Project Noble Beast

Fall Success

2011-10-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted here in a while, primarily because my research efforts have been redirected away from muskies. However, I felt an urge to post here of a recent hard-fought success my buddy had.

In a nutshell, we had excellent fishing weather: breezy, cloudy, bit of rain, stable lake levels (though post-draw down). Fish should have been concentrated in a few areas, but apparently they didn't get the memo. Fished a solid 6-7 hours with nothing; no follows, strikes, or boils. I was ready to call it quits around 4:30 and grab dinner. Brandyn usually keeps us motivated during times of doubt and I didn't mention leaving again (call me somewhat fair-weather, or impatient during fall). We brainstormed about how to spend the remainder of our day and decided on a funnel area. Brandyn let me take the boat and I pointed the bow toward deep water where I was fishing a Bulldawg. Brandyn pitched a 10" Jake tight to shore along a lay-down. Suddenly I hear Brandyn chirp up about a "figure 8!!!!" (said emphatically and with a chuckle at the end). Thinking he was joking around I non-chalantly turned around and nearly had to push my eyeballs back into their sockets when I saw his rod doubled over and a fish headshaking like a helicopter about 2' down. The fish fought well, taking Brandyn from one corner of the boat, up and around the bow, and to the other corner where I scooped the fish into the bag. Sweet victory. Made the 4 hour drive (for me living in Chicago) somewhat bearable... ;)

OK, I guess that was the nutshell + the nut. Enjoy the photos. (I left the sky photo full-size to be used for whatever you wish. It might become my desktop picture! Gotta thank Brandyn for pointing out the lighting.)

Link to catch-and-release study

2011-08-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I've posted anything here. New job and barely any fishing time has taken me away from this blog. I'll have to decide where this goes from here out because the work has finished.

Anywho, here's a link to the C&R study: Landsman et al. 2011

I go in for my oral defense next Monday. Here's to hoping it goes well!

2011 Muskie Opener: Results

2011-06-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the much anticipated opening of muskie season in FMZ 18. The extent of my fishing experience this season has been jigging micro-spoons through 7" ice holes and chucking tiny tubes in April and May once the lakes and rivers thawed. June 4th would mark the first time in 2011 I could cast something larger than my pinky finger.

I sharpened my hooks Friday, strung up my rods, tied on a few leaders, and slept fast. The plan was to fish one section of the Rideau River in the morning and another in the afternoon/evening.

We hit the water shortly after 7:30AM and blasted up the river in my friend's Stratos. The plan was to find good weeds, if possible. The water was 65F when we got to our first spot and I was delighted to see good weed growth. Eric was casting a bucktail, Hedrik tossed several lures, and I kept switching baits every 5 minutes until something "spoke" to me. I stood on the front deck and casted alongside Eric who, after about 30 minutes on the water, rifled a cast toward a wall of rip-rap. A couple of cranks into his retrieve and he reared back and set the hook. I scrambled for the net and waited for the fish to make its appearance. The fish suddenly appeared as it swam toward the boat and much to my surprise it was a lot bigger than I expected (this section of the river is not known for the size of its fish). A couple runs later and I scooped it into the net, which now held Eric's new personal best. A few quick pictures and the spawned out 44" female went back in the water and took off like a shot from a gun!

Lady luck was on our side and for the next 1-2 hours we had a nice run of action, boating two small sub-30" fish, losing another, and a couple of exciting topwater and bucktail follows. After moving to our third spot I decided to switch to a bucktail, despite catching a small fish on a glide bait. Eric questioned my decision and I didn't have an answer for him; it was just a gut instinct. Well, my instinct paid off as a fish came in hot behind my bucktail. I sped into my figure 8 and on the 2nd turn the fish grabbed my bucktail. My momentum was still carrying me forward and I instinctively set the hook away from the fish. Though the hook penetrated the fish's jaw, I knew it wasn't hooked well. I played the fish as lightly as possible and we after a couple small runs the fish was in the bag. Soon, the 42"er was back in the water and swimming away.

The rest of our day proved unfruitful. Although the fishing stunk (bad weed growth, poor water clarity), we were fishing in the most unique setting I have ever fished in. Instead of birds chirping and frogs croaking, the hum of cars and bike, whirring of roller blades, steady thumping of joggers were all we heard as we casted our baits on what is, in the winter,the world's largest outdoor skating rink!

When we finally made it home, my body was so sore I could barely move. Even lying in bed hurt! 'Tis the price we must pay for the sport we enjoy!

Tight lines folks.

Why 90 seconds?

2011-06-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

I feel compelled to write a post today based on a comment about this project I received recently. In short, the comment took issue with the use of 90 seconds as an air exposure duration in the catch-and-release study. What follows is my response (should anyone ever directly ask me).

By and large, specialized muskellunge anglers handle their catches similarly; we use nets big enough to fit over most 5-year old kids, "thief approved" bolt cutters, and pliers big enough to yank an elephant's tooth out. However, when it comes time to proving that we as anglers aren't liars, there is a high degree of variability. Some people adhere to a 3 picture maximum, or an air exposure duration equivalent to the length of time you can hold your breath, while still others prefer to allow others in the boat a chance to hold the fish and maybe take video. Bottom line, some fish are held out of water for as little as 10 seconds and maybe up to a couple minutes, depending on how someone chooses to "admire" their catch. Furthermore, this was evident based on the responses from surveys passed around to a couple Muskies Canada chapters. Ninety seconds, therefore, is not an excessive amount of time. Five minutes might be, but 90 seconds is probably not.

What did our research show? Ninety seconds is OK, though I will take this opportunity to say that it is always best for the fish to limit air exposure as much as possible. This doesn't give everyone the green-light to hold fish out-of-water for 90 seconds, but it should tell you that these fish can withstand that much air exposure. None of the fish we tagged in our study died as a result of angling, which suggests to me that these fish are much more resilient than some are willing to admit.

Now, trout on the other hand... you just look at those buggers wrong and they seem to die on you!

Diets of YOY St. Lawrence Muskellunge

2011-05-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

A fellow muskie researcher, Kevin Kapuscinski, at the State University of New York - College of Environmental Science and Forestry has characterized the diets of YOY muskies in the St. Lawrence River. Click the link below (great URL for the blog) to see what these little tikes are munching on. Banded killifish would not have been one of my guesses!

http://masquinongy.wordpress.com/

Dr. John Farrell of SUNY - ESF runs the 1,000 Islands Biological Station on the St. Lawrence River. Some of the most important research on St. Lawrence muskies have come from Dr. Farrell, his lab, and the 1,000 IBS. I would love to see the station some time; what a setting to carry out your research on! Take a look at the station's website (1,000 Island Biological Station) and peruse the photo gallery for really cool fisheries research photos, including the giant muskie captured below.

Good News

2011-04-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

The catch-and-release manuscript has been accepted for publication pending revisions. Favorable reviews with legitimate comments/edits. Cool beans!

Update: Walters and Musky Hunter

2011-03-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Long time, no post. Not much to report these days. Lots of data analysis, re-analysis, hair pulling, and re-re-analysis. A few days ago I left to help with a walleye telemetry project in Lake Erie/Lake Huron. We're tagging some great big Walters (walleye) on the Maumee River and (soon) the Tittabawassee. These are part of my duties as a research assistant. I consider myself pretty darn lucky!

Dr. Karen Murchie making a small incision to insert an acoustic transmitter. This fish will enable researchers to determine the movements of Lake Erie/Huron walleye: project description.

In other news, if you can get your hands on the newest issue of Musky Hunter (April/May) you'll see an article on Ottawa River muskies with a bit at the end of the article on my research. I'm looking forward to working with Musky Hunter in the future to disseminate our findings.

Hold Your Horses

2011-03-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, this blog details the trials and tribulations of research. Sometimes, you mess up. I'm by no means a math genius and don't consider myself an expert statistical software user. I learn as I go, through trial-and-error and a lot of consulation and independent research. In reviewing the procedures I used to run the stats on my data, it appears I was doing it incorrectly. You have learn to speak the language of the software and apparently I was mumbling because there seems to be a miscommunication. One of the things I was super excited about turns out to not be statistically significant. The data is still interesting and there's still a story, but the "wow" factor may have just been knocked down a notch.

Keep on keepin' on.

2011-03-09T14:48:00.000-08:00

For all my fellow anglers out there, I think you will find the results of the telemetry data analysis quite interesting. Some of it may confirm what you've observed for some time, some of it may surprise you. Currently, we're looking at how time of day (dawn, day, dusk, night), lunar quarter for both waning and waxing periods (eight total quarters), and temperature affect activity and depth. Time permitting we may explore other variables, but for now that's all we will examine.

Who knew data could be this fun to analyze!

Muskies Canada Board-of-Director's Meeting

2011-02-27T14:55:00.001-08:00

I had the honor of speaking at the Muskies Canada board-of-directors meeting yesterday. The presentation was actually one of the hardest I have ever had to create because little else is needed to complete the project at this point, aside from sitting my butt down in front of my computer and writing. However, it forced me to think (always a good thing) about issues that I will need to communicate when I defend my thesis. [A big thank you to my girlfriend for giving me direction on the contents of the presentation. THANKS, SARAH!]

Perhaps the biggest message to be gained from this project is that our research supports the notion that anglers CAN pursue catch-and-release fishing responsibly. It is our task as anglers to promote the well-being of released fish. Those that oppose catch-and-release fishing feel that the endeavor cannot be done responsibly and that too much detriment is done to the fish. This study shows that groups of anglers have the ability to create handling procedures that minimize physiological and behavioural disturbances and maximize post-release survival. Although these procedures work for muskies, other procedures may be better for different species and species-specific guidelines should be developed. I know there are many readers here from Europe, the States, and elsewhere across our planet that pursue other species. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to develop handling procedures that maximize survival and minimize other sub-lethal impacts!

I am pleased to deliver this message to scientists around the world both in print and verbally when this case study will be put on the "world stage" at the World Recreational Fishing Conference held this coming summer in Berlin. Some of the brightest minds involved in recreational fishing science will be in attendance at this conference (e.g., Zeb Hogan of National Geographic). Many congratulations should be extended to the specialized muskie angling community for developing and modifying handling practices over the years with no agency involvement and little science-based influence. You all have been ahead of your times!

OK, I'm done reflecting on the weekend. I felt like this was worthy of sharing to others that weren't in attendance at the meeting.

Also, big congrats to my friend, field assistant, and co-author, Hedrik Wachelka, for the distinguished service award he was given this weekend as well as the new conservation award founded in his name (effective from here forth!).

Submitted!

2011-02-15T11:18:00.001-08:00

I can now mark a big, fat CHECK on my to-do list. The catch-and-release paper has been submitted to Fisheries Research.

Now we wait and hear back from an editor and at least two referees. The fate of this paper now rests in the hands of these anonymous peer-reviewers (actually, first it's at the mercy of the editor then the reviewers).

OK, on to the next task!

Still Plugging Away

2011-02-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

The research and writing continues. I am in the process of putting the finishing touches on the muskie C&R manuscript. We're talking adding the literature cited section and then beginning the submission process to Fisheries Research. We're choosing this venue and not something like North American Journal of Fisheries Management because of the quick response FA is known for compared to NAJFM. In this day and age, biologists can access manuscripts from a variety of venues electronically and all it takes is one mass email and a bunch of forwarded messages to get this paper in the hands of those capable of putting it to good use.

My telemetry data set from this past summer has been a beast to deal with. I am typing from a 6-year old computer with Windows XP and the 2003 version of Excel. This old version of Excel couldn't hold more than 65,000 data points which posed a problem when I have 260,000+. I have been trying to piece-meal things together and trying other programs, but it has been a slow go. Microsoft Access was a good candidate, but I know nothing about the program. Finally, I was able to obtain a copy (free of charge!) of Microsoft Office 2007 including Excel 2007. This newer version can hold over 1,000,000 rows, thus the answer to my problems. Soon the data will be organized in such a fashion I can actually run some stats on it and start the analysis.

I will keep you all apprised on anything dramatic that happens with my thesis. The fun, however, ended last year with the last muskie for the C&R project being caught. From here on out it will be about stuffing as much information on all things muskie, fisheries biology, physiology, fish behavior, etc. as my cranium can hold.

Nevertheless, I have been enjoying the hard water season. If you don't own a flasher and ice fish, you owe it to yourself to buy one. I'm a student and don't make much money, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to purchase a Vexilar FL-8. My stomach (and girlfriend's) tells me it was a wise decision.

The Strange and Bizarre: Fish #2104

2011-01-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

Last week I received a message that someone had information about a transmitter. When I arrived in the office the next day I picked up the phone and called the number. The gentleman answered and I knew immediately the fish must have come from the Ottawa River. Sure enough, he told me his father-in-law was ice fishing and found a muskie washed up on shore (dead) at Petrie Island on the Ottawa River. As he recited the tag number and a serial number (first red flag) I realized something was wrong.

I hung up and flipped open my Excel spreadsheet for radio tagged muskies from 2009. The number he gave me was 2104... 2104, 2104, 2104. "Where is it? Wait, what the heck?" I closed that Excel spreadsheet and opened another: 2010 acoustic transmitter fish. Yep, there it was staring me in the face. 2104 was caught on June 15th, 2010 from the Rideau River, the only site we tagged fish with acoustic transmitters.

So, in order for this fish to have been tagged in the Rideau and make it all the way down to Petrie Island it would have had to travel approximately 26 miles. It's not a straight shot though; the fish would have had to negotiate four locks or three locks and a waterfall. After it successfully negotiated all that, then it would have had to swim another 11 miles to the island area.

The fish was last located on September 19th at the most upstream acoustic receiver in our Rideau study site. If it were swimming downstream we would have picked up its signal at each receiver as it swam downstream, or if not all receivers then at least some. However, the data show that the fish remained between only two (of nine) receivers for the duration of the study.

I'm wondering if an angler caught the fish and transported it into the Ottawa River. Why? Who knows. It's quite an unfortunate move. Unless the angler comes forward we'll never know for sure what happened to the fish. Nevertheless, it sure makes for an interesting story!

What's Ahead?

2010-12-09T15:30:00.000-08:00

Those that follow this blog may find it slowing down in the next few months. Why? The last official field season ended this past November. I'm in writing mode now and will continue to be for the next several months. I've now finished analyzing the data for the C&R manuscript and just need to compile it into a meaningful document. My goal is to have this manuscript off to a publisher in the next couple months.

Following that I will be crunching the 260,000+ data points from our telemetry project this past summer. Basically, I will be spending much of the winter slouched over my computer, probably doing irreparable damage to my spine, and trying to spend as much time ice fishing as possible.

My intention is to keep this blog alive through reviewing various concepts key to my Master's and important papers I come across. For example, in the past I have reviewed a paper discussing muskellunge stocking. In the future I will likely attempt to explain things like lactic acidosis or the mechanisms behind cortisol production. Though some (most?) of you may find it rather boring, the process will be useful to me as I prepare to defend my thesis next fall.

Many thanks to those who have remained steadfast visitors and followers of this blog. For those new, I hope you take a few minutes to peruse the archives and have fun with the content. Any questions, feel free to drop me an email.

Compromised

2010-12-03T11:29:00.000-08:00

It looks like my blood/plasma samples may have been compromised during transit. Our control fish have higher cortisol concentrations than our angled fish, a finding not at all expected. Cortisol concentrations, overall, were simply higher this year than they were last year. Chloride ions were also consistently higher than last year's data.

Given all of this, we may be forced to turf some of the data. It's quite unfortunate, but there's nothing I can do about it now. Bummer...

ATTN Students

2010-11-26T09:47:00.001-08:00

If there's anyone working on muskie-related projects in Canada, here's a link to student funding through Muskies Canada: Dr. Ed Crossman Research Grant.

Prairie Home Companions

2010-11-21T19:34:00.000-08:00

My weekends throughout high school and college usually involved fishing somewhere with friends and/or Dad. This weekend, after a nail-biter week, was no different. At 5AM, Dad and I hooked up the boat and headed out through the vast expanse of corn and soybean fields, now barren after the fall harvest, and scattered with glinting eyes of coyotes.

