Muskie Diet: What They Eat, How Big and Where to Find Them

Muskie Diet: What They Eat, How Big, and Where to Find Them

Explore the muskie diet: prey size, seasonal habits, and where to fish. Use recent studies to pick the best lures and boost your muskie fishing success!

Why Muskie Diet Matters for Anglers

Curious about the muskie diet? Knowing what muskies eat—yellow perch, white suckers, or ciscoes—helps anglers choose the right lures and fishing spots. Recent studies reveal prey size, seasonal patterns, and where muskies feed, giving you the edge to land that trophy fish. By matching your presentations to their prey’s behavior, you can fish smarter, whether targeting shallow structures or deep basins.

For example, if muskies are chasing ciscoes suspending over deep water, use lures that mimic their movement. If they’re hunting bottom-dwelling suckers, focus on muddy flats with bottom-hugging baits. Let’s dive into the latest research to uncover what muskies eat, how big their prey is, and where to find them.

Stomach Contents Study: What’s in a Muskie’s Belly?

A groundbreaking study (Glade et al.) examined the stomach contents of 368 muskies, including 84 over 42 inches and 14 over 50 inches, using electrofishing and stomach flushing. Here’s what they found:

• Prey Size: Muskies eat prey up to half their length, not just one-third as commonly believed. For instance, 50–55-inch muskies had prey up to 24 inches long, though smaller items were common too.

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• Key Prey Types:

  • Yellow Perch: Dominant for 30–38-inch muskies but less important as muskies grow.

  • White Suckers: Critical for muskies over 42 inches, especially in shallow, muddy areas.

  • Sunfish and Bullheads: Rise in importance for larger muskies, alongside invertebrates like worms.

    
    

• Seasonal Consistency: Muskie diets in shallow water show little seasonal variation. Lure size matters less than matching the depth and structure where prey live.

  
  

Takeaway: When fishing for big muskies, target bottom areas with lures mimicking suckers or bullheads. Don’t shy away from large lures like a Magnum Bulldawg, even early in the season, if fishing deeper breaks.

Tissue Sampling Study: Where Muskies Feed

Another study (Herwig et al.) analyzed muscle tissue from muskies to trace their diets over months, focusing on spring-caught fish. By comparing tissue to prey types, researchers identified three diet signatures:

• Invertebrates: Worms and insects, common across lakes.

• Shallow-Water Prey: Suckers, bluegills, perch—dominant in lakes without ciscoes.

• Pelagic Prey: Ciscoes, prevalent in lakes with large cisco populations.

  
  

Findings by Lake Type:

• In lakes without ciscoes, muskies ate mostly shallow-water fish (e.g., bullheads in fertile lakes).

• In cisco-rich lakes, diets were ~50% ciscoes, 25% shallow-water fish, and 25% invertebrates.

• Data didn’t clarify if individual muskies split time between deep and shallow feeding or if populations specialize by habitat.

  
  

Takeaway: In cisco-heavy lakes, target deep basins with suspending lures. In perch- or sucker-dominated lakes, focus on shallow structures. to match these patterns.

How Muskie Diets Vary by Size and Season

The studies reveal how muskie diets shift with size and hint at seasonal strategies:

• By Size:

  • 30–38 inches: Yellow perch dominate, making weed beds prime spots.

  • 38–42 inches: Perch and sunfish are equally important, suggesting varied habitats.

  • 42–50 inches: White suckers lead, with pike, bullheads, and invertebrates adding diversity.

  • 50+ inches: Suckers, bullheads, and invertebrates dominate, all bottom-dwellers, pointing to deeper flats or structure.

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• By Season:

  • Shallow-water muskies show consistent diets year-round, so focus on prey location over lure size.

  • Tissue studies suggest late fall cisco feeding in deep lakes, likely tied to cisco spawning.

  • Spring diets heavy in perch may align with perch spawning, when they’re concentrated and vulnerable.

    
    

Takeaway: Big muskies eat diverse, bottom-oriented prey, so target structure over sand or mud. In fall, try deep water for cisco-eaters; in spring, hit perch spawning areas.

