Fish Pictures

RIP my favorite fishing rod

My favorite fishing rod was lost to weeds while trolling a shad rap yesterday afternoon.

A Berkley Lightning rod and Abu Garcia Cardinal reel with which I've caught muskies, walleyes, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, pike, brown trout, rainbow trout, yellow perch, bluegills, pumpkinseeds, rock bass and perhaps a few more species of fish.

Not the greatest spinning rod/reel, but the only one that I have sentimental attachment to. 

The reel that preceded the lost one also caught many fish and now rests in a glass topped box which contains such "treasures" as my first pocket knife, my grandpa's pocket knife, my first fishing hat (which I wore to my first day of kindergarten and last day of high school), my first wallet, the tag for my first buck, and a few other things. 

I had planned on preserving that rod and reel in perhaps a shadow box to commemorate all of the fish it has caught.

I'm now sad, it seemed to always feel like a part of my right arm, and went wherever I went fishing.  My biggest walleye (31") probably came on that rod, and the dozen bass that were caught on my beaver lake Rapala (as opposed to the 10 caught on a combined four other rods) recently came on that rod.  And my first stream trout.  And too many smallmouth bass to count.

A sad day.  All other rods are just things.

Not quite, but nearly, the smallest trout caught on my rod:

Stupid weeds!

...you don't know anything about fishing.

If you're idea of fishing always includes a bobber...then you don't know anything about fishing.

If your primary rod is a color other than black or grey...then you (most likely) don't know anything about fishing.

If the dominant feature of your reel is a large button...then you don't know anything about fishing.

If you don't own a boat (a canoe counts)...then you don't know anything about fishing.  (Trout fishermen excepted.)

 If your boat says "fish n ski," or similar, on it, then you don't know anything about fishing.

If you don't own more than a half dozen Rapalas...then you don't know anything about fishing.

If you only know how to find fish near weeds...then you know very little about fishing.

If you only know one type of knot...then you don't know anything about fishing.

If your big fish story is about a 20" pike...you don't know anything about fishing.

If you don't know the difference between freshwater and saltwater hooks...then you don't know anything about fishing.

(I do mean this as helpful comments to point out where you should learn more, rather than just criticism.)

Observations on the Weekend

I've just added compound bow preparation/ adjustment and baitcasting reel repair to my ever expanding list of skills for which I could make up to minimum wage!

I was in northern Wisconsin and happened pass lots of tourists on the bike trails.  I noticed that all the overweight women were alone, and all the average or thin ones had family around.

Why've so many former fishing towns become t-shirt and ice cream selling tourist destinations?

Why would anyone drive for hours to hike/ bike some stupid trails?

What's the point of an RV?  "We're going camping, but we've forgotten to bring something, what was it?  Oh yeah. The house."

The trick in fishing is having all of your equipment work, being where the fish are, and being there at the right time.  The right time is generally two weeks ago while you were at work.

There's an art to holding fish for pictures.  Its hard to explain when the fish holder is to happy to listen.

 

 

 

Doesn't look like 17", does it?

How to Catch The World Record Muskie

Many people who fish for muskies spend time thinking about when and where the next world record may be caught.

The first problem with this is we don't know what the biggest muskie ever caught was.  There was an awful lot of lying and cheating in the forties when it came to the biggest muskies ever caught.  Some of those fish were still quite big, and one is still widely recognized as the biggest ever at a little over 69 pounds.  There is much speculation about whether or not that fish is as big as we're told or if Indians speared it or about other problems with it.

The next few biggest fish also have questions about their authenticity.  The 65 pounder caught in the Georgian Bay in Lake Huron in the late eighties has new questions about its genuineness.  And the 61 pounder from the same place in 2000 was not weighed as well as those who care about this record would like.

All this leaves us with, possibly, a 58 pound fish caught in Michigan last year.

I find all of that uninteresting.  (If you find it interesting, you might read A Compendium of Musky Angling History.)

