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Muskies Aren't The Bad Guy!
by Tom Dietz

The late September morning dawned clear and cool on Caesar's Creek Lake. My good friend and fishing partner, David Foor and I headed out from the boat landing and motored to a favorite wooded shoreline. Easing down the trolling motor, we began methodically fan casting the fallen timber with bucktail spinners and small twitch baits like the Bucher Baby Shallowraiders. I approached a small secondary point with submerged stumps present, and fired a cast close to shore in between two sunken stumps. The bucktail traveled about two feet underwater prior to being engulfed by thirty-seven inches of hard fighting musky! After a brief, but violent battle, the musky was netted, photographed and released to grow to a larger size. Within minutes while fishing the same shoreline stretch, I felt my boat rock and heard Dave grunt as he set the hooks home into a feisty thirty-four inch musky! He was twitching a Baby Shallowraider and the musky shot out from under a fallen tree and nailed his lure. The neat thing about this day is that we weren't fishing Eagle River, Wisconsin but rather within the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio.

The muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) is one of North America's most prized game fish species. It is often called "The King of Freshwater" by many anglers. The name muskellunge comes from the Ojibwe word maashkinoozhe, meaning "ugly pike," by way of French masque allongé (modified from the Ojibwe word), "long mask." They prey upon anything small enough to fit inside their mouths, from other fish, crayfish and frogs, to ducklings, snakes, muskrats and other small hapless mammals. Adult muskellunge actually prefer soft-rayed fish such as suckers and gizzard shad as their preferred prey. Their bill-shaped mouths are large with many sharp teeth; muskies engulf their prey head-first, sometimes in a single gulp. Although the animals are capable of swallowing something up to forty-five percent of their total length, selection must be made carefully. Muskellunge are sometimes found dead with their last meal lodged down their throats, apparently having drowned.

The muskellunge, or musky, is a native species in Ohio and is found in both major drainage basins of the state. Historically, it was abundant in the bays and tributaries of Lake Erie and in many streams in the Ohio River drainage. Currently, it is also found in several popular fishing lakes around the state including Clear Fork, Caesar's Creek, Salt Fork, Alum Creek, Piedmont and Leesville Lakes, among others. A common misconception amongst non-musky anglers is that this species often ruins the fishing for other targeted fish species in a given lake, such as walleyes and saugers, crappies, etc. The purpose of this article is to educate anyone who shares this belief, and eliminate many of the myths that surround this unique game fish species.

I have been fortunate to fish for muskies across the United States and Canada for the past eighteen years. I have pursued them in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Kentucky. I have also fished Lake of the Woods in Ontario regularly. During my musky fishing excursions, I have witnessed non-musky anglers catch muskies and kill them on occasion. They would state "These darn muskies are eating all of my walleyes!" This common fear is caused by the large size and nature of fresh water's largest predator. It is true that muskies will grab an occasional walleye or bass, but they truly prefer soft-rayed species like gizzard shad and suckers. Typically muskies will grab a struggling walleye, sauger or bass because it appears to be a dying or wounded fish, and muskies are creatures of opportunity. This appears to be an easy meal for them and it is why they will grab the fish battling on the end of an angler's line. Numerous studies done by Departments of Natural Resources in states like Wisconsin prove that the favorite forage of muskies are non-game fish species.

Most musky population goals in Wisconsin target a population of 0.30 to 0.50 adult fish per acre. Walleye populations are usually at three or more adult fish per acre. A recent graduate thesis project done in Wisconsin examined the food habitats of Wisconsin Muskellunge (Burrie 1997). Thirty-four musky lakes where sampled over a four year period, with 1,092 muskellunge (eight to forty-six inches in length) examined. Only six walleye (0.9% of the diet items) were found in all the samples. It is far more likely walleye, cannibalizing walleye, has a bigger effect on the walleye population than then minimal amount of walleye eaten by musky." I thoroughly agree with this study and I have always said that an adult musky will eat no more bass, walleye, and sauger than adult bass, walleye, and sauger will eat of their own. All of these species mentioned are predators, and all of them will eat what they can catch, regardless if it means they are eating one of their own. The bottom line here is that a number of scientific studies have shown that muskellunge aren't always the "Bad Guy" they are thought to be on a given body of water. What prompted me to write this piece is because of a scenario that occurred this past summer here at Caesar's Creek Lake, located near Dayton. The ODNR has stocked this popular lake with advanced musky fingerlings since 1998, and the fish are now thriving and have been reported to up to forty-two inches in length. I am certain there are a few bigger ones present. I fished this impoundment a number of times this past season and personally caught a good number of muskies between thirty and thirty-seven inches long. There were some local bass fishermen this past summer who declared war on these newcomers and I saw two muskies floating dead with their throats and gills cut. These local bass anglers fish this lake regularly each week and some of these anglers have the same misconceptions that I mentioned above. They are afraid the muskies will ruin the bass and saugeye populations in the lake, and that is simply not true.

I ask all anglers who read this article to educate themselves and their angling friends who might harbor this wrong belief that muskies overtake a given lake. The muskellunge is a unique species, and they are exceptional fighters. We are extremely lucky to have the support of the ODNR to maintain and create excellent musky fisheries here in Ohio. Elmer Heyob is a friend of mine, and works for the ODNR and is instrumental in managing the muskellunge program in the state. Many surrounding states would love to have the musky fishing opportunities we have, and we need to respect this great game fish and not kill them for selfish reasons. If you are a non-musky angler and catch a musky while bass fishing or saugeye and decide not to keep it, please release it unharmed back to the lake. They are not known for their exceptional eating quality like walleye and perch are, and most musky anglers always practice catch and release to enjoy their hard fighting ability another day. Muskies are the state fish of my home state of Wisconsin, and deservedly so. Muskies are a magnificent game fish species. They have the right to reside in Ohio waters since they are a native species to our waters. Get out and try your luck fishing for them, because once you catch one, you will be hooked!

Tom Dietz is the Store Manager of the Gander Mountain store located in Huber Heights, Ohio. He is a Professional Musky Angler and Educator and he can be reached by email at muskyangler@woh.rr.com. He also has his own web site at http://www.tomdietz.com.