Interesting poster

[MJ1657]

I thought some of you might find this interesting. Its not meant to start any of the usual debates about this its just for fun and I thought it was an interesting piece of history from the 50's.

[eyesonly]

Really neat piece of fishing History. Great man cave stuff.

[Stick500]

cool!

where did you find it?

I would love to find something like that

My great grandfather ran a general store in a small WI town from the teens to the '30s and a bunch of the stuff was still in there into the '70s- I was a dopey teen who wasn't even interested enough to root around to see what I could find- bet there was some really cool fishing stuff somewhere in there...

[MJ1657]

cool!

where did you find it?

I would love to find something like that

My great grandfather ran a general store in a small WI town from the teens to the '30s and a bunch of the stuff was still in there into the '70s- I was a dopey teen who wasn't even interested enough to root around to see what I could find- bet there was some really cool fishing stuff somewhere in there...

Online auction site.

[mwal]

From stuff I have read about true Musky lakes is that they have a strain of Pike that do not grow to large sizes or do not have pike or the system is large enough to have different spawning habitat far enough apart for both species to exist as they have different spawning needs. The reason being is that pike spawn as soon as the ice goes out or sometimes before the ice goes out according to the period of day light. Therefore the baby pike are large enough to eat the newly hatched muskies in late may early June. Most of the Muskie lake in MN are the result of stocking them where the never existed naturally and is the case in many Lakes and flowages in WI. Muskies only exist naturally in waters that are attached to certain river systems and very few landlocked lakes. As you can tell I used to be a Muskie fanatic and read everything about them I could find including scientific papers. WI is still trying to wipe out Pike in the Chippewa Flowage as they are not natural there and were introduced illegally by cabin owners to the detriment of the Muskie reproduction there.

Mwal

[Yooperguy]

The lakes in Wisconsin didn't have pike and so the muskies and introduced pike used the same spawning areas. And you are correct the pike spawn earlier so the newly hatched pike eat the muskies. In Minnesota the Mississippi strain including the Leech lake fish have always coexisted with pike so the muskies spawn in different spots than the pike.

[Gordie]

Nice poster MJ and that must go great with your green and yellow theme.

[MJ1657]

Nice poster MJ and that must go great with your green and yellow theme.

I haven't got it yet but I'm hoping to. You're right it will look real nice in my green and yellow office.

[minky]

That's one cool poster!

[RK]

Very cool. That's an interesting piece of history.

Little biology background on what is behind that - which frankly probably wasn't well understood at the time that poster was created.

There are at least two (some would argue three or four) distinct strains of muskies.

In Wisconsin and most of Canada with the exception of the Great Lakes the muskies are lacustrine, more commonly known as Wisconsin strain. This strain spawns in shallow weedy bays - the same habitat as pike - but spawn far later than pike. By the time muskie fry hatch, pike fry are past the swim-up stage and feeding, and they can really clobber muskie fry. In lakes where pike have been introduced, muskies don't always do well in competition, especially on systems with limited spawning habitat for both species. I know one chain of lakes in Canada where a lodge owner introduced pike into a system that had never had them, and it has really affected the fishery.

In Minnesota, on the other hand, the riverine or Leech Lake strain of muskies has a completely different spawning behavior. They spawn deeper, on a very specific weed type (chara), and actually spawn twice each spring. Half their eggs mature and they spawn, then the other half ripen and they spawn again 7 - 10 days later. The theory is this dual spawn, which is really pretty unique, as well as their different spawning habitat, are adaptations to pike predation as a result of the strain evolving in systems where both species are native.

So I suppose the pike were introduced, or in some cases I'm sure muskies were introduced to lakes with pike (WI's philosophy on muskie stocking in the past was "well, there's some water...let's put muskies in it" and this poster was the result of an effort to curb pike populations that were out-competing the Wisconsin strain muskies. Probably marginally successful at best, but, as I said, very interesting piece of history.

Thanks for sharing it. That's cool stuff.

[smurfy]

hey RK.........that was an interesting post!!!!!!!!!! thanks!!!!!

[Gordie]

Great Read RK and a lot was misunderstood back in the day and I still hear stories from old timers that make you smile and shack your head a bit.

[hawkeye43]

MJ Did you get it???

[MJ1657]

MJ Did you get it???

No I didn't.

[hillbilly...]

Why not get to rich for your blood or you werent home