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They say, “Muskie are the fish of 10,000 casts.” That still may be true, but in North Dakota and South Dakota the opportunity to land one of these potentially monster fish is getting better and better every year. Muskie fishing doesn’t get the headlines like walleye or northern pike fishing in the Dakotas, but muskie have been being stocked in both states for many decades.
“The first pure muskies were stocked in 1958 in Spiritwood Lake and Lake Williams. We stocked the first tiger muskies in 1965 into a couple of smaller rearing ponds, but it was 1976 before we stocked them in 9 public fishing waters across the state,” explained Scott Gangl the North Dakota Game & Fish Fisheries Management Section Leader.
Obtaining the first muskellunge brood stock in 1958 was found to be almost unattainable, according to an article from North Dakota Outdoors Magazine from that year. States that were raising muskie were not prone to parting with any of the eggs, fingerlings or adults, they were all hard to come by. A few commercial sources did exist then, but the cost was too high priced. Muskie fingerling (2 to 5 inches) were averaging between $1.50 to $3.50 apiece back then. NDGF Fisheries Chief Dale Henegar managed to obtain a limited number of eggs from Bemus Point Hatchery in New York. The eggs came from Chautauqua Lake, New York. The eggs were shipped before they reached the eyed stage of development. They were transported by air to Fargo, then the eggs were rushed to the Federal Hatchery in Valley City. Amazingly almost all of the quart and a half of eggs were hatched into fry. The fry were then distributed into rearing ponds and about four weeks after that the now fingerlings were ready for planting.
The object of the original plantings of muskellunge were not to bring fishing to the state, instead the purpose of the plantings were to attempt to raise brood stock. From the brood stock, eggs could be then obtained. If the fish did survive to reach maturity, they hoped to do their own stocking program. If all of that went well, they were wishing for someday in the future for muskie fishing to be an option in the state.
Spiritwood Lake northeast of Jamestown was the first location to be stocked on Wednesday afternoon, June 23, 1958, with 1,117 fingerlings. The next day the same number of fingerlings were taking to Lake Williams northeast of Steele. The two lakes couldn’t have been more different in that year. Spiritwood Lake had a substantial fish population while Lake Williams had recently been eradicated with no fish present. The remainder of the muskellunge also left the fishery and were transported to Mirror Pool. This small body of water is located in the Sheyenne National Grasslands in southeast North Dakota. Mirror Pool back then was closed to fishing and was used as a brood stock holding area.
In that first year of bringing muskie to the state, the fisheries department had no idea what the future was going to hold for this new species. They did know that they didn’t want to replace any of the existing game fish, they just wanted to furnish something new in the way of recreation. It was much too early to think about fishing muskie but they had a guess of what could be expected if the program was successful. They were estimating a minimum size limit on these fish would be in the neighborhood of 30 inches. They also figured most of the fishing public would not bother to specifically fish for muskie when catching an easier limit of northerns in the same amount of time.
Brian Blackwell, the Program Lead for Fisheries Research and Survey for South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks said, “Muskies were first introduced into South Dakota in 1975 at Amsden Dam when 2,000 fingerling muskies were brought from Valley City National Fish Hatchery in North Dakota. An additional 5,000 muskie fingerlings were stocked into Amsden Dam in 1976.” The comments from the public began soon after the introduction of the new species. On a memo, the then South Dakota Fisheries Chief Bob Hanten, Sr., wrote that he had accepted the first muskies on the spur of a moment and wished he had thought it through before stocking them.
Muskie were introduced into 14 South Dakota waters between 1975 and 1999, including three Missouri River Reservoirs. Both pure and tiger muskellunge were stocked with various sizes of fish; fry, fingerlings and yearlings. Amsden Dam was the only fishery to become established in the state, other waters unfortunately were deemed unsuccessful because of a limited return to anglers.
When Gangl was asked why muskellunge are stocked in North Dakota, he replied, “The main reason we stock muskies today is the same reason they stocked them back in 1958: to provide a diverse angling experience for those anglers who want to target them. There are a lot of anglers who fish for muskies as a unique species, so there’s value in that. But there is also the trophy potential of catching a large muskie. We generally don’t manage fish populations solely for trophy fishing, but our muskie fisheries are one area that we do. With low density stocking rates and a 48” minimum length limit, muskies are protected from harvest statewide until they reach truly trophy sizes.”
“In South Dakota and most states, muskies are present at a low abundance and would never be considered a species utilized for trying to control an overabundant species,” Blackwell explained. He went on to say, “In South Dakota, muskies are stocked to provide anglers with a unique opportunity to catch a muskie. Many South Dakota anglers have never caught a muskie and catching a 40+ inch fish would be considered a bonus to just catching a muskie.”
