Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch An Epic weekend with the Herman Brothers!

I'm guessing TJ's eyeball is a standard 24.2 mm. :-)

Back to BobbyR's pike question; Was the big fish a hybrid muskie?

Yea CB1 should now all about "jokin around sometimes".

It looks like one to me and I've seen quite a few as a taxidermist although my state doesn't plant them anymore as they get better returns from the non- hybrid muskies.

Nate?

Problem solved.
This one utilizes tracks. Slight overkill. Pretty cool tho.

This one is pretty neat. It actually has skids, but, if it were mounted on that little utility trailer minus the skids, that'd be sweet. Could probably be towed by an ATV, or a couple of young guys.

I suppose the ultimate ice shanty would be a motorized street legal version. You could drive it to the lake, spend the day fishing, drive home, all without ever having to step outside.

After touring the man cave, I think the idea of "custom fishing house" has been taken care of! Although in this case, it's more of a dock, than a shanty......


Actually, I never understood the reason for a structured shanty. I hit the ice to fish..... not to watch TV, have an excuse to drink with my buddies, play cards, or get away from the wife. All of which, as I understand it anyway, are fairly common occurrences in those locales where shanties are parked on the ice and left for weeks, or even months.

It's called fishing after all. And it's not always easy, or pleasant. In my opinion, that's part of the experience....a big part, actually. Adverse conditions make catching fish that much more worthwhile, at least for me.

Anybody can fish when it's 80 degrees and sunny.

I estimate 19-20" - pushing 3#

Well then Marty Feldman ain't got nothin' on him!

Nice fish TJ!

Here they go again!!!!! Can't wait for the pics .

Cecil, it is a tiger Muskie! It was born in 2008.

Nate

That's I what thought!

I get people around here that bring me a musky to mount and assume it's a tiger because it has a bar pattern.

n8ly - what is the stocked density of the tiger musky in that BOW? Have any ever been harvested?

35 acres and 50 tigers went in originally.
Then last fall 40 more went in at 12"...

None have been harvested but they have been caught alot and probably 10 or so are dead from mishandling...

Nate, what's their growth the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year after stocking at that size?

Females will grow 10-12 inches per year
Males more like 6-9 inches

Good info on the musky. Why are you using tiger musky instead of regular musky - availability? I would not use musky nor pike in a pond for fish food-harvest production. It would be like having a coyote in a goose, turkey, sheep farm. But I think they could be a good bonus fish in a predator emphasis sportfishing pond-lake. A lot would depend on ones need for management of fish recruitment. I think musky target certain species based on the community composition.

The Miracle on Ice

Minding my own business - jigging to some reluctant BG and not having much success. Nate has some educated fish, and the 18' clarity doesn't leave a ton of room for error presentation wise, either. Think of it as a seminar for the ice newbies on common ice fishing errors. Yes, I'm that generous of my experience and time...



Nate yells, "Tony is on!" - so I hop up and and see if I can assist...I've got nothing else going on all morning - besides leading the seminar, of course.



While Tony was fine on his own, when I saw the Walleye roll I decided the situation called for some unsolicited assistance. Hey, this was Tony's first Walleye ever, and through the ice no less! Move over Tony, I want a piece of this moment!



Apparently a school was rolling through as I heard, "TJ, you're on!" Note my cat-like dexterity and how I deftly drop Tony's Eye like a sack of taters - the preferred method of the In Fisherman guys I learned. [Sorry, T!]



Hell yeah I'm on - my rod was almost through the hole before I could save it! Felt like this fish had some shoulders...



Nate is on the scene, removing my Vexilar and preparing for a smooth extraction - ..."Dude, this fish is a friggin' monster - it's gotta be 27! You are hand's down the best fisherman I've ever seen!"



I managed to get the head to the hole, Nate poised to snag her, when my teardrop hook straightened and she poppped off and slowly slid back into the lake! What do you expect from a 29" behemoth? I was preparing to accept my fate - but Nate would have nothing of it. He thrust his entire arm into the hole to the shoulder, and moments later iced the Eye! We're both a little excited - and I'm pretty dang grateful...



"TJ, if I didn't admire you so deeply as a human being and appreciate your steadfast friendship to such a degree I'd never had soaked my entire arm for that 32" fish!" or something close to that...



The 34" Miracle on Ice - a new Illinois state record!

Excellent account of what really happened!

So that's why my phone said 42"!

Good one TJ!

TJ's riveting account is an accurate portrayal of the morning's events, to the best of my recollection anyway.



Very nice fish my friend, and a well deserved catch!


I was proud of my first WE until I realized that TJ's fish could've bitten mine in half...
,

Bill,
I use tigers in many cases instead of pure muskie because they grow a bit faster out of the gate, and also are a little more aggressive in terms of angling success compared to pures.

For the most part these days we are stocking these fish for the purpose of catching them.

Tigers also typically dont live as long as pures so you dont have too longterm of an investment on your hands, which actually allows for supplemental stocking more often and overall less educated fish in relatively smaller bodies of water that call muskies home.

since most public bodies of water do not stock tigers any longer, they are actually becoming a pretty highly desirable fish to catch. I have one 24 acre lake at the goose ranch that I am dedicating to tiger muskies and tiger muskies only... once those fish get to double digits they will be highly sought after....

I owe you that fish - if I wasn't with you I surely would have spooked my walleye with my frantic jigging when I saw her on the Aqua Vu and never would have hooked up. Eye fever!

No way....it's all you, brother!

TJ - nice detailed account of catching that 27", then 29", then 32, then finally a 34" walley through the ice with the last minute save from n8ly. I was on the 'edge of my seat'. I'm glad to see that you are well in the class of all anglers - ""all fishermen are liars except you and me and sometimes I wonder about you"". :-)))))))

n8ly - good description and explanation for the use of musky in smaller waters. Thanks for sharing.

Here is a link to a picture of a 34" ice fished walleye from Lk Erie.
That walley will give the Herman's something to 'shoot for' to grow a walley to 34".
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=260591.msg2884203#msg2884203

Actually I prefer my walleye to stay in the smaller size ranges of 12"-16" because then they are forced to eat the more abundant smaller sized forage fishes and not larger harvestable perch. Note the mouth size of the big walleye above. What do you think it has been eating on a regular basis - not 3"-4" shad?