Shortly after sun-up we swung by my friend Ryan Jozwiak's house. I met Ryan in my first year of college, where both of us were members of the Fighting Illini Bass Club. We shared a passion for muskies and had the opportunity to fish a few times together. Since he's begun chasing these toothy critters, Ryan's angling prowess has grown tremendously. He now quietly boats big Illinois muskies every year, though he's too humble to tell many people. When I told him I was coming home we made plans to fish together, which brings us to today's shenanigans.

The day began with quite a bit of wind. We needed to figure out how the fish were behaving so the plan was to throw a variety of baits. Ryan had a small follow early on an erratic bait accentuated by many pauses. As we continued casting throughout the day, I began drawing from some of the information gleaned in my studies, particularly the use of vegetation by muskies no matter what time of year and regardless of forage base. OK, so not ground breaking, but when faced with coves full of great looking timber it was a necessary move. Sometime midday as we drifted down a shoreline, my bait was thumped hard and I was fast into a scrappy little muskie. A quick de-hooking and photo process led to a speedy release. The day yielded little action after that, save for a few follows here and there.

We left the lake as the sun blazed its twilight glory - a dazzling light show of purples, oranges, and reds. Watching the sun set over the prairies of Illinois brought back a flood of memories and I felt fortunate to be reminiscing in the company of friends and family.

So Far So...

2010-11-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

Good.

My samples arrived today and I've begun conducting the remainder of the analyses. I have to isolate three plasma ion concentrations - sodium, potassium, and chloride - and quantify cortisol concentrations. I was able to finish analyzing sodium and potassium ions today in a few hours.

I compared the values obtained today to those from last year's data and they are very similar. There's nothing out of whack... yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the next several days will yield similar results with our other physiological parameters.

Major Bummer Update

2010-11-16T07:35:00.000-08:00

Online tracking tells me the samples are en route to Illinois. Hopefully the samples arrive today and I can begin working tomorrow. Only until I process the samples will I know whether the plasma has been compromised or not.

If you've got fingers and toes, cross them for me. Wood nearby? I'd appreciate a couple knocks on it in my honor.

Apparently the online tracking system lied. It's a day later and the package is STILL in Memphis, Tennessee. I was told last night that the package would be shipped today and yet it has not. US Fish and Wildlife approved it, but FedEx must be having fun flinging poop around their warehouse because it's still not in the air! Looks like tomorrow will be the day, or maybe the next day, or maybe the next day after that, or maybe never! YAY FOR FEDEX!

Major Bummer

2010-11-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I am headed to Illinois for a combination family visit and to finish analyzing my blood samples. Last Tuesday I shipped them FedEx from Carleton, packaged in dry ice with the appropriate documentation stating what the blood was (fish) and that it was taken with authorization from the MNR. The folks at Carleton figured it would take 1-2 days to get to Illinois.

My samples are still sitting in a customs agency in Memphis, Tennessee, chilling in a refrigerator (despite my insistence that they be frozen) awaiting clearance by the Fish and Wildlife Service. I'm sure at this point the dry ice has evaporated and it's possible the samples may slowly be degrading. As the title of this post suggests, it's a major bummer. I worked all summer for these blood samples and, although not all will be lost if the blood goes to crap, to think that my data is being compromised by a "system" is nauseating. No problems last year, but then again this year isn't last year.

The good news is cortisol, the one physiological parameter I'm most interested in (it's the body's primary stress hormone), is fairly robust. If the temperature gets too high or the samples stay unfrozen for too long, however, the properties of the hormone may change and artificially increase or decrease concentrations in the plasma (not sure which way).

I hope they arrive tomorrow...

80 Pounds

2010-11-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

I'm not convinced weight calculators are very accurate, but in the absence of a scale they provide a better estimate than simply pulling a number out of thin air. Using the standard weight formula - (Length x Girth x Girth)/800 - the three fish Wally Robbins and I (err... scratch the "I" part) caught yesterday weighed, in total, 80 pounds!

Having learned from some of the best, including "Big" Jim McLaughlin, and putting in hundreds of hours on the water, Wally is quite intimate with the system we fished yesterday. He employs tactics that many of today's fast-paced anglers tend to scoff at or simply ignore. His methods give him the ability to unveil tiny nuances along vast weedlines, making him a much more efficient angler in a system that can often be overwhelming due to its seemingly uniform nature (i.e., very few "fishy" looking areas).

Wally primed me on his approach prior to stepping foot in his Lund, but I would probably consider myself the aforementioned fast-paced angler and had to see it to believe it...

After Wally's first fall fatty, I tried duplicating his tactic, but to no avail. I quickly went back to throwing faster paced lures telling myself, "Hey, one fish doesn't make a pattern."

When I slid the net under Wally's second fall fatty, I decided "OK, I get it now!" And after Wally's third fall fatty (our biggest of the day), I was thoroughly convinced. Although we did not catch any more fish, a trifecta of heavy muskies made for a great day!

Here Comes the Sun!

2010-11-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... NOT!

The rain began the moment we started driving to our destination today and is still coming down as I type. I hate cold rain...

That didn't stop us from putting five in the boat. Nothing huge though, in fact this body of water is not known to produce many fish over 40". Nevertheless, it was a blast. And I got a bonus 25" walleye to boot!

Cheers!

Afternoon Delight

2010-11-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

"....Started out this morning feeling so polite; I always thought a fish could not be caught who didn't bite; But you've got some bait a waitin' and I think I might try nibbling;
a little afternoon delight." (Starland Vocal Band)

OK, so this is a different afternoon delight than what's referred to in the song, but it was still oh-so-sweet. Following a few hours of desk work for me and a visit to the Doc's office for Hedrik, the two of us reverted back to simplicity and fished from his little portable boat - no gas powered motor, no electronics and only a handful of lures. We silently drifted down the river with rush hour traffic whizzing by behind us. Ah, the joys of urban fishing.

As we finished our drift Hedrik suggested trolling back upstream. I hopped on the trolling motor and we proceeded forth. Just past a bridge abutment my rod buckled. Thinking my Grandma snagged bottom (previously my Depthraider had last year when we fished the same area), I half-heartedly reefed back. When the rod responded with a couple solid thumps I knew I was not snagged! A couple minutes later after a great fight - lots of twists, spirals, and rolls - the 38.75" muskie was safely secured. It looked quite gnarly sporting a rather nasty mucous coat, but upon release it bolted out of my hand like bullet from a handgun.

After fishing the remainer of the river stretch we drifted back down to the bridge and anchored just upstream of a couple bridge abutments. I fired my Grandma past the abutment and worked it upstream. Just as the lure cleared the base of the abutment my rod loaded up. I slammed the hooks home and the fight was on. It didn't take long for this scrappy 37.75" to relinquish itself to my firm grasp. The out-of-body experience, or should I say out-of-water, didn't last long for the fish and again it swam back to whence it came.

Afternoon delights (plural)!

Triple Whammy and Tim Allard's Photos

2010-11-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Did a bit of relaxing fun fishing today with friend Eric Fontaine. Headed out to the river this morning with a couple rods and a box of lures. Before leaving the storage room I grabbed a few quick-strike rigs with the intention of stopping to grab a few suckers. We are doing a small side project to assess the viability of alternatives to J-hook rigged live-bait fishing for muskies. (For those in the greater Ottawa area who might be concerned about what our "agenda" might be, I can assure you that we are NOT trying to take away your privileges of using suckers for muskies).

I made my way over to Manotick Bait and Tackle and had a nice chat with the owner. She pumps a bit of compressed oxygen into the bait bags for you which is a nice little gesture. The bait was plenty lively and overall high quality. With three suckers in tow I headed to the ramp.

Eric arrived with his slick Stratos 285 bass boat rigged with an adrenaline pumping 150 E-Tec. It's not everyday that I get to go 50mph down the river (contrast that with a whopping 22mph top speed in our jon boat)! Anyway, once we arrived at our first spot I rigged up a sucker and dropped it in the drink hoping it would work its magic. After a couple hours sucker #1 was grabbed by something. With my heart pumping extra hard I slammed the hooks home. The result? A swing and a miss (pretty much what my entire batting career was like when I played baseball). Bummed but not totally discouraged, I rigged another one up.

Eric was tossing a Bulldawg and hammered the steel to a fish as we drifted a weedline. He looked like Kevin VanDam setting the hook into a 5 lb smallmouth! In fact, I'm pretty sure he delivered a knock-out punch to the fish; it barely fought! A quick scoop with the net and Eric had himself a nice 38" fish. It was Eric's birthday today, too!

We switched weedlines a short while later and in mid-sentence I was jolted by a swishing noise behind the boat. I turned to see a boil on the water's surface and my float gone. The muskie must have chased my sucker to the surface and gobbled it there. We positioned ourselves over the fish and I made sure this time I did not miss. I drove the hooks home and nearly whipped a 30"er across the bow. The little tike was quickly in the net, just as quickly unhooked, admired for a couple seconds (the little ones are always so fascinatingly pretty!), and released. Shortly thereafter Eric put another 38" in the net, this one quite a bit heavier and much uglier (weird crackly mucous coat and red sores on its body).

When I got home I found an email from outdoor writer and photographer, Tim Allard, in my inbox. A few blog posts down you'll see one about Tim, his photography, and new ice fishing book that was just released. If you're an ice fishing newbie (like me), seasoned vet, or just a fishing/outdoor enthusiast, check it out! As promised, below are some of Tim's photos from last week's excursion. The last two images portray what all our gear looks like when it's laid out.

Halloween Musky...

2010-10-31T18:37:00.000-07:00

Carving. Although I've seen pictures of guys with Jason masks fishing muskies on Halloween day. That would be pretty fun. Instead, I had to settle with this. Had to use toothpicks after I forgot things can't suspend themselves in mid air... oops.

This logo is on my truck's rear window (would make a cool tattoo actually).

Letters were too hard to cut out and after a day of being dried out a bit of the fish collapsed near the head. Valiant effort nonetheless!

It's gotten very cold here and snowed a solid inch yesterday evening/night. I'm wondering if we're going to have early ice this year!

Though not muskie related, this one became a head-turner!

Too Perfect...

2010-10-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I noticed the weatherman (no, not Brick Tamland) was calling for Tuesday's high to be near 20C. I called on my trusty sidekick Hedrik to see if he could give me a hand, but unfortunately he was busy. Remembering one of our lab's new undergrads, Travis Raison, is an avid bass angler and has expressed interest to another labmate of mine in going muskie fishing, I shot him an email. He was free yesterday and we agreed to get an early-ish start to maximize our time on the water.

When we arrived at the launch the river was like glass. In hindsight I should have snapped a picture, but I was too stoked to hit the water to have that amount of foresight. If Tuesday morning had been three months earlier I would have rigged nothing but topwaters! Although one should never discount the power of surface presentations, I had a better idea of what might produce for us.

Apparently I was a little cocky because what had worked this past Friday and Saturday produced nothing for us (big surprise, eh?). The system we were fishing doesn't require the mental capacity of a rocket scientist (or a Master's degree for that matter...) and it's merely a matter of staying at the right depth (weed edge) and cover water.

Towards midday I turned to see local angler and Loomis rep Wally Robbins passing by headed toward an area that was going to be my next spot. We finished up our drift and ran down to have a chat. It turns out that Wally was fishing with local outdoor writer Tim Allard. Tim's writings are prominent fixtures in Ontario's largest outdoor magazine, Ontario Out of Doors. He's also just finished a new ice fishing book. I have a copy waiting for me back home in Illinois, but was able to check out a copy from a friend. If this book doesn't get you excited to ice fish then I'm not sure what will. The pictures are superb and capture the essence of ice fishing, from peering into an 8" hole to the thrill of pulling a lunker from the depths on a sunny winters day. Pictures aside, the content is what makes the book. Tim goes in-depth into everything from electronics to how to catch your favorite quarry, be it panfish or trout, and everything in between. Take a look at Tim's book online or see if your local tackle shop has copies or can order them in: Ice Fishing - The Ultimate Guide.

Tim also does photography and snapped a few (quite a few actually) photos while we were out there. Looking forward to seeing them and I'll be sure to post them here.

After parting ways, Travis and I went back to fishing. We casted a rock spot and then returned to fish weedlines. The wind picked up so I had to move the boat across the channel to the opposite side. As I slowly slid my Red October tube back to the boat I had a "Rideau Runt" grab it about 15' away, but the hooks never penetrated. Maybe 10 minutes later as my tube slid forward and then de-accelerated at the end of the rod's sweep (the slide-and-glide), a slightly bigger fish darted up and thumped the lure. This time the hooks found flesh and it wasn't long until the small 30.75" was in the net. The little female had a tummy full of something large and deep bodied, a panfish perhaps. Its blood was easy to get and she was soon on her way. We had one more sniff from some kind of esocid that swirled on a Top Raider at the boat, but aside from that we had barely any action all day. I guess the weather was too nice...

Muskies Gaining Increased Publicity

2010-10-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

Have a look: Muskies are 'it'. (For Canadians, I would be surprised if you soon don't see an article on fly fishing muskies with a well known female fly angler).

Maybe a fly rod is on the list of winter purchases this year! (It was last year, but I bailed last minute).

Something's Foul

2010-10-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

I fished with John Anderson and Wally Robbins yesterday. It looked like the fish might be active as the first spot produced a boatside strike for Wally from a small muskie as well as a muskie that grabbed my bait for a few seconds before kindly giving it back to me. Our cloud cover dissipated and the action slowed. Soon the wind was roaring and it was evident that we were likely chasing inactive fish. I switched to a glide bait hoping for a reaction strike...

Before I continue I'd like to point out (perhaps state the obvious?) that fish will often strike lures from a variety of angles, speeds, and motions. With muskies, sometimes the fish stalk the lure and carry out a perfectly horizontal strike with a rapid lunge forward. Sometimes muskies will eyeball a deadsticked crankbait or topwater, then slowly and quietly nip the lure. Others will launch themselves completely airborne from a near 90 degree angle to viciously strike a topwater lure. Still others may quickly swipe or roll at a lure.

A swipe or roll strike can sometimes result in foul hooking. The photo below shows a chunky 37" male that rolled beneath a glide bait, missed the lure with its mouth, but whose body made contact with the bait causing the atypical hooking location. This isn't necessarily a rare occurrence as I have seen this happen before with gliders and crankbaits. However, there are a few considerations to make after realizing you've foul hooked a muskie.

I'm not too thrilled with this whole foul-hooking business.

To prevent further damage to the fish, avoid horsing your catch to the boat. These types of battles necessitate light drag settings (I prefer to free-spool all hooked muskies, regardless of hooking location). Also, net the fish as soon as possible even if its head is pointed away from the net which is usually the case with foul hooked muskies. Take extra care to avoid wrenching on the hooks during the de-hooking process. Cut hooks if need be and be sure to remove any cut pieces prior to release.

Good luck out there!

Data x 262,212

2010-10-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

With help from two of my labmates, I retrieved and uploaded my data last week. The water was a frigid 13C (55F), but we pulled the receivers quickly and without issue (unlike when they were first deployed and I may have entered the first stages of hypothermia). It took me a couple of days before I got around to actually uploading the data, but when I did I was pleasantly surprised.

The 16 tagged muskies, eight surgically implanted and eight externally attached, gave me 262,212 data points! We have a temperature spread of over 15 degrees, which would be higher but an alarm was activated on one of our thermal loggers preventing temperature data from being recorded above 26.375C (almost 80F). I will likely group the temperatures into extreme high (above 26C), high, medium, low and extreme low (below 10C). I will need to take a closer look at the data before I decide exactly what I'll do, but that's just a thought.

I'm excited to start parsing apart patterns or trends in our data as they relate to activity during the day vs. night vs. crepuscular periods (dawn/dusk) and at different water temperatures. If time allows, perhaps I'll take a look at activity as it relates to lunar phase or barometric pressure; all things anglers have associated with increased catch-per-unit-effort.

We are still going to continue angling and hopefully catch a few more muskies before season's end to boost sample sizes for our physiological data. And, if we can get hold of some, we may sucker fish for muskies as part of a side project attempting to assess the viability of alternative J-hook live-bait rigs.

