This is out of the Knapp study. The ONE MN study that the DNR is basing their whole trophy muskie programs over. http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheriThis is out of the Knapp study.
Located on page 199 at the DISCUSSION AND MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS section. “Though muskellunge stocking does not appear to have a
pervasive effect on fish communities, there were 16 significant increases and 9 significant declines in mean CPUE for some species in the individual study lakes. Even so, these changes do not imply a benefit or harm to the fishery. Data were insufficient to determine whether muskellunge stocking caused these apparent abundance changes, or if the observed changes are spuriously correlated with the introduction of muskellunge.
Many factors besides muskellunge have influenced fish communities and abundances in these lakes. Changes I fishing pressure, angler knowledge, and fishing technology, along with changes to the lake environment, including habitat,productivity, and climate, have all played a role in shaping the fish communities that exist today” Since you agree they know what’s best for the fishery, shouldn’t we listen and get more data before we come to any conclusions? Many of your other Muskie bandwagon buddies like to bring up this Canadian source to show that Muskie do NOT eat Walleye.
http://muskie.fishn.ca/articles/whatdomuskieseat.shtml
Well technically that is incorrect. As you can see they found around 4% of a diet is from Walleye for that study. You have to be careful with that 4% because it can vary from lake to lake and from river to river system. What you do find in this study, is that 63.5% of the total stomach content volume was made up of yellow perch and various minnow species. Now STOP. Think about that, what do other Bass, Walleye, and Pike eat? The same thing. The issue we face is not Muskie eat too many walleye,(even though they do eat a few) the issue we have is not enough Perch and baitfish and too many Pike in the system in most lakes. If you care to look at another DNR study, please see this. https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/fisheries/investigational_reports/404.pdf
Page 15 . Here you can lean about how too many top predators in the chain and not enough perch can effect the system. This is one of the reason Walleye eat themselves. They’re are in survival mode. One fishery this has happen to is Mille Lacs. A lake that went from over 1,000,000 pound harvest down to 30,000 and closing early of the season. If you ask the DNR about it, they will confirm that over an abundance of Pike and a decline of the Perch is a true assessment. Many still argue for the reason of the sharp decline in numbers over the years starting in the 70-80’s. Regardless the reason the fishery is not healthy. We are loosing entire year classes because there is not enough Perch and other bait fish in the fishery.
http://www.startribune.com/apparent-decline-in-minnesota-s-perch-has-officials-concerned/311078601/
Here you can read about that also in the link above. Notice how the DNR doesn’t mention Muskie. Now ask yourself why is that? We know Muskie eat perch, it is their favorite meal we have learned. Could it be because they don’t want to draw any criticism to their Trophy Muskie program? Many Muskie fans will say we need Muskie to keep the population healthy and weed out the bad genetics. To that I say that are what the Pike are already doing. Many people wanted to remove Pike from the fishery but the DNR insisted that it is health for an ecosystem. They do such a good job at it that the DNR struggled for many years trying to figure out why their Muskies didn’t make it to adulthood. They finally found out that Pike did not like in their world and ate many juveniles. Then you might say well Muskie keep the Pike in check, sounds good in theory but when you go back to your chart on what do Muskies eat, they don’t eat very many Pike, about the same amount as they eat Walleye. Muskie belong in the rivers, some lakes are big and strong enough to support small musky populations, but the DNR has been putting muskie in lakes that can’t support the system. I can show you report after report of local lakes with Musky populations and historically low Perch populations. We have too many Pike is the real problem, The whole system will suffer. Many lakes that have super small muskies that are sickly skinny and even many die from starvation. This has been the lack of leadership by the DNR. In 1982 they wrote a long term management paper. This paper came out after many years of stocking Muskie into various lakes. https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/fisheries/special_reports/132.pdf On page 25 you can see the long term management plans for Muskies. The DNR has now put Muskie into waters that don’t fit all the habitat requirements listed in the paper. The DNR continues to make changes like trophy size definition. Also in that report you can read about how Muskies should not be introduced with high populations of Pike. By now I hope you can piece together why. The DNR has known what they have done, the public is out of control destroying habitat, poisoning the water, add in Spiny Waterflea, loss of plankton, water clarity, too many Pike, not enough forage. That is the reason why we need more testing done, and help from local communities to restore our fishery and improve it for the upcoming generation as we humans continue to multiply faster than the Pike. Right now, the best spot for Muskies is the rivers. A few of the stocked lake are okay but some are not. The 20 additional lakes they want to add should be carefully looked at, we have already seen the DNR not use their best judgement in some lakes. Public input for local resident should come first before outside muskie fisherman try and weigh in on what they think. We all know what you want, you want to come here and use our resource because more than likely your fishery was managed by people like you and now it sucks and you want to borrow ours. We hear you but please let us do more research and solve some of the problems that we face before we add Muskie to every lake and become like Wisconsin. The DNR and the state love your money but please don’t push your agenda for your need to take pictures with large fish. We have many great river systems that are much better than a lot of the lakes you can find. I know you want a trophy, who would have thought all those consolation trophy that were given out would turn out to be Muskie Fishermen. I guess we are all like the DNR, sometime things don’t always go the way you had them planned. Please I know you want to be “sportsmen” how about you take a few Pike home with you next time you visit our lakes. Maybe after cleaning a few you will really learn how many fish they can eat. 36 fish in 1 pike is my record, can you top that? Don’t eat to many, probably lot of mercury and PCB the DNR say, one a week is probably safe. I’m guessing you have no problem taking their word for it.
Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
TY

