Check out the MN Muskie and Pike Alliance website and also follow the commentary on their facebook page. MN has done an excellent job managing its muskie lakes and hopefully they can continue to get support!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Minnesota-Muskie-Alliance/340864160658
Interesting viewpoints my many.
Jake
Not in favor of it…I will leave it at that.
56″? Really? How many over 56 were caught in minnesota this year? You might as well push to turn the whole state catch and release only, that’s obviousy the intention
I don’t fish for Musky – but I agree with this being a Catch & Release only type tactic and I disagree with it. It’s hard enough to get a 50″ (but attainable) – let alone a 56″ which has to be rare.
Dumb and I dont even fish for them. Honestly I think it should be like 45″. To the majority of the people out there thats a once and a life time fish.
50″ fish are very common these days.
If you look at Canada’s history with this topic, and see what they did, it makes total sense.
I believe the minimum size should be raised. Strictly catch and release, no. 55 minimum, yes.
I believe it should be a 52 minimum with a tag sold so you can only keep 1 per year. I personally believe 55-56 is far too large for most anglers to achieve. Although I have been lucky enough to have 6 fish in my net over 55. 
Quote:
I believe it should be a 52 minimum with a tag sold so you can only keep 1 per year. I personally believe 55-56 is far too large for most anglers to achieve.
I agree with AJ. This proposal makes the most sense.
Just when I start to wonder “who’s keeping muskies these days anyways?” I am reminded that not everybody that catches a musky is a musky nut like me. I don’t mean for this to be condescending in any way, but I think in general most of today’s die-hard musky fishermen aren’t keeping fish. No matter what size they are. Heck, how many fish are released every year that could challenge the MN state record? I think a lot of musky guys already have the guy picked out to do a replica before a monster is even caught (I’m a Fittante guy by the way). But I forget that there are a lot of incidental catches by other anglers. Also, people that are just getting into the sport may not have an idea of how far we’ve come because of catch and release. Again, I feel no ill will toward anybody that wants to keep a musky nor do I hink they are bad people for wanting to do this. I just think that if MN wants to stay on top of the musky world they need to raise the size limits. 56″ is basically catch and release, excluding a few bodies of water. We do need to take a look at raising the limits so fish that are in their prime and heading towards trophy status are not harvested.
A big way to help this is by promoting proper release procedures in both the reg. books and possibly a video on the dnr website. We have a good thing going here in MN and we need to keep it up. Also, if anybody wants to know more about getting a graphite replica made. Check it out. Joe Fittante and Rick Lax both do great work. These replica’s look better and last longer than skin mounts. With all the stretching and fin drifting going on with skin mounts, these replica’s are probably more accurate anyways…
Sorry for the rant…My boat’s been put away for a week now and I’m bored.
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