Selkirk docks

[Hammer Time]

Went out Saturday evening 7:30 pm 27 C and the bass and drum were hitting like mad. Fished tell 10:30 pm Mosquito's got bad at that point. Caught 4 or 5, 23 plus drum's and finally last cast pulled a M.A. out. 24.25 inches.  Caught a much bigger one (Probably more like 28 - 30 inches but he got off the line before I could land him. Was fishing for channel cats actually but the drum like the shrimp as well. My goal this season is three M.A.'s before the water turns hard again. 1 down 2 too go!! I will post pic once I figure out how that works!! 

[Hammer Time]

Here is the drum. As you can see sporting a fantastic helmet.

[bmann]

Nice one HammerTime. Good luck with the other MA's

[5 X Master Angler]

We went out on the 23 rd between 6:30 and 9:30pm.  What a night!  My six year old son caught his first and second master angler. He caught a 25" and a 24" Freshwater Drum.  My 3 year old lost a couple big ones (line broke).  My father in law caught 2 masters. A 25" and a 24 1/4" Drum.  My mother in law caught a 24" Drum.  And last but the most was my wife.  She was one master short of getting a specialist badge for drum!  She caught two 24", one 24 1/2", and a 26 3/4" drum!

Grand total of 9 Masters in one night!  As for me, I was too busy netting and measuring to fish!  Now I am not the top dog for Master Anglers.  My wife and father in law are tied for first with 6 each!!!

[Hammer Time]

Nice job buddy. Sounds like you caught them all.  Yeah it was my wife manning the net as i was doing all the catching. Nice to see the young fella hooked into one. Sounds like you need to hand over the net duties next time around. Drum and bass are always there but seems this year is just nuts. I use a jackfish rig instead of a pickerel rig as bass and drum are famous for swallowing the hook and then its surgery time and half the clowns that fish there screw up the fish so much pulling out the hook they end up swimming upside down. I must have counted 15-20 drum float by on Saturday. For some reason they do not swallow the jackfish rig hooks. usually hooked in the lip and they last 10 times longer then those joke Pic rigs.   

[5 X Master Angler]

Thanks for the tip on the jack fish rigs.  We were using salted minnows.  Is that what you were using?  I was told if they swallow the hook that you should cut the line on the rig and the hook should disolve in the stomache causing less harm to the fish. Is this true?

[Hammer Time]

I have been going to Giant Tiger and buying a $2.99 shrimp ring.  Catfish love them. Apparently so do drum. Think I will try uncooked ones next as the rings are cooked and tend to get soggy quickly which makes stealing your bait that much easier for our slimy friends. Yeah I heard the hooks dissolve after a while. Not sure if that true or not. I do know however reefing on a hook that's down a fishes throat is not conducive to the fish living too much longer that's for sure. I watched this meathead tug and tug on a hook get it out and look all perplexed as to why the fish was swimming sideways when he put it back.     

[thedeerhunter1982]

nice catches guys i have never caught a drum.but i am going to try that shrimp trick, i bought a jar of sea food salad last year from superstore, tried everything in there but had no luck,maybe some of those nice big jumbo tiger shrimp would work,going to try thick crunchy peanut butter on a treble hook to.
master angler: yes you should actually but a pair of needle nose wire cutters and cut the shank of the hook and yes the acid in a stomach will dissolve a hook  and the fish should be OK.

[5 X Master Angler]

Thanks for the tip on the jack fish rigs.  We were using salted minnows.  Is that what you were using?  I was told if they swallow the hook that you should cut the line on the rig and the hook should disolve in the stomache causing less harm to the fish. Is this true?

IT IS NOT TRUE!!!!  I read in a magazine that said it is a myth and that certain hooks will poison the fish!  Try to get the hooks out as gentle as possible!

[Silas]

and risk hurting the fish more then the hook?

Not a good idea.  Leave it in there unless you are a surgeon with a steady hand!

5 X Master Angler, check your sources on that magazine article as this is not a trend we want to start.

[Big B Muskie]

and risk hurting the fish more then the hook?

Not a good idea.  Leave it in there unless you are a surgeon with a steady hand!

