Can You Eat Muskie Fish?

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Last Updated on August 23, 2024 by Paul Clayton

Can You Eat Muskie Fish?

In the aquatic realm, where mysteries abound and myths swirl, one question often surfaces with intrigue and curiosity – can you eat muskie fish? This question is steeped in culinary and cultural complexities, with many a daring gastronome seeking to fish for muskie fish, only to be confronted with the reality of its characteristic flavor and texture.

Does it carry an oily residue on your palate, or does it lean more towards a solid fishy taste? And what of the whispered tales of bony muskies? Is there truth in the warnings about an abundance of bones concealed within its tantalizing flesh?

Join us as we dive into the depths of these questions, searching for flavorful and factual answers.

Muskie is quite a rare fish in some areas. Naturally, encountering this relative of pike for the first time, one of the thoughts that would cross your mind is: “Can you eat muskie fish?”

Well, there are no easy answers to this question. You’d assume that a muskie is similar to a pike since they are closely related, but that’s not entirely true. They have many things in common, but there are also a couple of crucial differences.

With that said, let’s look at muskie’s edibility and safety.

Are muskies marine or freshwater fish?

The freshwater fish known as muskellunge live in lakes and rivers and withstand various temperatures. Muskellunge rarely occurs in waters with a maximum temperature below 68 F and prefers water in the 67 to 72 degree range.

Why is it so challenging to catch muskies?

Ambush predators. These fish frequently look for a quiet area to wait for meals in solitude. They are not in a rush to go in search of food. For a fish to latch on and be caught, a lure must be directly above a fish that has never previously seen one as a source of danger.

What is the key to fishing for muskies?

Concentrate on shallow rock reefs and rocky points instead of fishing weeds. Once more, don’t only concentrate on the edges; make sure your topwater or bucktail is thrown directly onto the reef or across the point. The active musky is more often found sitting on top of the surface than in deep water.

Do People Eat Muskie Fish?

When it comes to edibility, muskies can indeed be eaten. Moreover, muskies are pretty similar to pike—that’s because muskies are part of the pike family. Also, muskies are the largest species in the pike family!

That said, it appears that muskies aren’t as tasty a meal as pikes—they’re more similar to bass. They seem to have a milder taste, and they’re also quite a bony fish. Just like pike, muskies have Y-shaped bones that make filleting and cleaning a headache.

Muskies are also difficult to catch because they are quite rare in some areas–when angling, you are probably going to encounter many more pike fish than muskies! If you fish for food, then you shouldn’t really worry about muskies since you won’t be seeing them that often.

With that said, what should you do if you catch muskie fish?

Well, there are two options: keep it or release it back into the water. Your decision will not be just a matter of preference—a few objective factors will affect it.

Mercury in muskie fish

The first factor is mercury.

Mercury contamination is quite common in fish, especially predatory fish. Water can be contaminated with mercury due to environmentally unfriendly human activities such as coal burning or iron mining. Then, fish living in the contaminated water can become contaminated with mercury themselves.

And since predator fish eat other fish, the mercury concentrations in their bodies are much higher. The mercury contained in consumed fish accumulates in predator fish, which is why they have high mercury levels in their bodies.

Sharks, for example, contain 0.979 parts per million of mercury on average, while commonly consumed fish contain much less – trout contains just 0.071 parts per million, lobsters from 0.093 to 0.166, black bass 0.167, and tuna from 0.126 (canned light) to 0.689 (bigeye).

In its natural habitat, the muskie fish is an apex predator, consuming all fish smaller than it. As such, muskie fish have no natural predators except humans, birds of prey, and larger fish when juvenile.

Since muskies are predatory fish, they have a higher mercury concentration in their bodies than other fish. That said, the US Food & Drug Administration doesn’t provide specific numbers on mercury concentrations in muskie fish in its 1990-2010 monitoring program report or the commercial fish & shellfish report.

Some state advisories provide more precise information, though. For example, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources recommends consuming no more than one meal of muskie fish per month.

Besides, the WDNR discourages women who intend to have children and children aged under 15 from eating muskie fish.

The WDNR claims that the mercury level in 40-inch-long and longer muskies is “just over 1 ug/g” (1 microgram per 1 gram) on average. Since 1 microgram is a millionth of a gram, 1 ug/g corresponds to 1 part per million. This means that muskie fish are as mercury-contaminated as sharks, which is very high. This number may only apply to Wisconsin muskies, but it’s still high.

