Spring Silver

[Mike J]

Here's a little explanation for Iowa at least.

[Do-it Rep]

Therefore the real spring silver might have been your pocket watch 

Haha, True!

Kyle I have heard this story my whole life, but no one can confirm it. The most likely reason the Muskies are in the Cedar River is because they are stocked in Clear Lake. The outlet from Clear Lake dumps into the Winnebago River, the Winnebago empties into the Shellrock River and the shellrock empties into the Cedar River. There are a lot of Muskies in the Shellrock. These fish we catch are definitely silver pike. You can tell the difference by the pores on the underside of their jaw. Pike have 5 or less and Muskies have 6 to 9. There are also Silver pike in a couple north central Iowa lakes. One is the start of the Iowa River so I wouldn't be surprised if there are silver pike in the Iowa River as well.

Mike,  That has always been my thought and interpretation as well, exactly.

[efishnc]

About 20 years ago, someone claimed to catch a "muskie" on the Miss near La Crosse and they had a similar thought as to how it may have ended up there... (it slipped through the dam of a nearby impoundment, came down the tributary and swam upstream in the big river to where it was caught)... and that claim made a pretty big story in the outdoor section of our local paper, but it had no pictures to assess (it was a catch and release before most older people were carrying phones).  Although this was theoretically possible, if I were in Vegas I would have bet on a blue/silver pike because a muskie should have stayed in its tributary waters (for many reasons).  Although I cannot definitively say that it was not a muskie because I did not see it to make a positive ID, I just think the odd phased pike is a much more plausible explanation.