Merry Fishmas - FFS Debate - Reducing Stress on ‘skies

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Merry Fishmas!

We wanted to kick this newsletter off by wishing you all a Merry Fishmas!

Last week, we featured some musky themed holiday cheer. But there’s plenty more to go around.

These Bulldawg, Medussa and Posseidon themed ornaments by Lakeshore Native will up your holiday game.

Looks like Santa swung by Ezoko and filled up his sleigh with some Musky Bumper fatboys. *Send this meme to your buddies that like to exaggerate their fish. 😂

Found this retro image of Santa catching a musky posted by Bill’s Musky Club. Looks like an instant classic.

Next up we have wooden muskies hanging on the tree by Nestled Pine Woodworks out of Sconnie.

Who needs reindeer when you can catch a ride on a slime rocket like this one carved by Casey Edwards.

At Stiegler Artworks, they have five original ornaments to choose from. We like this one named “Golden Water Musky.”

We’re wishing you all a happy, healthy holiday season with positive musky vibes in the coming year. Thanks for being a subscriber!

 

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Fish of 10,000 Cash

Dennis Anderson decided to throw a little fuel on the 🔥 fiery forward facing sonar (FFS) debate with his recent Minnesota Star Tribune article. 

The title? “Is it muskie fishing, or muskie cheating? With new sonar gadget, it’s hard to tell.”

It’s a fair question and it’s basically at epicenter of the whole (FFS) debate in the musky world these days.

Dennis had a few guides weigh in on the issue including Josh Stevenson, Brad Hoppe, and Scott Kieper. Here’s a few quotes from the article . . .

“But it's muskies that are already suffering from the increasingly widespread use of FFS, turning the pursuit of these trophies from one that historically has required 10,000 casts to one, as Josh Stevenson says, that requires only "10,000 cash."

"When you teach a person about muskies and how to fish for them, and particularly how to handle and release them when you catch them, you're promoting the sport of fishing," said Kieper.

When you teach them how to turn on a machine and drive around a lake looking for fish, you teach them nothing."

"I don't think the muskie fishery can be sustained the way things are going," said Brad Hoppe.

"But muskie stocking in Minnesota has seen a downturn, which is affecting muskie fishing here," he said. "Add to that the more often these fish are being touched due to the higher catch rates resulting from forward-facing sonar, and the more mortality there is."

Said Stevenson: "If forward-facing sonar isn't where we draw the line to save muskie fishing, and perhaps all of fishing, where is the line?"

Maybe that’s the bigger issue that needs to be debated more. (Whether the technology itself is crossing the line vs. how it is being used.) It seems like almost everyone on both sides of the debate seems to be hung up on “ethics” and “fair chase” in regard to how FFS is being used vs. whether it should be used at all.

The trouble with “ethics” and “fair chase” is that they are subjective and how these concepts are perceived and defined will vary from person to person . . . which is likely why the musky community has become so divided on this topic.

A while back, we created an FFS survey in hopes of identifying what things we as a musky community are most aligned on regarding ethics and technology and also what we are most fragmented on.

We have not closed down the survey yet, so there’s still time to complete it if you haven’t already.

Warning: This survey is extremely long and it will take about 15-20 minutes to complete. (But, if it makes you feel any better, it took us a lot longer to create it!)

Judging by the amount of time people spend lighting up the comments section on this topic, we're hoping they will take the time to complete the entire survey.

Please note: We have the survey divided into three sections for three different groups of people.

1. A survey for musky anglers and musky guides that do not own or frequently use forward facing sonar 

2. A survey for musky anglers (that aren't guides) that own and frequently use forward facing sonar 

3. A survey only for musky guides that own and use forward facing sonar.

All three versions of the survey have the exact same questions. The only difference is, the musky anglers and guides that own and use FFS have additional questions asking them about how they are using it and quantifying how it effects their catch rates, size of the fish they catch, etc. The group of guides and anglers that do not currently own FFS also have one extra question on how they feel others using FFS may be affecting their own fishing experience.

We're going to leave this survey up for a while so everyone has time to complete it. (So far we have a little over 200 responses and we would like to get a bigger sample size.) We'll let you know in a future newsletter when we're wrappin' things up.

 

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Dealing with Musky Stress

 This week we had a great Musky Insider PRO Q&A session with fisheries biologist Jordan Weeks. 

 

While identifying signs of stress is important, it also should be noted that sometimes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Here’s a few of Jordan’s thoughts on the topic . . .

“What I would suggest for every angler is to try to minimize the amount of time that fish is under stress.

You want to minimize the total amount of time from the hookset till that fish is back in the water and out of your hands because that’s the part as an angler that you can control.

If you’re noticing weird things about the fish and signs of stress it might already be too late.”

⏰ Time = Stress

“If I was going to give you a time to shoot for. (from hook-set to release) I would say definitely under three minutes and if you can be under two, that’s even better.

For out of water time, I would say hold your breath and when you gotta breathe, that fish should be back in the water. Generally, that would be 30 seconds or definitely under a minute.”

Here’s a few tips Josh Borovsky and Jordan shared on how to reduce stress and/or speed up the catch and release process . . .

1. If your bait gets hooked high in the hoop while netting fish, cut the hook holding the bait to the bag immediately and keep the hoop and fish submerged until the cutters are ready to use.

2. If a fish is hooked deeply, using Lindy fish handling gloves (and your thumbs to pry open the fishes mouth) will go much faster than using a jaw spreaders. They are a lot more fish friendly than a boga grip or other gripping devices that can cause further stress and permanent damage.

 

3. Once hooks are out of the fish, it’s time to reflect for a second. What have you put the fish through up to that point? Was it hooked in a high risk area like the tongue, gullet, or gills? Did you have to lift the fish’s head out of the water while working on it? How long has the whole process taken up to this point?

4. This is a critical moment where you need to make the decision whether or not to skip a bump board measurement and/or an out of the water photo. If some of the above didn’t go as well as you hoped, your next move might be critical to a successful release.

5. Other things to look for before removing the fish from the water (if you plan to) include bright red fins, the fish losing color, or not being able to hold itself upright. These are all signs of significant stress and it might be best to consider a water release.

6. This last one is important and something most musky anglers are overlooking. If you choose to take a bump board measurement and photo of the fish, take the photo of the fish first and measure the fish second. The process will take significantly less time this way and the fish will be less likely to flop around on the board.