By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Sports fishermen have a new reason to grab their poles and head to Green Lake. In early November, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife added 150 fish called tiger muskies to the lake.

Tiger muskies are a cross between the northern pike and the muskellunge . They are usually sterile and are mostly produced in hatcheries. This makes their population size easy to control. The hybrid fish has distinct tiger bars on a light background, similar to the barred coloration pattern of some muskie. Its fins and tail lobes are rounded like a northern pikeıs, but colored like a muskieıs.

One former Fish and Wildlife employee describes tiger muskies as ³very large and mostly teeth.²

The Department of Fish and Wildlife introduced the tiger muskies to Green Lake to help control the lakeıs carp population.

According to a Fish and Wildlife fact sheet, carp in Green Lake have grown to out-of-control numbers and are seriously reducing the resources available for more desirable species such as trout, bass and catfish. However, Steve Jackson, warm water fish program manager for the state, says the tiger muskies could provide quite an angling opportunity as well.

Typically tiger muskies live about 10 years and grow fast. A tiger muskie can reach 20 inches in its first year. Moveover, in Michigan and Wisconsin, anglers have reportedly caught tiger muskies weighing over 50 pounds. According to Jackson, most tiger muskies will ultimately attain a weight of about 25 pounds.

Jackson describes tiger muskies as not only a potential trophy fish for Green Lake fishermen but also as a ³good eatinı ıı white-fleshed seafood.

Often, Jackson says, people keep a tiger muskie because it is the biggest fish theyıve ever caught. The minimum size for keeping a tiger muskie is 36 inches.

While tiger muskies seem to be a good opportunity for the experienced angler, they are definitely not for the faint of heart. According to an article in Utahıs Salt Lake Tribune, tiger muskies may start a new category of angling beyond ³big² or ³challenging² called ³scary.² Tribune reporter Skip Knowles wrote that the tiger muskie fishing can be dangerous, partly because of the teeth and partly because once youıve hooked a big one ³itıs difficult thereafter to get excited about probing streams for trout.²

One of the reasons the Department of Fish and Wildlife chose to introduce the tiger muskie to Green Lake is that the fish like to prowl in weedy environments. Despite the tiger muskieıs formidable hunting tools, Jackson says that it tends to go for fish that are easiest to catch such as small to midsize carp, perch, sunfish and goldfish.

Fish and Wildlife has added tiger muskies to approximately eight other lakes in Washington state so far including Lake Tapps in Pierce County and a number of waters in eastern Washington. Although only 150 of the fish have been placed in Green Lake so far, Jackson says the department eventually plans to increase that number to one fish per surface acre of the 255-acre lake.

Fair warning to Green Lake anglers: be prepared for a large, toothy adversary in the coming years, and donıt let any of the smaller members of your family fall in.