Musky Seasonal Movements
In order to successfully fish for musky all season long anglers need to be aware of and follow the musky as they perform their seasonal movements. While it is commonly understood that fish move shallow to spawn in spring, out to deeper waters in summer, and back towards spawning areas prior to winter it is not very well understood just how far these fish will or can be expected to move in any given day, season, or year! In this blog post we will cover our own musky fishing experiences as well as what the formal research on the topic has discovered. In short; musky move as much as they need too! This could be less than a kilometre or over 100!
Seasonal Movements: An Overview
Before we dive into the specifics on seasonal movements it is crucial to remember that all fish have one goal: survival. Their actions serve the best interest of their survival. This means spending the majority of their time in areas that optimize growth! Ample food supplies, preferred water temperatures, shelter, and ability to adapt to changing conditions allow this to happen. At times it may be favorable for fish to move areas completely to optimize their growth; especially if there are not very large areas creating huge forage populations that can sustain them. In simple or small bodies of water the musky seasonal movements are straight forward as there are relatively few areas which have the right conditions needed in each particular season. The larger the bodies of water the more area's that can suit the needs of your target species in each season. On small bodies of water these movements will typically be shorter while on larger bodies of water the movements can be longer to reach the next suitable area. As the bodies of water become more complex the seasonal movements can also increase in complexity.
Fish Movements In Simple Bodies of Water
We like to define simple bodies of water as those that are open, near bowl shaped, single or dual basin, with minimal structure. In simple bodies of water the difference between deep and shallow water is just how far off the bank you are with the deepest being somewhere in the middle. There is very little structure that connects different depths. Simple bodies of water warm up fairly uniform. This lets fish use smaller area's and generally move shallower when temperatures warm in spring an deeper as they warm too much in the summer; which simply means fish will move closer to the bank and further away from the bank.
Fish Movements In Complex Bodies of Water
We like to define complex bodies of water as those that have multiple areas that could be looked at as their own lake, have complex structural features that mix shallow, deep, and mid depth areas. On complex bodies of water finding deep water is not just about going further offshore. Water temperatures in complex bodies of water DO NOT warm up uniformly. In fact, the temperatures between a shallow bay system and the main lake can be 10-15 degrees F difference at times! Not only does this complicate how fish distribute but also the area's suitable for them at any given time throughout the year.
Musky Seasonal Movements Georgian Bay
The short answer around the topic of seasonal movements and how far musky will move throughout the year is "as much as they need to". While musky are known to have specific home ranges for spawning, in summer, and for overwintering the distance between these can very significantly between individual fish and bodies of water. If you're just learning how to musky fish, exploring a new body of water, or just want to be sure you're not missing out on fish in your current body of water being able to put some limits on the range of areas you look will certainly allow you to be more efficient and stay in high percentage areas. So, just how far apart can these areas be?
In our experience fishing on Georgian Bay there is always a higher concentration of musky close to spawning areas; regardless of time of year. In a lot of areas's we fish we see the most amount of musky within a few kilometres of spawning sites; even in the peak of summer. Areas where deep water is available immediately adjacent to spawning sites tend to hold fish all year long. Wintering areas's seem to be very close to spawning sites (<1 km) with vertical structure between shallow and water over 30 feet deep while the summer haunts we have found have been a maximum of 16 km away from closest spawning site! While this information is riddled with confirmation bias and purely based on catches it does give some boundaries for limiting your search. In all cases water temperature appears to play a big role in limiting the movements. In colder years more fish remain close to spawning sites where as in warmer years when the area's further away from spawning sites warm to sufficient levels the musky seem to be there. The same is true when comparing more northern sections (deeper + colder) and southern sections (shallower + warmer).
