Northern zone musky season opens May 25
Anglers will find ice off, spawn likely done, fish ready to bite
MINOCQUA, Wis. -- The northern zone musky season opens May 25 and, despite a late start, the fish are likely to be done spawning in most waters and ready to feed, state fisheries experts say.
“I think the musky will be largely done spawning by the weekend,” says Steve Avelallemant, longtime Department of Natural Resources fisheries supervisor for northern Wisconsin. “It took a while in coming but we went pretty much from winter to summer. The water temps bounced up nicely and it was an accelerated spawn.”
Avelallemant expects the musky action to be good for anglers because the fish, post-spawn, will be looking to feed and because the water temperature has warmed up and the fish are getting more active.
A 40-inch size limit is in effect statewide and applies to 94 percent of musky waters in Wisconsin. There are 41 waters that continue to have either lower size limits or higher size limits. Waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan north of Highway 10 carry a 50-inch minimum size limit. The bag limit is 1.
Check the Guide to Wisconsin Hook and Line Fishing Regulations for specific waters or check DNR's online regulation database to find size limits on the inland lake you plan to fish for musky.
Find where to fish for trophy musky or fast action waters, along with information on musky management in Wisconsin, by searching the DNR website for for “musky.”
Musky forecasts in Wisconsin
Musky fishing forecasts in Wisconsin [PDF].
Musky Fast Facts
- Wisconsin lawmakers named the muskellunge the official state fish in 1955.
- More world records have been landed in Wisconsin than anywhere else. The state and world record is a 69 pound, 11 ounce fish taken from the Chippewa Flowage. Also credited to Wisconsin is the world record hybrid musky, 51 pounds, 3 ounces from Lac Vieux Desert.
- Fishable populations of musky are found in 667 lakes and 100 rivers in 48 counties. The heaviest concentration of lakes with musky is found in the head water regions of the Chippewa, Flambeau, and Wisconsin rivers.
- Musky densities are very low, even in the best waters, because muskies are large top predators that tend to choose vulnerable spawning sites. Good musky waters average one adult fish for 3 surface acres, compared to up to 20 adults per 3 surface acres in good walleye lakes.
- Musky fishing continues to grow in popularity. The number of participants has more than quadrupled over the last 50 years. An estimated 456,000 anglers pursued muskellunge in Wisconsin in 2001, the latest year for which survey results are available.
- Catch-and-release, protective regulations and DNR’s stocking program have helped turn the famed fighter from the “fish of 10,000 casts” into the fish of “3,000 casts” in Wisconsin. It used to take two guys in a boat 25 hours to catch a fish. Now it is closer to 12 hours and 3,000 casts each.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Avelallemant 715-365-8987 or local fish biologists