Esox masquinongy

The Muskellunge or Muskie or Musky is the biggest of the Esox family. A Muskie can reach length’s up to 148cm’s. Like the Northern Pike it’s an agressive feeder. The fish are carry a light silver, brown, green with dark vertical stripes on the flank, which may tend to break up into spots. In some occations, markings may be absent altogether, especially in fish from murky waters. This is in contrast to northern pike, which have dark bodies with lighter markings. Hybrids in the Muskie family are known as Tiger Muskie, wich basically is a combination of Esox masquinongy & Esox lucius combined. The Tiger Muskie has some of the characteristics of both fish. Tiger Muskie, like Northern Pike and Muskie, have long torpedo shaped bodies. Kinda cylindrical. Just like all from the Esox family, it’s an ambush predator.

Muskie’s can be found in the Great Lakes area, from Minnesota all the way up Ontario Canada. Perhaps one of the main differences with Northern Pike is the fact that Muskie’s have a much stronger jaw and 7 or more small holes in their lower jaw. Most of their food consists of fish, but can also include crayfish, frogs, ducks and other species that live in freshwater. They have needle like teeth, and a wide mouth. They prefer big baits in spring and winter to feed, and small ones during spring time. Unlike Northern Pike, who like to spawn in the early stages of spring, Muskie’s spawn in mid to late spring. Adult Muskie’s are ferocious predators, and maybe that’s why they’re so beloved by anglers. But they’re not easy to catch. It’s not a secret they are called ”The fish of ten thousand casts”. They can drive any angler mad by following the lure close to the boat, to eventually show no iterest at all, and swim away. Probably the most well known and common trick to get them to feed on a lure, is to perform a so called ”Figure 8”. When performing a figure 8, just like the name already says, the angler sticks his rod into the water, to ”Write” an 8 or oval shaped pattern, and repeats this consistently untill the fish strikes. Sad thing is that they are not found on the continent of Europe. But Northern Pike is a great sportfish too!


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