Photo: Engbretson, Eric / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Esox masquinongy · also muskie

How to catch Muskellunge

Muskellunge feed in 38–82°F water and bite best at 55–75°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 19 waters; in October they are at their peak in Kentucky fresh water, West Virginia fresh water, Virginia fresh water and 16 more.

80 pts · trophy at 48"Feeds 38–82°FBest 55–75°FIn season nowLakeReservoirRiver

About

The fish of ten thousand casts: the biggest of the pike family, fifty inches of barred or spotted fury in the clear lakes of Wisconsin and Minnesota, Lake St. Clair, the St. Lawrence and the rivers of Kentucky and Virginia. Released, nearly always.

How to fish it

Big baits, heavy tackle, a figure-eight at the boat on every cast. Weed edges and rock reefs in summer; the deep breaks with a sucker in late fall. A big net and long pliers for the release.

What it eats

big bucktailsglide baits and jerkbaitsrubber baitslive suckers in the fall

Live bait for it

Minnows (fatheads, shiners)Hooked lightly through the lips or behind the dorsal on a #6 to #2 hook under a slip bobber for crappie, perch and walleye; a big golden shiner on a 2/0 to 4/0 for largemouth, pike and stripers.