There are 40 lakes in the state of North Dakota that have been stocked with either pure or tiger muskellunge since the program started in the 50s said Gangl. “Most of those didn’t provide much return, “emphasized Gangl. He went on to say, “Currently, we’re maintaining muskie fishing in six lakes (nine lakes if you count each lake in the Garrison Diversion Unit canal separately) across the state.” The current lakes include Audubon, Ashtabula, Garrison Diversion Canal Lakes (West Park, East Park, New Johns, Heckers), Red Willow Lake, Wood Lake, and Larimore Dam. There is also a healthy population of fish in the Sheyenne River that were entrained through Baldhill Dam after being stocked in Ashtabula. Muskies can attain lengths exceeding 50 inches in a few of these North Dakota waters.
The canal lakes of the Garrison Diversion Unit (West Park, East Park, Heckers and New Johns) have the longest history of consistent muskie stockings, with maintenance stockings dating back to 1980 replied Gangl. “That longevity has a lot to do with their reputation as muskie fisheries. Along with that, the canal lakes have good water quality and forage that muskies need to live long and grow large. This is one of the systems where we’ve tried to consistently stock pure muskellunge, and the state record pure muskellunge was caught from New Johns Lake in 2007,” Gangl added.
When Blackwell was questioned about what lakes were stocked in South Dakota, he answered, “In the past, muskies and/or tiger muskies were stocked in East Lemmon, Belle Fourche Reservoir, Marindahl, Beaver, Poinsett, Mitchell, Kampeska, Cochrane, Lake Sharpe, Lake Francis Case, Lewis and Clark Reservoir, and Amsden. Today, muskies are stocked in Lynn, Middle Lynn, Highway 81 West, Sinai, and North Island.”
Currently there are no plans for either North Dakota or South Dakota to stock any new lakes with muskie. Both states have tried to expand in the past but have found the lakes that are managed now with muskie are the ones most suitable for what this species needs to flourish.
One may ask themselves why stock this species when there are so many lakes with northern pike in each state. Both states want to provide anglers with a unique opportunity to catch a trophy fish.
SDGFP currently only stocks pure-strain muskies. The pure strain will obtain larger sizes and live longer than tiger muskies. In addition, stocking only pure-strain muskies would allow SDGFP the ability to have broodstock to procure eggs and milt if a future need arises, explained Blackwell. He added that to increase the chance for survival, muskie currently are not stocked until they are one year old and approximately 12-14 inches long. The muskie that are stocked come from Iowa. They are raised until they hit that 12-14 inches at the Blue Dog State Fish Hatchery, which takes around a year. With this size of fish, they should be able to escape any attack from any other fish.
NDGF on the other hand stocks both varieties. Gangl explained, “While we would choose the species based on their growth rates and maximum size potential, the reality is that pure muskies have been difficult to obtain from our sources on a regular basis, while tigers have been more readily available in greater numbers. If you look at our stocking records in recent years, we’ve reserved the limited pure muskies for some of our smaller stockings and used the tigers in the larger waters where we need bigger numbers to fill the request.”
NDGF do their muskie stocking in the fall, right before ice-up. “In the past we stocked them at smaller sizes like our other northern pike or walleye fingerling stockings (1.5-2”) but we had lower survival and lost a lot of muskies to predation. One observation our staff made was that the newly stocked muskies would linger near the stocking site, and made easy pickings for birds. Waiting until fall allows us to grow them much larger, typically reaching 8-10” or larger when they’re stocked. We’ve also been trying to stock them as late in the season as possible, right before ice-up, to avoid many of the predacious birds that have already moved south,” replied Gangl.
“Prior to 2001, fry (< 0.5 inches) and small fingerlings (< 3 inches) were commonly stocked. Many of these small muskies were likely eaten by other fish or were unable to survive the winter. Today, stocked muskies are 11 to 15 inches long when released,” mentioned Blackwell. He added, “In 2022, Middle Lynn Lake received a stocking of 115 adult fish (average length 34.6 inches) from Utah. These adults previously served as brood fish at Lee Kay Fish Hatchery in Utah.”
Both North Dakota and South Dakota work with other state fisheries that raise pure and hybrid muskellunge. The fisheries departments trade varieties of fish between each other depending on their wants and needs. Neither North Dakota or South Dakota have documented any natural reproduction or recruitment of muskie.
South Dakota records:
Muskellunge - 40 lbs., Amsden Dam, April 16, 1991 - Daniel B. Krueger.
