To Net Muskies or Not to Net Muskies?
Hand Land versus Net Land
I’ve been a serious muskie angler spending many weekends traveling Minnesota and Wisconsin and occasionally Ontario in search of and landing muskies. I never netted a muskie. To be fair I fish muskies mostly with jigs and smaller baits making it easier to hand land them. I understand netting them. It’s generally more safe for people to land muskie in a net and handle them. Some say it’s better for the muskie too. I get it. But for me part of the thrill of muskie fishing is fighting the fish and hand landing it. In many instances this did lead to unhooking and releasing the fish in the water thus no photo of a muskie in my arms or my angling partner and I’m ok with that. An many other times upon unhooking them muskie were mello long enough to hold them and get a quick snap shot.
Hand landing a muskie takes skill and care and it can be done with no accidents or damage to the muskie. Tools of the trade as we called them, bolt cutters, long nose pliers and jaw spreaders were on the ready. Sometimes it takes two anglers to carefully unhook the fish while it’s in the water. It’s true that hand-landing muskie takes longer to land the fish. And I know some think this leads to stressing out the fish but does it really stress them out more than trashing in a net seconds after being hooked? I don’t know the answer but I have my opinion. In my experience…guessing over 100 muskies hand-landed that all of them were released basically unharmed and healthy. I’ve seen a zillion muskie videos on social media and it’s hard for an old angler like me to understand hooking a muskie and netting it as quickly as possible. Much of the tussle is done in the net. I’ve seen a muskie netted literally within 5 seconds of being hooked. I get it.
Now back in the day…the 80’s, 90’s muskie anglers as I remember fought the fish and either hand landed it (not many but some) or netted the fish after it had tired a bit during a battle that lasted 30 seconds, maybe a minute. Some muskie anglers had muskie cradles in their boat and they would guide the fish into the cradle and in most cases would unhook the fish in the cradle while it was in the water.
Times Change or do they?
I’m not here to hammer netting fish immediately. I get it. Muskie anglers value these fish immensely. But I am here to ask; is this tactic best for the fish? I am aware it’s probably best for the angler. Maybe I’m cynical but what I see in todays world of social media is many folks want the muskie in the boat fast. Videos and photos are highlights captured and I understand that when it comes down to it many anglers like to have their muskies acknowledged. I have hours of videos and many photos. I get it. I’m under the belief and maybe I’m wrong but back in the day fighting muskies was the fun part. Along with successfully and carefully landing the fish and releasing it as unharmed as possible. Have times changed when it comes to landing muskies? Did we always get them in the net as fast as possible?
Netting muskies is ok and smart. It’s safer for the angler. And since I don’t really have experience with it I’m assuming that in most instances the fish is basically unharmed. What still baffles me though is how fast I see muskies go in the net.
I’ll be muskie fishing this fall. I’ll be fishing a jig. Most likely with a big plastic trailer…a 7 inch black reaper or a lizard. I’ll get bit. I’ll lose a fish and I’ll land some…without a net. But for me that’s part of the game.