Conference wahoo::fishing

    Don't know much about them muskie beasts, but I saw one of Roland Martin's
    shows where he was fishing them up in Canada.  They were using large
    salt water crank baits, and long heavy duty gear.
    
    I've caught lots of pickeral (or northern pike), the smaller kind that 
    you find in many southern NH waters (10-20 inches).  I've even caught 
    a few while paddeling my canoe to a different bass spot, trolling
    a worm or Rebel.  When I'm trying for pike, I use small shiny
    spinners, Mepps seem to work well for me.  These fish are some fighters
    too!  Even the little scrappers will give ya a good time!    
    
    They are real good eat'n too, although abit boney.  My fiancee cooks 
    `em up in a wine sauce - good stuff!
                                                
    don mac

    Wun tim a mon tol me dat de name for what we call a jackfish was
    a pike. Don here dey don get but bout 1-2 1/2 pounds an we don eat
    dem, we jes trow dem back. Dey strike enny red topofdewater lure.
    Dey got a long mouf wit lil teefs an dey neber foun near de basses.
    

    I have done some fishing for Northern Pike, and all my relatives
    on my father's side have been Muskie fishing for years in Penn..
    
    Typically, Muskie fishing means long hours of trolling aound the
    deep side of weed beds with oversized plugs and spoons.  From
    what I understand, Muskie like a relatively fast bait, but troll
    the lure(s) at their optimum speed (and change lures to allow
    for trolling at different speeds).  I have also had success with
    Pike by trolling a large spoon fast enough to keep it over the top
    of a submerged weed bed.
    
    I have also read about casting for Muskie, but I have a feeling
    it isn't quite as productive, as they are territorial fish and
    are usually found one to an area.  As usual, when using this 
    method, look for structure associated with weeds.
    
    Muskie are aggresive so don't worry too much about using lures
    which are too big (although a young population may mean a smaller
    average fish).  When trolling for Pike in Lake Champlain, I have
    had good success with large (4") Red & White Daredevle Spoons.
    The other colors (Yellow with Red spots, Black & White, etc.)
    also seem to catch their share.  My biggest Pike, a 6.75 lb fish,
    was taken casting a 5" jointed,floating Rebel minnow with a gold
    finish (talk about excitement).  Other popular lures are large
    Mepps w & w/o bucktail, Creek Chub Plugs, and buzz baits when
    casting around protruding or just submerged structure.
    
    Make sure your tackle is up to the challenge.  A short stiff rod
    will come in handy in horsing fish away from cover, and the line
    should be heavy with high abrasion resistence and low stretch.
    A 3" wire leader is almost a must since this fish's teeth are
    needle sharp and he has quite a mouth full.  Speaking of which,
    when handling one in the boat make sure to wear gloves and keep
    your fingers out of its mouth, those teeth can quickly mangle
    fingers.  
    
    I would advocate catch and release for these fish as the population 
    is still young and many anglers will probably come looking for them.  
    If you do want to keep a fish the safest way is to use a billy club
    to knock the fish out after bringing it aboard.  When I caught my
    6.75 lb Pike, I had to set the gas can on it to keep it from jumping
    back out of the boat!
    
    Finally, Muskie fishing isn't known for it's non-stop action, it
    requires, above all, patience.  After all, it is said that each
    muskie caught represents a thousand casts.
    
    Tight lines,
            Rich
    

    Just thought I'd add a couple of comments to what has all ready
    been said. Tiger Muskie are a cross breed of Northern Pike and 
    Muskie. Since they feed on trash fish, or what some people think
    of as trash, they are being more and more used to control some lakes
    that have an over population of these. The intent is to give the
    other "sport" fish a better chance to grow. Since they don't re-
    produce, their population can be easily managed.
    
    As a rule you will find these monsters deeper than pickrel. They
    like it a little colder than bass and pike. Oh, by the by. The
    Pickrel and the Pike are not the same fish. The "chain pickrel"
    is much smaller than the "northern pike" and the markings are very
    different. Pickrel have what looks like chain running down their
    side, and pike have what looks like dots and dashes down theirs.
    Conass Bob mentioned that they call these jackfish, and in Mississippi
    they call them garfish. These are chain pickrel, at least the ones
    I've caught are. Just to give you  a flavor for their sizes, the
    world record pickrel is (was?) 9lbs 6ozs. and the pike is 46lbs
    2ozs. The record muskie is 69lbs last time I looked. Tiger muskie
    should run between these last two, for a record. I would think that
    15-20lb fish would be considered a good catch, akin to a 8lb bass
    or so. The tiger muskie markings are vertical stripes, hence the
    name, with white dots (I think). I've only caught one little one
    and don't remember this to clearly. Can anyone comment here?
    
