In a fish eat fish world, it’s at the top of the aquatic food chain in Pennsylvania.
The name itself, “muskellunge,” conjures up images of a massive creature with a wicked set of teeth and an attitude to boot.
It’s an accurate perception.
Just ask Blakeslee resident Fred Jones Sr., who has landed more than 20 of the behemoth fish in the last 10 years.
“Muskies like to follow the plug right up to the boat, and when you see this enormous, prehistoric thing within inches of your boat, it’s a thrill,” he said. “Never mind catching them, just seeing them up close makes for a good day.”
Jones’ largest musky measured 49 inches, a true trophy in a sport where anglers consider a musky measuring 30 inches to be average.
“The ones that are larger than 50 inches are the monsters,” Jones said. “When you hook a 30-incher, they fight and jump out of the water something vicious. But when you get a larger one on your line, they just use their bulk and bully you around.”
Muskies don’t attract a large following like other game species of fish, such as trout and bass. The predator fish has pretty much remained under the radar, with the exception of a select group of anglers like Jones. It’s a specialized form of fishing.
If you’re going to pursue “the fish of 10,000 casts,” you’re going to need some heavy duty gear to stand a chance. We’re not talking ultra-light trout fishing or jigging for panfish. A fishing rod with a lot of backbone, a baitcasting reel spooled with 60-pound test braided fishing line and a steel leader with an 8-inch plug should suffice.
You don’t have to travel far to fish where the big muskies lurk, either. The Susquehanna River and Frances Slocum Lake both have healthy populations of the large predator. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission ranked Frances Slocum seventh out of the top 34 medium-sized musky lakes in the state. Various sections of the Susquehanna River, including the stretch from Tunkhannock to Berwick, have also been recognized as productive musky water by the PFBC. Next year, Frances Slocum Lake and the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County will be two of the 15 waterways across the state that will see an increased stocking of purebred or tiger musky (a hybrid cross between a male Northern pike and a female muskellunge) fingerlings.
PFBC spokesman Dan Tredinnick said the waters have good musky habitat, a good forage base and have showed good catch rates of musky in the past. Because muskies are long-lived fish that don’t grow fast, Tredinnick said it will take eight to 10 years before the increased stockings yield trophy-sized results.
The PFBC has also reduced the creel limit and increased the minimum size for musky in an attempt to give anglers more monsters to catch.
“Before, we didn’t differentiate between waters with trophy potential and those with just carrying capacity. Now, we’re going to intensely manage waters with trophy potential for numbers and size,” Tredinnick said.
Frances Slocum State Park manager Kris Baker said the increased stockings are good news for the dedicated group of anglers who come to the park every winter to catch muskies through the ice.
Baker said 52- and 54-inch muskies were caught in the lake in the last two years.
“We have a good, healthy population of musky because we have a good food source with the large number of alewives in the lake,” he said.
Walt Dietz, aquatic resources program specialist with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s Northeast Region office, said Frances Slocum Lake also has excellent habitat for a healthy musky population.
“The shape of the lake is unique with a lot of nooks and crannies for fish to hide. That’s good for predators like a musky,” Dietz said. “Most anglers think of trout and panfish when it comes to Frances Slocum. The musky is overlooked.”
PFBC Waterways Conservation Officer Kadin Thompson said less anglers are overlooking musky opportunities on the river. He has seen an increase in the catch rates with anglers landing muskies longer than four feet.
The stretch from Nesbitt Park in Wilkes-Barre to Hanover Township, and in Shickshinny, are musky hotspots, Thompson said.
“The quality of the river is coming back, so the forage base is getting larger,” he said. “That’s good for muskies because they’ll prey on anything they want, from minnows to bass and walleye.”
Tredinnick added that muskies have also been known to eat baby ducks and muskrats too.
He said the musky is an “opportunistic predator,” choosing to lie in weedbeds waiting to ambush unsuspecting prey.
“They are the largest predator fish in the state. They’re at the top of the line,” Tredinnick said. “Catching a large musky is the equivalent of shooting a big black bear. It’s the biggest of the big fish.”
Previously published in the Times Leader, November 5, 2006.
