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| hey ive heard of muskies eating ducks/gulls/loons and also eating things like muskrats and chipmunks... i am just wondering if anybody has seen these things happen. there are topwaters that are "baby loon" and "baby mallard" colored and others that imitate mice and chipmunks. |
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Posts: 144
Location: Loves Park, IL | Yes, While fishing with my brother-in-law and Louie St Germain on Fence Lake (late '70s) we watched a musky eat a duck in about 2 feet of water. Louie called it as he pointed out the fish moving slowly towards the 5 ducks moving alond shore. Sun at our backs, we saw the fish explode on one of the ducks and only 4 were left. About 5 minutes later the fish rolled on the surface about a cast behind us. It was an awesome sight.
Jeff |
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Posts: 574
Location: Elk Grove Village, IL & Phillips, WI | I've also seen baby ducks get clobbered. Mama duck gets really upset!
On the flipside, I once watched a bat that must have hit the water chasing mosquitos and managed to swim accross a large bay to shore without getting blasted. It looked just like a creeper slowly moving accross the surface. After seeing that, I figured staying out and throwing my topwaters was futile. |
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Posts: 574
Location: Elk Grove Village, IL & Phillips, WI | Here is a cool video of a pike after a baby duck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_E4BUt1z8Y |
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Location: Minneapolis | I have seen tiger muskies follow muskrats but not eat. Legend has it the Iowa state record muskie had 2 seagulls in its stomach when it was caught. |
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Posts: 470
Location: Blaine, MN | Witnessed a big fish on Vermilion go after a gull by potato island... fish missed, but I think all 3 of us in the boat set a bait change speed record changing to white baits. It didn't work. |
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Posts: 1270
| I was on a lake in Canada catching northerns in the 35-40" range in one spot every 4 or 5 casts when I saw a red squirell swim from an island to another island about 75yds away. I stopped fishing fully expecting the little guy to get hammered but he didn't. I then proceeded to catch 3 northerns in that 75yd stretch - go figure! |
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Posts: 59
Location: Aurora IL | Saw a baby seagull get attacked an held for about 10 seconds.The gull got away. |
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Posts: 149
| I've seen a musky take a seagull before, that was an awesome sight. I've also on a few occasions had muskies stalk and hit / come clear out of the water after small panfish that had swallowed the hook that we threw back that were struggling on the surface near the boat.
On the flip side I've also seen a Bald Eagle catch a musky that I'd estimate to have been between 36" - 40" in length. The Eagle couldn't lift the fish from the water but instead of letting go it swam to shore by using it's wings as 'oars' to paddle through the water and held on to the thrashing fish with its talons.
Edited by esoxcpr 2/10/2012 1:07 PM
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Posts: 321
| Saw an Eagle take a really nice muskie for lunch. H |
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Posts: 280
Location: McFarland | Watched this guy take a swipe at a full grown mallard. Magruter threw a pacemaker at it and WHAM!!!
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Posts: 2011
| Yep - On LOTW i witnessed a muskie hammer a full grown merganser. It hit the bird so hard it broke a wing... it was a tough ole bird and struggled free...it frantically flapped its one good wing and "ran" across the water to shore...with the muskie pushing water like crazy right on its tail.... Hmmm maybe I should through a topwater. Cranked the trolling motor up (by now the fish and bird are 50 yards+ from me) and the chase was on..quick switch baits, second cast with a topraider and the fight was on. Turned out to be a 46.5" fish with an abnormally large head. This fish had a fetish for feathers. |
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| Never seen a bird taken down but have had several fish poop out coot feathers during the photo shoot and release. |
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| When we bought our cottage in Oneida county, I spent most of the first year or so fixing it up, not fishing. One night after a long day of carpentry and wiring, I went down to the dock after dark with a beer and a good cigar. As I was sitting on the end of the dock relaxing, I heard something close to shore. I looked and a muskrat was swimming close to shore and went under the dock. I walked back toward shore, hoping to see if he had a home in the shoreline. As I got to the end of the dock, I saw an upper 30's muskie coming towards shore. When he got on the exact line the muskrat had taken, he turned and followed the track the rat had taken. He soon swam out of the circle of light but I never heard any big splashes so I assume he didn't get the muskrat. What really got my attention was that he was in such shallow water, half his tail and a chunk of his back were out of water. |
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Posts: 956
Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | There's the name of the next new surface bait, "The Merganser"
Edited by KARLOUTDOORS 2/10/2012 9:14 PM
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Posts: 360
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_E4BUt1z8Y |
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Posts: 40
Location: B;acksburg Virginia | my cousin caught a 54 incher that had eaten a full grown muskrat |
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| My buddy found a dead 50+ last year floating with a muskrat in its mouth. |
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Posts: 137
| Fishing in the evening one night two grebes swam near the boat and passed us. A little while later, we heard a large splash in the direction that they had gone near the shore. We saw the huge second splash and then a small disturbance in the water afterward. We drove over to the area and what it turned out to be was one of the two birds that was badly injured and feebly struggling in the water. We assumed the first bird was eaten first as it was no where to be seen and that the second bird had been hit but released. It's neck looked like it had broken and it struggled for a minute and quickly drowned. It was fascinating to see, but one of my boat partners felt pretty bad for the birds. He still cast around trying to catch the fish though.