One reason I don't find the subject of the biggest fish interesting is because there are many people attempting to determine the biggest fish by calling everyone liars and cheats.  They may be right, but they're still dicks.

(Another fun subject is the Indian spearing in northern WI.  If I find the pictures of dozens of fish bigger than you'll ever catch that were speared by the indians when the cold blooded fish were too slow to move, then I'll post on it.  They're able to just about kill every fish in a lake, and they've done a fair job of killing off lots of fish.  It'll be another anti-PC post.)

A lot of warm-up, here's the post:

The places where 60+ pound muskies live is likely: the Great lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and there are a handful in several lakes in Northwest Ontario.

(NW Ontario, for those not in the know, is the southwest corner of the province of Ontario.  Northern Ontario seems to be in the middle....)

That's where the biggest fish are.  Then you'll need to consider the size limits on the fish in the various places.

In an attempt to manage the fish population, many have successfully lobbied politicians to put large minimum size limits on muskies.  In many parts of Ontario (which includes NW Ontario and half the great lakes, including the Georgian Bay) the size limit is 54 inches.

In order for a fish to be properly weighed in order to count towards the world record it needs to be killed, and in order to be legally killed it needs to be bigger than the minimum size limit.

This size limit leads us to the interesting situation where the 61 pound fish caught in 2000 was, depending on how it was measured, would have been around 54 inches, and may well have been undersized had it been caught and kept the following year, after the size limit was increased.  Possibly the biggest muskie ever caught was borderline too small to be legally kept!

It seems to me that size limits in excess of 50 inches may just as well be "no kill."

Oh you caught the first legitimate 70 pound muskie ever?  Well its too small to be legally kept. - many muskie activists would like to say

1. laws stink
2. the government is evil
3. people who advocate muskie regulations are no better than the wefare moms demanding stuff from the government

All this leads us to the biggest muskies in the world and the size limits necessary to count towards a really big fish pointing us towards a handful of NW Ontario lakes and the southern half (US side) of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.

Much to the dismay of muskie casters, the two ways most likely to hook a really big fish are with live bait and trolling.  (Many of those casters would like nothing better than to ban both.)

Once a giant fish is located live bait is the way to go, but the places where those fish are likely to be are places where there are not a lot of fish.  Lifetimes could be spent in search of one of those big fish and you'll not find one at the speed with which a live bait fishermen covers the water.

This leaves us with trolling in the above mentioned places.

However there are yet more laws to contend with.

Most places allow one line in the water per person.  Because of the way ice fishing works, Wisconsin allows three line per person (where trolling is allowed, and there are new one line trolling places available this year, and laws still suck).  Michigan allows one line per person; Ontario allows one, and I don't know about Ohio, New York, or Minnesota.

More lines in the water means more chances at fish, so if my goal was to catch the biggest muskie ever, I'd troll Lake Superior in Wisconsin territories.  Perhaps also the St. Lawrence in New York waters.

Then we're limited to the fall.  Fish eat lots in the fall to bulk up before a slow winter when they lose lots of weight.  They eat some in the spring and summer, but it is in the fall when the fish are the biggest in these colder climates.

We're now narrowed to trolling Wisconsin waters in Lake Superior, and depending on New York trolling laws, the St. Lawrence River in NY.

The way to troll for muskies is almost certainly the way its done on Lake St. Clair.  Possibly with some modifications.

Finally the subject of the post:

If my goal was to catch the biggest muskie ever, I'd by a boat like the Canadian trollers on Lake St. Clair (the American trollers use smaller boats, I think) rig it like they do there, and I'd troll around Lake Superior in Wisconsin waters.  I'd hire a bunch of people to ride around in the boat with me too, so I could get the maximum number of lines in the water.  I'd want to do this from the middle of September through whenever the season ends or the ice becomes too much.  (Boating in lake Superior in November isn't a great idea.  Just ask the Edmund Fitzgerald and many other large ships.)

The Apostle Islands and any other structure would be where I'd start.

