Yearling Stocking Musky Study

What's the best bang for our buck when it comes to stocking?


The Iowa DNR recently conducted a study on advanced stage musky stocking to evaluate the poststocking behavior and survival of yearling muskies.


Here’s how they set-up the study . . .

They implanted radio telemetry devices into 25 yearling muskies which were greater than 14.75” in length and stocked them into two lakes (Spirit and Cornelia). These fish were released at the boat access on Cornelia and released offshore on Spirit. They then monitored the dispersal, movement, depth, vegetation use, proximity to shore, and survival of the yearlings.

Here’s what they found . . .

The fish in both lakes dispersed rapidly after stocking. The survival rates in the two lakes were between 86.7-90%! This shows that yearling muskies are proving to be a suitable alternative for fisheries with a high mortality rate.

It’s looking like the large size of yearlings reduces predation from other fish predators while offshore stocking may reduce the risk of avian or other terrestrial predation.

One other interesting tidbit . . . these fish were stocked in June and showed a preference for offshore habitat, possibly because offshore submergent vegetation had more time to grow/develop and provide cover.


Check out the full study for more details:

https://www.mdpi.com/2410-3888/9/6/216