Natural food diets (zooplankton and minnows) and artificial dry diets were compared as a means of increasing fry survival during the intensive culture of muskellunge at the Iowa Spirit Lake Hatchery. Muskellunge fry fed the natural diets had a constant supply of zooplankton available; at about 1.5 inches fathead minnows were added to their daily diet until stocking occurred. Survival to stocking size (5.3 inches) was 18.0%. Artificial feeding of muskellunge was initiated on an experimental basis in 1982 and tested on a production scale in 1983. Brine shrimp and Abernathy feed were used for the initial training process with brine shrimp withdrawn when the fry converted to dry feed. In 1982, only 8.0% of the initial total were reared to stocking size because a malfunction in the water supply caused the death of 910 fish. In 1983, 53% of the artificall7y fed musky survived to a mean stocking size of 5.4 inches, compared with 18.0% for those on a minnow diet. Cost comparisons for the two rearing methods in 1983 were $1.76/fish for the live food diet and $0.29/fish for the artificial diet.
Catch and Release Muskie Fishing – Let Them Go – Let Them Grow