> A total of 3 walleyes were found in muskies on Lake Miltona. That made up less than 1.5% of the muskies’ diet by number and less than 2% by mass.

> “It’s definitely not like they were targeting walleyes. We expected to see some. I was kind of surprised we didn’t see more, just based on how often we saw muskies and walleyes in the same areas when we were sampling.”

Hmmm…. So if they aren’t eating walleyes, what are they eating? [chin-scratch emoji]

> The preliminary numbers on Lake Miltona showed that yellow perch made up the largest percentage of the muskie’s diet by numbers.

> “Largemouth bass were a fairly important diet item for them as well. They had a decent amount of bullheads there, and also some crappie and bluegill. Then white suckers….

> Yellow perch came out to about 65% of the total diet items by number for Miltona muskies, but that’s not the only thing researchers look at….

> Percentage by mass, the total mass of one prey species divided by the total mass of all prey species present, is also an important factor. Yellow perch made up about 8% of the muskies’ diet by mass on Lake Miltona.

> That’s because muskies will commonly feed on larger prey. One muskrat, one ring-billed gull, 11 northern leopard frogs and two northern pike were found in muskies on Miltona. A couple of bowfin, commonly known as dogfish, were also found.

> “They’re not eating extremely frequently, but when they do eat they’re eating some fairly large diet items. We had a couple muskies from Miltona that had white suckers in their stomach that were at or over 20″….”