Science & Outdoors
Musky fishing made possible through research
The Pointer
jtowl695@uwsp.edu
It is officially autumn and for most outdoorsmen and women, the changing of the seasons calls for a change in sport. For avid fishermen however, October simply means another two or three months of muskellunge fishing.
Muskellunge are trophy fish and usually, so are the accompanying tales. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the musky “is so highly valued that the state legislature proclaimed it the official state fish in 1955.” In the state of Wisconsin, U.S. Hwy 10 divides the inland waters of the northern and southern fishing zones, excluding the Wisconsin-Michigan boundary waters.
While muskellunge season is underway throughout the entire state, the season ends on Nov. 30 in the northern zone and Dec. 31 marks the last day of the season for the southern zone. For each zone, the daily limit is one musky at a minimum length of 34 inches; however, various locations on the Wisconsin River enforce different restrictions and it is important to consult the Guide to Wisconsin Hook and Line Fishing Regulations which can be found on the DNR Web site.
Population management of the state fish requires the DNR to take action in order to protect the spawning habitat. A recent two-year study that was conducted on 24 lakes in northern Wisconsin gives way to a new technological advancement that revolutionizes the way in which fisheries biologists identify musky spawn locations.
A computer model was created through the research of the University of Michigan, Musky Clubs Alliance of Wisconsin and the DNR that minimizes the labor and expenses involved in the task of identifying fish spawning.
Researchers were able to pinpoint the location of mating muskies using handheld spotlights and proceeded to record the position and ecology of the site using digital mapping software. After returning to the location the following day, they were able to verify, through the presence of eggs, that spawning had in fact occurred.
Until this Geographic Information System model, there had been no accurate way to calculate the location of spawning muskellunge. As a result, the stocking of fish will become a matter of calculations rather than estimations.
The DNR recently helped the 12 Apostles Musky Club, Inc. of Stevens Point stock 700 muskies in the Wisconsin River. A majority of the funding for the project was made possible through donations and club fundraisers.
Future donations to the 12 Apostles Musky Club, Inc. will allow for further stocking in the area.
The fish were injected with a blue dye in an attempt to track population and were released in the Stevens Point flowage. It is expected that the muskellunge will travel downstream into at least three different flowages along the Wisconsin River.
The blue dye is intended to aid in the tracking of musky recruitment in the future. In any given year, fish recruitment refers to the young-of-year fish that enter a population. In this case, the young-of-year fish are marked with the blue dye. It is the hope of the DNR that the absence of blue dye will indicate a healthy spawning population.
In the meantime, muskellunge fishermen can rest-assured, knowing that as others are using GIS programs and blue dye to ensure a healthy and spawning population of fish, all they have to do is spend the estimated 50 hours waiting to reel in that trophy.