So that's what I'd do, if that was my goal (it isn't) and its time of the year didn't interfere with deer hunting (it does).

I wish you good luck if you want to try it.  I'll pass on the idea for the many, many, many days it would require for even the slightest hope of success.  But I'd travel up there to spend a handful of days trying it out.  It wouldn't be the worst way to spend your time.  Let me know how you do.

tldr: fishing laws suck too, deer > muskies

If I were going to be a fishing guide...

...I'd need to forget about targeting one species of fish.

 
I like fishing, but there are way too many negatives that would go along with being a guide. 

I wouldn't consider guiding professionally, but if I wanted to make a living at fishing, then what I'd do is:

I'd aim to become familiar with a few bodies of water.  Ideally those bodies of water would be close to each other and not too far from a population center (city).

I like many aspects of Madison, WI, and its few lakes would be a good place to be.  Lakes Wingra and Waubesa have lots of muskies, Mendota has lots of bass, and Monona has all sorts of fish.

Rather than target one species, which I'd prefer, I'd figure to try and cover those very few lakes.  Knowing how to catch each of the species that inhabit a lake would mean that I would not need to look only for clients that want to catch my preferred species.  Because of this I could increase my potential client pool to include anyone who wants to fish nearby.

Learning how each species is caught at each stage of the year would also increase my knowledge of fishing for my preferred species.

Rather than use a standard fishing boat, as in an aluminum or fiberglass v-hull, I would think that a modified pontoon boat would be quite a good idea.

Pontoon boats are primarily used by people who drive around a like while sitting down and entertaining friends.

If all of the sides and seats were removed, the pontoon boat would merely be a large floating platform.  And a big floating platform would be excellent for fishing off of.   Rod holders could decorate the back for when trolling is the way to go.  The console (steering wheel holder) could remain just ahead of the rod holders.  A big compartment could be sunk between the pontoons for carrying all of the different tackle for each fish species...

Being a fishing guide is not an appealing job.  But by using a highly modified pontoon boat and sticking to a small number of local lakes would mean that I could probably get lots of different people to hire me for a day, rather than need to look only for serious fishermen, who likely have their own boat anyway.

(Modifying the boat would be fun too.)

Smallmouth Bass are Cool

Smallmouth Bass 21" (my uncle caught one the same size too):

My dad missing it with the net:

Note to you largemouth bass fishermen: this is about as big as a smallmouth gets.  The cold water smallmouth also has a lot more fight in him than any freshwater fish of the same size, particularly the comparably limp largemouth.

My "Beaver Lake Rapala" Struck Again!

I went fishing one day this week with an old friend that I hadn't seen in a few years.

We caught bigger fish, but when when I asked him if we should bother with pictures or just catch another one, he wisely decided to catch more.

This was merely his first of the day.

Fifty, or so, fish later I have a few things to say about catching bass:

• They're not terribly difficult to catch if you know what you're doing (and fish where there's a pile of them).
• Rapalas = fishing success
• Life's too short to fish with lures that don't work well, so don't save money and get cheaper fishing lures.
• A firetiger flavored (colored) Rapala Original Floating Minnow did most of the damage.  (I use that particular one on no other lake.)
• Jigs and Powerbait caught a few fish.
• Rapala Shad Raps rounded out most of the fish catching lures.
• The Lake St. Clair musky guides troll with crankbaits and the only color they focus on the lure's belly: white or yellow.  I wonder why they don't seem to use orange bellied lures.  (Like my Beaver Lake Rapala.)
• The joys of a used $200 boat that fits in the back of your truck are many.
• A deep diving Shad Rap can catch fish deep, shallow, or anywhere in between.
• If I were limited to two bass lures I'd go with a 1/16 oz jig and white Berkley Powergrub and a deep diving Shad Rap.

Is there a specific type of lure you like to catch bass?

 

Could be.

First Fish of the Year

I was fishing for the first time this year on Wednesday.  Improving my deer hunting property has taken up a lot of my time.