Tiger Muskellunge - 37 lbs. 7 oz., Lake Sharpe, May 30, 2003 - Jason Besmer.
South Dakota currently has a catch-and-release-only regulation on muskies. Thus, it is unlikely a new record will be set unless an angler happens to have a certified scale.
North Dakota records:
Muskellunge - 46 lbs. 8 oz. 54" New Johns Lake, July 03, 2007 - Cory Bosch from Mandan, ND.
Tiger Muskellunge - 40 lbs. 0 oz. 45" Gravel Lake, June 26, 1975 - Marvin Lee from Rolette, ND.
In North Dakota it is illegal to take or possess any muskellunge less than 48 inches in length. The daily and possession limit is one fish over 48 inches.
North Dakota and South Dakota lakes that are managed for muskie are restricted from darkhouse spearfishing. The reason being that it may be difficult for spearers to tell the difference between a muskie and northern pike, especially in cloudy water.
There are three common pattern variations for the largest member of the pike family, muskellunge; clear, spotted and barred. Background colors of the fish can vary depending on water clarity and other environmental characteristics of the water body. All three patterns may be present in a certain location but one may be dominant.
Tiger muskellunge hybrid, a cross between a female muskellunge and a male northern pike, sometimes has an alternating of stripes and spots, or narrow paired bars on a light background. The coloration should never be confused with a northern pike that have a pattern of horizontal rows of light, round to oval spots on a dark background. Another characteristic that differs between the varieties of the pike family are the number of pores on the underside of the lower jaw. Pure muskie have 6-9 pores, hybrids have 5-8 pores and northern pike have 5 or fewer pores on each side of the lower jaw.
Tiger muskies are sterile and cannot reproduce like other hybrid fish. Because of this they spend most of their time thinking about food rather than other stuff and things.
Catch rates for these monster fish are very low compared to other species, hence the name “The fish of 10,000 casts.” Muskie spend most of their time somewhat inactive. To get the fish to strike anglers need to cast where they are but this doesn’t necessarily mean they will take the bait, so to speak.
Muskie like to hide in the edge of weed beds because they are a predatory fish and like to ambush their prey. They can reach burst of speeds up to 30 miles per hour when they are on the attack. Muskie seem to feed when the weather stays consistent, no matter that be rain or sunshine.
Anglers who go after muskie have learned that this species of fish will hit any size lure. The larger the lure doesn’t necessarily mean the larger the fish that could be caught. The lure size will vary depending on what depth you are fishing at.
For muskie to reach a large size, they need good-sized forage, such as cisco, white sucker or carp. Muskie can grow fast and reach very large sizes compared to many other fish species in the right environment. They can live as long as 30 years in their natural environment. Muskie also like cool water that they can move to because they do not do well with warm water temperatures.
The muskie has been an exciting addition to fishing opportunities in some North and South Dakota lakes. With the recent expansion of muskie opportunities, anglers don’t have to travel as far for a chance to catch one.
If you haven’t given it a try, put muskie fishing on your to-do list. With the stocking efforts by both the SDGFP and NDGF Fishing Departments catching your “Fish of 10,000 Casts” doesn’t have to be that far away.
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Joel Isaacson of Valley City, North Dakota caught this 40-inch muskie in eastern North Dakota on December 17, 2024. Isaacson had never fished for muskie specifically before that night. While fishing for walleye in the same spot earlier in the season, he had muskie snap his line, so he decided to order a 7-inch glide bait to go after the species with 10-pound line.
“It still feels pretty unreal, especially since they say it's a fish every 10,000 casts, and it only took four for me,” Isaacson mentioned. He released the fish hoping that the muskie population can continue to thrive in the future.
Isaacson explained, “The fish didn’t put up much of a fight. I reeled it in pretty close, but I couldn’t get it onshore right away due to the steep, rocky shoreline and I didn’t have a net either because I really wasn't expecting to catch anything. So, my friend had to come with waders to help retrieve the fish. I had it on for about 10 minutes, just sitting in front of me without much resistance, until he was able to hand it up to me on the rocks.”
Don B caught this muskie while fishing the Sheyenne River on October 22, 2024. Don who is from Enderlin, was jigging for walleye when he thought he got a snag. 20 minutes later with help from a friend who had a large net, they were able to land Don’s first ever muskie. They estimated the muskellunge to be 41 inches before they released it. Gangl added, “We didn’t stock them in the river, but we have seen a substantial amount of entrainment through Baldhill Dam. So, the Sheyenne River has a pretty strong muskie population right now.”
Thanks for reading, Clint.