One For The Memory Books

2010-10-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

After a brutal 23 hour cross province drive, with no overnight stops, I finally arrived home from my Lake of the Woods fall trip this morning. The drive itself was spectacular along the northern rim of Lake Superior, but Lake of the Woods in the fall was wonderful. I can only imagine what it will look like in another week or two when the temps start dropping and the colors kick in full tilt. We had unseasonably warm temps which probably hampered just about everything, from wildlife spotting to the fishing.

Over the course of the week our boat put nine fish in the boat up to 43.5". Two came casting and the rest came trolling. Our group's big fish topped out at a thick 47 x 23". Lots of pike were caught up to 38" and a handful of walleyes as well. Fishing the lake at this time of year was completely new to me; I have always fished Lake of the Woods in the summer and trolling is not my forte. I walked away having learned a great deal about how to troll more effectively and discovered new details and idiosyncracies about some of our favorite summer casting spots.

When trolling rocky systems like Lake of the Woods anglers often use long, single-strand steel leaders to reduce line abrasions caused by constantly rubbing rocks. During the angling event, esocids will often roll in themselves up the leader and line as they attempt to throw the hook. When these fish roll onto the steel leaders they material can actually cause tremendous damage to the fish, slicing the flesh as if it were scoured with a chef's knife. I witnessed this first hand last week and was appalled by the damage dealt. The alternative is to use long, heavy duty fluorocarbon leaders which I strongly encourage all to use en lieu of steel leaders, for the fish's sake. Fluorocarbon leaders in 150-200 lb test up to 5' in length are incredibly abrasion resistent, offering many of the same qualities that steel leaders do for the angler. In any case, food for thought for those of you considering whether to use steel or fluoro this fall.

The trip wrapped up in two ways. The first was our visit to a new tackle shop, muskie-focused I think would be fair to say, right on the water in Kenora. The shop is called Figure 8 Baits and run by Ryan Marlowe and his buddies. Great prices, great selection, and the guys have great personalities. A win-win for all involved. You can try out anything in the shop down at the dock below them. They've got a great policy when you try their baits out, one I'd certainly be happy to respect if I were ever that lucky! The second and last thing we did was attend the inaugural meeting of the Northwest Ontario chapter of Muskies Canada. There are some very big names associated with this club and it's an exciting time for MCI as folks like Gord Pyzer, Steve Herbeck, Linda Rice, Jeff Gustafson, Jeff Moreau, and Gord Bastable become involved. I gave a presentation to the chapter covering both research initiatives covered under Project Noble Beast.

Enjoy the pictures below!

What's a trip to Lake of the Woods without a shorelunch? It's making me hungry just looking at it! Thanks, Keith for cooking and Ryan and Sean for providing the fish!

Electrofishing results and Lake of the Woods v2.0

2010-09-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

This past Monday we hooked up the electrofishing boat and trailered down to the river. It took us slightly less than one hour to shock our first muskie, a little guy just under 30". Though we shocked up several more, only two made it to the boat (another just under 30" and one just over 30"). We had a brute come up alongside the boat, but evidently just outside the electric field. That was a bummer, but my goal was three and we accomplished that. Water was 16.5C, perfect temperature to fill in gaps for our control physiological data.

I was also given an offer I simply couldn't refuse - a return trip to Lake of the Woods. I've always wanted to fish this body of water during the fall and have heard many stories from good friends. The drive alone - through northern Ontario, around the rim of Lake Superior - might be worth the trip. I suspect the colors will be spectacular a little further north of us.

I was strong armed into going on the trip by these two characters.

BUT, I will be bringing my computer with me to get some much needed work done in the car so not all will be fun and games... When I get back it will be time to make the last push with field work for 2010.

1 Year (+1 Day) Anniversary

2010-09-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

I just realized that yesterday marked the 1-year anniversary of perhaps the most significant phase of Project Noble Beast - catching and tagging our 30th muskie. Although the catch-and-release research has continued since then, no more tags have been deployed and field work has been reduced dramatically. We are still in the process of obtaining physiological data at various temperatures (can never have a large enough sample size!) and baseline data via electrofishing.

The manuscript that will eventually be sent out for publication is currently in the works...

A little liquid inspiration to get the words flowing.

Post-conference muskies

2010-09-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended the annual American Fisheries Society conference in Pittsburgh to give a presentation on part of my thesis (the catch-and-release work). I was quite pleased with my presentation and received good feedback for future consideration when I begin writing my thesis. It was very cool listening to the wide array of presentations highlighting the variety of research being conducted globally. Two of my favorite presentations focused on alligator gar in the Fourche LaFave River, Arkansas (though I may be partial to anything with lots of teeth).

But all good things must come to an end, and after our return Friday evening Jonathan Jordan (Upper Ottawa chapter of MCI) coordinated an outing today with Hedrik Wachelka and me. The morning greeted us with a shroud of fog. Though we diligently worked our spots under our cloud cover, we failed to move anything. After the fog burned off, we headed upstream to a new area. Hedrik explained how the spot was laid out and we began flogging the area. Shortly after firing our first few casts, Jonathan calmly said "I got one!" Fifty-four seconds later I slid the net under a 43"er, from which we took blood and a scale sample (the latter for an unrelated project being conducted by Dr. Chris Wilson with Trent University and the Ministry of Natural Resources). The fish was slow to take off, but eventually it kicked away, dropped its head, and disappeared into the abyss.

The remainder of the day was fairly slow, though Jonathan was successful in capturing a second fish just before calling it a day. I was happy to be out and fishing new(ish) water with yet another volunteer. Thanks, Jonathan!

I Brake For Muskies

2010-09-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

This week has been a headache and a half. My truck's brakes have been giving me serious issues, to the point I did not feel safe driving my own vehicle. Everything was fixed this morning, but not without a hefty price tag - $1200 (new caliper, new brake pads, rotors, and drums, and an apparently faulty oxygen sensor). Friday was hopefully going to be a welcome reprieve from the week's events, though I had no concrete plans for the day.

Yesterday a mini-front moved through the area, one that was forecasted to precede a larger front which will drop temperatures severely over the next couple of days. The weather today, however, did not turn sour, but remained hot and muggy, although a bit windy. With the impending storm front approaching the city, I called Hedrik to see if he'd like to fish for a few hours and take advantage of the pre-frontal conditions. He agreed and we were off to the races.

Well sort of... With the trolling motor on 80% all I could do was hold our position in the wind, and bumping it up to 100% would drain the batteries lickity-split. We made one quick drift to gauge fish activity and were rewarded with just one follow. The wind increased and was pounding a nearby shoreline, so I hopped on the main engine and we trolled deep water for a while.

Both Hedrik and I are not big fans of trolling and prefer more tactile casting techniques, so we made a run up to an area that was out of the wind. Halfway through the drift the wind suddenly died and the "calm before the storm" descended upon us. The sky turned a dark, ashy gray. I began to get twitchy as I could feel the stars aligning for us. We approached a productive area and I noticed Hedrik clipping on a lure that has been particularly good for us. I thought, "Nice choice, Hedrik," and continued casting.

"THERE'S ONE," grunted Hedrik as the boat rocked from his solid hookset. I whipped around to see the boil created by our adversary. Hedrik was fast into a BIG fish. As it neared the boat my heart skipped a beat. This was bigger than I expected! There was no controlling the beast and Hedrik was at the absolute mercy of the fish. Every time the fish neared the boat it made another 180 degree turn and bolted from the boat, on a couple occasions peeling line from a locked drag. The fight lasted about 1 minute and with a quick scoop of the net Hedrik's prize was in the bag!

I knew instantly this fish was pushing that magical number. When we laid it on the bumpboard I was ecstatic as I read the verdict: 51 inches. The fish was so massive that I could not get a full vial of blood, though did get enough for glucose and lactate readings, which were both extremely high (might be the highest yet). The lengthy fight, water temperature (near 80F), and possibly air exposure from the photo period may have caused the stress levels to spike. We noticed rosy flanks, fins, and bloodshot eyes on the fish which could be related to the increased glucose and lactate values, though difficult to corroborate. Interestingly, guide Marc Thorpe has made similar observations and urges quick releases when this is seen, perhaps even forgoing out-of-water photos. I think this is good advice that should be considered when surveying your catch.

Triple bypass surgery? No problem. Hedrik's physio is lifting 30 pound muskies in his free time.

Swim away, sweetheart!

To top off the day, I caught a scrappy little 31". A guppy when compared to Hedrik's, but still fun nonetheless. This time I got a full vial of blood, a small victory for me. So after a long week I was well rewarded for my troubles. And for icing on the cake? My dinner consisted of a delicious pizza delivered to our front door. That little soft spot in my heart was beaming as the "Carlo's Special" was devoured in mere minutes. I will sleep well tonight!

Nice shirt, Hedrik!

Fisheries article review

2010-08-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

Stocking programs exist across North America for a myriad of species. Some programs seek to control certain species of introduced fishes (e.g., tiger muskellunge stocked in New Mexico to control gold fish introductions), others to rehabilitate (e.g., sturgeon and lake trout), and still others to promote fisheries usage (e.g., salmonids in the Great Lakes basin and largemouth bass throughout U.S. waters).

For muskellunge anglers stocking this prized quarry may or may not be a familiar concept, depending on where you live. In my home state of Illinois, for example, our waters are maintained solely by stocking; there is little to no natural reproduction. For states like Wisconsin and Minnesota, stocking may be conducted on some, perhaps most, but not all lakes because some can be sustained through natural reproduction. As muskellunge angling has increased in popularity, the call to stock additional waters and current waters with more fish has risen greatly.

Muskellunge stocking in Wisconsin is commonplace and supported widely by anglers throughout the state, particularly in the more southern waters where natural reproduction has little influence on populations. One large problem exists with widespread stocking: genetic conservation. In other words, it is imperative to keep certain molecular components (i.e., alleles) within a population of muskellunge that will allow them to survive and thrive. Although this seems like it would be easy to do, not all fish from one lake react in the same way to conditions other lakes present. Some fish have rare genetics/alleles that allow them to survive in a given environment(s).

Hatchery programs often involve only a few individuals to supply vast numbers of fingerlings for stocking. When only a few individuals are used, the likelihood of extirpating rare alleles increases and muskellunge may lose the ability to naturally reproduce in the wild. This phenomenon is known as outbreeding depression.

One of the first issues researchers faced was figuring out where to take the adult individuals (i.e., broodstock) for Wisconsin's stocking program. Researchers identified broodstock as needing to have the ability to grow, mature, and reproduce in their present habitats. Another potential problem arises when choosing which bodies of water to take broodstock from because, in Wisconsin, some waters are either maintained solely by stocking, supplementally stocked, or not stocked at all. The latter water bodies are ideal as adults and offspring alike have not undergone artificial selection against various heritable traits (e.g., some behavioral traits). Researchers further identified lakes greater than 1,000 acres as appropriate for the stocking programs, and water bodies should be used on a rotating basis rather than only focusing on one. In addition, the minimum number of broodstock to be taken must be considered because if too few individuals are used then genetic diversity decreases. A higher number is better and researchers suggest a minimum 50 breeders to be used, with a target of at least 20 females bred with 3 males being ideal.

One issue that adds complications to conserving genetics within the bounds of a stocking program, is the needs of the angling public. More specifically, anglers want fast growth rates and big fish. However, in order to fulfill the objectives of a hatchery-based conservation program it is necessary to represent a wide variety of traits that mimic natural populations. Certainly, hatchery operations should include large fish, but should not be limited to the largest individuals.

Jennings et al. have provided researchers with excellent guidelines to improve hatchery operations. Although it may be difficult to swallow, stocking isn't or shouldn't be about only producing the biggest fish possible. Selecting only the biggest fish to be stocked could pose serious problems for the future of a fishery if important alleles are eliminated from the genetic pool. Instead, the goal should be to produce a population that can thrive and survive for many years to come (and still kick out big fish!). The future looks bright for muskellunge stocking programs, and an added benefit of this article is that the contents provide a set of guidelines for hatchery programs of other fish species to utilize for enhancing their fisheries.

Article reference: Jennings, M.J., Sloss, B.L., Hatzenbeler, G.R., Kampa, J.M., Simonson, T.D., Avelallemant, S.P., Lindenberger, G.A., and Underwood, B.D. 2010. Implementation of genetic conservation practices in a muskellunge propagation and stocking program. Fisheries 35, 388-395.

Holy Doodle!

2010-08-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

The blog has been a little stagnant lately because I've been catching up on much needed writing and spending time with my girlfriend in the Catskills. It was a much needed break as, unfortunately, my break from this C&R muskie study to C&R muskies on Lake of the Woods did not rejuvenate me as I had hoped (though it was delightfully enjoyable!). Sarah and I returned home last night and after looking at the weather for today I decided it would be a good idea to get out and fish. I emailed my trusty sidekick and we made a plan to begin fishing around 1PM today.

When Hedrik and I launched the boat we immediately headed as far south as we could. Within 15 minutes I had a muskie charge a bucktail and nip the back end of the lure, missing hooks by mere millimeters. Little did I know - well, actually I had a pretty good feeling - that this was only the beginning of an outstanding day.

I will keep this brief because I need to apply some Icy-Hot to my muscles or pop a few ibuprofen, but we contacted 20 fish, with 10 strikes, and boated four - 39, 41.75, 42.25, and a whopper of a 48.25"er. As has been the case for the majority of the fish this year, each fish's lactate values were relatively high due to water temperatures. As we enter late summer-early fall, the same precautions should be taken to reduce the stress associated with the angling process. Pay attention to details of the fight (e.g., lots of headshaking, jumping, drag running, etc.) and modify your handling techniques accordingly.

Here are a couple pictures to whet your appetite:

Another transmittered fish recaptured from a past, unrelated project: Gillis et al. 2010

Hedrik's whopper.

To the waters whence you came.

Welcome Back, Sir!

2010-08-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

Last night I fished with my trusty sidekick, Hedrik Wachelka, for a couple hours. Hedrik has been out of commission since June 8th after having surgery and this was one of his first times out casting since then. I mostly wanted to catch up with Hedrik and take a few casts, but in the process of chit-chatting I was able to raise two muskies. We made a plan to spend more time on this body of water the following day (today... well, yesterday for those on Eastern time) and call it Hedrik's first outing since his surgery.

We got a late start and arrived at the launch around 1PM. I didn't have a follow for several hours, and we kept returning to the same area multiple times in hopes of finding the fish during an active period.

Eventually, we did. It started with a bass here, then there, then here again. Three bass in a short period of time wasn't too bad, but we were looking for Esox masquinongy, the fish of 10,000 casts. As we continued drifting down our narrow path, I finally contacted what looked to be a very active fish. The black Weagle was suddenly looking very much like it would be the victim of an attack, but alas twas not to be. The fish sunk below the bait and out of sight when the lure reached the boat.

We finished our drift and I said to Hedrik, let's re-drift this area again. Without even pulling the trolling motor up I turn the boat and slowly start idling back to the beginning of our drift. Earlier, we were trolling bucktails to no avail and Hedrik still had that rod on deck. As I began slowly motoring away, Hedrik picked his rod up and chucked his bucktail out. Not more than 15 seconds later, Hedrik's rod is doubled over and Hedrik is struggling to gain control of the rod. Stupidly I ask, "FISH?" I needn't hear the answer as Hedrik's rod-tip began thumping wildly and the culprit churning the water to a froth in the distance. The fight lasted about 50 seconds and soon we had another fish for Project Noble Beast in the bag!

Hopefully this is the start of good things to come!

Let Me Paint You An Image

2010-08-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of keeping you, the readers, aprised on the ups AND downs of this project, the following is my attempt to help paint a picture of what it feels like to blood sample... with good results and bad.

Before I pick up my brush and paint, you all must know what I will be painting on. In other words, you need to have a bit of context. For starters, imagine yourself quitting your day job and becoming a technician at a clinic's lab drawing blood from peoples' arms for a living.

One day, in walks a patient. This patients arms, however, look like the Hulk's as they bulge beneath the shirt that covers them. As the patient nervously sits down in the chair, arm outstretched and fist clenched, you politely ask him to roll his sleeve up. When the patient does, you are met with tattoos that parade up his arm and disappear beneath his Van Halen shirt. Upon closer inspection, the guy has actually had sequence surgically implanted into his arms. Body builder meets female fashionista?

