I’ve known muskies to do something similar- swim around at the surface with their head out of the water.

I remember looking into it, and no it’s definitely a thing, but no one seems to know why exactly they do it. There’s a few theories that have to do with the oxygen concentration at the surface, regulating temperature, buoyancy, etc. but the one I personally like to subscribe to is the same as this, that they’re just looking around.

It makes me feel a little less bad about not being able to catch one if they’re at least more intelligent and curious than the average bass or bluegill or whatever else I’m pulling out of their lake.