How big a prey fish can a muskie swallow?
The working rule from diet studies is prey up to about a third of the muskie's own length as routine fare, with documented outliers approaching half. For a 120 cm (47 in) fish that means a 40 cm (16 in) sucker or walleye is a normal meal, swallowed head-first after the sideways grab-and-turn. The energetics explain the habit: one giant meal costs one burst of hunting and days of cheap digestion, which suits a low-density ambusher far better than chasing minnows all day. It is also the standing rebuke to "that bait is too big" — for a true trophy, a 35 cm (14 in) rubber bait sits comfortably inside the menu.
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