Northern zone anglers enjoy longer musky season this year

Anglers targeting the fish of a thousand casts, the elusive muskellunge, can now begin their season on May 31 in the Northern Zone. Prior to this year, anglers targeting those big, wary fish needed to wait until June to get out and do some figure eights. This year, as of May 31, all open waters are fishable for musky.

This will give musky anglers added opportunities to target their favorite species, but anglers should remember to check the 2025-2026 hook and line fishing regulations for the specific body or bodies of water they intend to fish.

With variability in ice off dates becoming wider and wider and, overall, warmer water conditions than in decades past, this early opening date, according to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) should have little effect on populations of musky. With the warmer water temperatures, it is likely anglers may find some musky already spawned out and ready to feed. That is good news for anglers in the Northern Muskellunge Management Zone.

Of course, musky activity will vary from lake to lake, with bigger, deeper lakes still having colder water, meaning the spawn could still be active. For the most part, musky will likely be found in shallow, vegetated bays, channels and on points adjacent to shallow bays. Long time anglers could find conditions to be similar to the later, June opening date years ago. Small bucktails, plastics, jerk baits and topwater lures may all be effective at this time of the year. 

The DNR also recommends that anglers have proper release tools on hand such as a large landing net, long nose pliers, a hook cutter and gloves. Especially with fish the size of musky, it is important to minimize the amount of time the fish is out of water as well as the amount of handling time. Handling of fish removes their slime coating that keeps them healthy and allows them to fight off infections, pathogens and parasites. 

For more information about targeting Wisconsin’s State Fish, the muskellunge, head to the DNR website dnr.wi.gov and input “musky fishing” into the search bar.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].