No if you really read my post you would understand I think the majority issues is greed by fisherman and not practicing selective harvesting. I just want to call out the BS by Muskie guys that say Muskie have no impact on the ecosystem. Just trying let you know that the Perch have been suffering even before Muskies were introduce, now it’s even worse with them. If the DNR had to admit what they did was wrong it would totally destroy their remaining credibility. They have been wrong before and they will be wrong again. To sit back and suggest that everything they say to be true, is how we get a fishery that used to be able to support million pounds a year fishery to 30,000 and have to close the season early. My Linder joke came from all the people that quoted what Ron said as the gospel truth.
“Ron Lindner state,its one of the most successful programs everdone, no PROVEN NEGATIVE IMPACT on any body anywhere and Gull will prove to be the same, they know what there doing in this case.”
The all caps really mean he knows what he’s talking about. I just find it difficult in taking advice from a guy who quotes bible verses as real world solutions. Is our fishery in such bad shape all we can do is pray? I know I sound twisted and it may require me to remove all my Lindy rigs from my tackle box, if so, so be it. I just find it absolutely asinine to protect the largest and most aggressive fish in the fishery, especially when bait fish continue to drop. For pete sakes, we can even maintain a shiner bait population year round. You think if the DNR had all the answers, this would have been taken care of years ago. Can’t bring in minnows from out of states in fear of spreading disease, but can’t harvest our own minnows from many lakes due to shortages and or zebra mussels and milfoil regulations. The DNR doesn’t have all the right answers and taking everything they say as the truth is very dangerous for our fishery. If Donald Trump was head of the DNR would you still accept all the results as truth. Well people have no idea who is really running some of these studies and what data they cherry pick, tossing our hands up and saying they know what they are doing instead of trying to check and verify their results, is as good as a prayer.

http://www.startribune.com/apparent-decline-in-minnesota-s-perch-has-officials-concerned/311078601/
DNR can’t figure it out. hmmm wonder what we did in the 70’s that started this trend… So Pike are the problem, but can’t be the Muskies. Not like Muskies are aggressive or anything, totally different from Pike right?. I’m sure not one Perch has been eaten according to DNR and Muskie fishermen alike. Maybe the Linder’s can pray the Perch population back to normal. Seems like something Muskie fishermen would support.

I fish Minnetonka all the time, where the DNR allows companies to spray toxins in the water to kill plants for home owners. Don’t tell me the DNR has the fisheries best interest in mind. DNR doing a great job regulating Mille Lacs…Really seem to know what they’re doing.

I would much rather live in Canada, fish for Cats, Pan fish or Carp before I would pick up a Muskie rod. Maybe if this passes I will pick up a spear fishing!

#Perchlivesmatter
I think this state has ridiculous laws that mandate Muskie protection. Muskie may only eat 5% of Walleye for diet, but it’s competition for food is the real issue. Perch and other bait fish are key contributors for a healthy lake population of Walleye. Problem with our fishery is greed. Many take the big ones and now we have nothing but small cookie cutter size pan fish and few walleyes around in local city lakes. Many have given up the Walleye pursuit and became Bass or Muskie fisherpeople. It’s a shame that many local twin cites lakes that get stocked with, have no sustainable Walleye populations. It’s pretty much all pay to play headed by the DNR. Now the DNR wants to fund Muskie because of it’s failed experiment with Walleyes. We still can’t reproduce mother nature and the rivers where the Walleyes belong. If you really cared about the Walleye you would care about the Perch just as much. Muskie data related to Perch is irrelevant to many of the DNR studies in there pursuit to increase “Muskie Sport Fishing”. Please take your cheese with you on your way to Wisconsin. These are Walleye lakes, we are not Wisconsin and should never strive to be.