I belong to a club that raises musky fingerlings. The fry we get comes from the DNR. The muskies we raise then get planted in area waters chosen by the DNR. The cost of raising these fish has increased dramatically in the last few years and is paid for entirely by our club. These muskies we raise for the DNR provides NO EXTRA stocking for any of our local waters. It would make absolutely no difference if we raised them or the DNR raised them. So by doing this our waters get no more muskies stocked than if the DNR raised all the fish themselves. Only a couple of waters in our area ever even get the maximum number of muskies planted that is allowed by the DNR. We pay to raise these fish and get nothing extra in return as far as stocking. We were considering using the money we spend on raising these muskies to instead purchase muskies from the the MN muskie farm or possibly another supplier. We thought that if we bought muskies instead we could maybe come up with extra fish to plant above and beyond what the DNR would plant anyway with or without our help in raising their muskies. We also were considering buying larger muskies, 18 inches or so because the survival rate would be much greater. Pretty good idea we thought. We discussed this with our local DNR fisheries manager. He was DEAD against it. He said they need to be certified, need to be from WI and blah blah blah and so on. We informed him that the MN muskie farm has WI strain muskies and that they do pass all the legal rules and regs they must pass to be planted in WI. He then said unless we can prove that they originally came from the watershed in our area he would not allow us to plant them. He gave us the impression that this can not be done legally in WI and that the DNR would not allow it anywhere. I think he is wrong. I'm sure I have heard of muskies being planted in WI from the MN farm and/or other suppliers. I think the real reason he is against this idea is because it would mean our local DNR would no longer have someone else raising and paying for muskies that they would be raising and paying for themselves without our help. So here are a few questions. Are there any clubs or groups in WI that have done this? Where did the muskies come from? How do we find out if the muskies planted by our local DNR actually come from the watershed in our area like he said ours would have to come from? I have never heard of any waters in our area ever being used by the DNR to gather eggs for stocking purposes. Is our DNR manager wrong about whether it is legal or not? If he is wrong, why can he, one man, have so much power over this stocking issue in our area if it can be done elsewhere?

I'm nuts about musky fishing!

Scientific support for the strains is absolute. Barred, Great Lakes, and Hybrid are definite. There are some publications that support a 'silver' or 'clear muskie, also.

The DNR knows the genetic strain, available prey, water chemistry, and overall makeup of any lake they stock here in Wisconsin. A 45" female that is 11 years old will not necessarily produce offspring with better growth potential than a 38" female  that is a few years younger, especially if stripped from the same brood waters It is simply not workable to or necessarily good science to strip only huge fish. Age/size/growth/prey relationships are well documented for all stocked waters.

Adding another strain of muskies IS a bit of a wildcard, and alot depends on the water stocked. The questions are survivalability, prey consumption vs availablilty, growth rate, interaction with the other predator fish already there, and about a hundred other issues. If a lake is currently in the middle of a muskie management program with the DNR for a specific goal, it is likely the area Manager will want to be certain any additional stocking done by individuals is compatable.

Wisconsin has been fortunate our DNR has in the past and into the future been focused on the introduction and management of Muskies into waters that traditionally did not have a fishable population, and in many other aspects of Muskie Management. Many new and existing fisheries are under management for trophy potential right now. I suggest you go to the WI DNR site and begin a careful ananysis of the mass of information there, and call a few of the fisheries managers for comment. These folks are not just guessing willy nilly and stocking by whim or chance.

I see Wisconsin's Muskie management program's biggest potential problem being lack of funds. THAT is why most managers welcome assistance from club or individuals. Dont, however, expect them to simply and without a question abandon or seriously alter the current management guidelines for any one body of water to fit someone elses perceived wants or needs. Te response a club gets will vary as much as the needs of the water being potentially stocked.