SEASONAL CHANGES 

Life Cycle

Muskies are spring spawners. As soon as the ice is off the water, the muskies will begin migrating towards their spawning areas. They usually spawn in very shallow water from one to three feet deep, preferably in areas with soft bottom covered in decaying vegetation. Marshy areas that have some emergent weed growth and some current from an inflowing stream are ideal. (See Figure 12-3.) They do not build spawning beds. When water temperatures are between 50° F. (10° C) and 59° F. (15° C), the females scatter their eggs at random over bottom. The males fertilize the eggs by depositing their milt where the females have been. Although a big female may deposit upwards of 300,000 eggs, usually less than one-third will be fertilized. This haphazard approach to spawning is one of nature's ways of ensuring a low survival rate.

Hatching usually occurs in eight to 14 days and life is a struggle for the fry from the beginning. As soon as the yolk sac is absorbed, these tiny fish become voracious predators and often eat each other, if necessary, to survive. In bodies of water where northern pike are present, the pike (generally hatching a few weeks earlier) not only compete with the tiny muskies but also forage heavily on them. In addition, all kinds of fish-eating birds find them easy prey because of their curious habit of lying just beneath the surface. With these natural checks in place, usually less than one fish in 1,000 will ever reach adulthood and far less will ever reach trophy proportions.

Spent adults usually stay in shallow water until they have recovered from the spawning ordeal. In the spring the quickly warming shallows attract a wide variety of forage species. These and the newly developing weed growth offer the recovering muskies an excellent source of food and cover. After recovery is complete, muskie location will be determined by the availability of forage.

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