There are many critics to the muskies. It's unfortunate and sad, but very true. They have their reasons, and it is likely never to change, but there are some things that you can explain to them. First of all, yes, a muskie is the king of its waters and can eat anything it wants to eat. With that being said, it is important to understand a muskies diet and their preference along with each individual lake. Also for a sunny fisherman, they have to understand their lake as well and what muskies can do for them. For instance, most MN lakes have stunted sunfish. They simply don't grow that large because there are too many of them. A healthy predator population in the lake would do the lake some good. That would be northerns or muskies. The argument that muskies would destroy a sunfish population is simply not going to happen. If anything, it would lead to larger fish because it would thin out the sunfish and allow less competition for the food in the lake.

Most of this is actually just small talk, because the effect is so minimal on a population that we would likely never see the difference in a lake. It would have to be a very small lake to notice something distinct.

A better thought to help you with your conversation with your critics is to understand what a muskie prefers to eat. Believe it or not, they prefer a diet of rough fish as their top choice. Bullheads, suckers and tullibees (if present) are their favorite food source. Fish that have soft bodies are what they target. Sunfish and walleyes aren't their top choice because of their body shape and sharp fins. Sure they will eat them, but they don't prefer them. They also like things swimming such as frogs or other critters, (maybe why the topwater bite can be so good)

Here is some more food for thought. There has been some research done in the past. This was many years ago, but during their study they cut open the stomachs of some 100 plus muskies. I believe their results turned up a a mostly rough fish, a few frogs, ducks and other water critters. There was also a handful of bass and panfish, and only 1 walleye. Pretty interesting.

The last thing to point out is that a lake will go through changes on its own. Regardless of what man puts into the lake. Cycles go up and down. A good response to anybody argueing the case for muskies is that most of MN top muskie lakes are also the best walleye and panfish lakes. Mille Lacs, Vermillion, Cass, Leech, Winni, La,ke of the Woods, Minnetonka. They have been for years and will continue to be

Hope this helps!