A big St. Lawrence River muskellunge was landed through the ice in early January 2016 and immediately released.
For one St. Lawrence River ice fisherman, it was a dream come true. Bryan Tidds was wetting a line near Alexandria Bay, New York when he latched into the big Esox.
The historic St. Lawrence is as well known as a muskie fishery as it gets, but catching one of this magnitude is a real eye opener! Before anyone gets their dander up, accidental catches during time out on the ice are commonplace. It's just that a muskie listed as being 35 pounds isn't.
The background of the picture is blurred out making it near impossible to determine the exact location. (fishermen not revealing their spot? What's the world coming to?) The Abay.com Facebook page said, "(Furthermore) that Muskie was released very quickly in very healthy condition and as far as anyone can reasonably know is fine."
Back in May of 2015 the NYS DEC changed their stance on taking pictures of accidental catches as reported by syracuse.com who said,
"The Department of Environmental Conservation announced this afternoon that it would not be ticketing anglers for taking pictures of out-of-season or endangered fish they catch."
As long as you're not specifically targeting an out-of-season species the DEC understands, and as DEC spokesperson Lori Severino said, "The DEC does not ticket anglers for taking pictures of fish"
All that leaves is big congratulations to Bryan on a beautiful C&R muskie, and thanks to the Abay.com Facebook page for sharing this great experience!
Photo via Abay
NEXT: NEW YORK'S SAVE THE RIVER PROGRAM AIMS TO HELP THE ST. LAWRENCE FISHERY
