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| seems like on this site and a few other sites some folks are partly blaming muskie populations for the lack of success people are having ice fishing for walleye on mille lacs....i for one ice fish on this lake a ton, and will admit that it is slow and i dont think i will be out there again this winter because of it. But i am sure the problem isnt the muskies......its the loads and loads of bait in the lake right now. millions of 2-3 inch perch are in the lake and are the prime target of a hungry walleye.....i have seen walleye after walleye stuffed to the brim with food....they are really large this winter....and the few i get and clean.....are stuffed with the little guys also. the hot weather and walleye tournaments were no help to the population as well, any of you who fish mille lacs a enough saw the thousands of walleye along the shoreline. Not saying walleye tourneys are bad, but there was one in particular this year that went as scheduled dispite the really warm temps. i wish there were some large scale media outlet to share information like some of the studies that have been done concearning this for example....... http://www.mi50.com/docs/diets.pdf ............ this way some people wouldnt be so quick to blame the muskie. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | On this site? |
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Posts: 1184
Location: Iowa Great Lakes | Not on this site but I have seen this post somewhere else myself about the muskies being the cause of the poor bite on Mille Lacs. We have the same thing going on a lake somewhat similar to Mille Lacs here huge perch spawn last couple years has fishing way off. A normal walleye day 2 years ago was 45-75 fish a day per man last season on a good bite 3 guys lucky to boat 20 fish total. A lake full of shiners and 2-4" perch is what I blame. |
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Posts: 714
Location: Rhinelander, WI | There is some great info out there if you hear this type of rhetoric. I’ll cut and paste this article from the MDNR and try and post a copy of the brochure that Brad Waldera drew up and made available to all of us here. Hopefully it will attach. It sum up lots of the data well. Last paragraph is sums it all up.
What do muskies eat anyway?
MN DNR Fisheries Report
Muskie were successfully established in Lake Vermilion through a stocking program that began in 1984. The muskie population has done well and the lake is quickly gaining a reputation as a quality muskie fishery. A number of people have expressed concern that the muskie introduction may have a negative impact on other fish species, particularly walleye. They are concerned that muskies will eat substantial numbers of walleye and reduce the walleye population. It certainly is wise to be cautious about introducing a new species into a lake, as such introductions are sometimes detrimental to the native fish community. The introduction of muskie into Lake Vermilion was done only after meeting stringent criteria for new muskie introductions and a thorough review of the possible consequences. Based on all the information available, it was decided that introducing muskies would provide a new trophy type of fishery while having a minimal impact on other species. Since the introduction of muskie, there has been no major change in the walleye population or in the populations of other species. The 1997 assessment net catch of walleye was one of the highest on record for Lake Vermilion.
The decision to introduce muskie into Lake Vermilion was based in part on the abundance of tullibee and white sucker in the lake, species that are known to be preferred prey items for muskie. Research has shown that muskie prefer prey without sharp spines, such as tullibee and sucker. Perch have also been shown to be an important prey item, probably because they are small enough that their spines are not a factor and because they are found in stands of aquatic vegetation that muskie also inhabit. Walleye have not been known to be a major forage species for muskie, even in lakes with abundant walleye populations. Although muskie will certainly eat walleye occasionally, the numbers eaten are minor compared to other natural mortality and angler harvest.
A research project was recently conducted in Wisconsin that looked at the feed habits of muskie. Stomach contents were examined from 1,092 muskie captured in 34 Wisconsin lakes from July 1991 to October 1994. The muskie were captured throughout the open water season by trapnetting, electrofishing and angling. The muskie stomachs were flushed with water to disgorge the contents without injuring the fish. The captured muskie ranged in size from nine inches to 46 inches. Based on the number and size of consumed food items, yellow perch and white sucker were, by far, the most important fish species consumed by muskies. Only five walleye were found in the 1,092 muskie stomachs examined. Sunfish, crappie and various minnow species were eaten more frequently than walleye in the study lakes. Tullibee were not common in many of the study lakes and therefore were relatively unimportant as food items. However, previous research has shown that tullibee are important food items for muskie in lakes where they are abundant, such as Lake Vermilion. One interesting aspect of the study was that researchers found that muskies would feed on crayfish in lakes with a high population of rusty crayfish. Since the eastern portion of Lake Vermilion has a high population of rusty crayfish, it is likely that muskie there will also feed on crayfish, although probably not enough to decrease the rusty crayfish population.
It is important to understand that muskie and walleye have co-existed in many lakes across the northern United States and southern Canada for centuries. In fact many of the premier muskie lakes in the region are also excellent walleye lakes. This would not be possible if muskie decimated walleye populations as is sometimes suggested. The most important strategies for maintaining walleye populations are to protect habitat, preserve water quality and prevent over-harvest. If anyone has questions about muskie or other fish species in Lake Vermilion please feel free to call me at our Ely office.
Duane Williams,
Large Lake Specialist for Lake Vermilion Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources, Section of Fisheries
Hope that helps.
Nail A Pig!
Mike
Edited by MRoberts 1/29/2008 10:27 PM
Attachments
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 Muskies Eat Brochure.pdf (114KB - 650 downloads)
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| The thread I have read on other boards are not pointing as much to the Muskies eating their beloved walleyes, rather scaring them off their favorite reefs. Apparently they are seeing the muskies through their holes. |
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| "OOPS... he updated it this morning. This is from Wednesday's report.
