Musky Eye Science

Sean Landsman (PhD in Fisheries Science) is one of my favorite sources of musky biology.

He's a VERY interesting individual with some cool insights into the science side of the musky fishing world.

He shared a bunch of cool facts and tips recently, and here they are.

"Just like humans, muskies have both rods and cones within their eyes. Rods are more numerous than cone cells, and the rods are important because they confer an ability to see in dim light or at night. They also let muskies see movement and shape.

"There are two types of cone cells. The proportion of single cone cells to double cone cells can tell us a little about how the fish prioritizes detection of certain colors. Pike and muskies have a high proportion of double cone cells relative to the number of single cone cells.

"The double cone cells are sensitive to reds, oranges, and yellows. Next time you're digging through your box deciding which lure to use next.... if you select a lure that features those colors, you would be playing to the sensitivities in the vision of a musky, taking advantage of their sensory system.

"This makes logical sense because reds, oranges and yellows are filtered [visually] out of the water column very quickly as you go down in depth and we know muskies, generally speaking, are a shallow water predator, compared to something like a burbot or a lake trout."

Sean loves natural colored lures, but when he's looking to add a little color to his presentation, he keeps this cone cell factoid in mind.