It is an honor to have trophy musky fishing here in Tennessee, but there is a downside. 

Here on Melton Hill Lake, the TWRA puts a ton of effort into the musky fishery so that us anglers have the opportunity to chase these trophies.  While some may see the fishery as flourishing with the amount of fish that are being caught around Bull Run Steamplant, others have realized that the fishery has been abused by the use of live bait techniques and by the mishandling of caught fish.  Even striper guides are now targeting muskies and taking them out of the system.  The newly established 50" limit on Melton Hill will ensure that some fish are returned to the water, but some of the methods used by many to catch and handling of these fish will lead to unintentional mortality. 

Above is a 38" musky that was probably guthooked or mishandled by someone unprepared to release the fish.

Below is a 40 inch musky that still has the hook embedded in it's gullett.  Anglers using live bait typically let the fish swallow the bait to ensure a good hookset.  There was 15 lb mono attached to an 8 inch steel leader. 

If you do plan on chasing muskies, please make sure you are prepared with the proper equipment.  Heavy line, a large knotless net, hook cutting and release tools are all necessary to ensure that the fish you have caught has a chance to go back and grow.  If you want more information, email me at billy@tnmuskies.org

If the general public is not educated about the rarity of this musky fishery and regulations are not put in place to ensure that congregated muskies are protected, the entire musky fishery can be devastated.   This is one resource that needs to be protected so everybody will have a chance to catch and release true trophy muskies in the future.

*here is a 48.5 inch fish that will never make it to 50"

As an avid musky fisherman, I have seen my share of neglect and abuse of the musky fishery.  I encourage anybody that enjoys fishing for muskies to let their local state wildlife agencies know your concerns about the fishery.