Over the past few months, several battles around the state — from Otter Tail County to Washington County — have been thrashing like a boatside muskie over the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ policy for the larger cousins of the northern pike.
Muskie boosters — a big fish-loving bunch of anglers and guides — want more places to seek out the next epic battle with one of the continent’s largest fish, which can grow in excess of 60 pounds. Muskie opponents, led by some lake homeowners associations, want muskies kept out of the waters they live on and love.
This dispute has simmered for years, most commonly with a flashpoint heard on longtime muskie waters from Mille Lacs to Minnetonka, that muskies munch all the walleyes. It’s flared up again as the DNR has embarked on a plan to introduce muskies to eight additional lakes by 2020.
In the first wave, the agency wants to stock four new lakes with muskies in the fall: Big Marine Lake in Washington County, Gull Lake near Brainerd, the Fairmont Chain in Fairmont, and one of three lakes in Otter Tail County: Lizzie, Loon or Franklin.
Hundreds attended public meetings late last year, and the DNR has received some 1,800 comments for and against. Some lake homeowners associations have rallied their local elected leaders to pass resolutions or send letters to at least delay any decisions. The Otter Tail County Board and Scandia City Council (Big Marine Lake) are among groups urging the DNR to back off. State lawmakers have taken notice.
The DNR has decided to delay making any decisions for several months while it wades through those comments and tries to diplomatically diffuse opposition.
There are myths and realities both sides should acknowledge:
Myth: Muskies and walleyes are incompatible
A 2012 study by the DNR examined every Minnesota lake — there were 41 at the time — where muskies have been regularly stocked. It was a straightforward look at DNR research net catch rates, before the muskies were put in, and after.
Conclusion: Walleyes did just fine, and in a few cases better, after muskies were added. Most game fish were unaffected on most lakes; although in some types of lakes, bluegill or black crappie did better and suckers fared worse.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed North American Journal of Fisheries Management. This doesn’t mean there isn’t a lake out there where muskies could cause problems in the future, but as far as science goes, that’s about as good as it’s gonna get.
Reality: Muskie anglers and walleye anglers aren’t always compatible
Muskie fishermen buzz over to a spot, intensely flog the water with long casts and huge lures with the boat constantly moving to cover water in search of that one voracious strike, and then buzz off. Walleye fishermen park or slowly plod along a piece of structure, probing for the delicate take of a pinkie-size offering.
Walleye boats congregate within talking range of each other, happy with the company, if the bite is on. On many musky spots, two boats is a crowd.
I fish for both. I get it. If I’m going for muskies, about the only thing worse than a muskie boat already working my spot is a dozen walleye boats parked there. When I’m slow-working it for walleyes, about the only thing worse than a bad bite is a 20-foot boat with three muskie guys launching torpedoes and headed my way.
Myth: Muskies are an invasive species
The Pelican Lake Owners Property Association sued the DNR in the fall to halt muskie stocking that had been going on for 37 years in the Otter Tail County Lake. The group has this statement on its website: “It turns out that Muskie are not native to our area and for that reason, are considered AIS (Aquatic Invasive Species).”
Muskies are native to Minnesota. Native, naturally reproducing muskie populations exist today in eight rivers and 44 lakes, a little more than half of the state’s musky lakes.
It’s true that in many of the stocked waters, including Pelican, there are no modern records of muskies before stocking. But in those stocked waters, muskies are rarely reproducing at all, much less with some sort of population explosion the term “aquatic invasive species” suggests.
That’s kind of like walleye.
Reality: Both muskies and walleyes are often put-and-take
About 1,500 Minnesota lakes have strong enough walleye populations to be managed for walleye by the DNR. Of those, only a third are home to vibrant, naturally reproducing populations. The rest, about 1,050 lakes, rely almost entirely on stocked fish — including Pelican and Gull.
So the anti-muskie folks from those lakes need to be careful about playing the non-native card because the walleyes, which were native to the Pelican River watershed, wouldn’t be there today if it weren’t for millions of stocked hatchlings, or fry, on a regular schedule.
Neither side can claim the ecological-integrity high ground.
Reality: Muskies aren’t for every lake
While some of the Scandia City Council’s concerns over muskies to Big Marine Lake are fully in the myth category — such as concerns of muskies eating threatened Blanding’s turtles — Councilmember Chris Ness and others have challenged the DNR using the agency’s own science.
“The DNR seems to want to make this fish fit in a lake where it doesn’t fit,” Ness said. “There are too many northern pike and not enough forage, based on the DNR’s own data.”
He’s right. “We acknowledge those are two of the weaker aspects in evaluating that lake,” said Henry Drewes, northwest region fisheries manager for the DNR. But, Drewes emphasized, the risk of stocking muskies in a high-pike, low-forage lake isn’t muskies ravaging the other fish but muskies being unable to compete with the abundant pike.
Reality: Pike, not muskies, alter lakes
With a goal of growing trophy fish, Minnesota stocks surprisingly few muskies in a given lake. The goal of most Minnesota muskie stocking is less than one fish every two acres.
Northern pike, by comparison, are everywhere, as any angler with a shiny hook should realize. One big musky might eat a lot, but nowhere near as much as all those pike.
“Unequivocally, northern pike are a greater factor of impacting species in a lake,” Drewes said. “There are hundreds of times more biomass — hundreds of times more — of pike than muskies, even on our densest muskie lakes.”
Dave Orrick can be reached at 651-228-5512. Follow him at twitter.com/OutdoorsNow.