    Tight lines, Ron (The_ICE_is_out)    

    
    
    Jackfish and garfish might be the same, I know what a garfish looks
    like and what a chain pickeral looks like and they are not the same
    fish...never will be, Gar fish hasa much longer nose than even a
    pickeral and is generally a much more "primitive looking" fish than
    a pickeral. I have seen garfish in the Mississippi up to about four
    or five feet long....no pickeral EVER grew that big......also pickeral
    can be caught with a regular lure, garfish rarely if ever are caught
    in any accepted manner. They can be had (for the adventurous) by
    casting a peice of unravelled nylon rope into a large school of
    the beasties, They bat it out of the way with their long snouts, which
    are full of nice sharp teeth (Many many), the fiber of the rope gets
    tangled in their teeths and one can reel them in like cordwoods,
    Northern Pike have much wider mouths than pickeral or garfish and
     substantually larger teeth as well..........was that worth two bits??
                                                          
    
                                               Tight lines
    
                                                    Ed
    

    That was worth at least 4-bits or a nibble, Ed.
    
    Yea, I know "what" a garfish is, but in Mississippi, they seem to
    have them "confoosed" with pickrel, which is not to surprising,
    as the pickrel is really a northern fish and does look a little
    like a gar when the're small. I did notice one thing, they are a
    lot paler (whitish) down there than up here. My guess is that it
    is just a local term, like hornpout is for catfish around here or
    yellow bellies or bullheads in the midwest.
    
    Speaking of garfish, they are "very" plentiful in Fla. The strain
    there is called alligator gar and the sizes are quite large. The
    world record I believe is 279lbs and for longnosed gar the record
    is 50lbs 5ozs. I use to catch quite a few of them when worming for
    bass. They are the ugliest thing you ever want to pull up on the
    other end of your rod. They make a sturgeon look good.
    
    Back on the topic of tiger muskie. For people use to fishing for
    bass, you have to add a wire leader to your line. About a 6-10 inch
    one is about right I think. Unlike fishing bass where you avoid
    using leaders, the teeth of all these fish will cost you a lot of
    lures if you don't. (not to mention the gill plates)
    
    Tight lines, Ron (a_leader_in_line_will_save_nine)

    Ah mon, cho got it awl mussed up. Whot I wuz tawkin bout wuz a
    jackfish, not a wallegator gaar! De wallegator gaar is alot diffurent.
    You go fishin fo him in de sommertimes, whe you butt burn on de
    luminum boatseat thru you pants, huh! You get yousef out in de channel
    wid wun of dem deepsea typ outfits an take peces of plerch cut op
    an treaded tru de geetar strang. You mak a snare wit it. Put a big
    ole cork on it, sit back an wait. Purty soon you git a strike an
    de ole gaar fight purty good at furst, den he go did an you pull
    him in. He don fight for a while, but you go to branng him in an
    he jump like hell. You git your pistol an shoot him in de head an
    den git him in de boat. Dey normally git bout 4-20 pound, bout 1-4
    feets, an some op to 8 feets. Dey is roun bodies, scales all locked
    togethur lak a skin. Dey fulla bones, so de onlyest ting to do is
    to ball dem an mak croquets outta dem. Dey feeds of de top in de
    hot weathur so some peoples go out in de nitetime wit bows and arrews
    an shoot dem off de top. In de winter wen de water is clear dey
    used to hab a torniment wit dem scubydrivers an git dem offen de
    bottom wen de water clear.
    
    Dem is a hole diffurent fish den de jackfish, but we got plenty
    ob both down here. By de way, de wallegator gaarfish don seem to
    boter de basses.
    
    Coonass Bob
    

    
    
             I have fished for Pike and Tigermuskie mainly through
             the ice and have had some nice catches.I still think
             that the best bait is LIVE and BIG,5-10 inch shiners,
             Suckers and I even will catch a sunfish or perch in
             the summer and beatem senseless through them on a hook
             with a steel leader and bobber while I'm bassfishin.
             You never know when all hell will break loose.One thing
             to look for when fishing for Pike and Muskie is an area
             of water that is around 3-6 feet around and boiling almost
             like when a school of blues are hitting mackeral.If you
             ever see a 3-6 foot area that looks like it is boiling
             in a lake that stocks Pike and Muskie cast into it,more
             than likely they have gathered ALOT of baitfish and are
             chowing down heavily.Always remember to use steel between
             your bait and line.
    
    
                                  Have fun and don't lip them. 
    
    
                                           Lindsay

    
    Hello Mass boys,
    
    Have any of you guys seen the Worcester Telegram on Wednesday. 
    A 31 inche 6 1/4 pound Tiger Muskie was caught out of Chauncey lake
    in Westboro!!!  The picture of this baby is UNBELIEVABLE your talking
    big and UGLY.  He caught in using a flatfish lure.
    
    			Watch out where you swim,
    
    			Bart Lasky

    Hay Bart!  
    They look even scarier in real life.  I once caught a 26" one and
    had to let it go because they have a 28" min size.  I had no net
    and was not going to lip him!!  I finally got him tired and just
    grabbed him behind they head.  The fish is all teeth!!!
    
    Bass'n Bob
    

    I wasn't sure where else to put this, but I just saw a picture of
    a 41-inch, 15-pound, 12-ounce Tiger Muskie that was taken out of
    Lake Cochituate this past weekend.  They were using a daredevil
    spoon while fishing off a row boat in South pond.  The two kids
    who caught it, both 14, took turns reeling it in.  They said the
    battle took more than a half-hour.
    
    Mike_L