Are Musky Good to Eat?

Are Muskies Good to Eat? Can you eat a musky?

Eat Muskie?

The question of whether muskies are good to eat comes up more often than you’d think. In my many years as a musky guide, I’ve been asked multiple times if these fish are suitable for the table. While hardcore musky anglers might clutch their pearls while simultaneously grabbing their pitchforks at the mere suggestion, let’s be clear: there are no dumb questions.

Firstly, musky—interchangeably spelled muskie for those unfamiliar—are edible. They have white flesh when cooked that is safe for human consumption. However, just because you can eat musky doesn’t mean you should.

Musky are not harvested or eaten for several reasons. Chief among them is their slow growth and extended time needed to reach sexual maturity. A trophy-class musky, measuring forty inches or more, is over a decade old and just entering its prime reproductive years. Removing even a single musky from a body of water can have serious, long-lasting impacts on the overall population.

Musky anglers, while sometimes perceived as condescending or overzealous about safe handling and catch-and-release practices, have their hearts in the right place. Every musky plays a critical role in its environment and the sustainability of the species. Dedicated musky anglers release all muskies caught, even those classified as legal to keep. This practice is considered mandatory across the sport. Anglers who catch a musky, regardless of its size, are expected to release it to preserve the population.

If the plight of the species as a whole is not enough to encourage anglers to safely release all musky caught, one should keep in mind that most Tennessee musky waters have fifty inch minimums making them essentially catch and release only.

In the past, anglers during the dark ages harvested most, if not all, muskies they caught. Combined with high-quality rods, reels, and lines, this practice nearly depleted musky populations in many bodies of water. The decline negatively affected not only the fish but also the anglers, as recreational fishing opportunities for musky dwindled significantly.

You may have stumbled across this article hoping to find a tasty musky recipe for supper, but please make every effort to release any and all muskies you catch. Practice catch, photo, and release to ensure that anglers for years to come can enjoy this resource, even in waters with only stocked musky populations.

But if you insist on eating a muskie, here’s my best musky recipe: place the musky on a freshly cut cedar board, cook until warm, discard the musky, and eat the board—it’ll taste far better than the fish ever could!

Steven Paul

Musky Fishing Expert

Tennessee Musky Fishing Guide