I can tell that you're impressed.

Good Cops vs. Mean Cops

I recently discovered a new Wisconsin laws that says that you can be stopped and fined if your trailer-ed boat has its drain-plug in.  (They think that they can regulate the movement of zebra mussels and other invasive species.  Good luck with that.)

In the magazine article that I discovered this new law in (reading the actual rules and regulations is painful and confusing) the writer commented that there are two ways to deal with being stopped by the cops or game wardens: be very cooperative even to illegal searches or to be polite but ask for warrants before agreeing to be searched.

This reminded me of reading one of P.J. O'Rourke's books in which he commented on roadblocks in very poor countries.  It seems that the guys manning some roadblocks will shoot you if you try to evade the roadblock at speed, and so you must stop.  At other roadblocks you'll be robed or forced to bribe the roadblockers or you'll get shot, and so you should bypass these at speed.  And both styles of roadblocks look the same, so how are you supposed to know which is which?

How are we supposed to know whether to agree to illegal searches or which questions to answer when we deal with police?

Its not too difficult to find awful cops.  And I overhead a guy last week, who had just returned from the army, say that he wanted to be a cop, but too many of them are so bad that he did not want to be involved with them.  And one of the largest drug operations in Wisconsin was ended a year, or so, ago when the offending cops were arrested.

My heart nearly stops every time I see a police car, and I've never committed any crimes (other than speeding and not having a front license plate).

Then we keep giving the cops more laws to enforce: no talking on cell phones, seat belts required, drunk drivers are worse than pedophiles, etc.

Trivial problems like not wearing a seat belt (it can harm no one but yourself) would have been ignored by cops years ago, or so I'm told.  But no possible good can come from dealing with cops today, at best you'll be left with only having lost several minutes to being questioned.

***

I'd like to ask whoever it was that told me last week that we are more laissez faire than we used to be to repeat that claim.

Fly Tying and Cooking

I was just relearning how to tie flies (for fly fishing).  It occurred to me that tying flies is similar to cooking in that the most important part is to have good ingredients (or parts) and then not screw them up.

I bet that I can cook a better steak than the best chef in the world, if I get the best cut of meat in the world to work with and his cut of meat is mediocre.  My job then would be just to not screw it up.  (He'd probably win if his cut of meat was improved to "above average.")

With fly tying you need the right items in order to tie a fly correctly.  You can screw up the timing too, but you can't tie a Black Gnat without black hackle and black dubbing.

Stuff!

One of my reasons for creating this blog was to have add a website where you can find expert information on deer hunting and muskie fishing.  I hoped to do for deer and muskies what Roosh has done for girls.

Its still a work in progress and their are gaps in the information, the quality of my writing is improving, and the arrangement of this website needs work.

But there are now three links below the blog's header for my posts on: Deer Hunting, Muskie Fishing, and Books.  They are arranged in ways that, I think, make learning about these subjects easier.

Check them out and let me know if you have any suggestions, or have questions, or would like to see a post on a particular hunting or fishing subject.

Slow Fishing

I was fishing on Green Bay this past week, and Lake St. Claire a few weeks ago.  Each of those two days the air temperature dropped 30 degrees from the day before.  And 0 fish were caught.

If you want to know what the worst fishing conditions are: a temperature drop of 30 degrees in one day is it.

Muskie Size

I'd like to tell all of you young muskie fishermen out there that its not a good idea to read fishing magazines or watch fishing shows if you want to get a realistic idea of how big the muskies that are caught are.

I heard this quote once and it makes all the sense in the world:

"All magazines are pictures of things that you can't have."

I bring this up because of how often I hear that someone new to the sport catches a nice fish and then grossly overestimates its weight because everything that he has heard about fish weight is wildly inaccurate.

