Who caught any smaller muskies this season??

[perchoreno]

I was just going through the stocking numbers and I am somewhat alarmed. I normally catch some fish under 30" out on the flowage and this season, caught a number of fish, and caught no fish under 31" and may have only seen 1-2 in that size range, and they may also have been 30" fish. One was borderline, and the other, couldn't see real well.

Anybody else notice this?

[Larrynrita]

We boated one that was 28". Everything else was 36" or over. Even the follows seemed to be in that range.

[mkoeh475]

Maybe the state is starting to go after size instead of quantity. A number of friends and room-mates in college at UWSP were grad students in the fisheries department. They said that based on data, that Wisconsin had something like 3 times as many muskies as Minnesota had, but Minnesota had about 3 times the muskies over 50" that we did (that's what I remember them saying). I wouldn't be surprised if the state was trying to get the bigger fish count up.

[Flambeau dreamer]

I released three that were between 30 and 33. As with both of you the majority were in the 36 to 40 inch range. I found that with the high water levels last year, the smaller ski's seemed to be in that 0-3 ft range, while the rest came out of 4ft or greater depths....according to my log book. Nice to see the bigger average fish. Hope the DNR raises the min size though.
chris

[BlueRanger]

I've actually caught far more fish in the sub-30" range over the past 2-3 seasons than at any time in the past, mainly while bass fishing and from very shallow water like dreamer.

I don't know why stocking declined in 2010, but I'll find out. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a deliberate reduction based on the improved size structure and low harvest pressure evident in the 2009 survey. With more large fish in the mix, they may be switching to a maintenance mode to avoid upsetting the overall species balance. It's important to remember that their impact is more a function of biomass than numbers.

A larger minimum for the TFF is not among the proposals for this year's spring hearings (http://dnr.wi.gov/news/DNRNews_artic...up.asp?id=1705) and the last I heard the biologists didn't feel it was necessary.

As far as the "hybrid washdown" mentioned in the other thread, I don't believe hybrids are stocked in any lakes upstream of the TFF, and they are a natural occurrence in many lakes with both species. The TFF is actually ideal, since both species spawn in the same locations and the lake usually warms quickly. Especially in years with a particularly warm spring, there's likely to be some spawning overlap between the last of the northerns and the earliest muskies.

The DNR's email directory is readily available on the web site (http://dnr.wi.gov/staffdir/SearchDNREmp.asp), and everybody I've ever contacted appreciated the opportunity to field my questions, and provided thorough replies. I wish a few more people would take the time to ask questions before speculating.

Here's a page that links to most of the DNR's musky info:

http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/musky/muskymanteam.html

[perchoreno]

Hybrids seem to be in much higher proportion in the upriver basins and I had never spotted one in the flowage until the last 2 years. I am guessing they came from upstream. I am guessing that pure musky reproductive failure, is mirrored by the occassional chance of hybrid production in the flowage, and that fails also.

There is the possibility that depth played a factor in the size distribution this season. Hopefully that was it, but other factors made me feel I should have seen an array of sizes, and that wasn't the case.

[Nick Kanauz]

Fresh from my Brother-in-Law's famous database, the counts for our second week of May for the following years for undersize Musky: 2006 1, 2007 3, 2008 1, 2009 2. These fish were 12" to 20+" fish. 2010 was a tough year due to the low water, but I believe we lost a couple of Musky is one of the areas we normally tend to run into them and lost our rapala's. We almost always land those pesky pike that hit our rapalas. The intersting thing in 2009, was that those two undersized Musky were Great Lakes, or Leach Lake type strain with the spots instead of the normal natural bars. These Musky were also caught in spots all over the Flowage. I believe that even with the plantings, there is a fair amount of natural reproduction happening. We have seen some awfully large ladies in there too!

[BlueRanger]

I'd be curious to see what those spotted ones looked like... There shouldn't be any Upper Mississippi or Great Lakes strain fish in the TFF unless some idiot illegally dumped a few in. If that's the case, pray there weren't any other exotics in the water that came with them. Eurasian Milfoil and Zebra Mussels are not things we need.

Still looking into the reason behind the stocking shortfall. Jeff Roth says he didn't propose any reduction before he retired in spring, so I'm checking with Dave Neuswanger.

Here's a fat little tiger I caught in 2008. Check out the unusually deep split in the caudal fin - also a common feature of TFF northerns.

[perchoreno]

Fresh from my Brother-in-Law's famous database, the counts for our second week of May for the following years for undersize Musky: 2006 1, 2007 3, 2008 1, 2009 2. These fish were 12" to 20+" fish. 2010 was a tough year due to the low water, but I believe we lost a couple of Musky is one of the areas we normally tend to run into them and lost our rapala's. We almost always land those pesky pike that hit our rapalas. The intersting thing in 2009, was that those two undersized Musky were Great Lakes, or Leach Lake type strain with the spots instead of the normal natural bars. These Musky were also caught in spots all over the Flowage. I believe that even with the plantings, there is a fair amount of natural reproduction happening. We have seen some awfully large ladies in there too!

Since there are none in the basin historically, I would guess that these were just juvenile fish carrying a little more broken pattern than normal. You can occasionally see spotted fish when young in almost every strain of muskies I believe. And even when the body is not spotted you can see spotting on the tails. Also historically, there are probably alien species already introduced into the lake, since there has been a flow of boats directly up and back from the great lakes basins to this lake in past years.

[BlueRanger]

I had the same thoughts, which is why I was curious to see photos...

I did receive a response today from Lawrence Eslinger, the Fisheries Biologist for Iron and Ashland Counties. He said there was in fact a production shortage at the Spooner hatchery, but he did point out that the average size was over 13" this year, so survival should be very good. It might be some comfort to know that according to the stocking database, Pewaukee also received less than half its quota, and Okauchee didn't get any - both are normally stocked every year, and have also been shorted in several previous years. But you're right about the Madison lakes - Monona, Waubesa and Wingra all got their fish.

[Nick Kanauz]

Blue...having problems posting again...Am looking through my pix to see if I have one of them. I do know my Musky species, and these were the spotted GL, or Leach strain. The spots were random and in no way close to being barred. Hopefully the Administrator will solve my problems so I can post on a regular basis...PS..got your email address tonite, and will be writing soon. Hope to find those pix!

[AndrewR]

My catch was a bit older but back in August 2009 I caught a 24" that blasted a topwater meant for smallmouth. Occurred in the north basin near Deadhorse Lodge. Last year in 2010 I had a few break-offs from fish in the 30" range that thought fluorescent orange Rapala X-Raps (again meant for smallies) taste good.

[The Tiny Fisherman]

Flambeau Fluffy, got the skunk out of the boat for 2011. Now her meter has been reset to 10,000 casts.

[bunczak]

A friend of mine got a 24" muskie last may on the TFF near lake Bastine. It struck a beetle spin and gave a good fight on 6# line.

[Orrsfishing]

My boat saw more smaller fish last season than the season before, but the overall size was still pretty decent. Early on, we got a bunch from 28" to 35". I do not remember any fish last year under the 28 inch mark... at least not netted. Average size for the summer was in that 35" to 39" range. Lots of those!! The difference between last year and the year before was incredible. The year before, most fish were over 40" with many between 42 and 47 and very few under 38. Last year the big girls didnt wanna play with me till later in the season, but then they came out like crazy. There was also a stretch (3 or 4 days) in the very late fall of fish under 35.
Both years saw good numbers. I will try to keep a better log this season. I just hate more paperwork!!
Hope this helps your research!!