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Posts: 19
Location: Buffalo, NY | I've seen a ton of discussion from the Midwest about Musky eating all the Walleye.
I thought it would be appropriate to share a member of the Niagara Musky Association's youtube channel. Jim K is a scuba diver, and a musky fisherman. Has a ton of really neat videos of his dives along the drifts I always fish. I've seen his dive flag, him, or his boat on many occasions as i've fished the Upper Niagara.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRIE5nCdES8
Worth a look at all his Musky videos, this one in particular discusses walleye interaction. |
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Posts: 770
| Neat video |
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Posts: 101
Location: Niagara on the Lake, ON | Jim K has awesome vids. Love them |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | He asked during the video if this only happened on the Niagara. No, i have seen musky and walleye sharing the same weed pocket on the madison chain. |
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Posts: 668
Location: mercer wi | I always read that muskis where ruthless walleye kills. In fact they only eat 7.26% of the walleyes they kill. The rest they leave dead on the bottom of the lake. They kill for the fun of it. |
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Posts: 390
| Ive done plenty of diving on GB and I have seen this many times. The other thing I have noticed is neither walleye or musky/pike spook when I swim close to them, they are curious which suggests larger walleyes don't have the prey response which tells me we are the only thing on or in the water that feeds on them. |
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Posts: 14
| I came to think they eat when they eat. Pretend the walleye is your bait |
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Location: oswego, il | Behavior and vulnerability play a big role. Prey acts like prey, predators act like predators. Predators on the end of your line act vulnerable. |
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Posts: 267
| IMVHO, Muskie TV personalities need to quit telling the audience that Muskies are feeding on walleyes. And tackle manufacturers need to quit making "walleye" patterns. Call it sucker or brown perch or something. |
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Posts: 300
| Smell_Esox - 4/6/2018 7:50 AM
IMVHO, Muskie TV personalities need to quit telling the audience that Muskies are feeding on walleyes. And tackle manufacturers need to quit making "walleye" patterns. Call it sucker or brown perch or something.
I would agree with you...if the cat wasnt already out of the bag. |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | Bass and trout patterns too. We as responsible musky fisherpeople need to buy baits in non fish patterns only. Maybe create some sort of universal symbol for businesses who cater to this community can display that says, we are musky but we are sympathetic to the plight of the other species who have to cohabitate. |
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Posts: 1667
| Now we are assuming Muskies (all fish for that matter) can distinguish other species and colors. Maybe they just recognize a blob and not the blob being a Bass, Walleye, Perch. Just a blob of differing sizes. Same goes for color. Maybe it's just different shades and not that they can tell Red from Green? |
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Location: oswego, il | Brian Hoffies - 4/6/2018 12:18 PM
Now we are assuming Muskies (all fish for that matter) can distinguish other species and colors. Maybe they just recognize a blob and not the blob being a Bass, Walleye, Perch. Just a blob of differing sizes. Same goes for color. Maybe it's just different shades and not that they can tell Red from Green?
No we are saying fish understand behavior within their environment. |
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Posts: 330
Location: SE Wisc | I will make some t-shirts, FISH LIVES MATTER |
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Posts: 8717
| If they had half of the cognitive abilities we give them credit for, we would never be able to catch them.... |
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Posts: 1516
| upnortdave - 4/5/2018 7:39 PM
I always read that muskis where ruthless walleye kills. In fact they only eat 7.26% of the walleyes they kill. The rest they leave dead on the bottom of the lake. They kill for the fun of it.
I eat 100% of the walleyes I kill. I wonder how many are left dead by the water wolves? |
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Posts: 343
| I find it hard to believe that muskies would expend the energy necessary to catch and kill for the fun of it. They might attack some that manage to escape and later die but it makes no sense from a survival standpoint, for them to waste that much energy with no caloric gain. |
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Posts: 897
| I've had muskies, walleye, and smallmouth bass in fish tanks. The smallmouth kill everything else in the tank, including fish they have no intention on eating. They were very territorial. As long as the muskies were kept fed, they wanted nothing to do with the walleyes in the tank with them. |
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| trust me they will know when it's time to leave the spot,i have seen a lot of pike sharing bass,bluegill spot but once they fill some strange vibration they disappear really fast.i've caught lot's of musky during walleye trolling,they share same weed line and at some time of the year same depth too |
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Posts: 1080
Location: Aurora | whynot - 4/12/2018 1:10 PM
I've had muskies, walleye, and smallmouth bass in fish tanks. The smallmouth kill everything else in the tank, including fish they have no intention on eating. They were very territorial. As long as the muskies were kept fed, they wanted nothing to do with the walleyes in the tank with them.
