It's not illegal to catch one. It's illegal to target them. So lets say you know where or physically can see muskies up shallow. To cast any baits at them is illegal. There's no way to prove in court that you were specifically targeting muskies but as kind of a common sense practice most people understand you should not target muskies when they are in the spawning season(April-late May). It's counterproductive to physically exaust a spawning fish when they are dropping eggs. Many times the eggs end up spilling out onto your boat when you pick them up. Doing so means that many less future fry that would result. I've worked with DNR in harvesting eggs in muskies and some females just let loose when you hold them a certain way. Others take more work. With natural reproduction so important up here, targeting muskies before the season is open can set back future muskie success.

That was quite the rant.