The FDA fish-eating advisory suggests that you avoid consuming fish like sharks. This advice may also apply to muskie fish.

While the WDNR recommendations are an excellent place to start, we suggest you check your local state advisories. The recommendations may differ from area to area, but one thing is clear—muskie fish are high in mercury, so you should be very careful with them.

Scarce muskie populations

Another thing to remember about muskie fish is its populations are scarce in some areas. Due to this, states impose daily bag limits, which is the number of fish you can catch daily. Besides, states may impose minimum length requirements.

In Wisconsin, the daily bag limit is 1 in most areas except for Yellowstone Lake, where it is 0, and Escanaba Lake, where there are no daily bag limits. Yellowstone Lake has a daily bag limit of 0 because muskie fish populations are endangered there, while Escanaba Lake populations are excessive.

Besides, in Wisconsin, the current statewide minimum muskie length is 40 inches, which means that you are not allowed to catch muskies under 40 inches. This rule applies to 94% of Wisconsin waters.

Forty inches is quite a lot since other fish species mostly have minimum limits of about 10 inches, and some do not have minimum limits at all.

The reason for such a high minimum length is the slow growth rate of muskie fish. As the WDNR guide states, muskies grow about 11 inches in a year, 34 inches in 7 years, 40 inches in 9 years, and 50 inches in 17 years.

That said, muskie fish may not have any length limits in other states. For example, in Maine, muskie fisheries are not actively managed. That’s because muskies are not native to Maine, and since they are predatory, they can significantly harm native fish populations.

Due to this, some states may encourage anglers to catch muskies by removing fishing limits.

Given all of the above, you should:

• Keep the caught muskie fish if the regulations in your area are not strict.
• Practice catch-and-release muskie fishing if there are strict limits in your area.

How to Cook Muskie Fish

The cooking process of muskie fish is similar to that of other fish. You can fry it in a pan, bake it, grill it, or use it in your favorite fishing recipes. However, since the taste of muskie fish isn’t quite the same as that of pike, dishes based on muskie may be a little bit different than expected.

Pan-fried muskie fish

The simplest way to cook muskie fish is by frying it on a pan. For a relatively simple pan-fried muskie, you will need the following ingredients:

• Muskie fish.
• Butter or oil.
• Salt, pepper, and any other seasoning ingredients to your taste.

And here are the frying steps:

1. Clean and fillet the muskie fish. If you have ever filleted pike, you shouldn’t have issues with muskies since they are similar. Otherwise, check this video guide.
2. Put the fish fillets into a bowl and season them with lemon and seasonings of your choice.
3. Let the fish marinate for about 1 hour.
4. Place your pan on medium heat with butter or oil.
5. Place the fish into the pan and let each side fry for 7-8 minutes.

Pecan nut-crusted muskie fillets

This is a slightly more difficult recipe, but it will provide you with more options for managing the dish’s taste.

Here’s what you will need for this dish’s base recipe:

• 2 pounds of muskie fillets.
• 1 cup of pecans.
• 1/4 cup of melted butter.
• 1/4 cup of white wine.
• One zested and juiced lemon.
• 1 small minced shallot.
• 1/4 cup of peanut oil.
• Salt and paper to taste.

Here’s how to prepare this dish:

1. Combine the pecans, minced shallot, melted butter, white wine, and lemon zest & juice in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Mix everything.
2. Roll the fish fillets in the mixture.
3. Prepare a large frying pan. Pour the peanut oil into the pan and place it over medium-high heat.
4. Place the fillets into the skillet and fry each side for 3-4 minutes. Ready fish will be golden brown.
5. Serve the fish with a sauce, e.g. a butter dipping sauce.

Final Words

In the end, muskie fish is indeed edible, but remember its high mercury levels and do not consume it more than once per month. Women who want to have children and children should avoid muskie fish altogether. Muskie can be a decent dish to have occasionally, but not as a primary fish dish.

When angling for muskie fish, remember local regulations and follow them to avoid problems with the law.

And finally, remember that muskie fish has a great alternative, which is pike. Pike is a little safer than muskie fish, though this depends on your area. In addition, you can catch many more pikes in some areas than muskie fish.

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