Dontcryformejanhrdina Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Saturday I took the boat out to zone 17 to try for some pike, and caught my first fish of 2012: An out of season musky. I had to net it since it had 2 treble hooks stuck in it's mouth, I cut the hooks beside the boat and immedietly put the fish back in the water and it swam off like it was shot out of a gun. Normally I'm extremely excited when I catch a musky, I don't catch them very often so it's still special to me. But I couldn't enjoy catching this one at all and I'm actually feeling a little bad about catching it. I was fishing in a zone where pike is open all year, I had 2 pike follow to boatside that day but they took off as soon as they saw the boat. Every pike I've caught, I have caught on my musky lures so that's what I was using (mainly 6" depthraiders which have gotten me a lot of pike but no musky until now). I've caught out of season fish before but I've never felt bad about it, more annoyed than anything. So I'm wondering why this is actually bothering me a bit. I'm not out there throwing big soft plastics or doing the figure 8, but I am using traditional musky gear, so maybe that's why it's bothering me a little. Should I be out there using musky gear to target pike, even if that's what's been successful for me in the past, or should I be using smaller bass sized lures (I don't want to catch bass or walleye either which would be much more likely than pike). Or should I not be out there at all? I love to fish but I don't want to be catching muskies while they're spawning/out of season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 It kinda depends which lake you were on. If the lake has very few pike, I don't know if I'd fish it with muskie gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dontcryformejanhrdina Posted April 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 It kinda depends which lake you were on. If the lake has very few pike, I don't know if I'd fish it with muskie gear. It was the Trent River. I don't think there's a shortage of pike in there, they definetely far outnumber the musky as far as I can tell in that stretch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joeytier Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 You enjoyed catching an OOS fish? How shameful... Like you, it annoys me more than anything, but if I happen to be catching them while targetting other fish, then don't feel bad for having a little fun. I always catch hungry, pre-spawn bass while pike fishing in the spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dontcryformejanhrdina Posted April 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 You enjoyed catching an OOS fish? How shameful... Like you, it annoys me more than anything, but if I happen to be catching them while targetting other fish, then don't feel bad for having a little fun. I always catch hungry, pre-spawn bass while pike fishing in the spring. That's one of the main reasons why I use small musky gear instead of bass gear for pike. I tried hard to catch a pike last spring before I bought my musky rod in late June, and I never caught a single pike but the bass were just insanely annoying. I was catching 8" bass on a 5" husky jerk, spinnerbaits only resulted in bass or panfish too. Then I used a 6" depthraider (same lure I used most of Sat) and it resulted in my first 3 pike the first few hours I used it (in the same stretch of river, actually). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike rousseau Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 I think the general idea is to change locations and or lures once you get oos fish... One musky by accident is nothing to get upset about... When I fish walleye in the spring we get musky... We know every so often a musky will hit... Maybe every 3-4trips out we get one... They are there to feed on the walleye... Same with spring pike fishing... Always seem to find some bass mixed in that have the feed bag on... Use your own judgement... Really...what are the odds... It's the first time youve got a musky ever on that lure... It's not your fault the musky didn't know you were fishing pike that day...lol I got a 4lb smallie in a swampy back bay last week on a 2 inch plastic minnow/jig while float fishing for perch... It was an epic battle on light gear and it was sooooo fun...what are the odds? I couldn't find a smallie in that area if my life depended on it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dontcryformejanhrdina Posted April 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 No biggie. You did everything asked of you by the regulations. Why wouldn't you fish for pike with appropriately sized gear? Heavy bass / light musky tackle is fine. I guess I don't want people to think I'm out there targetting musky. It figures, I catch all of my pike while musky fishing, and I rarely catch musky. When I try to specifically target pike, I catch a musky. Last year I fished Elephant lake almost 10 times trying to catch a musky, never even saw one but I caught lots of 20-25" pike. Then I throw out a little husky jerk on my medium action bass rod hoping to catch a pike on lighter gear, and other than a few small bass I had a musky hit it, peels drag before getting off. Figures lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike rousseau Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 I'd be more concerned about the pattern your starting to uncover... