Muskies 101

I just wanted to give a quick overview of the fish that I spend so much time trying to catch.  I have been asked this question many many times over the years, and until now, I have never had a correct answer to respond with.  I thought I would share this interesting information with all of you before I hit the water in a few minutes.  I dug this up on-line of course, from a site known as "Ask Jeeves"  When I typed what I was looking for, I got the Wikipedia response that I will sum up for you instead of placing all the pages of info that they gave me.  I suppose I will quote this stuff, because I'm not too familiar with the copyright laws and such......

The question that I get asked more than any other that I now can respond to is : How long do these darn things live? and how long does it take them to get that big?

Well each lake is obviously different based on their forage, but "Wikipedia" says this:

Reaching sexual maturity at 3–5 years, muskie may live to approximately 30 years. Females grow faster and live longer than males, and thus reach greater lengths and weights. While muskies along the northern portion of the range may take 7-11 years to reach 40 inches (101 centimeters) of length, the fish in the southern portion of their range may grow to this size in as little as 5 years. Based on where the genetic strain is originally found their genetic potential can vary greatly. The ShoePac strain reaches smaller lengths and weights than the Leech Lake Strain (both stocked through out the mid-west). The Northern musky reach larger sizes due to a "burn out" in the southern fish.  They spawn in mid to late spring, somewhat later than northern pike. Muskies seek shallow vegetated spawning grounds, the males arriving first. Spawning takes place at night and may last from five to ten days. The eggs sink and adhere to plants where they are abandoned by the adults. Eggs which are not eaten by fish, insects or crayfish hatch within two weeks. The fry live on yolk until their mouths develop, at which time they begin to feed on copeds and other planktonic animals. They soon begin to predate other fish, reaching a length of 30.5 cm (12 inches) by November.

Well I guess that should help answer a few questions, and kinda interesting if you ask me.  I'm assuming there are some differences for each lake we fish, but I just can't wait to see how big the darn things are going to get.  With 40 pound fish showing up fairly regularly in several Minnesota Lakes, I just wonder what we will be catching in a couple of years........

Just some food for thought!