Practical Tips for Muskie Fishing

Here’s how to use muskie diet insights to improve your angling:

1. Match Lure to Prey:

   • For perch or sunfish: Use 4–6-inch crankbaits in weed beds.

   • For suckers or bullheads: Try large soft plastics or bucktails near bottom structure.

   • For ciscoes: Use 8–12-inch suspending jerkbaits in deep basins.

2. Target Prey Habitats:

   • Shallow flats (5–15 feet) for perch and suckers in spring/summer.

   • Deep breaks (20–40 feet) for ciscoes in fall.

   • Muddy bottoms for bullheads year-round.

3. Time Your Trips:

   • Spring: Focus on perch spawning in shallows.

   • Fall: Target cisco spawning in deep water.

   • Midday: Try deep water if muskies move off shallows for thermal refuge.

4. Lure Size Flexibility:

   • Don’t limit yourself to small lures in spring. Big muskies eat big prey year-round, so a “Pounder” can work anytime if the depth’s right.

Pro Tip: Muskies rarely eat game fish like walleyes, so don’t worry about competition. Their diverse diet means they coexist well with other species. Share your muskie catches in the comments below!

FAQ: Common Questions About Muskie Diets

What do muskies eat?

Muskies eat yellow perch, white suckers, bullheads, ciscoes, and invertebrates, with prey size ranging from insects to fish up to half their length.

Do muskie diets change by season?

Shallow-water muskies eat consistently year-round, but in cisco lakes, they may target deep-water ciscoes in fall during spawning.

How big is muskie prey?

Prey can be up to 50% of a muskie’s length—think 24-inch fish for a 50-inch muskie—though smaller prey is common.

Where should I fish for muskies?Target shallow weeds for perch-eaters, muddy flats for suckers, or deep basins for ciscoes, based on lake type and season.

What Muskies Eat: How Big, How Much, and Where?

There’s been some very interesting work done on muskie diets in the last five years. The

muskie’s diet is important to us as anglers because it affects not only influences where we

search for muskies but also the presentations we use when developing patterns. If muskies are

primarily targeting ciscoes or whitefish at a certain time, species that tend to suspend over

deep basins in cool water, we should be fishing in those same basins with lures that match the

behavior of those prey species. If muskies are feeding on white suckers, we would do better to

target structure with mud and sandy areas that are shallow enough to have oxygen at depth,

using lures that hug the bottom. Even if you don’t try to exactly match the prey itself, knowing

what prey muskies stalk will help you to develop the “where, when, and how” of your muskie

strategy.

The recent muskie diet studies fall into two categories. In the first study is, researchers

captured muskies, usually by electrofishing, and then flushed the muskie’s stomach to

investigate what food items were present. This sort of study gives direct information about

what muskies eat. The second study examined the muscle tissue of captured muskies to see

how the contents of their muscles compare to the contents of tissue in their prey. It turns out

that the nutrients given to muskies by eating ciscoes over deep water are measurably different

from the nutrients they receive from consuming shallow-water prey such as bluegills, suckers,

and perch. The old adage “you are what you eat” comes to mind here, and we could revise

those words for muskies to say “they are WHERE they eat”!

Stomach Contents Study (Glade, et. al.)

The stomach contents study included a significant number of muskies of various sizes, and this

was not limited to muskies of small size. In all, 368 muskies were captured as part of this study.

What is more, the study was not limited to small muskies. 84 of the muskies sampled were

larger than 42 inches in length, and 14 of the muskies were larger than 50 inches in length.

These numbers are high enough that the researchers were able to come to clear conclusions

about how muskies feed.

The size of prey items that muskies actually consume is an interesting question. A general rule

I’ve heard spoken by anglers is that maximum prey size is about one-third the length of the

muskie. The stomach contents of muskies have been able to provide confirmation of this

general rule, however, there is significant variation in prey size. Muskies will definitely consume

prey much smaller than one-third their length. However, it was also found that muskies will

consume prey items up to one-half of their length. This was NOT limited to small muskies

either. A decent number of muskies in the 50” to 55” size class were sampled, and they had

prey items in their stomachs up to nearly 24” in length!