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dontcryformejanhrdina Posted April 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 I'd be more concerned about the pattern your starting to uncover... My pattern is if I want to catch it, chances are I'm catching something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigugli Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 That's one of the surprises inherent in fishing. You target one species and wind up catching another. Fish only know they are hungry and the bait looks good. They don't read the regs. 2 years back the son is fishing worms on a float for perch. Hooks a big ski. He was also there for the perch. Enjoy the fluke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jigger Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Was fishing in Haliburton this past wknd. Went to a prime spring laker spot only to tie into 3 nice smallies on consecutive casts. More than a little dissapointed when i saw them come up, but didnt feel bad. After the third one, just packed up and hit a different spot. Fish bite lures is what it comes down to. As was already said, thats what makes fishing so much fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopheraaron Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 (edited) This actually might help me with a question I've had, I am going to go to frenchman's bay in a couple of weeks and one of the many species I would like to try and catch is sheephead and one of the best baits I've heard of is shellfish coloured tubes, since the area also has smallmouth and tubes are a favourite for smallies should I use it anyways? If I can't what other baits do they like? Edited April 10, 2012 by Richmond Hill fisher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 (edited) This actually might help me with a question I've had, I am going to go to frenchman's bay in a couple of weeks and one of the many species I would like to try and catch is sheephead and one of the best baits I've heard of is shellfish coloured tubes, since the area also has smallmouth and tubes are a favourite for smallies should I use it anyways? If I can't what other baits do they like? well, if you keep catching bass and you don't move or change bait the MNR could, I repeat could charge you , at their discretion .. if there are bass spawning in the area they can give the second charge of Harassing Spawning Bass.. Edited April 11, 2012 by Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Can't do much about OOS fish, especially when you are fishing patterns that are very similar to musky. I catch the odd smallie and largemouth when the pike opener arrives. However I'm usually fishing weedlines and edges. Bass don't spawn on weed edges so they've either already done there thing and are out to feed or they haven't even started yet. Regardless they are released as soon as they are caught, no pics, etc... Now there are guys out there (I see them every year) fishing/pitching docks on the pike opener... Wanna guess at what they are fishing for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cram Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 If concerned your bass gear is fine for pike at this time of year anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregoire Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 In my opinion you did the right thing by cutting the hooks and releasing the fish quickly. I could see a CO coming over and asking you about your target species if he saw you using musky equipment while targeting Pike. I wouldn't think that you would have a problem though. To be honest I'm a little jealous as I have a buddy heading to Cave Run soon, and I won't get a sniff of a musky until the opener. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camillj Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 Pike and Musky gear are actually pretty much the same (given the same size fish and the same conditions) ... and don't be afraid to figure 8 it ... its a perfectly legitimate Pike strategy too ... I've got some pretty big pike over the years ... more often than not without ever seeing the follow ... of course if you DO see the follow and its a Musky ... thats a little different In fact one of my biggest pike was when I was 'demonstrating' a figure 8 to a friend - without even casting first - the 40"+ sucker came out of the depths and slammed me on about 18" of line ... just about wet myself - and he became an instant believer Anyhow good luck and tight lines ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dontcryformejanhrdina Posted April 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 Pike and Musky gear are actually pretty much the same (given the same size fish and the same conditions) ... and don't be afraid to figure 8 it ... its a perfectly legitimate Pike strategy too ... I've got some pretty big pike over the years ... more often than not without ever seeing the follow ... of course if you DO see the follow and its a Musky ... thats a little different In fact one of my biggest pike was when I was 'demonstrating' a figure 8 to a friend - without even casting first - the 40"+ sucker came out of the depths and slammed me on about 18" of line ... just about wet myself - and he became an instant believer Anyhow good luck and tight lines ! Haha that's awesome, talk about being in the right place at the right time! I wasn't sure whether it was common for pike to turn on a figure 8. I've had pike hit nearly boatside but that was before I put my rod tip in the water. Most pike I see following turn around and take off immedietly once they get to the boat. I had 1 pike kind of turn on a figure 8 but it wasn't really following it, just nipping at it then stopping, tuirning around to nip again then stop, etc... I actually tried to figure 8 the first pike I saw but as soon as my rod tip touched the water it took off the way it came, that was the only figure 8 I did. The water there is very stained so I didn't want to increase the chances of catching a musky since they can appear almost out of nowhere on figure 8's in water that murky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garnet Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 I fish a pike tournament every spring were dock fishing is a big fish strategy with jigs and jerkn baits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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