|
|
Posts: 305
Location: Illinois | I have read that several lakes that I fish in Illinois and Wisconsin have no DOCUMENTED reproduction.I usually hear about a lack of spawning habitat but it seems to me that on these lakes ther are plenty of places a musky could spawn successfully. Take the chain which has numerous shallow bays, channels, and backwaters. I haven't heard of natural reproduction on the chain but I would think there would be some natural reproduction. In lakes that support a successful spawn why do the fish fail to spawn successfully. I would think that a moderate warming trends and high water levels would lead to success in any water that has some spawning grounds. Also in some of these lakes, particularly in Wisconsin, I will occassionally catch a tiger or a fish from a year class that shouldn't be present.Can anyone shed some light? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | I think in Illinois and Indiana it is something in the water missing... I want to say A ?pheremone??? in the water?? If that makes any sense.. You may get some limited successfull spawning, but not enough to sustain a population. |
|
| |
|
| Some lakes stocked muskies go through the motions, but can't spawn. Someone please explain the biological reason for this behavior such as temperature or chemical attributes of the water! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | The lakes in illinois have too much sedimentation in the water and the bottom is too soft in most places. The eggs basically suffocate. That's the main problem. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | There are many variables that impact natural reproduction including Pike/Muskie relationships and associated environments, water level influences, water chemistry, development, and more. See "Managing Muskies", American Fisheries Society Special Publication 15. ( International Muskie Symposium, 1984) |
|
| |
|
Posts: 149
| All muskies in all lakes "go through the motions" so to speak when environmental conditions warrant spawning, but for the reasons stated in the post above in most lakes it's all for nothing. Could be any of a thousand reasons why they don't reproduce successfully in a given lake. Most of which probably have to do with human destruction of water quality and shoreline habitat in lakes that have had suitable conditions for reproduction in the past. In other lakes, maybe the chemical composition of the water isn't right, maybe weather plays a factor, maybe suitable spawning habitat doesn't exist so they go through their routine in unsuitable habitat for the eggs to hatch, maybe other predators (carp, pike, panfish, etc) eat up every single egg that's deposited before any can hatch, maybe they hatch and something isn't right for the fry and none survive past a few days, maybe they hatch and are all eaten by other fish before they get past a few days old.
All species in all waters "go through the motions" when the conditions are right. There are eggs deposited in all lakes for all species present. For whatever reasons, most lakes simply don't meet the very specific requirements the eggs need in order to hatch. Here are a couple links that give some good info on this topic:
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/es/science/fish/nat_musky_pop.htm
http://afs.allenpress.com/afsonline/?request=get-abstract&issn=0002...
Edited by esoxcpr 3/4/2004 11:02 PM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 228
Location: Downers Grove, IL | OK, I know the IDNR stocks fingerlings in the Fox Chain and that they say there is no natural reproduction, but explain to me this:
A guy I know who fishes for muskies in the Fox River caught a 12" and 14" musky on SUCCESSIVE CASTS last season about 25 miles SOUTH of the chain.
Do you think that these fish went over approx. 8-10 dams and settled in the same area, or could they be part of natural reproduction? The area was NORTH of Shabbona, which is also stocked and has a creek that feeds into the Fox.
Hmmm..... |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | I think in any water system that contains musky there will be a very small percent of the "going through the motion" aftermath that results in little muskies. In these lakes the spawning success ratio is much the same as winning the lottery. You may find a few instances where natural reproduction takes place, but it is no where near enough to sustain a population. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1310
Location: Washington, PA | I think that there definately needs to be more research done on this topic, especially out east. Here in PA, they say that there is little to no natural reproduction. Yet, we have at least a handful of native muskie fisheries, and the season is closed for spawning. Of course, this is PA, and lord knows the PFBC is one step away from a goat rodeo. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 18
Location: Ashalnd,Ky | From what I have been able to find out the lakes in Kentucky Like Cave Run
also have a problem with sedimentation.. along with that we have a lot of natural gas wells..some of these wells use brime water to force the wells to produce.. when salt is added to streams it is not toxic at low levels but it kills the production of fish that free spawn.. Like Musky,White bass and other free spawners.. I have been told that the brime water when dumped in streams will cause egges to develop a harden skin that results in the egges not hatching..This was told to me in a meeting some years back when some of us was fighting the plans to inject 10 tons of salt a day into lake Cumberland from the Jamestown water plant which was treating water from the Union underware plant that was located on Lily creek..BTW we lossed that battle.. salt is being injected into Lake Cumberland a little over 5000 feet from the dam.. We still don't know the full effects this will have on the stream below the dam..We have a fed. Trout Hachery below the dam and many of us felt it would in time effect that operation..
Polution,sedimentation, salt, along with controlled flooding in flood controled lakes seem to be to much for our musky in Kentucky lakes to have successful spawns..
Trimmer |
|
| |
|
Posts: 305
Location: Illinois | Thanks for the website and other sources (symposium). I would guess the amount of dissolved oxygen is a major factor. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2361
| While dissolved oxygen may be a factor there are several important factors that figure in. I think a crucial iron level is needed in the water for successful reproduction, a good spawning area, and another very crucial factor was prey species in the correct size as the musky fry made the switch from bugs to fish, and without this very specialized prey size the musky young starve before they get large enough to generalize their predation. |
|
| |
Why Can't Muskies Spawn Successfully in Some Lakes?