I was just putting some info together for Fish Fest and thought I would share this with everyone. It's good ammo for you when talking to the bass, walleye and panfish anglers.
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"jasonrc" said:
What are the other 25%?
LOL – I just realized that it doesn't make much sense to just list the top two and the bass/walleye. Though that's the point I was really trying to get across.
This is a little more detailed and actually adds up to 100%
Suckers 46.6%
Perch 16.9%
Crappie 7%
Esox 4.7%
Minnows 4.6%
Bluegill/Sunfish 4.5%
Walleye 3.4%
Bass 3.1%
Bullhead 2.4%
Other fish or mammal 6.8%
"jasonrc" said:
Thanks for the additional info. So even in cisco lakes, muskie are not eating manny cisoes?
Many of the lakes in this study have high cisco populations but cisco made up a very low percentage of their stomach contents (.9%). One important factor to consider is that the fish in this study were captured in the litoral zone (basically 0-16' of water). It's interesting to note that during summer the % of cisco and perch in their diet dropped dramatically. During all seasons the % of suckers remained constant.
This specific study can only be used for those lakes sampled and may well be totally different in another state. In my area we have dominant soft rayed forage as gobies and alewife for the smaller muskie and abundance of gizzard shad, sheepshead, and carp for the adult muskie. Yes we also have suckers, but I would bet our percentage would be far different than the 46.6% of a Wisconsin inland lake.
I just tell the walleye fisherman that the very small percentage of walleye eaten by a muskie are the cripples and they remind the muskie that walleye have spines. The musky is an opportunist and will feed on the most abundant and largest soft rayed fish when given the choice. My local walleye charter guides, sportfishing club members, and salmon charter captians are telling me to hurry up and get them the GLS muskies planted locally so they can double their busines when the weather is bad or their other fishing is off-bite.
Yes, this would be specific to inland lakes and not water connected to the great lakes. Where present gizzard shad becomes primary, suckers and perch become secondary. The same could be said for the alewife though it's a more seasonal forage. In St Clair, muskies will key on one forage type quite often. This key forage might be shad, perch, sheepshead or suckers.
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