The muskellunge, Esox masquinongy, is also known as the muskie, musky or maskinonge. They are large, relatively uncommon freshwater fish of North America. Muskellunge are the largest member of the pike family. The name comes from the Ojibwe word maashkinoozhe, meaning "ugly pike". Muskellunge are found in oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes and large rivers from northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota through the Great Lakes region, north into Canada. They prefer clear waters where they lurk along weed edges, rock outcrops or other structure to rest. A fish forms two distinct home ranges in summer: a shallow range and a deeper one. The shallow range is generally much smaller than the deeper range due to shallow water heating up. A musky will continually patrol the ranges in search of available food in the appropriate conditions of water temperature, pH and clarity.

The world Recory musky was caught in 1949 on the Chippewa Flowage in Hayward, WI. The fish weighed 69 pounds and 11 ounces.

THIS MONTHS FEATURED FISH

MUSKY

Aquatic Grasses

Learn the Different Grasses

Every angler should be familiar with the different types of aquatic grasses. By properly identifying each grass, you can begin to better understand the best fish habitat. Grasses attract fish, but sometimes on particular grass is more productive than another. Once you can identify the grass, you can look for more of that type of grass and begin to establish a fish catching pattern. You can DOWNLOAD your grass identification chart here. The chart outlines 6 common grasses.

Check out the DNRs cool KIDS site