Our knowledge and exploitation of the muskellunge have had interesting histories. The species was recognized later, regularly confused with Esox lucius, and the changes in the nomenclature and in taxonomy are almost impossible to follow. The meagre fossil evidence suggests muskellunge occurred in North America at least back to the Miocene, and had a much wider distribution in the past. It may have been a riverine fish originally, only secondarily adapting to standing waters at the end of the Wisconsin glaciers. An extensive, poorly documented commercial fishery which ended in 1936. Probably contributed to an early decline in availability and eventual apprehensive for the survival of the species. Documentation of information began about 1838, increased very slowly to the end of the 1940s, and for some areas of study, doubled during the decade from 1950-1960. The history of the development of information of the muskellunge is summarized in this review paper and suggestions are made on the types of studies which still need to be carried out.
Catch and Release Muskie Fishing – Let Them Go – Let Them Grow