I often hear that someone I know has caught, say, a 45" muskie.  This is a good fish and one to be proud of.  They then want to guess the weight and invariably guess somewhere around 25 pounds for that fish.  Here we have a case of a guy catching a fish to be proud of and he's led to believe that it weighs ten pounds more than it actually does.  And he'll be disappointed if he hears how much it actually weighs.  Rather than being proud, he ends up disappointed because he has been misled by the fishing media.

Another area for size questions is how amazing it is that many people who are prominent in the sport catch lots of 50 inch muskies and how few 48" or 49" they catch.  This is easily researched in the Muskies, Inc. website, and its amazing how all of these guys have caught all of their fish on the far right side of a natural curve.  Many of them catch lots of 50"s but don't seem to need to sort through the 50 or so 45"-49" fish that the rest of us do in order to catch a 50".  I wonder how they do it.

One more area for concern is that if you look at the pictures of the 50 pound fish that are caught most do not even compare to my dad's 47 pound fish.  They must have gotten poor pictures.

The moral of this story is that if you see an estimated weight next to a picture a fish, or an estimated weight table, understand that those are the weights of fish that have not been weighed in actuality.

The Best Things Are Often Cheap and Simple

Did you know that there are musky lures for sale for more than $70?  And yet you can buy excellent lures like a Jointed Rapala for less than $9 and Suicks for less than $20

In the movie The Warring States, about Sun Pin, the enemy of Sun Pin could not believe that the answer to his questions, about The Art of War, were as simple as they are.  Even if we read the introduction to the Art of War, we'll hear that some people have ignored it because it is too old.  How can striking your enemy where he's weakest get old?

Many, particularly on the left, think that the U.S. Constitution is outdated.  But is freedom of speech an idea that is too old to be of value anymore?

I like things that are simple.  And they are often better than what is expensive.

The Most Basic of Basic Fishing Instructions

Knuckledraggin My Life Away, had recent post about getting fishing gear as part of your survival kit.

If you are just getting started in fishing, here's what you should know.

Things to Buy:

(Note: saltwater, silver, and freshwater, bronze, hooks are made out of different materials, freshwater hooks will dissolve in saltwater)  

-2 spinning rods per person, one 7' medium action, one 6' light action (if you're going cheap: Bass Pro Shops brand is okay, Cabela's brand is not) 

-2 Abu Garcia Cardinal reels, per person, one 301 and one 302: $30 each 

Abu Garcia Cardinal 301

-600 yards of around 6-8 pound original Stren or original Trilene (this ages and should be replaced at least every other year)

-A pile of silver and gold 1/16 oz jigs

-A handful of silver and gold 1/32 oz jigs

-A handful of silver and gold 1/8 oz jigs

-A lot of 3" to 6" Powerbait, make sure that some are simple grubs (color doesn't matter, but favor natural colors, not fluorescent)

-As many small deep diving Rapala Shad Raps as you can afford: if you have access to deep water 6-10', color doesn't matter, but gold silver, and perch are always good options, the one pictured below is about as big as you want to get

-A few small Rapala Original Floating Minnows (optional) the one pictured below is as small as you want to get

-A bunch of in-line spinners, size 0 to 4 (There will almost certainly be a number on the blade; Mepps and Panther Martin brands preferred)

Mepps No. 1, Original Floating Minnow, Jig w/tinsel, 2 plain Jigs, Shad Rap (electrical tape at top for scale)

 
-Some Beetle Spins

-1 pair of needle-nose pliers

-Replacement rod tips, matches and hot-melt glue

-Fly tying vise (optional)

-Fly tying thread (optional)

-Sparkly Flashabou or sparkly thread, or whatever materiel (optional)


Stream Trout

I struggled to catch trout from a stream  until I fished with a guy who knew what he was doing.

Take your lighter rod, and either put on one of the in-line spinners, beetle spin, or a jig with Powerbait, or an Original Floating Minnow (that order preferred).

Walk quietly, slowly, while wearing neutral colors, and keeping a low profile.  The fish will be facing upstream, you don't want them to see, or hear, you.