You are now effectively working blind. You cannot see a vein to puncture. You know, in theory, where the vein is supposed to be, but everyone's veins are different - some big, some small in diameter. Needle and vacutainer in hand, you begin prodding. Your first attempt yields nothing, not even a single drop. You remove the needle and reenter, hoping to strike gold. Again, nada. This repeats itself several times, but now your patient is getting a little antsy and starts writhing, complaining about how long it's taking and that maybe you should never have quit your day job. Finally, the needle hits pay dirt and blood rushes into the vacutainer.

This is, sometimes, what it's like trying to take blood from a muskie. The amount of tissue between the anal fin and caudal fin is massive, and gets even more impressive the larger the fish. The scales are like battle armor that deflect needles like an M1 Abrams deflects 9mm bullets. The vasculature system you so desperately need to find lays hidden beneath tissue and scales, and lays in one particular fashion along the backbone. A difficult sweetspot to hit, indeed.

At times, all it takes is one vacutainer. Sometimes, multiples. It is, without doubt, the most frustrating aspect of the data collection process for this project. Well, save for fishing eight hours and never even getting a single follow (now THAT'S frustrating).

Ah, thanks for letting me vent!

I was once told that earplugs bring good luck. Apparently, I was mislead.

When the Going Gets Tough...

2010-08-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

Go electroshocking!

With upcoming projects that need the use of our electroshocking boat, I needed to take a few days to electroshock for Project Noble Beast. My hope is to obtain control physiological data from six muskies at temperatures above 20C (68F).

After hooking the boat up and driving down to the launch, I quickly realized that I had a case of the "Mondays"; I had forgotten multiple items. Fortunately, none were imperative to the success of the day, and in roughly 20 minutes we had things under control. When our tail-gate safety meeting was completed we zoomed off to begin probing the waters.

It was a slow start to our day, but after one muskie managed to evade the electric field another was stuck in the middle (with you?) and was immediately scooped by my expert netters, Keith Stamplecoskie (lab manager) and Sarah Larocque (fellow Masters student). The muskie measured 31.75" and had recently eaten a large meal as the outline of a fish could be seen protruding laterally from its stomach (looked like a sunfish). We released the fish in good health and kept on trucking until our generator ran out of gas.

A quick fill-up with our spare gas can and we were back at it. I decided to turn the boat around and head back toward the launch and down a particular weedline that would eventually put lead us to a popular muskie spot. We passed several boats, who all paused their fishing excursion to see what the heck we were up to. As we entered the aforementioned spot and began poking around with the electrodes, one of the nearby boats came closer to check things out. Not wanting to cause unnecessary harm to the other boat, we briefly cut the power to survey the situation. After I contemplated moving further downstream, I decided the other boat was sufficiently far away and motioned to Sarah to resume shocking.

As Sarah pressed her body weight against the power switch, the water immediately to her right suddenly illuminated the image of an extremely large muskie. The split second it took for everyone to react to what lay before us seemed like a millennium. When I snapped out of it, I took the boat and whipped it to the right, putting Sarah and Keith in perfect position to place a net at the head and tail of the beast. When it was secured I shut the power off and jumped to my feet, grabbing the net and hoisting the muskie on board. The nearby boat - dad (presumably) and four kids - eventually made their way over to us. Sarah fielded questions while I concentrated on extracting the blood. When I finally obtained the sample, made measurements and recorded other data, I asked the gentleman in the nearby boat to snap a quick picture for us. As I strained to lift the heavy fish up, the four kids quickly let out several OOOO's and AHHH'S. I laid the fish back into the water between our boats and let the kids touch the muskie before it paddled off out of sight. Needless to say, I believe I heard one of the kids say "I want to catch one of those!" and I smiled knowing that this group of kids will probably never forget the sight they just witnessed. In fact, tomorrow I need to retrieve the email address they provided us and send them pictures.

49 inches with a stout build. Go A-Team!

Released to hopefully be caught another day, and perhaps by the children that witnessed her capture today.

Many thanks were given to the other boat, and we kept chugging away. Not long after, we had the day's final muskie in our nets. This one taped out at 43.75".

It's been a while since I've handled a muskie for this project and it felt good to touch a few today. Hopefully tomorrow we can have similar results!

Yep, I see you too!

Please?

2010-08-06T15:32:00.001-07:00

Will someone please flip that magical switch? You know, the one that makes the fish bite.

Hmmmmmm

2010-08-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

"Hmmmmm" is a noise a lot of us make. Hmmmmm is also the noise a rod tip makes in a thunderstorm warning you of imminent danger from a lightning strike! We were chased to the safe confines of shore when our rod tips began humming in the air as a massive thunderstorm approached.

Be careful on the water. Signs of imminent danger from lightning strikes include your hair standing up, rod tips humming, and a metallic taste in your mouth. No fish is worth your life.

We're Back!

2010-08-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

After a break spending time with family and friends, I have returned "home" in Ottawa to continue collecting data. The warm water I was hoping to collect data from seems to have backed off a bit, but I am crossing my fingers that the upcoming hot weather will bring the temperatures back up again. I will also be juggling a bit of writing in between field days, as I recently had a manuscript accepted into the Journal of Fish Biology and am working on a review paper.

My idea of a break from catching and researching muskies...

Best Hand Wins

2010-07-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

Although I never even saw a single muskie today, I did witness my first poker run.

Poker runs are organized events usually involving motorcycles, cars, or boats. One aspect of a poker run is often to raise money for charity. In these events, participants must make it to at least 5 of 7 checkpoints where they are given a playing card. At the end of the event, the participant with the best 5-card hand wins.

Obviously this post is not very scientific, but oh well!

Final Deployment

2010-07-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

After taking the majority of last week off for Canada Day and a little R&R, we were back at it today trying to deploy the transmitter recovered from the dead fish we found last week. It's incredibly hot here, 110F with humidity (90+ without), so we decided to get a late afternoon start.

Not only did we have extreme heat today, but the wind was howling which forced us to find calmer water. The area we went to has been producing lots of action and multiple tagged fish, much more than other spots. My first pass along the weedbed yielded one follow from a spot that I have been moving fish from the last several times out. In fact, they all seemed to be the same fish judging by the prominent spots on its flanks. After the follow, I kept moving as Bill Fuller and Ross Nicholls were working their way down the same drift path. While I finished fishing the back of the large bay we were in, I glanced over at the two boats volunteering with me (John Thibert, Bill, and Ross). As I focused on Bill and Ross in the distance I could see splashing and knew instantly they had a fish! I fired up the motor and zoomed over. Throwing a spinnerbait, Bill caught the fish we were looking for! Thanks to Ross for a good net job, too! It also appeared to be, perhaps, the same fish that had been following my offerings on different days but wouldn't actually commit.

Water temps have hit 80F, so the next little while will be spent trying to blood sample and tag fish before I head home on the 13th.

Bittersweet

2010-06-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

After spending a few fruitless days searching for a muskie to redeploy one of our accelerometers onto, we finally struck gold. A lull in the wind and rain sparked an urge to throw topwater for a bit. As I neared the end of a cast I caught a glimpse of a shadow quickly zeroing in on my Top Raider. In the past I have always taken the lure sub-surface, but have recently seen many fish simply turn away or lose interest. So, I kept the lure on the surface, made one turn and the fish lunged forward and grabbed the bait. When the fish was in the net, I realized that it had a Floy tag. However, it turns out the muskie was a fish that was caught last fall as I cast artificials during our live-bait study; no transmitter was affixed, just a Floy tag.

Fall 2009.

Summer 2010.

Though that was definitely a step forward, we took a step backward when we found one of our tagged fish floating dead. Cause of death is unknown due to the body being badly decomposed. At the time of tagging, however, I do recall it exhibiting some hemorrhaging on its flanks which could have been an indicator of poor health. I removed the transmitter, but now we must forge ahead and find another fish to tag.

Hybrid!

2010-06-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

We are trying to attach a final accelerometer (one that was accidentally removed) onto one more fish and came very close to completing our task today. It wasn't until I had the fish alongside the boat that I realized we weren't going to be victorious just yet. I stared down at a beautiful tiger muskie (hybrid northern pike x muskellunge) of 33 inches. This was a first for me, and although we could not use it in our study I was thrilled nonetheless.

A nice gift after beginning my day by finding four Rubbermaids had toppled onto about 12 of my personal and project rods, including a brand new St. Croix Legend that my girlfriend won in a raffle on Saturday (see previous blog post). Fortunately, only one rod was broken, and not the Legend. In fact, the new rod bagged today's tiger!

Muskies Canada "Rockland Rage" Outing

2010-06-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

What an excellent weekend! Friday marked the beginning of the Muskies Canada "Rockland Rage" shenanigans with a meet-and-greet complete with burgers, beer, and fries. The socializing was an added bonus and it was great fun listening to fishing stories and fielding interesting questions from the anglers. However, the real fun began Saturday.

With an early start in the morning, my girlfriend and I hauled butt to our first spot. Full moon, breezy morning, and cloud cover and light rain prevailed throughout the day. These conditions brought high hopes for me, but fishing was quite slow. After losing two lures (line snapped) and contending with the added fishing pressure, we had nothing to show by noon. As 1PM rolled around, I decided to work spots closer to the ramp. One location was within eyesight of the ramp, and had great weedbed that has held muskies in the past. Though it was midday, I opted to cast a topwater in and around the vegetation. As my gazed followed the lures path back to the boat, without notice a muskie struck and launched full-body out of the water, turning and landing completely horizontally back into the water. It was a miss. I continued the lure's cadence to no avail. I peppered the area with a few more casts and on one of them, about 20' from the boat, the muskie returned but did not miss. The fight was on and my girlfriend ran for the Big Kahuna net, which was only slightly smaller than her. Following my instructions she carefully lowered the net into the water, waited for me to guide the fish into the net, then lifted with all her strength. The muskie was safely secured! (Good job again, Sarah!) We collected blood and released the muskie.
When all was said and done, I ended the day with my first grand slam: bass, walleye, pike, muskie. I think I was happier for that than actually catching the muskie!

To cap the end of an already great day, Sarah won the grand prize that night at the banquet's raffle - a St. Croix Legend "Lipstick" rod!

Shake 'n Bake

2010-06-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

OK, so no baking took place, but we definitely shook! I thought I had seen a lot during my time on the water, but I have never felt an earthquake before, much less while on a boat. As we casted at a small piece of structure, I began to feel vibrations under the boat. At first I merely thought it was the trolling motor's prop getting caught in a clump of weeds, but then I noticed bubbles rising in unison around the boat. And not just around the boat, but EVERYWHERE. Before I could even figure out what was going on, someone on shore began shouting, "IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE! IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!" (Yes, that dramatically.)

Although we didn't catch anything (close, but no cigar), the experience trumped the poor fishing!

CPR: Cardio-pulmonary resucitation, catch-photo-release

2010-06-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon and evening with fellow lab mate, Jason Thiem. Jason hails from Australia and has never had the pleasure of fishing for muskie, though is no stranger to "the hunt" (accomplished marine and freshwater angler and hardcore hunter). I wanted to help Jason put another notch on his belt by boating a muskie, and in the process help me gather additional physiological data.

Just before our departure the heavens opened up, and our drive to the ramp took us straight into the storm. When we reached the ramp it was still raining, but didn't last long. We zoomed to our first spot and I clipped a Top Raider on Jason's rod (what better way to catch your first muskie than on topwater?). Shortly after we began casting, and after explaining to Jason to pay attention behind the lure, Jason yells "FISH." The fish boiled under the bait and followed a few more feet before veering off. So close, yet so far.

As we left the spot and headed to our next one I made a sharp left and decided it couldn't hurt to take a few casts in a bay I've previously never seen anything at (though have been told it is good). On my third cast, way out from the boat, my bucktail was stopped cold by a muskie and the battle was underway. This was a particularly good fight as the fish ran under the boat, toward the motor, back toward the trolling motor, caught itself in another dangling line, and almost evaded the net. Almost. After successfully taking blood, the fish was held for a brief picture and released. We saw a few more, but not much else. I'm hoping Jason will join me again in the future so that I can play netman.

Oh, and I also completed a Red Cross CPR certification course (key points: doing something is better than nothing, 30 compressions for every 2 breaths). Not a bad day!

Yes? No. Yes? Yes.

2010-06-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

With post-frontal conditions and hot temperatures, my confidence was a bit shaken this morning that we would capture our 8th and final muskie for this phase of Project Noble Beast. Nonetheless, Rick Collins and I headed out to tackle our quarry.

After all but one follow in the morning, we eventually worked our way down the river. I casted my Red October tube out and began pumping it in. As the bait slid forward and paused, I felt a jolt at the end of my line and instinctively set the hook. From beneath the murky waters a decent sized muskie head shook and bursted forward. After a short battle, the beast was safely secured. Was this #8? When I looked down at the fish laying in the net, I saw familiar wounds that I first noticed two days ago on a fish John Thibert caught for the project. Unforunately, John's fish could not be tagged because it already had a tag in it! Likewise, the fish I stood staring at today could not be tagged... because it was the same fish! This fish was recaptured 48 hours after being released.

It was certainly a bittersweet moment as I welcome any and all recaptures, but we still needed our 8th fish! As the day wore on, the sun came out full force and, to make matters worse, the trolling motor's pedal died on us. We were left to drift or use only the "constant" setting on the trolling motor (vs. the momentary on/off switch). With one more follow by early afternoon, it was time to try one last tactic: trolling.

We trolled. And trolled. And trolled. Nothing. Nothing. Nothi... FISH! As we slowly cruised down the home stretch to the ramp, Rick's spinnerbait was hammered and the fight was on! Was this going to be #8? Maybe, but the fish defintely was not going down without a fight. It was a gong-show trying to get it in the net, but as famed Chicago White Sox announcer Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson says, "YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOOOOOOARD, YES!" 40.5" and we're good to go, Houston.

Over, and out.

Uno Mas

2010-06-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Our lucky streak continued today as Patrick Scholz caught two muskies, making them numbers 6 and 7 out of 8. The first fish was small, but still very tag-able, taping out at a whopping 25". The second fish was much larger at 42" and violently struck a Top Raider worked through the pitter-patter of rain drops. Upon striking, the fish churned the water to a froth in an incredible display of head-shaking power.

One more fish to go for this phase of Project Noble Beast. Once all eight are tagged, all I have to do is sit back, relax, and let the fish do their thing!

Trifecta

2010-06-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

After deciding to forgo torturing ourselves in the hot sun today, we opted to fish the latter half of the day beginning around 4PM. Just as we hit the water, clouds from the north rolled in and lingered for the duration of the outing. While casting a lure I have been experimenting with for the last couple of days, a Red October "Monster Tube," a nice fish opened its yap and shut it just behind the lure that was gliding slowly beneath the surface. Fortunately, the fish paused and remained focused on the lure, because on the next pull and subsequent pause it coiled up, lunged forward, and smoked the lure. After a few decent runs and a good aerial display, the fish was ours and safely secured in the net. The female taped out at 43.5" and was fitted with an accelerometer.

Shortly thereafter I lost another on a figure-8 (well executed, hookset was the wrong way... oops), and not more than five minutes later John Thibert called in a fish. We zoomed over to John and after lifting the fish into the trough and giving it a good once over, I noticed a Floy tag. However, there were no other marks on it indicating one of 2009's tagged fish, then it dawned on me to flip the fish over. Wouldn't you have it, there was an incision! This was a fish that had a surgically implanted accelerometer and was tagged in April several kilometers down-river.

Before.

After a little over two months of healing (note closed incision, absorbable sutures gone).

After figuring out we were in the middle of an activity period, we headed to another spot and commenced casting. As I turned to watch the wake of a pleasure boat barreling down on our boat, I briefly turned back to look at my lure and noticed a fish following very closely behind the bucktail. I entered the figure-8, as the giant wake rocked the boat, and the fish hit immediately. It taped out at about 34", was fitted with an accelerometer, and quickly released.

All in all, a solid five hours of fishing!

"Get out of my house!"

