but it would not swim away. I think he is doing the right thing by mounting it since the fish died.

As for me, I have released every muskie I have ever caught up to 53.5″. They will always be released in my boat unless for some reason the fish does not swim away.

i know i talked to the guy about that. it was the rite thing to do and some fish just die.

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As for me, I have released every muskie I have ever caught up to 53.5″. They will always be released in my boat unless for some reason the fish does not swim away.

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Right on