On 10/30/2024 at 11:43 AM, TnRiver46 said:

can’t lay a muskie on the ground and take a picture

Well... you can, but you'll 100% for sure hear about it. 😂

But if you lay a gar on the ground , the ground immediately becomes nervous. More my speed haha

 

and they bite everything they see, even rope 

3 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Well... you can, but you'll 100% for sure hear about it. 😂

As you should.

9 hours ago, Further North said:

As you should.

I Agree. Muskie don't take mishandling well, and big ones are not an easily or quickly replaced resource. That said, this applies to most species to some degree. Unfortunately, we see lots of dirty bass in the pic thread.

5 hours ago, T-Billy said:

I Agree. Muskie don't take mishandling well, and big ones are not an easily or quickly replaced resource. That said, this applies to most species to some degree. Unfortunately, we see lots of dirty bass in the pic thread.

Education is the key, and doing it without chucking the person engaging in poor handling under the bus.

Some of the attacks on people who just don't know any better are ridiculous...and more likely to turn them off than get them handling fish properly.

6 hours ago, T-Billy said:

I Agree. Muskie don't take mishandling well, and big ones are not an easily or quickly replaced resource. That said, this applies to most species to some degree. Unfortunately, we see lots of dirty bass in the pic thread.

Dirt won’t hurt mister bass, they lay in it all winter long. 

The secret to catching Musky around here is to use expensive baits and light line. I have never fished for them but usually catch 3 or 4 a year fishing for bass. Last one I caught worth mentioning was 45" 21lbs on a JDM No-Knock LC Sammy. If you can fish the Potomac in western Maryland right now I know exactly where they are. A buddy of mine is a guide and he saw 7 of them cruising around a flat Sunday. The place he was at is also where the state record was caught a couple years ago.

 

Allen

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Dirt won’t hurt mister bass, they lay in it all winter long. 

There's a considerable difference between wet, saturated dirt, and dry dirt...and the gravel, sand, concrete, etc. that we see bass laying on all over social media.

25 minutes ago, Munkin said:

The secret to catching Musky around here is to use expensive baits and light line. I have never fished for them but usually catch 3 or 4 a year fishing for bass. Last one I caught worth mentioning was 45" 21lbs on a JDM No-Knock LC Sammy. If you can fish the Potomac in western Maryland right now I know exactly where they are. A buddy of mine is a guide and he saw 7 of them cruising around a flat Sunday. The place he was at is also where the state record was caught a couple years ago.

 

Allen

😂  You're not wrong...

...but there's a trick: Tie in a wire bite guard.

I actually intentionally fish for muskies (and pike) with heavy bass-sized gear (conventional and fly) about 90% of the time.  It works fine.

7 minutes ago, Further North said:

There's a considerable difference between wet, saturated dirt, and dry dirt...and the gravel, sand, concrete, etc. that we see bass laying on all over social media.

😂  You're not wrong...

...but there's a trick: Tie in a wire bite guard.

I actually intentionally fish for muskies (and pike) with heavy bass-sized gear (conventional and fly) about 90% of the time.  It works fine.

The dirt gets wet when you throw them back into the river 😂 

 

I think it’s bank fisherman that don’t want to fall into the water reaching down for a fish so they land flip ‘em. I’d have to imagine it rinses right off and fish can re generate slime coat 

8 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Unfortunately, we see lots of dirty bass in the pic thread.

 

Thank you for pointing this out.  The other thing that really irks me is when someone uses one of those metal j hooks on their scale and shove it into the gills.

 

The way professional bass anglers toss back some of their non-keepers is appalling to me too, especially on camera.  Show a little respect for the very fish that's providing you a line of work.