"Catch and Release to Die" - Star Tribune Article

2010-06-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

This post is in response to Bill Klein's (of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune) post on his blog (http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/blogs/96226054.html). I'd like to share a few things with the public that Mr. Klein did not address in his post, and address some things that perhaps the public may not be aware of regarding the study he discusses.

The article was written in 1992 by R. Ferguson and Bruce Tufts of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and is titled "Physiological effects of brief air exposure in exhaustively exercised rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): implications for catch-and-release fisheries." Dr. Tufts is a leader in the field of fish physiology, and has done extensive research involving recreational angling (including helping to develop, along with my co-advisor Dr. Cory Suski, the water weigh-in system). His interests are most certainly with the fish, which is exactly the crux of this paper. The study has implications for informing managers that perhaps fish handling plays a more important role in successfully managing recreational fisheries than previously thought, particularly as C&R fishing and the field of C&R research (like my Master's thesis) continues to grow.

Part of the blood sampling process used in the paper was to cannulate the dorsal aorta to obtain samples. Cannulation, in a nutshell, involves sticking a tube (picture an IV) straight into the target area, in this case the heart. This procedure can be extremely stressful for a fish, particularly after exhaustive exercise and confinement in an unnatural environment. Ferguson and Tufts acknowledge these procedures may have affected their results, something Klein did not mention in his blog post. You can see in the previous post on this blog that we use a very non-invasive blood sampling protocol that involves a small needle and vacutainer to pierce the caudle vasculature. Long gone are the days of invasive cannulation...

Obviously, sticking a tube into a fish's heart is going to require surgery. The use of anesthetic in human surgeries may be the most stressful part of a procedure, and the same holds true for fish. Again, the fact that surgical procedures and anesthesia were involved could have skewed results, as noted by the authors (but not Mr. Klein).

The study is an interesting one, and has important implications for proper fish handling. However, it is not the be-all-end-all (not much is) of recreational fishing research. Release rates are affected by lots of things, and vary widely from fishery to fishery. Something that needs to be considered when we discuss C&R fishing in general.

Will Don Mercerau's fish survive? I guess we'll find out!

2010-06-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

I set out to try and externally attach our new acoustic transmitters (the accelerometers) on Saturday. I fished alone for the day, but had help from several other volunteer boats (thanks to J Carroll, Russell Spanton, Ross Nicholls, Dale MacNair, Julie Cashaback).

The weather was very fishy - cloudy, calm winds, threatening rain, warm air. I was confident the fish would be cooperative and that between four boats we would boat multiple fish. However, the fishing was not so good. Over 5-6 hours I personally did not catch any nor have any follows. The same held true for most of the other boats, too.

Julie Cashaback, on the other hand, fared much better. Shortly after lunch, I received a phone call from Julie and Dale telling me to "Get on my high-horse because they had a fish for me to tag!" (OK, that's not at all what Julie said, but that's what I was telling myself when she and Dale called and told me they caught one). So what did I do? I got on my high-horse and booked it to their boat, about a 5 minute drive up-river.

It's been roughly a year since I've taken blood from a fish and you could most certainly tell I was rusty! Unfortunately, I did not get the blood I needed, but then again it was not my top priority. First and foremost was tagging the fish, and after a couple snafoos the fish was tagged and released next to a receiver to obtain fine-scale post-release behavioral data.

Back at 'em tomorrow!

Opening Day 2010

2010-06-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

After watching the Blackhawks take a brutal beating in game 4 of the Stanley Cup final, opening day of muskie season would be a welcome reprieve from Philly's onslaught. It was a fitful 5.5 hours of sleep, but perhaps my mind was only preparing me for the thrills today would bring.

My faithful sidekick, Hedrik Wachelka, and I decided to do a bit of fun fishing (since some of my field equipment is not with me yet). Fishing water we previously had not spent much time on together, Hedrik scored big.

Actually, it was a slowish start. After surveying the area and concluding that yes this appeared to be "money," we began casting... and casting... and casting. Already my arm was screaming "UNCLE" from chucking and winding big lures (or maybe it was because I slept on it wrong), but we persevered. Finally Hedrik had two almost back-to-back follows from different fish. We toyed with another fish in a different spot before returning to the location Hedrik had his follows from. The water was "just right" and the lighting looked good, so I felt it necessary to chirp up and comment about how good the spot looked. Just as Hedrik finished agreeing with me his bucktail was hammered about 40' from the boat. With big, powerful headshakes and a short tussle, the 45" muskie was in the net and quickly released.

We were both excited as this was no slouch of a fish, but a dandy indeed. However, we knew any cast could bring another fish so it was back to the races. Hedrik soon had another fish following his bucktail, going round and round in the figure-8. Good sign the fish are moving! We loop back around and as I'm retrieving my topwater, Hedrik quietly says, "Fish." As I turn around to see the fish inches behind the bait I KNEW the fish would eat at Hedrik's feet, the figure 8 just had to be executed perfectly...

Hedrik went left, fish was still there, Hedrik came up and created the first turn of the 8, fish still there, Hedrik went back down the straight-away, still there, and up the outside turn... CHOMP. It felt like time stood still as the fish opened its yap and slammed it shut on Hedrik's bucktail, pausing momentarily to give Hedrik just enough time to adjust his grip and set the hook. The big fish wallowed and thrashed, made a small circle, and swam gently into the net. We both let out victory screams. Both of us knew it was big, and pushing that magical number, but neither knew for certain. Hedrik slid the fish out of the net and the official verdict came in... 50 inches on the button!

I think I was happier and more excited than Hedrik was. I was on cloud 9. It couldn't have played out any better, and could not have happened to a more deserving person. Hedrik, the muskie gods were smiling down on you, my friend. And they will continue to on Wednesday, that you can take solace in.

Hopefully we didn't spend all our luck for 2010. Still lots more fishing to do, and lots more data to collect. As always, keep it here folks. After going a bit stagnant over the last few months, I promise to have more and exciting stories posted as they arise.

Here's to a great 2010 muskie season, wherever you may find yourself!

Data Data Data and a Squirrel?

2010-06-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

After some issues on Monday trying to upload data from our remote receivers, we hit the water again today in an effort to collect data that has been gathering since late April. I had to jump in to retrieve the receivers and haul them on-board for uploading, but unlike in early April when the water was barely over 50F, I didn't mind this time as temps were in the mid-70s.

I was quite anxious to get our first receiver hooked up because before we had to abort Monday's mission, I caught a glimpse at the amount of data - a lot - on this particular receiver and was interested to see truly how much was there. When the file opened and we saw that I had more than 19,000 data points I was floored. We continued to upload different receivers and finally ended the day with over 100,000 data points... in less than two months! Looks like I know what I'll be doing ALL of next year (sitting in front of my computer)!

In addition to the crazy amounts of data we uploaded, I also plucked a crazy black squirrel from the water today. Oddly, this little dude/dudette actually swam to me! After picking it up for a few seconds and getting a chance to pose for a picture, the squirrel swam back to shore, scampered up a tree, and bolted up the bank. First swimming squirrel I've ever seen!

Muskie opener is this Saturday. Then, it's game on!

Opener... Where are you?!?

2010-05-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

Panfishing, even walleye fishing, is just not the same. Muskie opener cannot come soon enough. Having lived in a state where there are no closed seasons for muskies, I now appreciate the significance of "the opener." June 5th, please hurry up and get here.

The latest report I have on water temperatures in the river are mid-70s. With the dry summer and hot temps thus far, it's pretty much a guarantee the rivers will see 80+ degrees this summer. Good for us (need the data), we'll see how good for the fish it is...

Angling for the project will start soon. Our focus will be to catch muskies and externally affix acoustic transmitters which will allow us to get fine-scale post-release behavioral data. We need eight fish in a short period of time, which equates to long hours of serious fishing. No worries, I'm confident we'll get our eight in NO TIME.

Random moose, anybody?

Guess Who's Back?

2010-05-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

Me. Well, not quite. I will be leaving British Columbia tomorrow and returning to Ottawa to prepare for my field work this summer.

We've been working hard out here pulling double-duty on bull trout and burbot. The bull trout fishing slowed quite a bit which was a bummer (haven't reached the sample size goal), but the burbot trapping seems to be picking up.

Burbot are quite sensitive to barotrauma, which occurs when fish are brought up from depth too quickly. When a fish is down in the water column somewhere, there is pressure pushing on the fish. At 33 feet it would be 2X the pressure we feel on the surface. If a fish does not resist that pressure somehow, it would be crushed. So, they do resist by creating internal pressure which equals the surrounding pressure. However, when brought up quickly from depth the outside pressure decreases while the internal pressure remains the same and thus causes the air bladder to puff out, or in some cases cause stomachs to distend and other organs to be pushed out. Most of the burbot have experience some degree of barotrauma (no organs have been pushed out, but lots of distended bellies and large air bladders). To combat this, the PhD student doing the burbot work (Phil Harrison from the University of Waterloo) does frequent decompression stops, and will sometimes "recompress" burbot after performing surgery on them. So far, things have been quite successful.

After recompressing, Mr. Burbot is released.

More muskie stuff to come soon. Next up on the agenda is to give a presentation to the Capital Muskies Club in Ottawa (http://www.capitalmuskies.ca) on May 26th.

Deuce

2010-04-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

Inserting accelerometer.

With accelerometer in place, time to sew him (yes, it was a male) up.

Keith Stamplecoskie releasing our buddy.

Back to prowl the depths...

We scored two more muskies today, both just shy of 40 inches. The pictures above were from the larger of the two (one male [pictured above] and one female).

Shocking!

2010-04-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today marked the beginning of the final chapter for my thesis... Well, it began after a $200 trip to the marine dealer (apparently you can overfill oil tanks on 4-stroke engines... Ooops!).

When we finally got to the ramp we found the river was much lower than when we last visited (a good thing as it concentrates the fish more). We fired up the generator, donned our stylish rubber gloves and rubber boots, and off we went! Within a few minutes the electricity pulsing through the water spooked a small muskie that leapt out of the way. It was a good sign as a short while later at a popular casting spot we electofished a small male, inserted a transmitter, sewed him up, and let him go in less than 8 minutes! THAT officially marked the beginning of this phase of Project Noble Beast.

Shortly thereafter we shocked up two muskies within close proximity to each other, one likely a female and the other a male. This indicated to use that perhaps some of the muskies are preparing to spawn and are staging at or just outside preferred spawning areas. Again, both muskies had accelerometers inserted inside their bodies, given two small stitches, and released. We capped the day off with one more male.

Accelerometer transmitters with a quarter to show their relative size.

Preparing the first stitch and using a pair of forceps to block the suture needle from piercing any internal organs.

Close-up of the incision and the beginning of the first stitch.

Our intention is to capture eight muskies via electrofishing and another eight via angling later on. We will continue to electrofish tomorrow and into next week, before I head back to British Columbia.

Gotta say, playing Doctor with muskies is pretty fun! (Good thing they don't know I stunk at the game "Operation" when I was a kid... I can still hear that buzzer blaring at me everytime I tried to remove the wish bone.)

Finishing the last few wraps of a stitch. Dr. Steven Cooke looks on.

Bull Trout in British Columbia

2010-04-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

For the past week I have been surrounded by the beautiful British Columbia interior. I was on a mission to help a PhD student begin his 3-4 year study on the spatial ecology of bull trout (member of the char family, similar to a lake trout). I may have caught a half dozen rainbow trout and one cutthroat in my entire life, so getting a chance to work with a very cool Salmonid (salmon/trout/char family), and something so different than what I am accustomed to (warm-water species) was a real treat. To read a little more about bull trout, see the following Wikipedia link (perhaps not the most credible source, but you get the idea): Bull Trout

Our objective was to capture as many bull trout as possible (actually, 200 was the goal) and surgically implant them with acoustic transmitters that will last about three years. We hooked up with guide Jamie Tippe of Revelstoke, BC. Not only did Jamie put us on fish under less than ideal conditions, he was a constant source of laughter and awesome stories of the British Columbian wilderness. Jamie was, for all intents and purposes, a class act all around. I have met lots of anglers in my life, but Jamie ranks amongst my top three (a ranking that goes beyond just being able to catch fish).

The most interesting part of the trip, for me, was seeing (and doing a few) surgeries. Lee Gutowsky, the PhD student in charge, became a master fish surgeon in a few short days. First using an appropriate amount of clove oil as anesthetic, then a feather scalpel and absorbable monofilament sutures (the same tools used in human surgeries), Lee tagged almost 100 fish during our stay. To provide the fish with oxygen, flow-through running water was provided via a tube that ran water over the gills. The setup was very cool to see in the field, and something many researchers would not have deemed possible in the field once upon a time!

The experience has proved valuable as I am now confident I have the know-how and capabilities for doing surgeries on muskies this coming week and the following. Beginning Thursday, Project Noble Beast will resume. We will be electrofishing muskies and surgically implanting tiny acoustic transmitters that will give us depth and acceleration (i.e., activity) data. Eight listening stations will be deployed throughout the stretch of river we plan to use. The stations will "listen" for each fish (eight for now) and record data every 60-90 seconds throughout the day. Never before has anyone attempted to obtain such fine-scale daily behavioral data for muskies. Hopefully the fruits of our labor will provide interesting insight into the behavioral ecology of muskies!

R&R

2010-04-10T02:58:00.000-07:00

I headed back to Illinois for the Easter weekend and the following week. Soon my life will be consumed by field work and it was time for a break!

One of the things I wanted to do while I was home was take the boat out for a spin somewhere. My Dad and I chose Lake Shelbyville which is a lake we're fairly familiar with. Storms were in the forecast so we hoped to get some fishing in before the bad weather hit.

We launched the boat and noted the water temperature was in the upper 50s and probably beyond what muskies spawn at and not quite where bass spawn at. Not expecting much since this particular lake can be a doozy to figure out in the spring we headed to our favorite spot (for those familiar with the lake, Buoy Cove).

Armed with mostly bass gear we flogged the shoreline with casts using rattle traps and Rapala X-Raps. Soon after deploying the trolling motor and cruising down the shoreline, Dad hooks up with a big pre-spawn female largemouth (18"). I speculate that she was likely staging in areas that males will soon move into and create nests.

With high-fives all around we continued down the shoreline. Maybe 50 yards down I cast my X-Rap beyond and left of a cluster of three stumps. As I twitch the bait back to the boat by lure gets hammered. The fish peeled off to the right, wrapping my line in the stumps. Fortunately I was able to get the fish unwrapped and I hoisted a beauty 19" pre-spawn female largemouth into the boat. Gotta love big bucketmouths!

Not to be outdone, Dad starts fan-casting the shoreline with a 3-bladed spinnerbait and puts the laces to a nice fish, which surfaces and shows itself to be a muskie! Not a giant, probably under 30 inches, but nice to see... and legal to catch in Illinois with no closed season! Slime time baby!

Headed to British Columbia momentarily so it's time to sign off. I'll be working with what some might consider "baitfish"/trout (bull trout to be exact; EDIT - bull trout are a member of the char family, more like a lake trout than, say, a rainbow). I'm hoping to take a few pictures so if anything exciting happens I'll post it here for you
folks to see!

Gong-Show Failure

2010-03-30T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day in the field... which lasted all of 10 minutes.

Our day started with being greeted by a gate blocking entrance to our study site, which led to curb jumping and lots of metal-on-concrete scraping. When we finally launched the boat and tried to deploy our acoustic receivers we found the method we were hoping to use for 5 of our 8 receivers was a big flop. In fact, the only way it would have worked is if I were to have jumped in the water to deploy them. That, however, wasn't going to happen with the water being 4C or 39F! No thanks!

So, it's back to the original plan and start field work in late-April.

Ah, the joys of field work.

Early Arrival

2010-03-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks largely to this mild winter (a result of the beginning of an el Nino year), my field season will begin much sooner than expected. In my last post I said field work would begin in late-April or late-May, but this crazy weather and a trip to British Columbia for help with another student's project has forced us to start early.

We will be electrofishing, performing surgeries, and deploying our acoustic receivers next week. Hopefully all goes well and we can get the eight muskies we're looking for.

For those interested, the below picture is the type of data we are looking to record in terms of "activity" patterns. Notice the distinct "resting" and "active" periods.

Still Here!

