Northwest Fishing Reports

I was forwarded a picture, it is very disturbing to me. Someone at Tapps is killing Muskys again. I have it on my cell and am trying to get it to my emil so I can post a link to it. I dont want to post it outright.

Cascade Musky Association Is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the illegal killing of Tiger Musky.

Thank You
Rich McVey

Was it caught and died from mishandling, or was it intentionally killed?

Rich, do we know where on the lake the picture was taken? Is it known how old it is?

I hear a song..... "Grandpappy told me back in my day son, a man had to answer for the wicked things he'd done........."

I agree Doug string them up if there caught and whip them with a fishing pole....

The pic is a recent photo of a decapitated Musky found at Lake Tapps, I dont have the exact date. The head is sitting on top of the snow. Body...? No word.

Cant figure how to get the pic out of my IMs. FWD to my email but its a no show.

I cant say what happened. Kinda suspicious of past activities up there.

If its natural, so be it. If its intentional.... [-x

Should be able to save it to you computer's
'my documents' or something.

I believe the problem also exist at Newman Lake near Spokane as well.

A friend (I'll call him Mutt) who will not RAT on an old friend (80+ years old) (I'll call him Jeff) over heard Jeff saying he hates those **M Muskies in Newman Lake. Jeff says the trout fishing has not been good since they put them in. He was overheard saying that when he catches one he "gills it" then releases it.

DUH - no catchable trout were even planted in Newman in 2010 so how in the world are you suppose to catch one. See below.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/weekl ... p?region=1

Only 5000 were planted in 2009. A very low number for a lake that size.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/weekly/2009.pdf

Only 5000 were planted in 2008.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/weekly/2008.pdf

The Trout do not do well in Newman anymore because of the large population of CARP and warm water species, but mostly Carp. The Tigers are having an impact on the Carp, but .......................

The Muskie Club has their work cut out for them for sure. How do you teach OLD TIMERS that Muskies are NOT their enemy.

No, Mutt will not rat on Jeff. He is trying to convince Jeff, but Jeff is 20+ years older then Mutt and considers Mutt to be a wet nosed kid. If I find out who Jeff really is, .................. Stay Tuned.

Probably not planting trout in Newman so the muskies HAVE to go after the carp. Get rid of the carp, and then they'll plant more trout.

Thought I was saving it, wasnt selecting it. New fangled Android thingy...
Pic


Looks different on a bigger screen. Not sure about age due to predation.

If its natural, so be it. If its intentional.... [-x

Ya, too old to tell, unless maybe if you have it in hand and can see any cut marks on the back bone.

I too would like a closer look at the head. But I can see clear evidence of animal scratching and pecking. Eyeballs gone, head clawed open to get to the brain matter, most likely an Eagle or Racoon. It would appear the fish was killed in the water and washed up on shore where it was finished off. If a fisherman took it wouldn't they fillet it and toss the carcuss (with bones and tail) in the woods or back in the lake. Something killed it in the water, other Tiger Muskie, boat, natural causes who knows. I don't think this was a fisherman, I could be wrong, but it just doesn't look like it.

I agree Doug, not really enough left to determent what could have happened. I know we has some troubles a while back and hopefully we are beyond that now.

To kill something that someone else may find of value is really a case of human ethics etc... Man's study of nature will not improve his conduct; man's study of himself however might.

Happy New-Year All.... May we all find a way to do the right things in our lives in 2011...

first off if this head picture,was taken out by north county park then it probably was the one that i saw out there and by day 4 the EAGLES ate all but the head .I find about 3 or 4heads a year all from natural causes ,its hard to beleive but the eagles do get muskies on a regular basis .

Get a rope.... Time we strung some of those eagles up if their going to eat our muskies!

I doubt this was an intentional mortality, but unless you saw it happen or they didn't use some sort of incriminating method it could never be conclusive.

I doubt the eagle was the cause of the mortality, only because of the size. Eagles are scavengers. They will eat anything they find along shore.....

cudaman wrote:first off if this head picture,was taken out by north county park then it probably was the one that i saw out there and by day 4 the EAGLES ate all but the head .I find about 3 or 4heads a year all from natural causes ,its hard to beleive but the eagles do get muskies on a regular basis .

Chicken Wing Cove? Does that location ring a bell? That was the location info in the IM.

dougw wrote:
I doubt the eagle was the cause of the mortality, only because of the size. Eagles are scavengers. They will eat anything they find along shore.....

Eagles aren't just scavengers, they'll go down and grab live fish (trout, bass, salmon, etc) anything that swims out of the water and fly away with it to eat it.

My guess is that the fish died, washed up on shore and some animals decided to eat the thing. Natural.

Blackmouth wrote: Eagles aren't just scavengers, they'll go down and grab live fish (trout, bass, salmon, etc) anything that swims out of the water and fly away with it to eat it.

My guess is that the fish died, washed up on shore and some animals decided to eat the thing. Natural.

They most certainly will, but the size of this fish is certainly more than even a Golden eagle could carry. By the looks of this head, it is more than likely over 5 pounds. I have no doubt they prey on young muskies, but once they get over 5 pounds an eagle wouldn't be able to handle them any longer. Tests I have read about showed eagles under optimum conditions able to lift 4 pound loads, but fail to lift an 8 pound load. They didn't test in between.

I would agree the fish likely died, then was scavenged. Whether it was from natural causes is for someone else to decide. My guess is natural causes.

I have watched eagles lift and carry adult salmon from the river, no doubt over five pounds. I've seen an eagle swoop down to carry off a steelhead that was in the middle of a fight, hooked and being played, right in front of the fishermen. They're capable of getting a musky. Are we upset that people are catching and keeping musky? Because it's not illegal to retain them, then the only problem is that they didn't retain the carcass as well. Unless it is undersized. But if it's because they think the muskies eat the smallies and trout in there and are gilling it to let it die like that guy, than it's a crime. That's dumb, it just illustrates ignorance and disrespect for a fishery when you don't know that the reason they put those fish in the lakes is to help out the other species. I know people to that with pikeminnows and suckers, but when the columbia river has a bounty on pikeminnow you can't really say that its not a practice with merit.

I guess it wasn't explicitly stated, but if game fish mutilation is the claim than that would be a problem. I didn't know folks felt that way about muskys.