|
|
| Hey folks, I need a little help here.
The Wisconsin Conservation Congress meetings are only a few hours away and there will be some size limit questions brought up. What I am looking for is some documentation on what a muskies diet is made up of. I have seen articles on this before but cannot find them now when I need them.
Please post any links that may be usefull. I would like to have an intelligent answer when the "muskies are eating all my gamefish" comment comes out.
Thanks,
Fred J |
|
| |
|
| There was an article in MHM a few years ago that had a table in it with a study of just this kind. I'm pretty sure it was conducted by the WI DNR, so they should have knowledge of it. It was pretty impressive how low the percentage of game fish was in their overall diet. Unfortunately, I can't point you to which issue of MHM it was in. Mabybe someone else can be of help. |
|
| |
|
| Fred,
I posted on another message board last summer about that study I referred to. I just pulled up that post, and here's the information from the study that I relayed at the time......
It's from a study conducted from 1991-1994, in 34 different bodies of water in Wisconsin. 1,092 muskies were examined, of which 375 stomachs had something in them, containing 582 food items. Here's a portion of the chart that contains the most common items.
PREY/Total # Found/# of Stomachs Containing Item/% Frequency/% of Diet (lbs.)
Suckers/49/45/12%/46.6%
Minnows/40/35/9.3%/4.6%
Yellow Perch/175/123/32.8%/16.9%
Panfish/41/34/9.1%/4.5%
Crappies/33/29/7.7%/7.0%
Bass/17/17/4.5%/3.1%
Walleye/5/5/1.3%/3.4%
Pike/Musky/8/8/2.1%/4.7%
Bullhead/5/5/1.3%/2.4%
Unidentified/100/84/22.4%/3.0%
There are also a variety of other items that were found from carp to crayfish to frogs to mice. But the above encompasses everything that was over 1% of their total diet. Do you think the anti-muskie groups realize that walleyes, or whatever they might be trying to protect, are such a small part of the muskie's diet? Only 5 walleyes were found out of 582 total food items. Now who does more damage to the walleye population, the muskies that swim in these waters or the fishermen that are targeting these walleyes? I personally don't feel that with continued studies like this, that the anti-muskie people have a leg to stand on with their arguments.
Sorry if the data is hard to read. I couldn't figure out how to put it in a more readable format.
Hope this helps some. If I find the article, I will let you know which issue it was in.
AWH
|
|
| |
|
| Great topic! for the research board![:bigsmile:] |
|
| |
|
| Basically it seems as though those results tell us that a Muskie will eat just about anything that dares venture into the water, and that they can just barely shove in their mouths!!! So what does this teach us? Back to my usual hair-brained thinking: natural/match the hatch colors for clearer waters....and bright/wild colors for darker water. AND...don't let your small children swim in true trophy waters.
Slamr |
|
| |
