dead muskie

[gillmaniac]

I found a dead muskie in the juniata river and wondered y it was dead. It was 40" long and not sure of the weight. thanks for any info.

gill

[TJ Bauer]

Some times if someone CPR's a big fish like that if they dont revive them enough they will not make they will swim away but if they dont pay attention they will come back up a few yards away a big fish uses alot of energy during a fight. There has been times were i have spent a half hour if not more with one fish just to make sure it was ready to go back.

[gillmaniac]

True but i dont hink it was caught. This part of the river it is like rapids and is very shallow
(6 foot the deepest) and barley any1 fishes it. but thanks

gill

[Hood]

What do you think happened to it gill? I dont think a 40"er would have died of old age...did it have any markings or signs of possible diesease? Ill have to bet that it was caught by someone and not properly revived despite the little fishing pressure you mentioned. Fish are easily stressed and too few fishermen take the time to get them back to the level they need to survive. I cant think of anything else that could have led to its demise. 

[Pasquatch]

Hook stuck in it guts, a bluegill with its spines lodged in its throats...stuff like that.

[gillmaniac]

well...when i found it the tail was beat up like it was getting eaten at by a turtle. other than that it was beautiful. Here is the best pic i have of it.




gill

[gillmaniac]

The pic is a little small and u can barely see the beat up tail, but u can still see the size of this thing.

gill

[Hood]

Geez that a big fish, pasuatch hit on a good point about a hook or spines, could have had a long hard battle and then released then had a heart attack, lots of larger fish do that after a long fight and they are running on adrenaline then relaesed and have nothing left and expire.

[gillmaniac]

Yea that is true were i found him there is a lot of little bluegill and rockbass so he probably just ate a gill and it got lodged in his throat and died. Thanks for all the infomation guys.

gill

[AD]

    Or maybe mother nature just took its toll on the fish, it could have jsut gotten washed down adn beaten up.     Another alternative would be disease.    I know it might not have looked sick, but I have cut open perfectly healthy looking fish when I was in alaska to find all sorts of bad stuff going on inside.
     Pasquatch had a good idea with the sunfish spines or a swallowed lure.     From what I have read pike/musky also have a sweet spot for bullhead, could have had one of them lodged in its intestines,           

[gillmaniac]

Yes i have caught catfish in there before. it might have had a bluegill or catfish lodged in his throat and died. Thanks

gill

[trapperdirk]

Theres been alot of reports coming in about big die offs of fish especially Muskie on the St. Lawrence and other places . Even was on the news in Ontario here .

                                TD

[gillmaniac]

here is a bigger pic of the muskie.

[flipstick]

That is a good size fish.  It looks alot like a northern to me, though I've been wrong before.  If that was attacked by another fish before dying, I want to see that other fish.

[shrub]

judging by the look of that tail i would say that a big snapper or something like that took bight at it, but weather that happend before or after it died is any ones guess