One of the aims of the diet study was to see how predator diets vary seasonally. For us muskie

anglers, this is really important information because this knowledge can inform our lure choices

by season; spring, summer, or fall. The research shows that there is no substantial variation in

muskie diet throughout the season for muskies captured from shallow water. While there is

some small variation in the importance of different types of prey, this variation was not large

enough to be counted as significant. Thus, even though tradition suggests that we use small

lures in the spring period, medium- to large-sized lures in summer period, and very large lures

in the fall, the research suggests that muskies do not change much about their diet throughout

the year. Instead, what is more important in lure selection is whether the lures we present are

appropriate to the structure and depth that we are fishing rather than hewing to some

traditional guideline on the size of the lure we should be using. So if muskies are in deeper

water off a break line in the early part of the season, it is probably just fine to use a Magnum

Bulldawg or even a “Pounder” for your presentation.

The diet study also compared the diets of muskies of various sizes. It did so by sorting the

muskies by size class and breaking down the muskie’s food items by type within that size class.

The size classes were 30”-38”, 38”-42”, 42”-50”, and 50+”. To estimate a food item’s

importance, a careful analysis of food items was conducted accounting for both weight and

number of each type of prey. This analysis was done to balance the situation where a muskie

might eat 30 fathead minnows and 1 huge white sucker. The analysis took into account both

numbers and weight of prey to assign a number to each type of prey item as to its importance

in a muskie’s diet.

Yellow perch is an extremely important prey fish for many predators (muskies, walleyes,

northern pike, etc…) in the northern tier of lakes. The study found that yellow perch were the

single most important type of prey for muskies that were 30”-38” long. But this importance of

yellow perch decreases significantly as muskies grow. For muskies in the 38”-42” size class, the

importance of yellow perch as prey diminished while the importance of sunfish increased so

that both perch and sunfish were about equal in importance. By the time muskies have grown

into the 42”-50” size class, yellow perch importance has shrunk still further, and white suckers

take the lead as the most prominent prey with other significant fractions of a muskie’s diet

including northern pike, invertebrates (like worms and insects), and bullheads. By the time

muskies are in excess of 50”, their diet has shifted to mostly white suckers, invertebrates, and

bullheads. An important thing to know about muskies of large size (42” and larger) is that their

diets are incredibly diverse, ranging from insects and worms to very large white suckers and

other prey. This is quite different from muskies of smaller size, whose diet is dominated by

yellow perch.

A nugget of information that struck me as I was reviewing this data is the types of prey items

that dominated the diets of the largest muskies: white suckers, aquatic invertebrates, and

bullheads. What do each of these prey items have in common? They all inhabit bottom areas of

our lakes. Think carefully about that fact when you are considering what depth you want to

cover with your presentations when targeting large muskies.

You may have noted the complete lack of pelagic forage (eg. ciscoes) in the muskie diets

discussed in this section. Keep in mind that the study I’ve been writing about in this section was

accomplished by electrofishing in the shallow regions of lakes. Since pelagic forage like ciscoes

do not typically inhabit shallow areas, it is not surprising that the muskies sampled in this study

didn’t show many ciscoes in their diet. After all, if a muskie is captured in the shallows it is less

likely to have consumed a pelagic meal like a cisco.

Tissue Sampling Study (Herwig, et. al.)

The second study of muskie diets involved taking a small sample of muscle tissue from a

captured muskie and analyzing the contents, comparing it to the contents of various prey items.

These contents basically serve as a record of what (and where!) muskies had been feeding in

the past few months. The muskies involved in this study were captured in the spring, so the

tissue samples gave a record of what each muskie had consumed in the late summer into the

late fall right before ice-up the previous year.

The types of prey signatures that were distinguishable in the data were: 1) invertebrates

(worms and insects), 2) shallow-water prey fish (suckers, bluegills, perch, etc…), and 3) pelagic

prey (ciscoes). The analysis of these tissue samples allowed the scientists to get the

approximate mix of each class of prey in the collective diets of the capture muskies. As a check

on their results, they analyzed muskies that were in lakes without ciscoes, and they found

exactly what they expected: almost all of the muskies’ diets consisted of shallow-water prey

fish with a small amount of invertebrates (and NO ciscoes). In lakes with small populations of

ciscoes, they found that the muskie’s diets were approximately 80-85% shallow-water prey fish

with the remainder of their diets being about an even mix of ciscoes and aquatic invertebrates.