2010-03-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

Hi folks. My apologies for not updating more frequently. I am in the process of analyzing data, writing, and presenting to various clubs and conferences. This summer will yield more updates though, I promise.

We are in the process of trying to create a study design that will enable us to look at fine-scale activity patterns of muskies across 24-hour periods over several months. Using transmitters from Vemco (http://www.vemco.com/), activity will be based on acceleration and depth patterns obtained through transmitters that have acceleration and pressure sensors inside. Data is sent to underwater receivers spaced throughout the river at intervals of 60-90 seconds. This is very new technology that has yet to receive significant global use. In other words, this is cool stuff! We will be able to obtain information never before described that should be largely applicable across the muskie's range.

Receiver placement will occur in mid-April and electrofishing for our subjects will begin either late-April or late-May. Of course, you'll get to see all that action right here in the blog so stay tuned.

Cabin Fever

2010-02-17T17:04:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of winter, my girlfriend and I set out to plan a trip somewhere warm and tropical (or at least semi-tropical). At first we were looking to visit the Bahamas, but being lowly grad students decided for a slightly more economical option and chose to vacation in the Florida Keys. Home for the next 5 days was going to be Key Largo staying at Bay Harbor Lodge/Coconut Bay Resort (http://www.bayharborkeylargo.com/). This was place was truly a gem and I'd go back in less than a heartbeat. When we returned to our room from the day's activities we felt like we were going home to our apartment, not back to a resort room. Can't say enough about the facility. Outstanding A+.

Anyway, I'll limit my text and let you view photos of our trip (yep, completely non-muskie related). I wish we were still there! Oh well, c'est la vie.

Mmmm. Fresh mahi-mahi, portabello and white mushrooms, and risotto. Cheap glass of chardonnay to boot (not pictured). Bon appetit!

"You talkin' to me?" Brown pelican at the bird rehabilitation center on Key Largo (he wasn't injured, just a freeloader looking for handouts).

What would a trip to the Keys be without some fishing? Capt. Don Reichert (http://www.fishinmissioncharters.com) at the helm of his 28' Parker preparing to take Sarah and I out for a half-day of bottom fishing for snapper and grouper.

Combo of cigar minnows and ballyhoo for bait + box of fish chum + lobster head chum = ....

Snapper! Little guy here. Couldn't find the big muttons we were hoping for.

And grouper! A moratorium on harvesting all species of grouper prevented us from taking these tasty dudes home. This is a red grouper.

Here's a gag grouper. We also caught black grouper in addition to the reds and gags. All three are excellent eating, but all prone to over-harvest due to the time it takes to reach sexual maturity and their spawning behaviour (form large aggregations at predictable times of the year and predictable locations which make them easy to harvest in large quantities).

The weather was kind of funky (windy and cold), but not funky enough to prevent this spotted moray eel to latch onto Sarah's hunk o' fish. Stay away from those teeth (unless you don't want a digit)!

Snorkel trip to out to a few patch reefs just offshore. I'd call this an underwater "forest" of soft coral. A few grunts milling about, too.

Red grouper headed back to its coral haven (not sure what type of coral this is... should probably know though).

Last but not least, one of my favorite reef fishes - the stoplight parrotfish (terminal phase). It's hard to see, but at the base of the tail are three yellow dots, similar to a stoplight. Love the colors!

Okay, fun's over. Back to work.

Video: External Tagging

2010-02-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

This video shows how I've been attaching the external transmitters. This is approximately how long it takes to tag a fish when everything goes smoothly.

Enjoy!

[Note: Occasionally the video doesn't work and I have to monkey around with it to get it going again. I'll keep checking its status, but if this post gets pushed down or to another page and I haven't gotten it going, email me and I'll get it up and running again. Thanks!]

What Do Muskies and Humans Have In Common?

2010-01-31T19:41:00.000-08:00

They both eat perch :)

Hey, struggling students have to eat too right?

Time To Revive The Blog: Analysis Updates

2010-01-28T14:29:00.000-08:00

I promised folks that I'd not let this blog go stagnant throughout the winter months, but I seem to not be holding up my end of the bargain. I'll use the old "I've been really busy" excuse here because, well, it's true.

One of the things that has kept me busy the last couple weeks is analyzing my data from this past summer. Below are a few of the more interesting findings:

1) Behaviourally, muskies show a significant difference in distance moved (between sequential tracking points) at immediate (2 hrs) time intervals than at 48 (short-term) and 1 week (long-term) time periods. This is likely simply reflecting recovery from the angling event.

2) Physiology wasn't a whole lot different between treatments, but when analyzed using temperature as a covariate (an additional variable that might have some influence on the main variable in question, in this case stress levels) I did find some differences. Cortisol (primary stress hormone) and glucose (energy stores released in response to increases in cortisol) were significantly greater in concentration at temperatures above 20C/68F than below.

For you folks down in the States that are skeptical of our results because we didn't angle very many fish from upper 70/80+F water temps, this trend should be of some consolation. You'll be pleased to hear that we will make every effort to angle fish during the warmest part of summer next year. We, unfortunately, did not get the hot summer weather last year that we might normally experience.

Dr. Ed Crossman Research Grant

2010-01-13T12:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not entirely sure who reads this blog, but if you're a Canadian student, or someone that knows of a Canadian student, conducting muskellunge research, note the following link:

http://www.muskiescanada.ca/news.php?article_id=25

The requirement is that the student is researching muskies in Canada. You may be eligible regardless of your citizenship.

Application package should include the following:

Identify researcher/student
List research supervisor
Name of educational institution
General time frames of research activity
Short (shorter the better) outline of research activity
Waterbody study will be conducted on
Upon completion of the research activity, it is expected that the student will provide a short report about the findings.

Application deadline is February 15th.

Out From The Field, Into The Lab

2009-12-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I've updated my blog, mainly because the fishing has ceased (season ended December 15th) and I've been busy with other writing tasks. I returned to Illinois for 2.5 weeks to visit family and process the muskie plasma we removed this summer.

My first analysis was to test the amount of ions (potassium, sodium, and chloride) present in the plasma. The level of ions found in said plasma can indicate the level of lactate/exhaustive exercise a fish has produced/undergone. Shortly after exercise there is an imbalance in cations (sodium, Na+ and potassium, K+) and anions (chloride, Cl-) where the cation concentrations are greater than the anions, causing the blood to become more acidic as pH decreases (known as metabolic acidosis).

By using a flame photometer (black machine on right) and a chloridometer (grey machine on left) I can measure the amounts of these ions present in the plasma we collected. Though I have not yet officially run the data through any statistical software, I calculated the averages for all three ions for each treatment (including the six control fish): there is almost no variation amongst treatment groups and between treatments and the control fish. Essentially, this means that muskies are undergoing virtually the same level of exhaustive exercise/lactate production in each treatment AND under "normal" conditions. I hypothesized a significant difference would be noted between treatment groups and our control group, but I am not so sure we will find that when I run the statistics...

Plasma cortisol is the other analysis I ran. Cortisol is the most common stress hormone produced by animals. It's hard to tell whether the cortisol concentrations we found are above, below, or equal to the average found in muskies because there appears to be no other muskie paper that has measured this hormone (not one that I have found yet at least). I can tell you that there is a striking difference between treatment groups and our control group which suggests that a stress response is initiated when the fish are hooked and played. Again, however, I have not run any statistics to determine if these observations are even signficant or merely anecdotal.

That's all I've got for now folks. It's been a heck of a 2009 and I can't wait for 2010!

Happy holidays and happy New Year folks!

END of Field Season #1: Thank You Muskies Canada

2009-11-24T06:27:00.000-08:00

We spent November 23rd tracking fish on the Ottawa River, successfully finding most of our fish. Motor problems arose as the day went on and any attempt to return later in the week was stifled. As such, five months and one day later made November 23rd my last day of field season #1.

Below you'll find a few pictures of what we've been doing since my last blog entry. We've been electrofishing to obtain baseline controls for the physiology portion of our study. However, some of the muskies we electrofished came from water temperatures lower than those we angled from, so we had to go back and try to capture (via hook-and-line) muskies from colder water. We caught two small muskies at 31 and 32 inches, one of which had an old surgically implanted radio tag from a tracking study conducted two years ago.I'd like to extend a big THANK YOU to all the members of Muskies Canada that volunteered their time to help out with the project. Without your support none of this would be possible. To the NEC, thank you for helping fund Project Noble Beast! I'd also like to thank Muskies Inc. and the Becker Foundation for their financial contributions. Hopefully some of my fellow Americans can come up next summer to help volunteer with the study! Thanks everybody!

Lastly, I will update this blog as new developments arise. Stay tuned!

Circle Hook Success

2009-11-10T14:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the fifth capture of a muskie for our live-bait study. So far we have one on a quick-strike, two on J-hooks (one dead), and two on circle hooks including yesterday's catch.

As you can see by the photo, the circle hook performed flawlessly and gave us a textbook hook-up. After about 4.5 minutes the fish began to speed toward deeper water away from the boat. It was at that time that I engaged the reel and began reeling quickly and steadily. The line tightened and the battle was on.

Perhaps this method could be a safe, viable method of passively fishing muskies with live-bait.

Cleithrum Removal

2009-10-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

What is a cleithrum? The cleithrum is a calcified bone structure located on either side of the opercula (pectoral girdle; see pictures). As fish grow, calcium deposits from each year of growth are laid down and begin forming distinct, viewable lines (growth annuli) similar to growth rings on tree trunks. While scales can also provide age data, they are much harder to accurately assess and become even harder with older fish.

Drs. John Casselman and Ed Crossman helped pioneer the use of muskellunge cleithrum bones to assess age and growth relationships across its distribution. This undertaking began in 1979 and is known to many as "The Cleithrum Project". Taxidermists probably contribute the largest number of cleithrum bones to the project, but anglers do as well after harvesting a fish or finding one dead. It is important information that can shed light on the potential maximum size or general growth rates a given body of water may have.

As part of the necropsy we performed last week, I was given a tutorial on cleithrum removal by (my partner in crime) Hedrik. He's well known within muskie circles, and perhaps to the chagrin of his partners (haha), for plunging his hands into a well decomposed, dry-heave-inducing dead muskie to remove its cleithrum bone for aging. I was excited to give it a shot!

Removing the bone is much easier than I expected, and becomes easier the longer the fish has been dead for. The procedure is simple: find the cleithrum bone at the edge of the gill opening, use your thumb to pry the bone loose from the connective tissue beginning from the bottom edge and moving towards the top, repeat until all connective tissue has been severed, pull the cleithrum down exposing the bottom/front tip, and continue pulling (if it does not come with relative ease some of the connective tissue may still be intact) until the bone lifts free from the flesh. Go slowly, if need be, to prevent breaking the bone.

For more pictures and more detailed step-by-step procedures visit: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/LetsFish/2ColumnSubPage/STEL02_168800.html

Necropsy Notes: Injuries From Single-Hook

2009-10-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

The last two posts and accompanying pictures were from a necropsy of muskie that succumbed to its injuries during our live-bait study. We used the necropsy to determine the extent of those injuries and where they occurred. The following are our findings.

It took just three minutes for this 38 inch muskie to swallow the sucker. Upon hookset, the 8/0 J-hook tore a roughly one inch hole in the esophagus. As the hook continued to move towards the mouth and through the esophagus it also nicked the liver which would have resulted in a fair amount of bleeding. The injuries did not stop there, however. The hook ruptured the coelom (membrane) and penetrated the pericardial cavity where the heart is located. The hepatic portal vein (delivers "dirty" blood to the liver where it is detoxified, and then to a set of capillaries that distributes it to the heart) was also nicked. The latter would have caused a great deal of bleeding, probably the bulk of bleeding we noticed. The hook finally settled just outside the esophagus

Nearly all major vital organs are located just below the esophagus. Had the hook turned the other way as it moved through the muskie's body it is possible the damage may not have been as severe. Nevertheless...

Picture 1: The scalpel is inside the pericardial cavity and is pointing to the tear in the coelom. Just left of the scalpel is the tip of the tong that was inserted down the muskie's esophagus to show the hole created by the hook.

Picture 2: Close up of picture 1.

Picture 3: The tweezers are inserted in the hepatic portal vein which was nicked by the hook. To the right is the tear in the coelom where the hook penetrated the pericardial cavity.

Picture 4: Pooled blood inside the pericardial cavity perhaps a result of nicking the hepatic portal vein or the atrium.

Necropsy Notes: General Anatomy

2009-10-30T07:31:00.001-07:00

The heart, housed inside the pericardial cavity, is located between the pectoral fins and between each operculum (a.k.a. gill flaps). Fish hearts are two chambered compared to the four chambered hearts of humans.

Interestingly, powerful swimming fish (e.g., tunas, salmon, sharks, muskies) are not necessarily a result of their musculature make-up, but the amount of coronary circulation provided by small arteries that wrap the heart. However, not all fish have this type of circulation. Also, remember that arteries deliver oxygenated blood to the heart, whereas veins deliver DEoxygenated blood to the heart (where it can be reoxygenated). So, the coronary arteries that deliver oxygen to the heart muscle are IMPERATIVE to the performance and activity level of a fish. If these arteries become compromised (e.g., blocked) then cardiac arrest can insue. Hedrik pointed out that perhaps in warm water there is so little oxygen in the water and even less afforded to the fish during the angling event that mortalities at in warm water may be caused by heart attacks. This is purely conjecture, but is worth investigating next summer.

Fish livers are generally large (in sharks they may constitute over 1/3 of their total body weights), and the muskie's is no exception. A muskie's liver is located just below the esophagus and running along the stomach. [Far right, picture 1 and 2]. The dark colored object just left of the liver is the gall bladder.

Fish gonads are located along the top of the fish and below the backbone. In these pictures you can see this muskie is a female and full of eggs! [Update. Hedrik took a small portion of the ovaries and counted the number of eggs then extrapolated the total number of eggs using the length of the ovary. There were 606 eggs in a 29 mm/1.1 in segment of one of the ovaries. The total length of the removed ovary was 43.5 cm/17.1 in. I will forego reporting all the calculations, but there were an estimated 18,180 eggs (give or take) in this 38 in female. Scott and Crossman (1983) reported a range of 6,000 to 265,000 eggs in adult muskellunge. Hedrik's estimate falls well within the reported range!]

The creamy white tissue below the ovaries and lining either side of the pink tissue (intestine) are fat deposits.

When we caught the fish I noticed a bulge in its stomach, and during the necropsy had a chance to find out what was inside it! Perhaps not surprisingly, it was another white sucker of nearly identical size as the one we used to catch the muskie with. The sucker already in its stomach appeared to be extremely fresh, with hardly any signs of decomposition.

Necropsy Notes: Swim Bladder

2009-10-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

This post is mostly for those from MuskieFIRST who read or participated in the "fizzing a musky" thread, but this is also meant as an educational tool for all muskie nuts.

Physoclistous: swim bladder has NO direct connection to the outside world.
Physostomous: swim bladder DOES have a direct connection to the outside world.

Muskies are physostomous (as Tfootstalker pointed out) and, as such, have an OPEN swim bladder system (as opposed to closed). In this type of system it is possible to obtain gases from above the surface, and may be one reason (in my opinion) why muskies porpoise.

So, where is the swim bladder in a muskie? It is located ABOVE most major organs (e.g., liver, stomach) and just below the kidneys and backbone. The swim bladder has a very thick membrane that was even difficult to cut with a scalpel.

Picture 1: The swim bladder is the white strip running horizontally and located just below my left thumb. You can see how high in the body it is located. Also, those are the ovaries I am holding back.

Picture 2: Close up of the swim bladder.

For those that thought they were expelling gases from the swim bladder by puncturing a small hole in the belly of the fish or near the pectoral fin, this is wrong. Perhaps there was some excess gas built up inside the intraperitoneal cavity and this method happened to work, but poking around AT ALL is a bad idea. Because these fish are physostomous, LIKE HUMANS, they can be burped. As Tfootstalker noted, gently rub their bellies from the rear (genital opening) toward their gills. This will cause any excess gas to be pushed through the pneumatic duct - which connects the swim bladder to the esophagus and is in turn connected to the outside world - and out the mouth.

Again though, please DO NOT attempt to fizz a muskie.

