Muskellunge

Hatchery operations for Musky are weather dependent, but typically happen each year in March and April. Biologists and hatchery staff work together in collecting both male and female Musky from the James River. These brood fish are shipped to the Vic Thomas hatchery where individuals are held for three days and checked for ripeness. A typical female Musky can produce 150,000 to 200,000 eggs, which are then harvested, fertilized by male broodstock, and shipped to the Buller Fish Hatchery. At this point, the brood fish are safely returned to the river from which they were collected.

Aquaculturists at the Buller Fish Hatchery monitor the eggs closely until they hatch. Once hatched, the Musky are stocked into rearing ponds at the Buller and Front Royal Fish Hatcheries. At this life stage, fish are called “fry”, and they feed on plankton, insects, and eventually small minnows. Hatchery staff continue to monitor the ponds throughout the summer until the fish grow into the “advanced fingerling” life stage, which is about 8 to 12 inches in length. In the fall, the rearing ponds are drained and the musky are collected, loaded onto stocking trucks, and distributed to select resources.

While this species is exceptionally difficult and costly to raise, this process has been optimized by DWR staff and has resulted in a massive increase to the survivability of Musky that can’t be achieved under natural ecological conditions.

Since the initial introductions, more waterbodies have been added to the list of stocked waters, and many opportunities now exist as stocked and/or self-sustaining populations across The Commonwealth.

Over the last 20 years Musky fishing on the James River has grown in popularity. While biologists are monitoring the Musky population with annual electrofishing surveys, little data was available for how Musky anglers use this fishery. Evaluating exploitation allows biologists to better understand how a fishery is being used and helps address questions such as:

• Are anglers specifically targeting these fish?
• How many fish are being caught?
• Are anglers harvesting fish?

To answer these questions, DWR biologists tagged 1,006 muskies in upper James River with yellow tags as part of an exploitation study from 2016 to 2019. The river was broken into two parts, an “upper” section (from the headwaters down to the confluence of the Maury River), and a “lower” section (from the confluence of the Maury River down through Lynchburg).

Biologists determined the exploitation within the upper section to be 57%, while the lower section had 100% exploitation. Put plainly, about half of the Musky in the upper section, and all of the Musky in the lower section are caught at least once on an annual basis.

Of the anglers who caught Musky, the study found that 88% of anglers were targeting muskies when the fish was caught. Only four fish, or about 1% of those caught, were reported as being harvested by anglers over the four-year study period.

These results indicate the James River has a heavily exploited catch-and-release Musky fishery. Musky are a long-lived species, capable of being caught repeatedly during their lifetime if treated responsibly. Anglers are encouraged to use the proper equipment and best handling techniques when Musky fishing. The high rates of exploitation support the need for annual monitoring, ongoing angler education, and underscores the need for supplemental stocking.

Building off of the findings in the exploitation study, biologists were left wondering if the extreme levels of catch-and-release would affect the ability to sustain high catch-rates or the potential for fish to grow to trophy sizes in the studied locations. Musky anglers also voiced concerns related to the effects of angling during the summer months.

Virginia DWR partnered with Coastal Carolina University to help answer these questions and determine a path forward. To accomplish this, adult Musky in the James River were implanted with radio transmitters after being caught with rod and reel. Tagged individuals were tracked throughout the study period to determine post-release survival.

In the winters of 2020 and 2021, a total of seventy-five Musky were caught and implanted with transmitters. Of those tagged fish, twelve were successfully re-caught by anglers during the summer months. Four of those individuals died shortly after release, resulting in a mortality estimate of approximately 33%. This mortality rate is significantly higher than the estimated natural mortality during the warm water summer period. While this was an unfortunate result, the study also showed that it required a tremendous amount of fishing effort, over 100 trips totaling over 600 hours of angling by experienced Musky anglers, just to catch the 12 individuals. Given these low catch rates, it is unlikely that the mortality from warm water catch-and-release angling is a driving force in the ability of Musky to grow to trophy size in the James River. With that said, it has become common for Musky anglers to consider not targeting the species during summer months, or periods of extended warm weather, as these fish become thermally stressed resulting in higher rates of mortality.