Description

Muskies are light colored and usually have dark bars running up and down their long bodies. That's the opposite of northern pike, which have light markings on a dark body. Muskies are silver, light green, or light brown. The foolproof way to tell a muskie from a northern is to count the pores on the underside of the jaw: A muskie has six or more. A northern has five or fewer. Muskies grow larger than Northern Pike, exceeding seventy pounds in weight. However, Northern Pike fry hatch earlier than muskie fry do, and devour the newly hatched muskies where both species exist. The Muskellunge is also called "The Fish of 10,000 Casts" because of the difficulty in finding and hooking one. Their fight is fierce and unpredictable.