Electrofishing Muskies

2009-10-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

The original project boat has since been converted into a smaller utility boat, but its main function now serves as an electrofishing boat (albeit on the small side). One of Dr. Cooke's other grad students, Chris Pullen, was able to fabricate a safety cage and all the associated rigging for the anodes. It came out looking very professionally done and I've been eager to get out and use it.

Today was my chance to see if we could electrofish a few muskies. There is a project being conducted by another member of Dr. Cooke's lab, Alison Colotelo, which involves heavy sampling across many different sites looking for four species of concern. Although most of the sampling has been completed, Alison agreed to help me try to shock a few muskies.

For those not familiar with electrofishing it involves sending rapid pulses of electricity into the water to temporarily stun fish. It is a very safe method of sampling when done properly, and is extremely efficient.

Why are we trying to electrofish muskies? We are interested in getting controls and "baseline" physiology from muskies NOT captured via hook-and-line. It is impossible to get true control fish as any method of capturing fish causes some deviation from homeostasis (normal resting physiology).

We decided to sample a smaller stretch of the Rideau River with a good population of muskies. Most of the morning was spent sifting through lots of different species - including walleye, bluegill, pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, yellow perch, rock bass, and smaller minnow species. However, the muskies evaded us... for a bit. Finally, after switching to our third location, a nice 34 inch male was shocked and quickly brought aboard. Within 15 more minutes we had another smaller muskie at 30 inches. These were the only two we took blood from, but we did manage to shock a small YOY (young-of-the-year) and another about 20 inches in length.

So how did these control fish compare to those C&Red? Their glucose and lactate levels were much lower than those that were angled. This shows that the angling event does impose some degree of stress on the fish, but the magnitude is still unclear and will require more controls to compare.

Bittersweet Day...

2009-10-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

The sweet: We finally boated a fish in the live-bait study.

The bitter: It died.
Using a J-hooked sucker with a 3-minute time-to-hookset, the fish we caught today succumbed to its injuries. It was hooked just outside the esophagus, but I suspect the hook tore through tissue deeper within the fish.

No doubt some of you are reading this and screaming, "WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU USING J-HOOKS? THEY HAVE BEEN PROVEN TO KILL MUSKIES!" This is true (see Terry Margenau's "Effects of angling with a single-hook and live bait on muskellunge survival" published in 2007. There was also an article on the study in the August/September 2002 issue of Musky Hunter). However, muskies in that study were allowed to swallow suckers for an average time of 17 minutes and a range of 4-37.

In this study we are attempting to find a) alternatives to using J-hooks and b) ways to use J-hooks that still hook muskies but without them swallowing the bait. Therefore, we are testing using quick-strike rigs, circle hooks, and J-hooks with 1-minute and 3-minute times-to-hookset (times less than those used in Margenau's study).

Let me return to why we are using J-hooks at all. GENERALIST anglers (and perhaps some specialized) still use J-hooks. They are so pervasive that regulations banning their use are unlikely and would likely be nearly impossible to enforce. Therefore, changing angler behavior (through showing anglers there are better, safer ways to use live-bait that minimize injury and mortality) may be a better alternative to outright banning J-hooks.

So far we have hooked three muskies using quick-strike rigs. We could not boat all three, but did note that they were all hooked in the corner of the mouth.

The passing of this fish may provide additional evidence that using live-bait should be done actively (i.e., setting the hook immediately) to avoid deep-hooking and subsequent mortality. We have had other muskies pick-up suckers on J-hooks and have given them one or three minutes before setting the hook, but in all instances we could not hook any. This might suggest that the only effective way of using J-hooks is to let the muskies swallow the bait, something that Margenau showed causes significant mortality (83% over a one-year period), and something that he considers (as do I) "unacceptable for trophy muskellunge management".

Wanted!

2009-10-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

The following is directed to the angler(s) that removed the transmitter from one of this study's fish:

If you removed the transmitter from the fish but released it, please contact me via email. By removing the transmitter you saved us $200 since it can be reused again. We got enough data from the fish before the transmitter was removed, but it would be helpful to know WHY the transmitter was removed.

PLEASE contact me if you have any information. If you'd rather speak by phone my cell is 1-217-649-4449.

Thank you,

Sean Landsman

Size May Not Matter?

2009-10-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

I still have not run any statistical analyses on the data we've collected thus far, but today we added another muskie - 31 inch - to the sample which gave us some interesting results. After battling the muskie for four minutes, the blood glucose and lactate levels were almost exactly the same as the 43.5" caught the other day in 11.5C (~52F) water. The fish today was captured from 9C (48F) water and its glucose and lactate values were 3.2 and 7.3 mmol/l as compared to 3.0 and 7.2 mmol/l for the 43.5 incher. The lack of variation could potentially be explained in the water temp decrease, but is interesting to note that there was very little variation in blood glucose and lactate levels despite a size differential of over 12 inches.

"The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

2009-10-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

The study's largest muskie - a beautiful 52 inch specimen - has vanished.

Fish #1247's transmitter was found on shore. Before we jump to conclusions, let us explore several options that could have transpired...

Perhaps the muskie befriended Rocky the Raccoon and implored him to remove that annoying little transmitter. Is this likely? No.

Or maybe someone caught the muskie, filleted it on shore, and dumped the transmitter. Though the transmitters are light, they do sink when placed in water and thus could not have floated ashore. Furthermore, the backing was still attached - nay, seemingly hung - precariously from one of the two wires protruding from the transmitter. If the transmitter had fallen off the fish, the backing would be missing. Additional evidence pointing toward harvest includes cut marks in the wire and only one wire twist where there were originally five wire wraps used to tighten the transmitter on the fish.

Ah yes, but the plot thickens. This muskie was caught from the Ottawa River - an Ontario water body with a 54 inch minimum size limit. Therefore, at 52 inches this muskie could not have been legally harvested.

Why someone did not dump the transmitter into deep water, or throw it away somewhere far on shore is a mystery. It's as if the person wanted us to find the transmitter, but did not want to reveal themselves for fear of being fined.

One more potential scenario could have been carried out: the fish was caught by an angler(s) who removed the transmitter, released the fish, and put the transmitter on shore. Perhaps this angler(s) did not like someone messing with "their" fish. Perhaps they did not know this study existed? Maybe they did and had qualms with it? Maybe, maybe.

This will remain a mystery. Fish #1247 was tracked to this location a little over two weeks ago and tracked once more yesterday to the same location. When it was first tracked to this site I did not notice a rotting flesh smell or notice remains on shore (wasn't looking). However, had the fish been filleted on shore it is likely raccoons or other creatures would have made quick work of the remains. However, I don't think raccoons could or would have carried off the bones. So why no bones? Did someone remove the bones AND skin? Or did the above more optimistic scenario transpire.

We may never know...

Water Temps, Angling Times, and Stress Levels

2009-10-13T18:26:00.001-07:00

I compared the data from yesterday's 43.25 inch muskie to other muskies of similar size (43-45 inches). Just to compare...

Yesterday's muskie caught in 11.5C (52.7F): angling time = 3:40, glucose = 3.0 mmol/l, lactate = 7.2 mmol/l
43 inch muskie caught in 22.5C (72.5F): angling time = 0:55, glucose = 3.7 mmol/l, lactate = 11.1 mmol/l
45 inch muskie caught 18.5C (65.3F): angling time = 0:35, glucose = 2.6 mmol/l, lactate = 6.9 mmol/l

Let's compare one more fish that was given the gentle treatment...

44 inch muskie caught in 20.5C (68.9F): angling time = 0:54, glucose = 3.1 mmol/l, lactate = 7.1 mmol/l

It would appear that cooler water temperatures serve to suppress the stress response (despite long angling durations) given that fish angled in 1/3 or less the time show similar or even heightened levels. This may also be a finding that is independent of air exposure as evidenced by comparing yesterday's fish given air exposure and the above fish without air exposure).

Pretty interesting and some insight into how water temperature may influence your catch's chances at surviving an angling event. Hopefully next summer we will be able to compare stress levels in fish caught from 80+F water. However, my hypothesis would be that we would observe the opposite trend with fish caught from hot water: stress levels would be EXTREMELY elevated when fish are subject to long angling durations rather than seemingly suppressed as shown above.

Word To The Wise...

2009-10-13T15:32:00.001-07:00

Check your line for frays. :(

Cold Streak Finally Warms

2009-10-12T19:21:00.001-07:00

Last week I was finally able to track down suitable sized suckers for our live-bait study. I traveled 1.5 hours both ways to pick 12 suckers up. When I returned home I dropped them into a large container with water from the baitshop and an air stone pumping oxygen. Got up the next morning and drove to check on them... Half were dead! We fished with six live suckers and six dead ones. The dead ones we rigged on quick-strike rigs and cast, the live ones were put onto a mixture of circle hooks, quick-strike, and J-hook rigs. All our action came on the casted dead suckers now dubbed "Zombies". We had several hits that first day, but nothing could stay connected.

The above scenario has replayed itself several times now. The fish just don't seem to want the live stuff!

Today was a bit different, however. We had four pick-ups, but either the fish dropped the sucker after a short run or we whiffed on the hookset. Two were likely pike picking up the suckers judging by the unknown fish's inability to pull the float beneath the surface. The other two hits had more UMFFF behind them: one hit caused the float to rocket below the water and hang suspended about 2-3 feet down and the other hit sent line peeling from my reel like Jaws plucking a bluegill from beneath a bobber (before deciding the snack wasn't worth the effort).

Despite our failures to connect with any fish using live-bait, we had a bit more luck using artificials. At one point during the afternoon as we drifted a lush weed flat, the Bulldawg Hedrik so kindly lent me was smashed just as it was parting the water. The fish was small (under 30") and promptly got off. We took this as a good sign that the muskies might be starting to turn on. Towards the end of the flat, as I methodically worked Frankenstein (Hedrik inserted two screws into the Bulldawg's head to keep its nose down and prevent it from popping out of the water), I watched as a muskie slowly rose behind the bait, open its mouth, and quickly snapped it shut on Frankenstein. I hammered the hooks home and the fight was on! It was immediately apparent that the fish was hooked well, so I drew the fight out to test the fish's ability to cope with long fight times in cool water (just above 50F). The fight lasted almost four minutes.

What I caught was one of the (no offense to the muskie) gnarliest looking muskies I've ever caught. Skinny, splotched with scars, and weird "cracking" of its slime coat along its body made this one of the strangest fish I've ever encountered. In fact, it was so skinny that it looked much smaller in the water than it actually was. I was guestimating 38-40 inches as I was fighting it, but it taped out at 43 inches. The fish also appeared to be a male. If it's a male then in all likelihood this is an older fish which could explain why it looked so peculiar.

Regardless, it was another fish for the project! For those curious, the fish's glucose values were low and its lactate (7.8 mmol/l) was perhaps slightly above average, but well below the maximum we've seen (10-11 mmol/l) despite an almost four minute battle.

Back at it again tomorrow!

Skyscraper 'Skies... With A Twist!

2009-10-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

After making a failed run to find suckers this morning (didn't stop to check store hours... apparently the place is closed on Mondays!), Hedrik and I decided a little fishing somewhere was just what the doctor ordered. The question was, where? We could not find a trolling motor to drift a section of river near downtown Ottawa, so we hooked up the boat and trailered it a block away from Little Italy!

Though the pasta with bolognese and vintage pinot grigio tempted us, the thought of seeing a hungry muskie chase down a lure was even more appetizing! We launched at Dow's Lake which is a 10 minute walk from Carleton University, and the site of many classes that Dr. Cooke teaches.

I started off the outing with a follow from a fish of unknown size on a bucktail. A little while later, Hedrik had another follow on a Bulldawg from a low-30s fish. We proceeded to fish the base of a restaurant where I got a follow from a knee-knocker of a fish (upper 40 inches, pushing 50). After that follow, things slowed for us. So, we returned to the location we began our day at.

I clipped on the same lure that got our first follow and cast it in nearly the same location as said follow, and WHAMMY (that's for all you "Anchorman" fans out there...)! Fish on! As the muskie came in towards the boat, I thought I caught a glimpse of a Floy tag. I didn't say anything because I didn't really believe my eyes, but once the fish was in the net I confirmed my first glimpse. There before us sat a previously tagged muskie! This was a fish from a study by Dr. Cooke and his students on the movements of muskellunge in Dow's Lake. The fish in the study were implanted with internal radio transmitters (as opposed to the external radio transmitters we are using), and hanging from the belly of this fish was a wire antenna protruding from a small incision! DE-CENT (for all you "Trailer Park Boys"/Bubbles fans...)! The fish taped out at 40 inches, and I am in the process of trying to get data on when it was first captured.

Unfortunately, the ramp at Dow's Lake closes at 5PM so Hedrik and I had to leave despite getting two more HOT follows from 42-43 inch fish. I was having an internal battle with myself about whether to go home and walk to Dow's, when Hedrik suggested we move to another stretch of river downstream from Dow's Lake. Obviously, this was a good idea so we trailered the boat again and moved down to Mooney's Bay on the other side of Carleton's campus.

We didn't have much time to fish, so Hedrik took me to one of his best producing spots. I clipped on a Tuff Shad (crankbait) and hoped it would finally catch me a fish (never has). I wasn't let down as at the deepest portion of the bait's dive curve it came to a complete stop! I hammered the hooks home and could feel hard, gut wrenching headshakes. The fish then proceeded to zip around the boat like a torpedo from the USS Viriginia, roll, zip around some more, roll, take another drag peeling run, dive beneath the boat, and roll some more. After all these wild antics, the fish finally rolled so much in the line that it basically entangled itself and I was easily able to guide it into the net. I can honestly say this was the friskiest fish I've ever caught! It wouldn't even hold still in the trough (a rarity)! This fish taped out at just over 40 inches.

All in all, it was a good day! Now if we can figure out where to get those darn suckers... :)

[That's the Dunton Tower (houses a variety of different institutes, schools, and departments) at Carleton in the background of the first picture, and what look to be office buildings in downtown Ottawa in the third picture.]

Tracking Confirmations

2009-10-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

There is a fish that has been hanging out next to the ramp on the Long reach of the Rideau River the last several times I've gone to track it. I was getting worried because it seemed to be in the same location, or nearly the same location, each time I'd go to track it. When we stopped at the ramp I turned the receiver on and pointed the antenna in the direction I'd been hearing it. Sure enough, it was still there. We launched the boat and zeroed in on the signal. The water was extremely clear and I could see down to the bottom in 3-4 feet of water. Finally, I got the signal down to its lowest setting and let us drift along slowly. As I scanned the water I noticed movement to my right where the signal was coming from. A puff of silt clouded the water and as I pointed the antenna at the point of disturbance, the signal gradually got quieter and quieter. That was good evidence that our fish was there and, most importantly, alive.

After completing the rest of our tracking on the Long reach we moved to the Eccolands stretch closer to downtown. I picked up the frequency of our first fish from this stretch of river (caught speed trolling a spinnerbait) and tracked it down. When I had the signal at its lowest strength I began scanning the water. It was deeper here so I did not expect to see anything. Just as I was about to turn around and grab the GPS to mark the location, the fish I'd been searching for came cruising RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BOAT at the surface! I could see the transmitter, backing, and Floy tag clear as day! The fish stayed on the surface for less than five seconds before sounding into the weeds.

I am very pleased as this helps confirm that my tracking accuracy is very good!

The live-bait study will, hopefully, begin sometime this week. We are having troubles getting acceptable sized suckers, but things are progressing nonetheless. Stay tuned...

Project Noble Beast... Part Deux

2009-09-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

So as to not allow this Blog to go static, I will continue to update it with more advancements in my studies. This Blog is meant to showcase the research, but is also a snapshot into my trials and tribulations as a candidate for a Masters in Biology.

We will soon be transitioning into the second chapter of my thesis which will be looking at the viability of alternatives to J-hook live-bait swallow rigs. The study will be conducted with help from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. It will likely include four different treatments/rigs examined: quick-strike, circle hook, J-hook with 1-minute time-to-hookset, and J-hook with 5-minute time-to-hookset. [Note: All this is subject to change and may be ever-evolving if we are finding disproportionate mortality with one treatment. Remember, our goal is NOT to kill muskies, but to find ways to fish for them WITHOUT killing them.]

