Here's a reply, and the original letter I wrote to WDNR regarding the general respect I have for muskies....I 'm cut-and pasting....

"Thanks for relaying the story. It's nice to hear from folks who have good fishing experiences! That's a nice fish. Sometimes they die - it's part of fishing. We estimate that about 7-10% die of hooking and/or handling.

It is possible that it's a male. It probably wouldn't extrude milt at that time of the year, though (they are ripe and breeding in the spring). Males can reach large sizes, it just takes them longer and most don't live long enough. It is undoubtedly a very old fish. The statewide average for a fish of that size would be around 16-17 years, and if it is a male, it could be even older. The taxidermist should be able to tell you if it's a male after he removes the internal organs. You might want to call and request that he jot down the gender for you.

The other thing we would have an interest in with a fish like that would be the "cleithrum". The cleithrum is a large curved bone (like a boomerang) just under the fishes skin at the trailing edge of the gills. We can use that bone to age the fish and determine its length at each age back through its life. I fish can still be mounted without that bone if it is taken from the back side. It would mean that you would have to ask the taxidermist to remove it for you. If you decide to pursue this, we would need the date, lake, length, sex, and method of collection (angling) on a slip of paper. The bone should be cleaned off and sent in a zip lock bag to our age and growth specialist, Kent Bass in Spooner:

Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources
810 W Maple Street
Spooner WI 54801

The taxidermist may know about the bone, but if not, I've attached a document with information on its location and removing it (but don't send the bone to Ontario! The guy running the project has retired!!).

Thanks for letting us know about such a great catch. I you would like to get the bone to us, we can always use more age and growth data from large muskies.

Sincerely,

Tim Simonson, FM/4
Bureau of Fisheries Management
DNR, PO BOX 7921, 101 S WEBSTER ST
MADISON, WI 53707
voice (608) 266-5222; fax (608) 266-2244
Timothy.Simonson@dnr.state.wi.us


-----Original Message-----
From: frazer1234@comcast.net [mailto:frazer1234@comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2006 7:11 PM
To: Scheidegger, Karl J - DNR
Cc: frazer1234@comcast.net
Subject: What a Fish

Karl,

Maybe you can help me to identify this fish.

Back on 9/20/06 my brother-in-law and I were fishing for muskies near Boulder Junction, Northern Wisconsin. It was 8:00AM and I tossed a late season bucktail (don’t care for muskies on a live bait myself—Catch and Release) into a small school of Cisco (?) that were surfacing some 20 yards away. I slow dragged the lure through the are a I felt a “weed bed” (water was about ten feet deep) so I gave the rod a tug while retrieving the reel. The bait pulled again and a fish was on—that was no weed. A huge head of a muskie surfaced.

It was a wonderful fight that took no little time as he came and went from the boat-side. However, to the point….

Our net was too small and I had to hand off the rod and hand-land the fish. He measured 37” in the water. While “Bro” got the hook grabber I could see that it was a perfect fish; unmarred.

Wouldn’t you know it, the fish swallowed the treble hook deep into the throat and hooked top and bottom deep inside. That attack from him must have been a rush, as onto the minnows, from the rear. The hook grabber couldn’t reach, though I could see that Bro almost could snag one tine. We pulled the fish from the water and continued to try to free him. The hook was too deep. It was during this time that the fish seemed to “loose it.” I was sprayed with pee and milk.

Bro got out the side cutters and still couldn’t reach---too much time was passing. We ended up cutting the lure. I held the fish in the water and he seemed to swim down. I was still shaking when in a minute he was on the surface, on his side. We retrieved the fish, tried to revive him, but he just floated. I pulled him into the boat and we sped back to the lodge, just across the small lake.

Bro raced up a got the lodge owner. We thought his experience would help us to release the fish. The lodge owner had a pair of bolt cutters, but, like a comedy of errors, they couldn’t cut the trebles. Finally, with the longer cutters he was able to release the trebles. We were all bleeding---fish and the three stooges. Those teeth are sharp, like the proverbial needles.

The gills stopped moving, as I never took the fish from the boat at the dock and kept him in the water while waiting for help.

The fish was mine, dead, and like it or not. We remeasured the fish and came up with 49.5”. We didn’t pull the tail. We were all too excited. I called my daughter back in Bloomington, IN, college. She, a vegetarian, told me to have the beast mounted for an heirloom. I was sad and proud at that same time. He measured 48.5" at the taxidermist, without pinching the tail, again.

The fish is now in a taxidermy shop. They haven’t done any work on it, yet.

My question is this…is this a male? Does the WDNR have an interest in more details about this fish?

I think that it is a gigantic male. It will be ready for my wall come January.

Best lake in the country."

Here's the related link to WDNR site regarding muskie age....good info.


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