Hamilton Reef
05-20-2004, 10:06 PM
A rich fishing ground right at our back door
If fish had a rogues' gallery, these pug-uglies would be near the top of the list -- three muskellunge 44-49 inches long, glaring up from a tank on the research vessel Channel Catfish.
Each would have qualified for a state Department of Natural Resources master angler award had it been caught by a sportfisherman. But these muskies swam into a DNR trap net on Anchor Bay and must suffer the indignity of being measured, weighed and scraped for a scale sample. Then they were dumped unceremoniously over Channel Cat's side to brood upon the wisdom of avoiding nets in the future.
The muskellunge is another fish that is often caught but rarely killed on Lake St. Clair. The DNR thinks this catch-and-release ethic is the primary reason the lake has produced more than 50 fish a year that qualified for the master angler minimum of 42 inches for seven straight years.
http://www.freep.com/sports/outdoors/tag20_20040520.htm
If fish had a rogues' gallery, these pug-uglies would be near the top of the list -- three muskellunge 44-49 inches long, glaring up from a tank on the research vessel Channel Catfish.
Each would have qualified for a state Department of Natural Resources master angler award had it been caught by a sportfisherman. But these muskies swam into a DNR trap net on Anchor Bay and must suffer the indignity of being measured, weighed and scraped for a scale sample. Then they were dumped unceremoniously over Channel Cat's side to brood upon the wisdom of avoiding nets in the future.
The muskellunge is another fish that is often caught but rarely killed on Lake St. Clair. The DNR thinks this catch-and-release ethic is the primary reason the lake has produced more than 50 fish a year that qualified for the master angler minimum of 42 inches for seven straight years.
http://www.freep.com/sports/outdoors/tag20_20040520.htm