It is every angler’s right to choose. By: Craig Sandell © 2009 Muskie anglers are fanatics. We are on the water early and we fish late all for the thrill of catching a Muskie…and after all that hard work, the fish is generally released. Catch & Release has become the mantra of the Muskie angler but it is not the law. Every Muskie angler has the right to keep any legal fish. No other Muskie angler has the right to say that he shouldn’t. It is, therefore, distressing when self-righteous miscreants spew out their particular brand of dribble on some Internet chat boards. What gives these people the right to bullyrag another angler for keeping a 52 inch or 50 inch or 47-inch Muskie when such fish are legal and it is their right to keep the fish. Are these naysayers endowed with some supreme authority? Next, they will be belittling people for their choice of books, or cars, or movies, or baits, or boats. It is even more disturbing when you consider that the very people that are encouraging this mindlessness on their website, have themselves a history of killing hundreds of Muskie through the use of single hook sucker rigs, jug fishing and set lining. Yes…we are fanatics when it comes to our fishing but that does not give any of us the right to denigrate another angler for keeping a legal Muskie.
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