musky – Syndication Server

Catch of giant muskie breaks 25-year-old record

A West Virginia angler who decided to fish for a few hours before a planned grocery run Saturday landed a 51-pound muskie to set a state record for the species.

A West Virginia angler who decided to fish briefly before a planned grocery run Saturday landed a 51-pound muskie to set a state record for the species.

Luke King told ForTheWin Outdoors that he hooked the 55 1/16-inch muskellunge while casting a 6-inch jerkbait from shore below the dam at Burnsville Lake.

The catch beat weight and length records dating to 1997 and 2017, respectively, according to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources’ website.

“The fight was pretty epic,” said King, who is from Burnsville. “She was big and mean, but ran out of luck after the hook was set. She head-shook for a while on the surface then almost swam right towards me.

“I had one tree I had to steer her around and she came right to my feet. After she thrashed around on the surface I was able to coax her into the net head-first.”

King said a biologist with the WVDNR verified the weight and length of the muskie before King set the fish free.

“Everything was finalized,” he said late Monday. “It’s the state record for both weight and length. It just might take a few days before it’s ‘official.’ ”

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On Tuesday, WVDNR fisheries management specialist Mark Scott told FTW Outdoors: “The fish is not ‘official’ yet as we have to have certain documentation completed. However, unless something unforeseen comes up, I fully expect this fish will be deemed the official record soon.”

On Saturday, King wrote on Facebook that the catch was a “dream come true.”

He was fishing alone when the massive muskie struck, and phoned friends for assistance in taking photographs and keeping the muskie alive. “It was a lucky trip,” he said. “I only planned to fish for a few hours before heading to the store to stock up on groceries.”

For the sake of comparison, the world record for muskie, or muskellunge, stands at 67 pounds, 8 ounces. That fish was caught at Lake Court Oreilles in Wisconsin in 1949.

–Top image shows Luke King (right) with his record muskie

Giant muskie catch on icy lake may have ‘crushed’ 64-year-old record

A Minnesota angler appears to have broken a 64-year-old state record with the nighttime catch of a nearly 56-pound muskie.

“The rumors are true!” Nolan Sprengeler wrote on Facebook after his catch Monday of a 55-pound, 14.8-ounce muskie at Mille Lacs Lake.

The current record, 54 pounds, was set at Lake Winnibigoshish in 1957.

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Sprengeler, 27, of Minnetonka, told FTW Outdoors that he submitted his record application to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday. As of the time of this post he had not heard back from the agency.

Sprengeler told KARE 11 that he and some buddies were enjoying perhaps the final night of fishing before the lake becomes too ice-covered to fish from a boat. The air temperature was 18 degrees as they broke through ice near the marina to access deeper water.

Sprengeler has been pursuing the catch-and-release record (57-1/4 inches) for weeks. But the muskie he landed Monday, “after a quick battle and a few ridiculous head shakes,” was deep-hooked and not responsive during the release attempt.

“I didn’t realize how giant this fish was until I pulled it out of the net and immediately called Kevin [Kray] over to assist with the buddy pictures,” Sprengeler wrote. “It measured an incredible 57.75” in length with a 29” girth.

“The next hour or so was spent trying to get her to release. Eventually we realized this was not going to happen and made the decision to bring it to a certified scale and crush the Minnesota State Record.”

On Tuesday, the fish was weighed at a UPS Store in Golden Valley.

For the sake of comparison, the International Game Fish Assn. lists as the all-tackle world record a 67-pound, 8-ounce muskie caught at Wisconsin’s Lake Court Oreilles in 1949.

–Top image shows Nolan Sprengeler (left) and Kevin Kray posing with the giant muskie

Swimmer attacked by muskie while training for triathlon

A triathlete from Ontario, Canada, learned a painful lesson recently while swimming in Lake St. Clair: Muskies might mistake your extremities as prey, and they have dangerously sharp teeth.

A triathlete from Ontario, Canada, learned a painful lesson recently while swimming in Lake St. Clair: Muskies might mistake your extremities as prey, and the fish have dangerously sharp teeth.

Matt Gervais, 39, was bitten on the right hand Aug. 13 as he trained for an upcoming event with a friend. “It was a lot of pain [and] it hurt really bad, right away,” he told CTV News.

Gervais was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he received 13 stitches. He’s still awaiting clearance to resume training.

Gervais said that after the muskie struck he looked down and saw that it was still latched onto his hand.

“I caught it eye to eye, underwater with my goggles,” Gervais said, adding that what he saw after the fish let go was “carnage.”

Trevor Pitcher, a professor at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, told CTV News that the muskie probably mistook Gervais’ hand for a small fish.

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“The word ‘mistake’ is key because we’re very confident that they don’t intentionally bite people,” Pitcher said. “In reality it’s not very common so humans – and especially human flesh – [are] not part of the muskie diet.”

Gervais, of Windsor, told the Windsor Star: “Some crazy things have happened to me while training, but this is probably the craziest.”

Muskies, or muskellunge, are found throughout much of the northeastern U.S. and as far south as Georgia.

The fish are apex predators wherever they occur and strike with remarkable speed and ferocity, making them incredibly popular among anglers.

According to the International Game Fish Assn., the world record has stood at 67 pounds, 8 ounces, since 1949. That muskie was caught at Lake Court Oreilles in Hayward, Wisconsin.

Angler nearly tips canoe catching huge musky, a ‘fish of a lifetime’

Mikhale Pearthree came up big with his musky catch from Bde Maka Ska. His dad says he’s got a sixth sense when it comes to fishing.

Mikhale Pearthree, an avid fisherman from Minneapolis, was fishing from a canoe on Bde Maka Ska when he hooked a “fish of a lifetime” that nearly caused him to capsize his boat.

The 21-year-old landed a 54.5-inch musky from the 401-acre lake, which is two blocks from his house, allowing him to fish three times a week, as reported by FOX 9.

Pearthree hooked the fish around 4:30 p.m. Monday after an hour of fishing.

“I could feel it and it felt like a big fish,” Pearthree told FOX 9. “Once I saw it, I didn’t realize it was quite as big, but once it got closer, I realized it was big.”

Getting the fish into the canoe proved challenging, and dangerous, so he decided against it.

“The canoe almost tipped, and I paddled to shore,” he said.

Unfortunately, by the time he got into shore and finally landed the fish, it was “non-responsive” and Pearthree was unable to release his catch, as he normally would.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bHUwTfTUyk

“It’s the fish of a lifetime, basically,” Pearthree told FOX 9.

Pearthree’s father, Craig, wasn’t surprised, telling FOX 9 nothing his son does in the fishing world is surprising because he is an expert, adding, “He’s had an interest since he was a young kid and he fishes a lot, and he has a sixth sense.”

Incidentally, if you are curious about the name of the lake, it’s Dakota for White Earth Lake.

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