However, when they examined the tissue of muskies from lakes with significant cisco

populations, they found that ciscoes accounted for about 50% of the muskie’s diets, with

shallow-water prey fish coming in at about 25% of their diets, and aquatic invertebrates also

contributing about 25% to their diets.

Unfortunately, the data that was presented didn’t single out individual muskies or sub-

populations of muskies. These numbers were arrived at by analyzing the data of all sampled

muskies in each lake together so that the researchers could get meaningful statistics. Thus, we

don’t know if the data on cisco lakes mean that each muskie split its time (half the time eating

ciscoes and half the time eating in the shallows) OR whether half the muskie population spent

all its time in deep water eating ciscoes while the other half of the muskie population stayed in

the shallows eating shallow water prey fish and invertebrates. It’s probably a mixture of both,

but the data (as presented) are inconclusive on that.

Conclusions

What conclusions can we draw from these two classes of studies? First, the tissue-sampling

study showed that muskie diets were highly dependent on the type of lake the muskies were

living within. A fertile lake in the Twin Cities metro area had spring-caught muskies feeding

almost exclusively on yellow bullheads in the months previous to their capture. On the other

hand, spring-caught muskies in much less fertile lakes that had large numbers of ciscoes

showed that ciscoes made up 50% of their diets.

Second, the stomach-pumping study showed that muskies captured in the shallows had lots of

shallow-water prey and aquatic invertebrates in their stomachs, but very few pelagic prey like

ciscoes (even for lakes that had significant cisco populations!). Let’s consider what this tells us

about the idea that muskies engage in a daily migration: positioning in the shallows during low

light periods and moving out to deeper, even pelagic, areas during bright conditions. If this idea

of migration throughout the day is true, the data from the stomach-pumping study tells us that

muskies that move out to deeper water don’t necessarily do so specifically to feed on ciscoes. If

so, their stomach contents would have shown at least SOME ciscoes from the previous few

days’ deep-water hunting. Instead, either the muskies are following prey as the prey

themselves move out to deeper areas (perch and panfish sometimes do engage in such daily

migration) OR muskies are moving out to deeper pelagic areas for reasons that are not prey-

related (eg. to use it as a low-light or thermal refuge during midday). Which of these reasons is

true should probably affect how you present to these mid-day, deep-water muskies.

Also, it was noticed in the stomach-pumping study that the diets of muskies and walleyes

seemed to be somewhat similar to one another in the spring of the year. The main reason for

this similarity was the out-sized prevalence of yellow perch in muskie diets at this time (muskies

captured later in the year had fewer yellow perch in their stomachs). This observation, along

with the inference we made that muskies concentrate their hunting efforts on cisco during the

late fall, suggest something about muskie predation strategy. Yellow perch spawn early in the

spring. Bluegills and crappies spawn in the early summer period. Ciscoes spawn in late fall. It

seems that muskies tend to prioritize prey that are spawning. This makes good sense since

spawning prey tends to be concentrated and distracted, obvious targets for opportunistic

predators. While this isn’t necessarily a surprising conclusion, it does support the long-held

notion that knowing about the habits of muskie’s prey will allow you to locate muskies!

Finally, the purpose of both of these studies was to gather data on the contention that muskies

eat significant number of other game fish (like walleyes). Through both direct and indirect

observation, both studies concluded that the importance of game fish to the muskies’ diet is

very small compared to other types of prey. But the studies went further than this. They also

sought to answer the question about the amount of competition for prey between the muskie

population, the walleye population, and the northern pike population. It was established that

muskies have the most diverse diet of all the game fish species (mostly because of muskies’

very large size). Muskies eat everything, from small insects to birds to large prey fish. Because

of the diversity of the muskie diet, there was very little overlap between what muskies typically

eat and what other game fish eat. For this reason, muskies can happily coexist with other game

fish populations. Yes, muskies do eat the occasional walleye, northern pike, or bass, but as a

population, muskies have little to no negative impact on the populations of other game fish

species.

Hopefully this review of two of the latest studies on muskie diet have given you some food for

thought when developing patterns this upcoming season.

Dr. Bob