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

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...