Jratthelake (CA)

 What do you do when you hook up with a large Musky or Pike on Light gear while Walleye fishing? All I can do is tell you what I will do when this situation arises. It is fairly obvious within the first 30 seconds or so that you have not hooked a Walleye or a Bass. In most cases you will loose this large fish when it starts tearing off line when you first get it to the boat and it discovers that it is hooked, no problem, you got to see the fish, hopefully your buddy snapped a few shots of the battle and the fish when it was close to the boat. I will, right from the start try to horse a big fish, I dont want to play the fish on light gear for to long as it will exhaust itself and probably die, especially in the warm waters of mid-summer. Most of the time I will lose the fish, but I have accepted that. If by chance I am able to horse the fish to the boat in a short period of time I will reach down and remove the hook or hooks and release the fish. For me this is usually an easy process as all my hooks are barbless, even my jigs and small crankbaits are barbless. If for some reason the fish has taken the hooks deep, I will try to tail the fish, run my hand under the belly, keeping the fish in the water . Ideally your fishing partner can reach down and remove the hooks. If you want a picture, simply lift the fish out of the water , snap a shot, revive and release. I am not saying that things will always go the way of the fish, shtuff happens, but if we a prepared for these situations with proper gear, some education and care, we can increase the chance of a big fish surviving. What I am saying is when you are set up for Walleye and hook a Musky dont put that fish in the same net you use for Walleye and dont try to bring the fish in the boat, this is an accidental catch and the fish should be released safely and if that means a couple of pics in the water and snipping your jig off so be it, its what is best for the fish.
Take care of yourselves, and your fish.
Wayne
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