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5:23 pm
Moderators
February 19, 2004
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I was inspired to post a copy of this fishing report from the Lake Hopatcong site...
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Another slow day for me. Caught some small smallmouths, small pickerel and a bunch of perch. Finally caught a 16.5" Brown on a herring in Great Cove. But I did net a recently deceased 40" Tiger Muskey out in the main lake. It had hook marks in it's jaw. It was a beautiful fish in full color. Too bad.
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CATCH PHOTO RELEASE
12:07 am
March 22, 2004
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Hey Arch,
Thanks for the articles. Especially that second on concerning the netting. I guess I should have let my brother deal with his own fish last Saturday as opposed to my trying to use the cradle.
DL
DL
2:43 am
DL,thats not right.if two guys are in the boat you have to work together for the safty of the fish.you know the jones boyz have all had there things go wrong while using the cradel.when handeling these fish,experience goes a long way.when you think about the fred jones,bob jones,and greg ridge of the club these guys have landed a good # of fish and are confident in the way they do it .i know bob is a get the net guy ,and fred landes them by hand .and thats what there confident in.I know i have less than 20 muskies under my belt,and bob has netted and unhooked half of them for the safty of the fish.you keep using that cradle and 50 fish from now it will be second nature,experience and confidence
chuck jones
3:43 am
Thanks archie,a lot of good stuff.I though,have my own opinion.The craddle,in my opinion,is worthless.Very difficult to manuver.And in order to get the fish to lay in it you really have to tire it out.How much stress is that.I beleive in getting the fish released as soon as possible.Hand landing.DANGER.Its great to be concernd about the fish but if you get a hook in the arm{Dave and Jason from Cave Run will tell you}it aint pretty.If you "have" to hand it thats one thing.But make a practice of it,not me.A good DEEP net has worked well for me.Alot of time the fish throws the lure once it gets in the net.Yes,some times it wraps up.I am all for loking out for the fish.I am starting to limit the amount of pictures i take so i dont have to take to fish out of the water.Water release picture when your with someone should become the standerd.But do not put yourself in harms way if you dont have to.Release em good and BE CARFULL.Bob
2:07 pm
March 22, 2004
Offline
Hey Chuck,
Thanks for the thoughts. It seemed a perfect fit at the time, the way the fish was coming into the boat. It just seemed a matter of it gliding right onto the net and picking it up out of the water. If I had held the front edge of the net lower, beneath the fish, I'm sure that's what would have happened. Oh well, sucked to be me at that point.
Bob's point about a big, deep net makes sense but with the money spent on the cradle and the heretofor used practice of hand landing them, I think I'll either continue with that method or learn to use the cradle more effectively.
Regardless, with the time spent on the water, in pursuit of these bad boys, just the act of hooking and fighting them is priceless and the pics are gravy. So everything that can be done to ensure that they return to the water safely and are around to fight another day is the key.
DL
DL
2:13 am
If done correctly, landing a fish with a large-hooped, deep net, in my opinion is the best way to go. Craddles are a nice idea, but they tend to be a two-man operation. Plus, they take a lot of practice getting used to. Unless you're fishing areas where hooking up with fish is fairly regular, this can take some time. As for hand-landing, I agree with Bob. This is not a practice I feel very comfortable with. Unless the fish is very calm at the side of the boat, it just never made sense to me to get your hands anywhere near all those hooks. I prefer to net the fish tail-first to avoid getting hooks tangled in the net, then try not to lift the full weight of the fish from the water to avoid damaging the fins. You can keep the fish in the water until the hooks are out, then get a hand under the gill plate and slide the fish out, grabbing it underneath the belly with your free hand. Just be sure to have the reel in free-spool. All of these methods have their advantages and disadvantages. The main thing is to do what you are most comfortable with, so long as the fish is back in the water quickly.
EsoxMan
5:11 pm
Guy's,
I have landed and unhooked probably 80% of the muskies I've caught by hand and this is always a VERY HAIRY THING! Most of my fishing is done from my 12 foot aluminum boat and almost all of the rest of it is done from the river bank. In the boat I don't have the room for a large deep net, and if your walking (climbing or crawling) along the river bank dragging a good net along just isn't gonna work, but given the option I would rather use the big deep net EVERY TIME!
The big net not only makes the release so much easier and safer, But it gets the fish the first time when you use it right. I can't tell you how many fish have been close enough to net two or three times but end up shaking off before it's SAFE to get a handle on them. LOST FISH! Plain and simple.
The big quality deep net is your best bet in my opinion.
Bigfish.
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