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Location: SE Wisconsin | WOW!! |
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Posts: 5874
| esoxcpr - 2/10/2012 1:04 PM
On the flip side I've also seen a Bald Eagle catch a musky that I'd estimate to have been between 36" - 40" in length. The Eagle couldn't lift the fish from the water but instead of letting go it swam to shore by using it's wings as 'oars' to paddle through the water and held on to the thrashing fish with its talons.
I saw that on Manitowish in the late 80's one afternoon. I thought it was a big pike though, not a muskie. When I went to investigate after the eagle flew away with something in it's talons, I saw it had cut the fish in two, and came back later for the other part. Were you there, too? I stayed at Deer Park Lodge for the week.
I fished the Chip with the late Wayne Gooch around 1999. We had raised a very big fish just east of the bridge by Hermann's Landing. We returned the next morning to find duck feathers scattered throughout the area. Wayne just frowned, and took off towards another spot on the other side of the lake. Never said a word. |
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| Last night fishing in the pittsburgh area I saw a monster jumping freakishly out of the water I hadn't even casted yet he was in shallower water near a creek that meets the river I shined the light on him thinking it was a large gar or carp than realized it was a muskie. I hadn't seen one in a while it excited me and I realized that it was trying to catch the bats that were catching maquitos over the water never seen anything like it woulf have videoed for proof but it was very dark.
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | I was out last July right before sunrise to see two wood ducks come and land by some emergent reeds I was casting at. They were about 50 yards from my boat and a little hard to see. I was throwing a top raider in coot color. I heard and explosion on the water and as I looked I saw the boil of water and the duck go under. The other one was able to escape without harm... But I know it had to have been a musky. I just wish she would have chose my Raider instead of the wood duck. |
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Posts: 1144
Location: Minnesota. | Wow, some impressive replies. It's what gives this fish more thrilling appeal. Love this crap....
Not a taker but 3 yrs ago I was on a Twin Cities lake with my son in Sept. and we noticed a swimming squirrel in the middle of a smallish bay.
I said we'd have to stop and watch that bugger b/c I just KNEW he would disappear in a big swirl any moment. Never happened. He made it to shore, which was a real surprise as this is a good muskie/big pike lake.
Jeremy.
Edited by Jeremy 5/2/2012 1:59 PM
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Posts: 19
| I watched the baby duck get eaten then i watched a few more videos and somehow ended up watching Spring break Cancun videos. oops. |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI | clm - 5/4/2012 12:01 PM
I watched the baby duck get eaten then i watched a few more videos and somehow ended up watching Spring break Cancun videos. oops.
That's what happens when you do YouTube searches using the keywords "eating fur"....  |
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Posts: 313
Location: Bemidji, Lake Vermilion | My brother watched a full grown loon disappear one day on Vermilion. And by disappear I mean it got ate. |
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Posts: 380
Location: Michigan | Last summer I caught a 56 out east, and as it was fighting near the boat just before going in the net, it "coughed up" a bunch of full size seagull feathers... Crazy |
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