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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | why do muskies swin on the surface? i seen it alot and so has many others, what are they doing? anyone know for sure. they just swin along with there head sticking out of the water...? i have heard some theoys, what is yours? |
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Posts: 163
Location: lake st clair michigan | i had a upclose view this past year of a muskie with her head straight up out of the water and a big ole shad hanging out of her mouth.....looked like she was trying to swallow it .... it was a very cool sight
Edited by muskie-nick 1/17/2009 6:13 AM
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | I think the warmer water in the top of the water column speeds digestion. That's my theory and I'm sticking with it. LOL |
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Posts: 10
| They generally aren't active, that's for sure. I usually didn't get too excited when I'd see these fish because they are so inactive, but actually caught one this past summer, which changed my thinking a bit. No, it wasn't snagged, I cast LOWRider past here and ran it in front of her. To my surprise, she took off for the bait and grabbed it. |
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| I think they are either raising thier core temp to pursue food, or they are heating up to digest a meal. I know it has something to do w/ temperature......... |
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Posts: 743
| I think it has something to do with their air bladder. Release or equalize pressure. |
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | My guess is air bladder and speed up metabolism. Both seem logical.
I have seen them come up and gulp air and go back down with a bubble trail.
I have seen them on top of the water swallowing food when most of them are holding 15 to 20 foot down due to high water temps. |
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | KSauers - 1/18/2009 1:03 PM
I think it has something to do with their air bladder. Release or equalize pressure.
I agree. |
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Posts: 717
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | There's a pic of a Tiger doing it in the November 2008 MI Magazine. States in there that it's believed they do that to clean out parasites. |
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | i asked bob mehsikomer at the mil show last year and he said they only do it in lakes that have been stocked. now if that is true then the above dont make any since. anyone see it on a lake where they are not stocked? |
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Posts: 32910
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Nothing to do with whether fish are stocked or not. |
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| I think they do it just to piss you off. Like others I have seen it a lot, especially on those days when nothing seems to be going and you just tell yourself that you must be fishing the wrong area, and then up one swims and shows itself; and its just enough to keep you from bailing on the spot. But in all seriousness it does seem like the are usually always in a negative mood and just going about their own business. The only success I have had on getting any of those fish to go is with topwaters and big rubber. |
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| i thinkits a feed time. we have huge may fly hatches on st clair. theres millions of forage fish eating the bugs. then the big girls frequent the forage food.. thats when planer boards are priceless. |
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Posts: 1169
Location: New Hope MN | jay lip ripper - 1/18/2009 10:02 PM
i asked bob mehsikomer at the mil show last year and he said they only do it in lakes that have been stocked. now if that is true then the above dont make any since. anyone see it on a lake where they are not stocked?
Don't listen to Mehsikonmer... He's the guy that claims he can smell muskies on the weeds. |
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Posts: 171
| Any of you fish biologists out there? Can you explain whether or not the digestive system (mouth included) is connected in any way to the air bladder? I haven't done any CSI on them, but I thought the mouth was connected only to the stomach (digestive) system. Can you explain how they get air into & out of the bladder?
Thanks for any informed info.
ErieBoy75 |
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| dtaijo174 - 1/19/2009 5:07 PM
jay lip ripper - 1/18/2009 10:02 PM
i asked bob mehsikomer at the mil show last year and he said they only do it in lakes that have been stocked. now if that is true then the above dont make any since. anyone see it on a lake where they are not stocked?
Don't listen to Mehsikonmer... He's the guy that claims he can smell muskies on the weeds.
i am also able to do that,not you?latter maybe............. |
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Posts: 717
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | They can take in air through the mouth, unlike most fish which can only get it through the bloodstream. I've never heard it myself, but know some guys that have heard the fish "burp" after following up a bait from deeper water. |
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Posts: 86
Location: Wauwatosa, Wisconsin | I pretty much agree with everyone else on this but im just throwing this out there. I know up north in the hayward area a lot muskies chase baby loons around june. Maybe just maybe the muskies up their stick their head out the water to look for baby loons on the backs of the mother loons. If a musky were to hit the mother and knock of the baby loon it would be a pretty easy meal. Just throwing my two cents into this. |
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | good theroy ben but we dont have loons in madison,WI. |
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Posts: 86
Location: Wauwatosa, Wisconsin | Really??? we get loons in the beginning of the year on pewaukee lake...or at least i think lol i could be wrong |
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Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Loons are on Pewaukee from ice out till May as they work thier way North. |
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| jay lip ripper - 1/19/2009 6:16 PM
good theroy ben but we dont have loons in madison,WI.
hell yeah we do they show up every year Octoberish and ravage the baitfish on Waubesa and Monona. Saw more this year than previous. Many were near the John Nolan bridge this year.
See them every year in fall, not sure about spring though.
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Location: Wauwatosa, Wisconsin | thanks for the help mike....hows the off season going so far? |
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | Jason Bomber - 1/19/2009 6:46 PM
jay lip ripper - 1/19/2009 6:16 PM
good theroy ben but we dont have loons in madison,WI.
hell yeah we do they show up every year Octoberish and ravage the baitfish on Waubesa and Monona. Saw more this year than previous. Many were near the John Nolan bridge this year.
See them every year in fall, not sure about spring though.
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Ever see a human swimming under water? A long way? Same thing, maybe. |
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Posts: 136
Location: Chicago | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO7u77qio0I
Head up muskie |
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Location: Smith Creek | Ever had hiccups and drink a glass of water? Listen close the next time you see a muskie gulping air... HICC!!! |
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| that video was wild, i have never seen that.. i have seen them on top with there fins and tail sticking out of the water... but they say they usually dont hit when they do that. but my biggest musky to date, 50.5, i saw on the surface not 20 feet from my boat, and she bit!!!
crazy behavior none the less
Dave |
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | Dave - 1/20/2009 8:52 AM
that video was wild, i have never seen that.. i have seen them on top with there fins and tail sticking out of the water... but they say they usually dont hit when they do that. but my biggest musky to date, 50.5, i saw on the surface not 20 feet from my boat, and she bit!!!
crazy behavior none the less
Dave
was it on a top water bait? |
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Location: Grand Rapids, MI | I have heard on a number of occasions that these fish will take a bucktail BURNED. |
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| This topic has really bothered me for quite some time, namely because of some of the goofy theories that have arisen surrounding the subject (including but not limited to the stocked-lake only theory...). I did some digging...
The swim bladder is homologous (same evolutionary origin, different function) to the lungs of terrestrial animals (and a handful of fish). The swim bladder contains gases that can come and go. I should add that there are two types of swim bladders: open and closed. Closed is just as it sounds - isolated from the outside of the body. Open, however, means there is a passage-way that connects the bladder with the external environment. This passage-way is known as the pneumatic duct. Shallow-dwelling fish (not to be confused with deep, bottom-dwelling species such groupers) can acquire atmospheric gases through this duct that help regulate their buoyancy.
Can't take much credit for piecing that together. This link should help explain what I'm talking about: http://www.bio.davidson.edu/Courses/anphys/2000/Martin/types.html |
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why do they?