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Posts: 46
Location: Plymouth, MN | Is there any information available on the estimated number of muskies per acre on mn metro lakes? The DNR provides this info on a few of their lake info reports but I am looking for a more complete list. |
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Posts: 82
| I'd contact the area fisheries supervisor for the area your looking at. They are usually more then happy to help. |
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Posts: 63
Location: Minnesota | The majority of metro lakes here in Minnesota average about one muskie for every four acres in order to provide a trophy fishery. This is of course for pure muskies only, Tiger muskies are managed at a much denser rate. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | In order to create a good estimate, you have to net the lake a couple of times (sample an area like here in WI they use fyke nets in the spring) only then can you compare the recaptures to get an estimate. That may have not been done on all the metro lakes to have a complete list. Without the hard data, its just a guess which may or may not be correct..
Edited by muskie! nut 5/26/2013 3:05 PM
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Posts: 82
| They have that info for the stocked lakes in Mn, this is how they know if their stocking plan needs to be adjusted or not. They do it every three years on French in S. Mn and as few as every five. So the best one to get that info from would be the fishery manager in the area you are wanting to know about. |
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Posts: 46
Location: Plymouth, MN | Thanks I will contact the DNR on tues. Will post the info if I get a full list in case anyone else is curious. |
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Posts: 833
| The MN DNR does population estimates on the stocked lakes. I think in 2012, just as an example they did an estimate on Sugar Lake in Wright County, which came in at ~250 adult fish in a ~1000 acre system or 0.25 fish per acre.
Keep in mind that this is basically statistical inference based on the sample of fish they take in their spring netting. The true number could vary widely. Another thing to consider is that fish per acre is relative to the lake you are fishing. A massive lake like Mille Lacs is going to have lower fish per acre due to it's size and amount of wide open basin. |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I'm thinking that the Muskies per acre is usually lower on the areas I fish. It seems as if the fish are always on the other side of the lake or some other lake. At least it seems that way most of the time....  |
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Posts: 203
Location: Alexandria, Minnesota | I know the estimate on Lake Miltona last year came in at 1 fish per 9 acres of water.
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Posts: 46
Location: Plymouth, MN | RobChance - 5/26/2013 12:02 PM
The majority of metro lakes here in Minnesota average about one muskie for every four acres in order to provide a trophy fishery. This is of course for pure muskies only, Tiger muskies are managed at a much denser rate.
This is what my local DNR office told me. They don't have a complete list, just the few lakes they have tried to take an inventory of. He said it isn't cost effective to do this on every muskie lake and their netting techniques don't provide an accurate estimation of the population. |
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Posts: 785
| Maybe not what your looking for but on the MN DNR website all the stocking data is available of every lake managed for muskies. In the "status of fishery" report they will often comment on whether or not they believe natural reproduction is also taking place. You could look up the body of water in question and see how many muskies are stocked and how often. This won't give you an exact # of fish per acre and doesn't account for fish mortality and angler harvest, BUT it will allow you to get a picture for what the intended fish per acre will be. I've found it to be a great tool. |
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Posts: 46
Location: Plymouth, MN | The stocking info is definitely helpful but doesn't tell you how successful it was. I was thinking that in a certain lake maybe stocking is not successful and only yielding a few muskies that survive to adults, but in a lake with different characteristics stocking is very successful and yielding many more adults.
Re: Natural production: The guy at the DNR I spoke with said there is no evidence of natural reproduction on any west metro lakes other than the rearing pond which I believe is Lake Rebecca. |
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Approximate # of muskies per acre