# Sad sight at Leesville



## Tusc.RiverRafter05 (Mar 22, 2005)

Me and a friend of mine trolled Leesville this weekend for musky without much luck. The lake was packed with guys casting and trolling. It was still packed when we left after 11pm! I'm used to seeing a lot of guys out on the MWCD lakes, but I also saw something that about made me sick; 12 dead musky were floating out on Leesville Saturday night. These musky ranged in size from around 30" all the way up to a 46" one floating in a bay. A musky that big can easily take 15 or 20 years to reach that size and its a shame to see them die due to anglers handling them improperly. 

I personally witnessed a man catch a decent musky, fight it too long, lift it out of the water by the gillplates, then drop it in his boat while he and his buddy fumbled around unhooking it and taking pictures. I'm sure that fish is floating out there today! If these guys would just keep the fish in the water while unhooking it, or build a musky cradle instead of using a net, then these fish would have a much better chance of surviving in this hot weather.

There, I just needed to spout off about that for a second.


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## peon (Feb 28, 2005)

i hate to hear that... its probally a good thing i didnt see these guys doing this... id be in jail.. i dont think i could watch this happen


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## passthru (Jul 24, 2005)

I was at Leesville on Saturday morning. I found a musky about 40" floating. My 9 year old son wanted a closer look at it. So we pulled over to it and it was still alive, we tried to revive it but couldn't get it to take off. We saw about 4 floaters. We didn't have any luck. I didn't think it was too crowded, but it was our first time there. We are used to fishing at Piedmont. 

Passthru


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## mike leesville (Aug 30, 2004)

Apparently some "sportsman" don't know (or don't care) that during the hot summer months (and this one is especially hot) the musky (and all game fish for that matter) are very sluggish. I remember catching my first musky (36") a couple of years ago and didn't even get a picture because I wanted to make sure that I did everything in my power to make sure the fish was back in the water and in good shape before I let go of him. I also know that some won't survive even if the greatest precautions are taken to ensure survival rate. Please take the extra time to make sure that these fish are released in the best shape that you possibly can....


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

Maybe a "sticky" could be placed in the Muskie section about how to properly handle muski in the summer.


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## rockbass (Apr 16, 2004)

That is pretty sad for sure. Unreal how some people can be.

I will admit that if I caught a muskie, I would not know exactly how to handle them the way you should, but I would also know that I need to make sure they are ok when I let them go. unreal how some people are though  that is always how it goes though.....some people ruin it for everybody when it comes to anything


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## 03zrider (May 17, 2004)

atleast eat them if they are going to die


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## mastercatman (Jan 30, 2005)

I really can't believe what I've just read! People just don't get it! I'm fairly new to musky fishing but I made damn sure when I started fishing for them that I knew the ins and outs of handling them for a healthy release. Muskies are not like other large fish in the way that they can be handled. Yeah they may be big and tough on the end of your line but they are fragile as can be in this hot weather when improperly handled. Unless the fish is mortally hooked it is not hard to ensure that muskies are released in good condition and that is with a decent quick picture while holding the musky HORIZONTALLY NOT VERTICALLY if you don't know what that means get a dictionary before you go musky fishing next or leave them alone!!!!!!!!!!!! Some people do not realize that muskies do not reproduce well or at all in any ohio waters. Stocking rates are not high usually one fish per surface acre per year. So for leeseville that usually means about 1000 fish. Then if you are ever around after they stock the lake there is usually a large amount of predation on the younger muskies by the larger muskies. Then you throw in a couple of morons and some hungry fishermen and you begin to see the problems arise. Musky fishing is gaining in popularity and we as sportsmen need to be extra aware of our impact on the fisheries we care for! 12 muskies dead in a day is quite an impact on a small lake such as leeseville. Just imagine, you can probably fish for muskies at least 300 days out of the year. Imagine if 12 muskies were killed every three days of that 300 days due to mishandling, creel limits, or wallhangers. Thats 1200 muskies killed as a direct result of angler impact. That is one whole years stocking efforts! I know that the majority of us at leeseville do properly handle these fish and have a great amount respect for these fish. The numbers that I have just put up do not reflect the actual impact on the muskies right now but, there are many rookies being introduced and that means more fish caught and a need to step up the education process so that these numbers never become a reality. Thank god for the muskies sake that they're not easier to catch.  Moral of all this is to get educated before you head out or better yet find a veteran musky angler to get you started. Good Fishing and Good Ethics Please!
Cameron


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

That really is sad. That is a lot of dead muskie and the sight of so many dead fish would make me sick.


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## johnboy111711 (Apr 7, 2004)

i wonder if the low oxygen is the culprit, i have seen many dead fish, from bass to eyes that i believe this is the problem, if all the muskys were from fishermen, then thats some serious action...


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## Whaler (Nov 16, 2004)

You mentioned there were a lot of guys casting and trolling. Were they in a tournament? If so they should no the proper way to handle thses fish. THat is one thing about fishing shows on TV that I don't like. They will catch a fish and hold it out of the water for what I think is too long while they spout a bunch of bull---- and try to get you to buy whatever brand of equipment they are being sponsored by.


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