Musky Eye Science (cones & rods) – Release Tools – Hungry Esox GIFs
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Crazy Musky GIF
This one of the wildest musky clips we've seen in a while....
Check it out:
Watch it very, very carefully.
It took us a hot minute to figure out that the fish flying out of the water wasn't the souped-up musky that took a swipe at the lure later in the video, but another fish that the musky was chasing!
And that high-flier landing directly on top of @yakfishmn's Red October tube, for the perfect bait-and-switch 😂
Yakfish MN almost got the conversion, too! #almost
Some Science-y Tidbits
We just had Sean Landsman (PhD in Fisheries Science) on to talk to our Musky Insider PRO members.
He's a VERY interesting individual with some cool insights into the science side of the musky fishing world.
He shared a bunch of cool facts and tips with our PRO crew, but we wanted to take one cool tidbit and share it here in the newsletter. 👇
Here's Sean on how he takes advantage of what he knows about the eyes of a musky to inform his lure selection decisions:
"Just like humans, muskies have both rods and cones within their eyes. Rods are more numerous than cone cells, and the rods are important because they confer an ability to see in dim light or at night. They also let muskies see movement and shape.
"There are two types of cone cells. The proportion of single cone cells to double cone cells can tell us a little about how the fish prioritizes detection of certain colors. Pike and muskies have a high proportion of double cone cells relative to the number of single cone cells.
"The double cone cells are sensitive to reds, oranges, and yellows. Next time you're digging through your box deciding which lure to use next.... if you select a lure that features those colors, you would be playing to the sensitivities in the vision of a musky, taking advantage of their sensory system.
"This makes logical sense because reds, oranges and yellows are filtered [visually] out of the water column very quickly as you go down in depth and we know muskies, generally speaking, are a shallow water predator, compared to something like a burbot or a lake trout."
Sean loves natural colored lures, but when he's looking to add a little color to his presentation, he keeps this cone cell factoid in mind.
This was just a couple minute segment from Sean's full two hour talk that was jam-packed with good info.
Registration is OPEN right now for Musky Insider PRO, so you can watch and re-watch this talk (and all of our other videos) on-demand if you sign up today.
Click this link to join right now (or click here if you need more info)
Overlooked Release Tools
Safely releasing muskies is CRITICALLY important if you want to maintain healthy musky populations on your favorite fisheries.
This video from Josh Borovsky breaks down some overlooked life-saving musky techniques and tools you should consider having in your boat.
It's an interesting watch because he focuses on the shtuff most folks aren't talking about.... There’s also some great tips for dealing with deeply hooked fish.
Here’s a quick sneak peak:
#1 – Lindy Fish Handling Gloves vs. Spreaders:
Josh explains why he finds himself using Lindy Fish Handling Gloves to pry a musky’s mouth open instead of using a typical jaw spreader.
#2 – Cutting the Shaft:
When big bucktails get taken deep by a fish, it can be difficult to see through the skirt material to identify where hooks need to be cut or popped out.
In these situations, Josh cuts the shaft of the bucktail, allowing him to simply slide off all the skirt material, blades, and beads so all you are left with is a wire and a bare hook.
#3 – Using a Hook Pick:
For some reason, the hook pick seems to be a tool that's missing in many musky boats these days, but it’s essential for deeply hooked fish and allows you to push backward, doing less damage to the fish.
#4 – "The Jaws of Life"
In addition to the Knipex bolt cutters that are standard in most musky boats, Josh also keeps a giant set of bolt cutters capable of cutting baits in half or 9/0 hooks at the shaft where all their shanks are welded together.
#5 – Pliers Long Enough for the Job:
Josh suggests 13.5 to 16 inch models and notes that many experienced anglers are trying to get away with models shorter than that. There will be times you need all that extra length for the health of the fish and also for your own personal safety.
Like we mentioned above, that's a just a quick "sneak peak". Make sure to watch the full video for more information and more tools/techniques from Josh!
This Week's Mashup:
Mashup time!
#1 – Diggin' this little cartoon drawn up by @lakesriversstreams:
#2 – Not a musky, but I love these slo-mo pike eats. There would probably be a lot more videos like this with muskies if they were as easy to catch as pike.... 😉 Props to Martin Falklind on the stellar clip.
#3 – A few weeks back, we shared a photo of some pike-on-musky violence. Here's another one we saw on Maina's FB page featurin' another pike that bit off wayyy more than it could chew:
☝️ That little guy obviously doesn't understand how the food chain works!
#4 – Saw this underwater photo on the Muskies Inc. FB page. Perfect for St. Patties day 🍀
QUICK HITTERS:
– Late fall muskies on rubber w/ Mayhem's 10k casts (video)
– Topwater musky tips w/ Steve Heiting (video)
– CCMI Muskie School, Mar. 23rd (link)
– Brainerd Lakes Chapter Sportsman's Banquet, Mar. 23rd (link)
– Fall musky fishing w/ Keyes Outdoors (video)
– New musky baits & colors at WI Expo w/ Burnin' Eights (video)
– LSC musky fishing, part 5 w/ Smith's Fishing (video)
THIS WEEK'S MONSTER MUSKIES:
Feast your eyes on this big plus-sized 55.25-inch beast from Chase Gibson.
What a hawg!
Congrats to Brett Mauler on poppin' this pudgy 'skie casting from shore:
Sweet Upper Potomac fly-eater from Brett Poffenberger in Maryland 💪
Wanna be featured in Musky Insider? Send in your recent trophy musky photos by replying to this email. You might just see your pic in next week's newsletter. 🤙
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