According to Wildlife Resources, tiger muskies are a non-native predator fish. They’re a cross between a northern pike and a muskellunge.
They can grow to be up to four feet long and are rather aggressive. Anglers say that makes them a fun species to catch as muskies put up a fight.
The DWR uses tiger muskies to help control nuisance fish populations in specific water bodies. Because they’re a hatchery-produced hybrid fish, they don’t reproduce, making the muskie an effective management tool to control fish numbers.
The DWR’s tiger muskie breeding program is the only program of its kind in the western U.S.
Volunteers with boats helped Wednesday [July 10] morning, including Francis residents Clark Bailey and his wife Jennifer, a former KPCW employee. They distributed the small fish to a couple locations around the reservoir.
Mike Slater, DWR sportfish project leader, addressed the volunteers before they headed out to their designated areas.
“We just wanted to say just on behalf of the division, thank you for coming and helping us make this happen,” Slater said. “I mean, we could dump all these fish right at the boat ramp and we have done that multiple times, mostly over the personal watercraft. But we thought we'd give these guys just another little chance. We're just trying to do anything we can to get them to survive. And if we can take them to a couple of locations where they can hang out for maybe a week, we think it might help get them acclimatized and let them sit and hang out for a minute before they’re food for something else.”
Slater says the fish were about seven to eight inches long. He says that’s more than twice the size they have stocked in the past. He hopes that will give the fish a better chance to survive.
“A lot of times, we're putting them out at two and three inches,” he said. “We're trying to hedge our bets in any way that we can to get these guys to survive and put a few more months in here in the Jordanelle. We think we've got enough forage here; we hope we got enough forage in here to kind of keep them going. And we'll go from there.”
The small fish were released in areas where vegetation grows near the shore. Muskies typically inhabit shallow water areas, patrolling under canopies of submerged vegetation while waiting for prey. The muskies grow quickly and can withstand higher water temperatures than either of their parents can. According to state fish managers, tiger muskies can live up to 25 years and weigh up to 30 pounds.
