Inside the belly of the beast

[Josh Ketry]

I don't know where these photos came from, or if they are authentic or not.  I saw it posted on another board and wanted to share here.

A few things:

1) Obviously, killing and cutting open muskies is bad.  Don't do it.

2) I am not sure if these muskies were found dead or taken alive

3) I am always game to hear a good conspiracy theory.  Some of the other threads said that because the bait fish have no teeth marks, and none appear to be digested, that this could be a hoax by some pan fishermen to give muskies a bad rap.  Thoughts?

4) Upon examination a few things:  1) notice all the perch are facing the same direction, eaten head first.  2) The wooden cutting tables are different, or the photos were taken far apart in time. 

[Josh Ketry]

[Scott McKee]

The bottom picture reminds me of the great Pigeon Lake Bluegill Massacre of 2007 ; my column starting on page 2.

[Tony Scime]

1. The panfish look mostly undigested.

2. I've never heard of any caught muskie with so many fish in its stomach. Though I think I read that the O'Brien fish had a lot of bullheads.

3. I hate to admit it, but in the "good old days" I cut open a lot of muskies here, Chautauqua, and Nipissing, and the stomach contents were always empty. I think the old guys from the "Top-Twenty", or from anywhere else, can vouch.  

4. I think it's a hoax.

Tony 

[Carrie Keane]

I agree that it looks like a hoax.... I am not an expert in anything regarding anything with these pictures, however they just look fake.  The way I figure it looks a whole lot like an advertisement for one of those kill tourneys, however, that is only my opinion.

[Stephen Glassic]

I agree that it is fake.  I have examined the stomach contents of large trout and salmon before and usually at least some of the contents will be partially digested. Also, to me it looks like they are just stuffed into the organ cavity of the fish. I don't think the stomach is even large enough to hold that much. I bet we could get a definitive answer from Kevin Kapuscinski.

[John Jarosz]

here are a couple of pics of forage that I cut from the stomachs of steelhead caught off Wilson last year.  In the 2nd pic (with the four alewives), the one fish is so fresh, you can still see its bluish tint.  Even with it being that fresh, it still looked covered in slime & not like a fresh perch or 'gill.  The other pic (1st one) looked like smelt & alewives. I hope the pics upload.  I've never uploaded on this site before.

[Stephen Glassic]

Now those look like they came from the stomach of a fish.  The others don't.