Can this muskie survive?

[Glaucus]

I saw a muskie today in a 2 acre bass pond. It was small, but unmistakable. Someone had to have put in there and I don't know why. It's like 10ft max depth. I'm 1.5 hours south of Chicago.

[MN Fisher]

As long as the pond doesn't suffer oxygen deprivation in the winter and there's forage (Bass?) for it, then it should survive just fine. Just don't expect it to reach 'trophy' size - it'll be limited to available forage and room.

[WRB]

Muskies or hybrid Tiger musky are not known to be pond fish for several reasons the biggest is too shallow to survive cold winters unless the pond is deep and spring fed. Musky also needs a constant renewable food source, they eat a lot of fish.

Tom

[Glaucus]

22 minutes ago, WRB said:

Muskies or hybrid Tiger musky are not known to be pond fish for several reasons the biggest is too shallow to survive cold winters unless the pond is deep and spring fed. Musky also needs a constant renewable food source, they eat a lot of fish.

Tom

I swear if that thing depletes this pond of its bass I'm going to curse whoever put it in here.

[islandbass]

Is it private? It couldn’t hurt to inform the owner. If the state runs perhaps you should let them know. If it isn’t supposed to be in there, they’ll probably give you the green light to target it. 

[Glaucus]

1 hour ago, islandbass said:

Is it private? It couldn’t hurt to inform the owner. If the state runs perhaps you should let them know. If it isn’t supposed to be in there, they’ll probably give you the green light to target it. 

It's public but remote. The fish definitely doesn't belong there.

[webertime]

Move it.

[Deleted account]

Are you sure it was a musky? In the water, pike, pickerel and musky camouflage extremely well, and can be mistaken for one another, or even other fish.

[Bluebasser86]

It's not going to eat all the bass. It's much more likely to die from lack of needed resources.

[Scott F]

As long as there is forage, it will survive. There is a smallish lake near Pekin IL that doesn’t get much more than 3 feet deep that has hundreds of muskies in it. The DNR nets them and takes the eggs to use for stocking other lakes. Most of those don’t get very big. I’m sure the fish you saw will be just fine.

[webertime]

It's one of the largest freshwater predators, in a one acre pond.  That's like asking an Elephant to live its life in a baseball diamond.  Not good for either.

[islandbass]

It’s up to you to take that Muskie out. However, because I also don’t believe it wasn’t the Muskies fault for being placed there, I would research if there are any nearby lakes the legally reside and release it there. 

 

If this were me, I’d now have an excuse to buy a large cooler because I don’t have one but wouldn’t mind having one for it’s safe transport. And an excuse to buy Mepps musky spinners to add to my arsenal of hand made ones. 

[MN Fisher]

6 minutes ago, islandbass said:

It’s up to you to take that Muskie out. However, because I also don’t believe it wasn’t the Muskies fault for being placed there, I would research if there are any nearby lakes the legally reside and release it there. 

 

If this were me, I’d now have an excuse to buy a large cooler because I don’t have one but wouldn’t mind having one for it’s safe transport. And an excuse to buy Mepps musky spinners to add to my arsenal of hand made ones. 

Unfortunately, like in MN it's illegal to transport live fish from one water to another unless you get a permit.

 

From the Illinois Fishing Regulations Handbook - https://www.ifishillinois.org/regulations/2019FishingGuide.pdf

 

"It shall be unlawful to:

1) import or move live aquatic life without securing

permission from the Department"

[islandbass]

10 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Unfortunately, like in MN it's illegal to transport live fish from one water to another unless you get a permit.

 

From the Illinois Fishing Regulations Handbook - https://www.ifishillinois.org/regulations/2019FishingGuide.pdf

 

"It shall be unlawful to:

1) import or move live aquatic life without securing

permission from the Department"

That sucks. Perhaps a call to the dnr so that they can handle that

[BigAngus752]

On 5/31/2019 at 12:10 AM, Glaucus said:

I swear if that thing depletes this pond of its bass I'm going to curse whoever put it in here.

 

On 5/31/2019 at 8:05 AM, Scott F said:

As long as there is forage, it will survive. There is a smallish lake near Pekin IL that doesn’t get much more than 3 feet deep that has hundreds of muskies in it. The DNR nets them and takes the eggs to use for stocking other lakes. Most of those don’t get very big. I’m sure the fish you saw will be just fine.

I'm with @Scott F on this one.  It may or may not survive.  It's definitely not going to affect the bass population in any meaningful way.  Since you are 1.5hrs south of Chicago, look up Evergreen Lake located in Comlara Park just outside of Hudson, IL which should be only an hour south of you. 

 

https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/display_lake.php?waternum=00305

 

It's only 900 acres and it may be the top Muskellunge fishery in the state plus it has some good bass fishing too.  Looking forward to getting out on it this fall when I'm no longer working two jobs!  LOL

[slonezp]

There are plenty of <5 acre ponds that hold a population of pike. Your musky will be just fine.

[MIbassyaker]

Unless it was a non-native exotic or invasive species for the area, I would never presume to know with certainty that a fish I saw "doesn't belong" there.

[ClearCreek]

On 6/11/2019 at 4:45 PM, MIbassyaker said:

Unless it was a non-native exotic or invasive species for the area, I would never presume to know with certainty that a fish I saw "doesn't belong" there.

Good point.  I was trying to figure out that comment as well.

 

ClearCreek

 

 

[AlTheFisherman313]

On 5/30/2019 at 9:41 PM, Glaucus said:

I saw a muskie today in a 2 acre bass pond. It was small, but unmistakable. Someone had to have put in there and I don't know why. It's like 10ft max depth. I'm 1.5 hours south of Chicago.

How sure are you it wasn't a colorful full grown pike? I have seen them with "muskie" coloring. If its a pike its fine, however if its a muskie no way, not in that size. Does a River or creek flow into the pond? that the only way I can imagine it got there, unless it was placed there if it is indeed a muskie.

 

Im leaning toward a trophy pike, but I wasnt there I didnt see it. If you had crystal clear waters and know what you saw the DNR should be notified, like I said I dont think a muskie ends up in a pond of that size on accident, and if it did he definitely needs to be relocated, preserving these predators is huge in my area of lake st clair. Ship him here no such thing as too many muskie!!! lol. So far this season they have proved to be the fish of 10,000 casts, but on lake st clair its usually a fish of a 100 casts lol. Our muskie are eating machines. I am actually going out for some skis saturday! lets hope I nab one casting finally this season. Trolling sucks!!!! too boring!

 

I am hoping for a tiger, shockingly never caught a tigski yet!