The Musky / Walleye Thing

[Jim K]

Just a little video I put together a few years back to sort of make my case that the relationship between the two fish is not what is commonly believed. (As we touched on in the Muskies in the Murk thread) People tend to think us divers have stayed too deep for too long sometimes, so the video helps dissuade people from thinking that spiny water fleas have taken over my brain function.

I have to be careful here. as muskies are the fish of lore, and there are folks who firmly believe that a Lunge ate the rear license plate off Grandpa's 62 Nash Rambler. I just feel I am very privileged to actually spend time underwater with these fish, and learn about them, So i like to share what I have been able to record. Enjoy, and sorry about the Standard def.

https://youtu.be/oRIE5nCdES8

[DaveC]

pretty interesting Jim. Tough question on how they swim side by side like that. Like the walleye has no fear...I wonder if its the big sharp dorsal they avoid, because we all know the gobble up suckers and smaller baitfish. Or maybe water temp? or maybe just not ready to eat? Lots of possibilities I suppose, but the walleye looks fearless not running for cover. Might be different story if it was injured though or struggling on someones line.

[Jim K]

A study conducted years ago showed that less than 1% of a muskie's diet consisted of walleye.

Let's say we lived on an island, or some remote situation where there were no pets. We never had any interaction with them at all, and only based our opinions of their behavior off of what we saw on TV, and read in the news. We would think that Dogs and Cats were mortal enemies, because we saw it on Warner brothers cartoons, and that pit bulls were killing machines, because that's what we heard.

So, we would be shocked to walk into someone's home and see the two laying together. They get along just fine. We find this time and time again, and begin to realize the animals usually DON'T kill each other, and tolerate each other generally, and are sometimes actually best of friends. How can this be? a Pit bull is a killing machine, and dogs and cats are sworn enemies. Well, it turns out 8 out of 10 pit bulls are nice dogs. They don't necessarily hate cats either.

We based our opinion of pets on some bad information, because we could never see them interact. Same here.

But how can a stupid fish, who eats a goofy looking lure NOT eat a walleye? Because that lure triggered their hunting instinct. Think of the pets again, that dog is pretty smart, he can sit, heel, stay, and knows his name. The cat may be even smarter, in his own sly way. But shine a laser pointer, or throw a ball and they are fools for it. You have triggered that hunting interest. That's what a good lure does, and a bad one fails to do.

Just my thoughts on the matter. Jim

[smerchly]

I hooked a 1 lb bass at the 12 Mile & during the fight a pike hit the bass . I got both fish into shore & the pike released it's grip on the bass , only to come back & hit it again . The pike finally took off & the "raked" bass was released , seemingly unharmed . Many of us have probably hooked a bass & seen other bass "chasing" the hooked bass .....seems like the other bass get into a frenzy caused by the hooked bass which also will signal the pike to move in on the action .....As the video shows , all is calm in the hood ....nothing to trigger their natural instincts ......in a way , something like us .

[Jim K]

i have had hooked bass hit by muskies as well. Although walleyes get along well with SMB and musky, You won't often see a bass hanging with a Musky.