Northern zone musky season opens May 28
Weekly News Article Published: May 24, 2011 by the Central Office
HAYWARD -- Musky anglers in search of larger fish stand a better chance than their parents
did of catching their hearts' desire when the northern musky zone season opens May 28.
Preliminary results from fisheries studies are showing that a decade after an overhaul of
Wisconsin's musky stocking strategy, the changes are boosting fish size.
"We'll need more surveysand time to fully look at the data but I think it is safe to say that
on the subset of lakes where we actually stopped stocking muskies, we have seen a
reduction in their abundance but a big improvement in their size," says Steve Avelallemant,
the Department of Natural Resources northern fisheries supervisor for the last 25 years.
Signs of Things To Come
Northern Zone Musky Season Opens May 28!
Greg Johnson with a Sawyer County musky.
The average proportion of 42-inch and larger fish in these populations more than doubled, increasing from about 7 percent to about 17 percent five or more years after stocking ended.
Thirty years ago, the rule of thumb was to stock lakes at twice the annual harvest rate. Because there wasn't good information on the harvest, fisheries staff assumed the harvest rate to be one fish per acre, according to Tim Simonson, the DNR's longtime warm-water species specialist, and co-chair with Avelallemant of DNR's musky committee.
So most lakes were getting stocked at two fish per acre, regardless of whether the lake had naturally reproducing muskies.
By the late 1990s, the musky world was changing. Higher minimum length limits were in place and catch and release had taken hold, Simonson says.
It was clear that the stocking formula overestimated the harvest. In the early 1980s, the projected harvest from 356 Class A, or "trophy waters," was 38,318 fish statewide. By 1990, that total had dropped to an estimated 8,541 fish, and by 2001, only 1,987 muskies were kept by anglers.
So starting in 2001, DNR changed its stocking strategy, a move described in the Natural Resources Magazine article, Long Live the Kings.
Each of the 220 stocked musky waters in the state at that time was assigned to a specific stocking practice for 10 years based on its reproductive status. Stocking rates ranged from zero, where stocking was stopped because natural reproduction existed, to a rate of .5, 1 and 2 fish per acre in waters where the fishery depended on stocking.
Since the change, preliminary data on 75 percent of the lakes where stocking was stopped shows that 95 percent show some evidence of natural reproduction and that the proportion of larger fish is increasing, Simonson says.
In order to confirm these initial results, DNR will be conducting more detailed surveys on several of these populations over the next two to three years, Simonson says.
The better size structure is likely due to several factors including maturation of more abundant year classes of muskies when stocking was greater as well as increased voluntary catch-and-release and the effects of higher minimum length limits where those are in force.
"The future of our musky fisheries as far as larger fish goes looks pretty good," Avelallemant says.
For those anglers who still favor strikes over size, there are plenty of waters to keep them happy as well: 250 of the total 794 lakes or river segments across Wisconsin with musky are so-called "action" waters.
Northern zone musky season details
The musky season opens May 28 in Wisconsin north of U.S. Highway 10, excluding Wisconsin/Michigan boundary waters, and runs through Nov. 30, 2011. The daily bag limit is one and the minimum length limit is 34 inches in most cases, but some lakes have special regulations. Please see the “Guide to Wisconsin Hook and Line Fishing Regulations 2011-12."
Wisconsin-Michigan boundary waters opened for musky fishing on May 15. The southern zone musky season opened with the regular game fish opener on May 7 and runs through Dec. 31, 2011.
Lake Michigan waters north of Waldo Boulevard in Manitowoc open for musky fishing May 28. Included in this season are the Bay of Green Bay, the Fox River upstream to the DePere dam, Sturgeon Bay and other bays to Lake Michigan and Green Bay. The daily limit is one, the minimum length limit is 50 inches, and the season closes Nov. 30.
The Lake Michigan season for musky south of Waldo Boulevard in Manitowoc is already open. It runs May 7 through Dec. 31, 2011, and the daily limit is one. There is a minimum length limit of 34 inches.
More information is available on the Wisconsin musky page of the DNR website.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Avelallemant (715) 365-8987; Tim Simonson (608) 266-5222
Musky Fast Facts
- Nearly 90 percent of muskellunge waters occur in northern Wisconsin. Muskellunge occur in 711 lakes (615,241 acres) and 83 river segments (1,682 miles).
- Muskellunge are managed as a trophy fish in Wisconsin. This means restricting the harvest through relatively high length limits and low daily bag limits to promote the occurrence of large fish in the population.
- Musky fishing packs an economic wallop: $425 million spent directly on muskellunge fishing in Wisconsin. This does not include indirect economic impacts, such as wages and tax revenue.
- On average, musky are about 11 inches long after their first year of life, reach 34 inches in year 7, 40 inches during the ninth year, and 50 inches by age 17. Overall, the “ultimate length” attainable by muskellunge in Wisconsin is about 56 inches, although it may be longer or shorter depending on the water.
- More recent surveys for muskellunge suggest that total catch has remained relatively constant, from 296,300 in 2000 to 223,100 in 2006, but that harvest has dropped significantly even in the last decade, from 37,000 in 2000 to 12,500 in 2006. Class A waters, trophy waters, have seen harvest drop from 8,541 in 1990 to 102 in 2009, based on creel surveys.
- An estimated 1 of 3 anglers in northern Wisconsin fishes for musky; statewide, 1 in 4 anglers statewide fish for musky in Wisconsin.
- Muskellunge Management Update (pdf)
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