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Hooked on muskies: Monster fish makes comeback
Continues
Friday, September 7, 2007
Dave Spratt / The Detroit News
So Johnson did some research, found a charter boat and struck gold. He,
his father, Larry, and 8-year-old son, Blake, caught four muskies in a
half-day of fishing on Lake St. Clair.
"That's a great day for muskie fishing," said Johnson, 36, of Carleton.
"Anybody would love to go out and boat four fish, and our total fishing
day was just 4-5 hours. It''s pulling in trophies that are tough fish."
Dale G.
Young / The Detroit News
Kevin Backus shows off a muskie caught in Lake St. Clair. The fierce
fish can approach
70 pounds and attracts anglers from across the U.S.
To generations of anglers, muskies were the stuff of legend for their
size, ferocity and above all, elusiveness. Muskies -- muskellunge,
officially -- are like northern pike on steroids, a slimy slab of
muscle, teeth and attitude. They can approach 70 pounds and have been
known to take down ducklings, muskrats and the occasional small dog. Yet
the average angler so rarely hooked a muskie it became known as the fish
of 10,000 casts.
But that's not the case on Lake St. Clair these days. The muskie
population is so robust that it supports an entire sportfishing
industry, attracting anglers from across North America who want to test
their skill against the legendary gamefish. Muskies have withstood a
couple of bouts of disease and a long history of catch-and-kill fishing.
They've gotten bigger and more numerous, thanks to a combination of
cleaner water, better habitat and perhaps most importantly, a concerted
effort by anglers to put muskies back in the water and let them grow.
It's paying off: Where a 30-pound fish was considered a monster 30
years ago, it takes a 40-pounder to really get today's muskie catchers
buzzing.
"Thanks to catch-and-release, they're growing not only in numbers, but
also in size," said Capt. Kevin Backus, who runs Mr. Muskie Charters and
is the grandson of legendary muskie fisherman Homer LeBlanc, who
pioneered many of the muskie fishing techniques still in use today on
Lake St. Clair. "Back then a 30-pounder was a huge bar to set. Now
people are going for 40-pounders. I want to catch a 50-pounder."
Bob Houlihan
/ The Detroit News
The lures used to catch the hefty muskies
can be as big as a man''s forearm. Years
ago, it was common practice to shoot or
club the fish.
More trophy muskies caught
Exhaustive records kept by the Michigan Ontario Muskie Club (MOMC) bear
out Backus'' observations. From 1960 to 1988, there were never more than
five 30-pound muskies caught in a single year. Since 2000 there have
never been fewer than 15 trophy-sized muskies caught in a year, and the
number topped 20 in 2000, 2003 and 2005.
This year there have already been 15 big muskies registered, and the
fall -- the best season for catching really big muskies -- is still
ahead. The largest muskie ever recorded on Lake St. Clair, a
41.85-pounder, was caught in the club's tournament last month.
"That was the biggest (muskie) I've ever seen," said MOMC Secretary Joe
Finazzo, who was the tournament weighmaster. "I was in awe weighing it."
Part of the muskie population's resurgence can be attributed to the
overall health of Lake St. Clair, according to Michael Thomas, a
fisheries biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Beginning with the Clean Water Act of 1977, Lake St. Clair began to rid
itself of the pollutants that make their way up the food chain. Invasive
and destructive zebra mussels had a beneficial effect on the fishery by
filtering the water and making it clearer. That, in turn, allowed more
sunlight to reach the lake bottom, which promoted the growth of plants
that are necessary for spawning and cover for a variety of desirable
fish species.
"I think it's a pretty balanced system right now and that's reflected
in the fishery," Thomas said. "The fact that you have a muskie fishery
that draws people from across the country, and a bass fishery that
supports tournaments, and a walleye fishery that supports a charter
industry and a perch fishery that's still very viable. We have a really
diverse fishery and it's a really great mix."
Future''s bright for fishing
Steve Kunnath, who leads casting and fly-fishing excursions for muskie
and other fish on St. Clair, says the health of the lake could mean even
better muskie fishing in the future.
"Remember that it takes a muskie 20 or 25 years to reach a huge size,"
he said. "The big fish we're catching right now were juveniles when the
water cleared and the fishing got better. Who knows how big they can
get? We might not have reached the full potential yet."
But it's the way humans interact with the resource that has made St.
Clair the muskie mecca it is today. Michigan's size limit on muskies is
42 inches; in Ontario it's 44 inches. That means even when an angler
decides to keep and kill a fish, it's likely that it already had a
chance to spawn, Thomas said.
But more important is the break from the old days of muskie fishing,
where monthly tournaments meant dozens of muskies were removed from the
lake for good. The tournaments continue, but these days it's rare for
more than one or two fish to die during a tournament. That's a
completely sustainable percentage, Thomas said.
Backus, who takes upwards of 70 muskie trolling excursions a year,
perfectly embodies the generational sea change that the practice of
handling muskies has undergone. In his grandfather's day, it was common
practice to shoot muskies or stun them with a billy club "to calm them
down before bringing them into the boat." The fish were typically eaten
or hung on a wall.
But Backus'' 31-foot boat, "Mr. Muskie Too," is equipped with a muskie-sized
live well. Once a fish is boated, it immediately goes into the live well
to restore oxygen to its gills and rejuvenate its muscles. Anglers are
given strict instructions on how to handle the fish quickly and
efficiently for pictures, then the fish is replaced in the live well.
Once Backus is convinced the fish is back to full strength, it's
returned to the lake.
Backus said he once jumped in the lake and spent 30 minutes reviving a
fish.
Finazzo said that's fairly standard procedure for club members. He
estimates that 80 percent of them have done it.
"We have no hesitation about going in the water," he said. "That's what
it's about."
''It's a thriving population''
Muskie anglers had a scare in 2003 and again in 2006, when large numbers
of the big fish were found floating dead once the winter ice thawed.
Thomas said the 2003 die-off was probably caused by a bacterial
infection. In 2006 the culprit was thought to be viral hemorrhagic
septicemia, or VHS, a disease thought to have entered the Great Lakes
from ocean-going freighters. The long-term impact of VHS on all kinds of
Great Lakes fish is still unknown.
But St. Clair's muskies appear to have withstood both attacks.
"In hindsight what we thought was a pretty major die-off appears to have
not really affected the population," Thomas said.
The muskie captains say they'e catching fish that range from 14 inches
to more than 30 pounds, the best gauge that the population will remain
healthy and balanced.
Thomas, the DNR biologist, agrees. "It looks like it's going to be a
large part of the fishery for a long while," he said "It's safe to say
it's a thriving population."
© 2007, The Detroit News. All rights reserved.
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