The people fishing on the Tundra over the weekend reported numerous Muskies sighted in seven different houses. One house seen 4 Muskies all different ones. That pretty much cleared Walleye off that reef for the weekend. I am really beginning to not like that species presence in this lake. It was ok when we had a Tullibee population to help support them, but now there gone and it's starting to affect traditional fishing patterns in the winter. I've seen it coming the last ten years in the areas we put our houses. I've been putting houses on these reefs for almost forty years and I've seen it change. No matter what the DNR says, it has. Is all the hype for Muskies really worth it when it disrupts the primary fishery that this lake has been famous for? I don't think so. "
Eddy
i cut and pasted this from this site......in the fishing reports.....so yes there are people on this site blaming muskies |
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Posts: 476
Location: WI | Funny to see the tullibee poplulation is gone in Mille Lacs too... wonder how I got this 16" + to get on a hook?
And that's a Pounder next to it!
Edited by GOTONE 1/30/2008 11:07 AM
(Cisco and pounder_resize.JPG)
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Cisco and pounder_resize.JPG (281KB - 126 downloads)
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Guest,
Did you read my post in that thread? And the premise of the original post here was the muskies being blamed for EATING the walleyes, not scaring them off a reef.
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| the point that was being made was that there should be a better media outlet that reaches everyone to disprove the misconceptions of muskies and stop the blaming in all form, be it muskies moving the walleye off the reef or even eating them. that is all. you have to admit that the muskie if the first thing that gets blamed right off the bat when things arent going well as far as walleye fishing goes....this is an example of that or miltona is another can o worms.... but i digress |
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Location: Illinois | Guest - 1/30/2008 11:42 AM
the point that was being made was that there should be a better media outlet that reaches everyone to disprove the misconceptions of muskies and stop the blaming in all form,
You can't force people's opinions, even if you put up a fact-driven, research-backed
publication of any form.
People have a right to their beliefs, and you're wasting your breath trying to elimate "the blame game" completely.
Also, a walleye guy could "blame" the muskies all he wants, as long as he doesn't do anything illegal about it, i.e. slitting muskies throat.
Put yourself in their shoes, and think of how it must feel having a larger gamefish in your fishing waters. Wouldn't it sort of suck if something was swimming in Lake X that could swallow a 55" musky whole? Might you try to make yourself feel better by placing the blame away from yourself?
When you're on the water next time, be cordial to fisherman fishing for other species, and you might change someone's perspective if you are humble about it.
Humility works- learn this, and you will make way more difference than forcing your views down someones throat, screaming at them with a furled brow....
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, right?
Mike W |
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Posts: 2089
| Eating all the walleyes?? Preposterous! Muhahahahaha! Actually a buddy called to tell me of an article in the Sunday St. Paul Pioneer Press a couple weekends ago about the 55 X 27 that was kept there this Fall. Happens to be the same fish showing up in a lot of ads too. Well, from what he said, there was a 20" 5lb. smallmouth in the belly of that fish when it was cut open at the Taxidermist .Now they're eating smallmouth too!!! Good grief Charlie Brown , what's next, small children? Sunbathers? Steve |
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Posts: 8782
| There Is something out there that swims in lake X that can eat a 55" muskie. ME!
Seriously though, if there was some kind of fish in the lake that could eat a 55" musky, we wouldn't be complaining about it. We'd be out there trying to catch one! |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | What media source would you suggest? TV? Radio? No one in that media gives a hoot, the story is off the radar unless someone has an assignment to go find a local controversy in the fishing world. Simply not enough audience to use good air time that could be devoted to talking about some chick Rocker cutting off her hair.
We have published multiple documents that have been contributed by our registered users and the DNR's of different states, etc...but that doesn't matter because this is a Muskie Site. If the guy had complained on WalleyeFIRST, he would have been introduced to the same documents; that's happened before. Same with the soon-to-be-launched BassFIRST, we'll be as diligent as is possible to keep folks informed there, too. |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | I get sick of the arguement of the muskies are eating my walleyes and so on.....maybe we should just give in and change the name of MuskieFIRST to "My fish will eat your fish FIRST, deal with it"
Then we'll really become elitists....On second thought, that wouldnt do us much good, but it'd be mildly comical. |
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Posts: 1168
| Quite frankly, I'm pretty upset that those dang walleyes are eating all of my fatheads. |
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Posts: 476
Location: WI | "Simply not enough audience to use good air time that could be devoted to talking about some chick Rocker cutting off her hair."
I'm upset that Brittany Spears is considered a "Rocker"  :)
Edited by GOTONE 1/30/2008 1:29 PM
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Posts: 31
Location: Syracuse, New York | I always find these arguments against muskies funny. Adding muskies to a population will actually increase the walleye population. The muskies will predate on bait that forages on walleye eggs and musky fry serve as excellent forage for young walleyes that are produced earlier in the year. Up here in NY tiger muskies are added to lakes to increase the wallleye pop. It is actually more productive in many cases to add tigers than it is to stock additional walleye. |
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Posts: 335
Location: Pulaski, WI | I've seen similar posts about Shawano. |
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