Musky Tracking Studies
Anecdotal evidence is a good starting point but what about all the fish that aren't being caught? What if they aren't being caught because they aren't around or moved so far nobody is fishing for them? The only way to truly understand the limits of musky movements is through formal research and tracking studies. There have been a number of studies around this topic conducted over the years for scientific and fisheries management purposes. We've taken a look and tried to extract the information that will benefit anglers the most. All studies can be accessed by clicking the hyperlinked text at the start of each paragraph.
A study conducted in multiple sections of the Mississippi River in Minnesota showed interesting results on this topic. 3 sections of the river separated by dams to prevent movement of fish between sections were used and each section was significantly different in terms of the structural layout. The study found that on average musky winter 13 km away from spawning sites yet in one section all musky wintered ~20 km away from spawning sites and in the others musky wintered right next to spawning sites. Looking at the sections of river in question this makes sense as long sections of shallow water with only the lowest end of river having water >15 ft deep and the northmost end with current for spawning being extrmely shallow. Other sections where winter zones are right outside spawning is where deep (>15 ft) water is immediately available. Summer areas were dispersed between all sections of the river ranging from 2 - 25 km away from spawning sites.
Multiple studies have been conducted on Lake Michigans Green Bay. Including one which provided maps of specific fish movements over a 2-3 year period. While all studies showed that muskellunge move back towards rivers in the fall the individual maps of fish movements are truly telling. There is considerable difference between male and female musky throughout the year. While the same spawning sites were used each year the males would stick to the same site for the duration of the spawn while big females bounce back and forth quickly between spawning sites. In once case a 50"+ female made the 10 km trip in a single day! Summer homes for females were ~8-16 km from each spawning site however one 37" female moved over 120 km from the spawning site in just 9 days. What is most interesting about these tracked fish are that the females all leave the rivers in the spring while the males stick very close. Additionally, all the musky wintered in water less than 20 ft and sometimes less than 15 ft.
In one Georgian Bay musky tracking study the findings were that males showed up at spawning zones first while females stages offshore over deeper water. One musky during the spawn moved 4 km in a single day between spawning areas! To reach summer haunts musky moved back over 2 day period following the spawn and could be as far as 7km away. What is interesting to note in this study is that summer haunts rarely had 2 fish in the same location. Activity was lowest at dawn, increased throughout the day, peaked at dusk, and declined at night. The results also confirm that muskellunge are generally sedentary during the summer period, but do exhibit reasonably pronounced diel activity patterns.
A St. Louis river study, which drains into Lake Superior, found that males spent significantly more time upstream throughout the year near spawning sites while females spent significantly more time downstream. The downstream areas of the river which drains into Lake Superior is ~22 km from the rapids section which is the known spawning site. Muskellunge tended to move upstream in the spring, downstream and into Lake Superior throughout summer, and to the middle river during fall and winter.
Another study showed that following the spawn musky return to summer areas over a distance as great as 6.4 km in a maximum of two days. A study conducted in the St. Clair - Detroit River system found substantial daily movements of muskellunge averaging nearly 900 m per day!
A Thornapple lake study, which is a mere 3 km in length, showed that on average musky moved 20-50 m per day. Despite the small size of this body of water males and females had distinctly separate home ranges.
How Far Do Musky Move?
After taking all of the above into consideration there are some limits we can put on the question "how far do musky move?". While there will always be outliers who will travel very little or extremely far the conclusions below can reasonably be used to bound your search for musky; especially on big waters.
The distance musky move in a season will depend on the layout of the body of water or area being targeted
There will always be musky very close to spawning sites (mostly smaller males)
Summer haunts can be up to 20 km from spawning sites but are often closer if favourable conditions are available
Wintering zones can be equally as far but are often in the closest available area to spawning sites with favourable conditions
Despite the above musky have the ability to travel these distances in a single day and often do when moving between home ranges
Within home ranges musky often move up to 1 km per day which can be used to guess where a spotted musky has ended up.
To learn more about how to target musky throughout the entire season, identify spawning sites, summer haunts, and wintering areas be sure to take our course at the link below:
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