Many of you will recall the study conducted by Terry Margenau of the Wisconsin DNR (published in 2007) that showed single-hook rigs kill muskies, often rather brutally. So some of you may be wondering why we are even using J-hooks? First, Margenau and colleagues allowed the muskies to swallow the bait for sometimes upwards of 30+ minutes, so our use of them with shortened times-to-hookset will be an interesting comparison . Second, J-hook rigs are simply too common to not test. Lastly, the goal of the study is not necessarily to ban J-hooks (this will be very tough to accomplish), but to begin a massive education program (if the results indicate such is necessary) on alternatives to J-hooking or at least how to use a J-hook and cause little injury and mortality.

We will continue to work on the C&R project while we do the live-bait study, but soon we will be concentrating on "soaking suckers"! Tight lines, folks.

"If you think you can win, you can. Faith is necessary for victory."

2009-09-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

On June 22nd of 2009, Project Noble Beast's commencement came with the capture of the study's first muskie from the Rideau River. Over 550 angler hours, 60 outings, $2,000+ in fuel, $2,000 lower-unit rebuild, two emergency room visits for volunteers, and a total of 95 days later, Project Noble Beast reached its goal of 30 muskies for Season 1 of the study.

The finish was textbook. Our last 11 fish came before noon - with seven of them before 10AM - which told us there was a sure-fire morning bite. Yesterday, we captured, tagged, and released three muskies in a two hour span between 8:45 and 10:45AM. Our last five fish came from one spot. Thus, the decision and resulting game-plan was easy: get up EARLY to maximize time during the morning bite and fish our go-to spot.

Our first run-through produced one boil from an unknown species. I was throwing topwater while Hedrik threw a bucktail. When we reached the top of the weedbed, Hedrik continued using the bucktail and I clipped on a big plastic Curly Sue (per Hedrik's suggestion). We drifted back down and toward the sweetspot of the weedbed, and as I entered the L-turn at the end of one of my casts a muskie rolled up and CRUSHED the lure at the boat. All morning I was on edge knowing we needed just one more fish to reach our goal, so the hit sent my heart rate SKY ROCKETING. In 32 seconds, the 41 inch female was secured in the net, and we became the victors!

Though we have reached our goal of 30 for the season, this benchmark was merely a goal and not the end-point. We will continue to opportunistically catch additional muskies as the water temperatures drop to gain data across a gradient of water temperatures. Currently, we've captured muskies from water just over 81 down to around 63 degrees Fahrenheit, but would like catch fish in water around 50 degrees or even lower. We also need additional fish to boost sample sizes for the blood physiology.

It's been a blast, and most definitely the best summer job ever! I'd like to thank all those that volunteered their time to help with the project. Regardless of whether we caught fish or not, you folks provided me with motivation to continue flogging the water in an effort to enhance muskie fishing for generations to come. Without angler support, we wouldn't be where we are today. Period.

So, I will tip a cold one back tonight for all those that have provided support either in the form of man-power, money, and/or lure and equipment donations. Thanks folks! Looking forward to continued support, and success!

T Minus... 1

2009-09-24T17:14:00.000-07:00

That's right! Hat-trick! One more fish to go! Yahooooo!

Today, Hedrik and I were joined by Ed Sanford of the Ottawa club. Ed has been adamant about getting out and we've been tag-teaming the river recently, but actually getting to fish together has not occurred. Until today! We three muskie-teers hit the Ottawa this morning in good spirits.

Our first task was picking which spot to fish. This is always the most important decision to make during the day as the feeding windows have been typically occuring in the morning. Our best spot produced no action for us - either from muskies or any other fish species - the last time we fished it, but after letting it rest for a day or two we chose to try it again today.

We made one pass over our little weedbed and about half-way up our second pass... WHAMO! My topwater is OBLITERATED by a big fish. It actually harpooned the bait and was subsequently hooked beneath the jaw. I wasn't sure how well she was hooked, but after a short tustle we had fish #27 in the boat! She taped out at 48 inches, and beautifully marked to boot!

After tracking her for 10 minutes, we resume fishing for a bit until our next tracking session. No sooner do we begin fishing when I hear the spine-tingling, adrenaline pumping, "I got one!" Hedrik was tied into a scrappy little 36 inch male, making this our 28th fish of the study.

Now we had our hands full juggling the tracking of two fish. We finally found time to make a few more casts, but soon it was time to track again. As I said to Hedrik and Ed, "OK, time to track." Hedrik belts out another "I GOT ONE!" I scramble for the net and swiftly scoop up our 29th fish!

After that, the wind picked up and our two hour feeding window closed. We are hoping to catch our 30th fish tomorrow morning or possibly Saturday morning and reach our goal of 30 fish for the season. We are already planning on celebrating the "milestone"! Hope doing so doesn't jinx us!

Stay tuned... :)

Must Be Something In The Air

2009-09-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

Grab your favorite tasty beverage and tip one back for Russell Spanton. Russell - who hooked a muskie on his first cast on Monday - hooked himself today. The hook slid in past the barb and it was a trip to the ER for Mr. Spanton!

That makes TWO volunteers to hook themselves and have to take a trip to the ER (three if you count Hedrik who pulled the hook out of his arm...).

There should be a warning for every volunteer to help with the project: ASSIST AT YOUR OWN RISK. :)

51.5 Inch Recapture

2009-09-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

With time winding down in September and only four more fish to reach our goal of 30, I am chomping at the bit. For the past several days we've had fog in the mornings with clear skies by 10AM. It has also been fairly hot with little wind. Today's forecast was high of 22C, cloudy, and a 10kmh SW wind. I got a good night's sleep to be well rested for what surely would bring fish number's 27, 28, 29, and 30 to the boat!

Boy was I wrong.

Most of our action has been coming early in the day. By mid-morning we did not see a single fish. It was proving to be a tough day, and we knew whatever action we would have would require a fair bit of work.

After a short trolling run early afternoon, Hedrik and I decided to fish a spot that recently produced a 45" for us and another for myself (fishing for fun) in late August. Hedrik and I were just discussing which side of this particular spot was more productive when the water erupted behind me. Hedrik's rod was doubled over and I knew this was no pike...

I didn't get a good look at the fish until it was headed into the net, but when I did I was... surprised. As the fish slid into the net I noticed it had a transmitter on it. Great! We recapped a previous fish. Bummer that it wasn't a new fish, but oh well. I immediately assumed it was the same 45" as we caught a little over a week ago. When Hedrik grabbed the gill flap to unhook the fish, I noticed there was no hole in the flap which had been present on the 45". I jumped to the back of the boat and picked up my Bible [data book]. I asked Hedrik if he could read the transmitter frequency. I have a sheet in the back of my Bible that has all the transmitter frequencies of fish we've tagged and their corresponding numbers in the study (e.g., Fish #1, Fish #23, etc.). Hedrik replied to my query with "150-dot-460"...

Hmmm. Looks like fish number... 27? What? That's not the 45 incher! So I flip to Fish #27 and look at its length. "Hedrik?" I ask. "Guess how big this fish is?" Hedrik caught the 51.5 incher we tagged on August 14th. The fish was originally captured on a bucktail in the figure-8. Today, it was captured on a large plastic bait (Bulldawg) also at the boat (not quite in the figure-8, but close). The fish was caught at the opposite end of the island and probably moved an estimated 1-1.5km (0.5-0.75 miles) to where it was caught today.

We removed the transmitter as its recapture answers the study's main question: Do fish survive the catch-and-release process? According to this fish, they most certainly DO.

One photo shows the fish when I caught it and the others of Hedrik taken today. Enjoy!

T Minus... Just Kidding

2009-09-21T19:16:00.001-07:00

Russell Spanton of the MCI Ottawa chapter almost got us a step closer to our goal today, and on the first cast! One cast with his brand new topwater and Russell was battling a nice low-40 inch muskie. He got it close to the boat where it turned and made a run away from us, and promptly threw the hook. Russell was the "hot stick" today as he had action from two others, boating one JUST under 30 inches. I will be fishing with Russell again on Wednesday and expect BETTER results!

T Minus... 4

2009-09-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

After a one day hiatus from fishing to track, Hedrik and I were back at things today. We hit the road shortly after 7AM and ran into VERY heavy fog. In fact, this was possibly the heaviest I've ever driven in, much less fished in. I figured navigating through the fog couldn't be THAT difficult... Boy was I wrong. A short drive to our first spot that should have taken us five minutes under normal conditions now took us almost 30. I finally had to use the hand-held GPS to fix our last waypoint and navigate us to that location. Even then, the shoreline was barely visible and maintaining the proper heading was a task to say the least. It was very creepy as the fog began to lift and boats began to appear seemingly out of nowhere.

We knew our window of opportunity was small as the fog gave us "artificial" cloud-cover despite being bright and sunny beyond the fog. We made a couple passes through the spot and turned around again to work it a bit more slowly. I chose a zig-zag glide bait and popped it over submergent weeds. Sure enough, right in front of a guy bass fishing a nice 41 inch muskie hammered the glider and made SEVERAL powerful runs. These powerful runs were evidenced in this fish's lactate values which were higher than normal.

As a side note, this particular fish had a previous Floy tag in it from an unknown source, though the area code is from my home state of Illinois (Naperville/Wheaton area). This is unfortunate as unless this individual (and another whose tags I've pulled from other fish) is working with the Canadian government (OMNR) or another research institution, they are not allowed to Floy tag muskies without permission. It is my knowledge that the OMNR does not issue permits to individuals. Very disappointning to see such behavior. Laws are put into the books for a reason, and for a handful of people to operate as if the law does not pertain to them is deplorable. If whoever is doing this tagging is reading this, please email me a copy of your permit so I can put this issue to rest and squelch anger amongst the local fishermen. Thanks, gentlemen...

The picture at the top of this post is intended to illustrate how little most of our fish have been moving immediately post-release. From the far left orange buoy to the far right yellow buoy is less than 50 feet. The middle yellow buoy is where the fish was tracked 10 mins post-release, the far right was at 30 mins, and the far left at one hour.

T Minus... 5

2009-09-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

Last night before going to bed I checked the weather and a big cold front was forecasted to blow through in the morning. Rain, wind, cold temps giving way to sun, wind, and cold temps late morning...

Hedrik and I planned accordingly by getting up very early and making sure to get on the water shortly after sun-up. We were both on the same page as we agreed hitting one spot in particular would give us our best chance at a fish. The trick, however, would be finding the vegetation. As soon as we did that, it was off to the races!

Maybe 10 minutes after finding the vegetation and beginning our drift, I feel slack on my line even though the lure was coming back to the boat under constant tension. I didn't think anything of it at the time and just continued reeling figuring my lure was fouled in weeds. Then, I felt weight, but just a little. Then, more! So I reefed back on the rod and set the hook. The fish came to the surface head-shaking at Mach 3. In 35 seconds the fight was over and I was staring at our 25th fish to be affixed with a transmitter. After some minor struggling to get blood and push the "backpacker" through to affix the transmitter, the big male was returned to the water.

Shortly thereafter, the sun broke through and we called it quits! White caps everywhere!

[Note extremely fresh lamprey wounds on upper jaw.]

T Minus... 6

2009-09-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

I had the extreme pleasure of fishing with Dale MacNair from the Ottawa chapter of MCI. Dale's been extremely kind to me as I've made my transition to Ottawa. He's offered to take me "fun fishing" on multiple occasions and even offered to help me find a place to live. Aside from being a good guy, he's also quite the fisherman. Last November (2008), Dale caught one of the (if not THE) largest muskies ever caught and released. The behemoth measured 57 inches in length with a mind-boggling 33 inch girth (the latter measurement was what made the catch "of world record proportions"). Heck, I don't even have a 33 inch waist! As a field editor and contributing writer for Muskies Inc.'s (stateside organization) magazine, I jumped at the opportunity to interview Dale. The tele-interview lasted over an hour, for which most of it I forgot to take notes since I was so enthralled in the story! After the interview, I told Dale I would look forward to fishing with him when I arrived in Ottawa this summer.

Today was the day I had been looking forward to for a long time. Eager with anticipation to hit the prime bite between 0700-0900, Dale and I ventured out to the mighty Ottawa River. Our plan was simple: fish good locations both casting and trolling. We began trolling a large piece of structure that has, historically, been good for Dale and his partners (and us, too, as we have four fish with transmitters on it). Trolling produced nothing, as did casting, so we moved on to another spot. Maybe less than 10 casts at this new location, a nice mid-40 inch muskie follows Dale's lure to the boat and veers away before Dale could go into a figure-8. We made a mental note and moved on.

On the other side of the structure was another buddy of ours: Keean Robertson also of the Ottawa chapter. Keean actually called me last night to see if I had a partner for today. I neglected to mention that though I was fishing with Dale in Dale's boat, I would be bringing all my sampling gear along. After we spoke with Keean on the water, he moved across the river and within minutes was releasing a fish. Dale and I jetted over a minute late as Keean was putting the net away. If I'd been on the ball the night before or that morning and told Keean we had all our sampling gear, the title of this post would be "T Minus... 5". Alas, I dropped the ball. Life goes on.

So Dale and I perservered, with nothing to show for our efforts. We decided casting wasn't going to cut it (bluebird skies + no wind + HOT = not great for casting), but trolling just might! So we proceeded to troll and worked our way toward the area that Dale raised his fish earlier that morning. As we passed over the spot the fish was seen at earlier, my reel's clicker sprang to life ZZZZ...ZZZZZ....ZZZZZ! Fifty-four seconds later and we were staring at a nice 45 inch muskie that we think was the same fish from earlier that morning.

The fish was given the gentle treatment, and no one was around to take pictures of the release, so no photographic evidence exists that we caught the fish (you'll have to take my word for it). The big male powered away and, as most of our other fish have done, went straight to the bottom and remained there for the next two hours.

Hopefully our good luck continues!

T Minus... 7

2009-09-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

Though we worked on Labor Day... we were well rewarded! Three boats hit the river on the7th to help PNB in its home stretch of less than 10 fish needed to complete its goal of 30. Ed Lalonde and Chris "Pepe" Purdy (both of the Ottawa MCI chapter) piloted one boat; Kert Lavigne (Upper Valleye MCI) and Matt Clay (Ottawa MCI) another; and myself, Brian Peach and Hedrik Wachelka (both Ottawa MCI) captained the final boat. It was a day of tag-teaming in hopes of getting at least one fish...

Our boat began the morning with hardly any action, as was true for the other two boats. Later in the morning Hedrik had a nice low-40 inch class fish hammer his Bulldawg at the boat, clear the water with a nice jump, give Brian his daily shower, and finish with a wave of its fin [it got off]...

As noon approached, Kert connected with a nice, chunky 43" that was caught within eyesight of our boat. We blasted over, processed the fish, and commenced tracking. No sooner did we start when I look over and now Matt is battling a fish. We again come screaming in to find a mini-muskie sitting in the net. At just under 32" it is the smallest fish so far, but over 30" and thus OK to be sampled!

Apparently the lucky horseshoe was with Matt and Kert because neither our boat nor Chris and Ed could shake anything loose. Nevertheless, it was one of the best days on the water I've had in a while and a reminder that simply fishing with friends is just as much fun as catching the fish we pursue!

EXCELLENT Catch-and-Release Video

2009-09-03T19:24:00.001-07:00

Will Schultz's Release Video (<--- click)

This is a truly excellent example of how to greatly reduce the handling time of your catch, while still preserving the memory through pictures. In fact, I haven't seen a better one out there. EVERYONE should watch this at least once. I've never met Will, but his reputation precedes him as a true ambassador of the sport. Thank you, Will, for taking the time to produce such a high quality, educational video.

In fact, since this blog is intended to be both fun AND educational I have made a permanent link to the video on the right margin under LINKS.

Waiting Game

2009-09-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

As of September 1st the motor is still not fixed. I was hoping to return to Ottawa with a fully-functional motor, but I guess not!

Hiatus From Fishing

2009-08-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

Motor is in the shop for repairs: prop and drive shafts bent, and clutch dog stripped (gear shifting mechanism). Almost 2K to fix. Also needing to return to Illinois for a bit. Will resume fishing at the end of August/early September.