5 X Master Angler, check your sources on that magazine article as this is not a trend we want to start.

A study was taken in Maryland on this issue and here are the results.
I read the same thing in"outdoor canada" magazine. Special issue 2010 Fishing hot spots.  After 4 months not one stainless steel hook dissinigrated in a bass. 83 percent of of nickel and tin cadmium hooks remained intact. The cadmium hooks poisened 1 fifth of the fish.Bronze hooks detereriorated the fastest with 70 percent still embedded. His concluesions were that anglers should do every thing possible to remove hooks!
I think if you gut hook a fish you should eat it. If not it will probably not survive. lucky in Manitoba we are barbless so that helps the situation.

[maw31]

and risk hurting the fish more then the hook?

Not a good idea.  Leave it in there unless you are a surgeon with a steady hand!

5 X Master Angler, check your sources on that magazine article as this is not a trend we want to start.

I have been told to leave the hooks in the fish if they are to deep in the fishes mouth. the hooks will eventually disolve.

[5 X Master Angler]

A study was taken in Maryland on this issue and here are the results.
I read the same thing in"outdoor canada" magazine. Special issue 2010 Fishing hot spots.  After 4 months not one stainless steel hook dissinigrated in a bass. 83 percent of of nickel and tin cadmium hooks remained intact. The cadmium hooks poisened 1 fifth of the fish.Bronze hooks detereriorated the fastest with 70 percent still embedded. His concluesions were that anglers should do every thing possible to remove hooks!
I think if you gut hook a fish you should eat it. If not it will probably not survive. lucky in Manitoba we are barbless so that helps the situation.

That is the article I read.  Thanks Big B Muskie!  I am going to try my best to remove the hook!  I am going to try using different hooks!

[Silas]

You know this topic got me researching again on the subject about “fish dissolving hooks” and I am beginning to think I was wrong.  I have not found any documented study yet, but from my initial readings its starting to sound like one of those myths that just gets turned into fact over the years.

I am going to be doing some more reading and I will post some real studies when I find them....

Thxs Big B Muskie and 5 X Master Angler for motivating me to check into this further!

[Hammer Time]

Well the timing of that one is unreal. I posted this last year.  I was out for opening day at Selkirk so I thought you may be one of the guys I was talking with out there. 

So first off how is it better to remove a hopelessly buried hook from a fish then it is cutting the eye off of the hook so it can hopefully back its way out. I would say that is a much better choice then some of the dough heads I see screw around with the fish for 1o minutes (As in 10 minutes out of the water) things bleeding all over the place after their precise surgery, throw
 the bloody thing back so it can float down the river on its side.  That's stupid.  I have had drum swallow the hook so well I can just make out the end of the hook where you connect your line. Personally I think they have a better chance of living to cut the eye off the hook and hopefully it will work its way out. People who torture the bloody fish to get hook out and then throw it back in to watch it swim away are fooling themselves  "See he swam away he's fine"  Those same fish you see float bye half dead are from "The surgeon's" upstream out there removing hooks they should not even dream of attempting to remove.  Do you know for a fact they lived another day or is that just the thought you would prefer to leave with?

Don't get me wrong my first goal is ALWAYS get the hook out, but not if it mean's I throw a bleeding messed up fish back in the water.  When I fish Selkirk I use Jack fish rigs because there are lots of drum and silver bass (Notorious for swallowing hooks) they do not swallow the hook and I can remove the hook with out harming the fish in 5 seconds and back in the drink to fight another day.

Opening day was out of this world. Weather was great hit Selkirk 7 am.   Wind was calm and water level pretty much summer level it appeared but the current is still flying. Looked like everyone else had the same idea as there were 50 - 75 people on the dock by 10 am.   Guy next to me says he caught 4 so far. Got the line in and 10 minutes later first of nine fish I caught, small 7 inch walleye.  A little while later another walleye about 18 inches and I am stoked now!!  Caught another wally about 14 inches and it was green as could be. In short 9 fish 5 wally's,  2 drum, one bullhead about the size of a goldfish  and a  nasty burbot about a foot long.  I know they apparently taste great but man are they friggen ugly.  Current was really strong had to put an extra weight to get my rig to sit still.   Managed to burn my face so great opening day.Hope everyone on this board has a great summer fishing.  Cheers!!