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| My dad caught a 54 1/2 inch muskie a few years ago. He noted to me recently that is was a male.
Is there a substantial difference in record sizes for male muskies vs females? I thought a 54 1/2 muskie was #*^@ good, but from what I have read lately a male that size is rare. |
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Posts: 540
Location: MN | How do you know it was a male? Did you kill it? Dose your dad drink heavily? |
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Posts: 1036
| I believe a male that size is quite rare. And probably not able to reproduce anymore. Congrats to your dad on a HUGE fish. |
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| Interesting question. How do you tell whether a ski is male or female? |
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Posts: 373
Location: Maine Township, MN | I've seen pics online that refer to the anus to determine sex. The female will have an hourglass shape outline. |
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| Without citing references I swear I remember reading males' growth potential was only 48-49". I suspect your dad's fish was a female. |
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Posts: 1291
Location: Hayward, Wisconsin | While males that size are rare, they do exist. Largest I know of is 57 inches (kept), but most rarely exceed 48 inches.
As for how to determine sex for released fish, as noted above, the females have an hour glass shaped or pear shaped anal port (large part of the pear is toward the head) and the males have a keyhole (the old skeleton key style) shaped anal pore and the narrow end is toward the tail. On small muskies, this can be off, but is very accurate on muskies over two feet. |
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Posts: 574
Location: Elk Grove Village, IL & Phillips, WI | Picture here: http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=35...
Edited by KenK 8/20/2013 11:37 AM
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Posts: 360
Location: Algonac, MI | We always checked the vent, to sex the fish. Females have a Figure 8 vent (two round), and males have a skeleton key hole vent (hole with a slot).
^^as the picture in post above shows^^ (shoulda read further before replying. LOL)
54.5" male is very rare. Thinking about that...heck a 54.5" muskie is pretty rare, let alone being a male.
I don't have exact data anymore, but we used to track our personal catches on LSC. Looking at boated muskies, 48" and up, something like 95% were females. Very rarely, did we land a male over 48", and even more rare were males 50+.
Edited by Contender 8/20/2013 2:20 PM
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Male muskie vs female