X2 on this.
The Smallmouth i had didn't even like having things like heaters and filters in the tank with them. Dug up everything and brokeit all. Even nastier than African Cichlids. |
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Posts: 1209
| ToddM - 4/5/2018 6:43 PM
He asked during the video if this only happened on the Niagara. No, i have seen musky and walleye sharing the same weed pocket on the madison chain.
I have seen 5 Muskies and 9 walleyes sharing the same 20 yard circle of weeds on pelican lake MN, was super odd but the only thing that bothered with of them was us... |
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Posts: 1209
| ToddM - 4/6/2018 6:39 AM
Behavior and vulnerability play a big role. Prey acts like prey, predators act like predators. Predators on the end of your line act vulnerable.
I like how we are on the same page today, super evedent to me that a fish is hooked is a fish that is in distress and vulnerable because it is exerting so much energy but not necessarily going fast and they can feel the spazzing out. |
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Posts: 1636
| Muskies hit struggling Walleye and Bass for the same reason they will hit a struggling Muskie their own size...
Struggling fish give up their location...
Struggling fish might be unhealthy and can take up valuable resources other, healthy fish can use...
They are regulating... not feeding. |
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Posts: 8717
| Reelwise - 4/13/2018 3:29 AM
Muskies hit struggling Walleye and Bass for the same reason they will hit a struggling Muskie their own size...
Struggling fish give up their location...
Struggling fish might be unhealthy and can take up valuable resources other, healthy fish can use...
They are regulating... not feeding.
I don't buy that argument. There is no biological reason for a predatory fish to consume something that is sick and possibly dying. Fleeing? Yes. Why does the liveliest sucker get eaten and the ones that just sit there get stared at for 10 minutes or more? |
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Posts: 1636
| Maybe unhealthy was not the correct word to use... wounded or injured would be better.
So, you are telling me that a 40" Muskie was trying to eat another 40" Muskie? I do not think so... I believe it was trying to kill it.
To each their own... but, I think I have seen enough to believe what I wrote. Whether it is right or wrong... there is evidence of this.
Edited by Reelwise 4/14/2018 5:24 AM
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Posts: 1636
| I'm also unsure how you can compare a lethargic sucker to a fighting fish on the end of the line... pretty sure a fighting gamefish on the end of the line is usually more erratic than even the liveliest suckers on a quickstrike rig. |
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Posts: 1636
| Do some Muskies eat struggling fish, because it is an easy meal? I'm sure they do. Bass do this. But, I also believe Muskies will hit a struggling fish to simply put an end to what is going on. Naturally... I believe this is also a trigger related to keeping a good and healthy balance when it comes to the fish population as well as a territorial instinct. Muskies in smaller lakes display this behavior much more than in larger lakes... in my experiences.
Edited by Reelwise 4/14/2018 5:32 AM
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Posts: 65
| esoxaddict - 4/13/2018 11:21
I don't buy that argument. There is no biological reason for a predatory fish to consume something that is sick and possibly dying. Fleeing? Yes. Why does the liveliest sucker get eaten and the ones that just sit there get stared at for 10 minutes or more?
Yes there is a “biological” reason- because a dying fish is an easy meal. Guaranteed that muskies do not read fish consumption advisories, and I’m pretty sure their pea brain does not understand pathogens or communicable diseases  But I don’t think this has been studied, so we’ll leave that door open a crack I guess.
But something that their brains do FOR SURE is have different activity levels. Sometimes you catch them on bucktails, sometimes only the guy jigging for walleyes gets em. Sometimes muskies eat strong healthy prey, sometimes they eat dead bait laid on the bottom. So I’m guessing they sometimes eat weak or sick ones, somewhere between healthy and dead.
The liveliest sucker gets eaten because most of the time muskies are not hungry, and struggling prey trips their trigger anyway. A hungry musky will eat your lazy sucker in a heartbeat. |
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Posts: 85
Location: Michigan U.P. | Cisco, my wife made me a "Musky Lives Matter" shirt.
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Posts: 1636
| esoxaddict - 4/13/2018 12:21 PM
Why does the liveliest sucker get eaten and the ones that just sit there get stared at for 10 minutes or more?
Difference is... the Muskie is probably in a feeding mode when it hits a sucker. When a gamefish is struggling near a Muskie... instinctive, stimulative triggers unrelated to feeding most likely take over. |
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