05-19-2010, 03:37 PM
I will respond to a few of your posts here.
First of all why keep it? Well because the fish is obviously at the tail end of it's life. Would likely die in a year, maybe two at most. And, why not keep an occasional monster? Or even keep an occasional 22 incher ( in Strawberry's case ) to eat?
Now I am a huge proponent of catch and release programs, and think that slot limits are the best way to do it. I think all of our fisheries would benefit from a reasonable slot limit, and the slot should be different from one fisherie to the next. i.e. Huntington Creek, great little river, the slot has done damage there because now the fish population is down, but was too high about 5 years ago. And, to be honest it makes me mad they killed the Tiger Musky slot, you used to be able to keep one over 38 inches, I think. And let's face it, for most people a fish over 30 inches, ANY fish over 30 inches is a trophy of a lifetime.
As to your question about being financially able to mount the fish. Most people are not in the position to do so and that is a waste. Any fish in the freezer for more than about a year becomes difficult to mount, mainly because the fins become damaged by people throwing crap on top of the fish. You can freeze a fish for much longer than a year if you treat it with borax soap, and keep it well wrapped and out of the way of other things in your freezer. AND, no I would not keep a fish that is too far away to be properly taken care of. That is why the fish out of Strawberry are such a good candidate for mounting, you go 2 hours at most and you're home with your trophy to get taken care of.
Although the occasional monster out of the Green River, below Flaming Gorge are good candidates too because The Lodge just above the dam will flash freeze and treat the fish with Borax for about 30 bucks. Again I say, keeping an occasional monster is a good way to remember the one that did not get away, as well as remembering all of the ones that did get away.
Just my 3 and 1/2 cents on the whole thing.
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First of all why keep it? Well because the fish is obviously at the tail end of it's life. Would likely die in a year, maybe two at most. And, why not keep an occasional monster? Or even keep an occasional 22 incher ( in Strawberry's case ) to eat?
Now I am a huge proponent of catch and release programs, and think that slot limits are the best way to do it. I think all of our fisheries would benefit from a reasonable slot limit, and the slot should be different from one fisherie to the next. i.e. Huntington Creek, great little river, the slot has done damage there because now the fish population is down, but was too high about 5 years ago. And, to be honest it makes me mad they killed the Tiger Musky slot, you used to be able to keep one over 38 inches, I think. And let's face it, for most people a fish over 30 inches, ANY fish over 30 inches is a trophy of a lifetime.
As to your question about being financially able to mount the fish. Most people are not in the position to do so and that is a waste. Any fish in the freezer for more than about a year becomes difficult to mount, mainly because the fins become damaged by people throwing crap on top of the fish. You can freeze a fish for much longer than a year if you treat it with borax soap, and keep it well wrapped and out of the way of other things in your freezer. AND, no I would not keep a fish that is too far away to be properly taken care of. That is why the fish out of Strawberry are such a good candidate for mounting, you go 2 hours at most and you're home with your trophy to get taken care of.
Although the occasional monster out of the Green River, below Flaming Gorge are good candidates too because The Lodge just above the dam will flash freeze and treat the fish with Borax for about 30 bucks. Again I say, keeping an occasional monster is a good way to remember the one that did not get away, as well as remembering all of the ones that did get away.
Just my 3 and 1/2 cents on the whole thing.
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