Fall Success

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 about 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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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!

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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...