Cast as close as you can to the far shore and reel your lure in, repeat.  They will usually be lying along the shorelines, behind rocks and trees in the water or near the rapids.

Small Freshwater Fish (bass, walleyes, perch, bluegills, crappies)

Find a body of water that is fertile, darker water, more weeds, and more fish.

Look for structure. (Structure is anything that provides cover for a fish: logs, piers, weeds, rocks, points, steep drop offs, etc.)  Each species will prefer a different kind of structure.

Cast any of the small lures as close as you can get to the structure.  What will be ideal is to have your cast land past the structure, and then have the lure pass the structure on the retrieve.

If the water is cold, use smaller stuff and move more slowly.  If the water is warm you can move them faster.

Large Freshwater Fish (Northern Pike and Muskies)

Use your biggest stuff in the same way you did for the smaller fish.  (Smaller fish are more numerous, and easier to catch.  They should therefore be your focus, if you are fishing for survival.)

Bottom Feeders (carp, bullheads, suckers)

Grab your jigs and find some worms, or grubs, or leeches.  Stick the hook through the invertebrate.  Let the jig/bait rest on the bottom of a likely looking place.

***

When I'm in doubt, I am most comfortable using a 1/16 ounce jig, with a 3" or 4" white Powerbait grub.

Reel it straight in, or cast it so that it sinks right alongside the structure that you are fishing.  Then just lift your rod tip up a few inches, and then let it sink back to the bottom.  Do this several times, then move to the next spot.

I've caught 4" bluegills and 40" (about 13 pounds) muskies doing this.

Getting Good at Anything

It seems to me that there are three things you need to do in order to get good at it.

1. Find a good spot

2. Do it a lot

3. Have good equipment (literal or metaphorical)

This is true for any subject, anywhere at any time.

***

Let me give you some ways that this applies to various subjects.

Deer Hunting

1. If you are not where the deer are, then you won't shoot any.

2. The more you hunt the better you'll get.  Even if you only learn through trial and error.

3. Your equipment can prevent you from shooting deer, if it is not good and in good order.  You'll miss if your gun wasn't sighted in, your clothing can make noise that spooks the deer, etc.

Fishing

1. If you're not where the fish are, then you won't catch any.

2. The more you fish, the better you'll get.  Even if you only learn through trial and error.

3. If you use cheap fishing gear, you'll spend more time fixing it rather than actually fishing.

Nailing Girls

1. If you're not where the girls are, you won't pull any.

2. The more you approach, the better you'll get.  Even if you only learn through trial and error.

3. If your inner game is weak and you feel sorry for yourself, then no number of approaches will get you laid.

Cooking

1. If you don't learn where to buy good ingredients, no amount of skill will overcome this deficiency.

2. The more you cook, the better you'll get.  Even if you only learn through trial and error.

3. If your knives are dull and your range doesn't get hot enough, then there's nothing that you can do to succeed.

Tying Flies

1.  If you don't learn where to buy good hackle, dubbing, thread, etc., no amount of skill will overcome this deficiency.

2. The more you tie, the better you'll get.  Even if you only learn through trial and error.

3.If your scissors don't cut neatly, and your vise doesn't hold still, you won't be able to tie anything but a mess.

***

My dad has said that he only deer hunts and muskie fishes, because he doesn't have time for everything and he doesn't want to do anything half @ssed.

I'm slowly adding to the list of things that I am good at by focusing on one skill until I have it figured out to my satisfaction.  I'm finding good places to go, I'm spending time at it, and I'm not skimping when I need to buy something.

World Record Deer & Muskies

If I am fortunate enough to shoot a deer or to catch a fish that could be close to a world record, than I won't tell anyone the size of that animal.  Only my dad and I will ever know how big that animal is.  And I will refuse to ever talk about it.

Here's why:

When someone shoots a buck big enough to possibly be a world record, then that hunter needs to jump through all sorts of hoops just to get scored correctly, after the required drying period, by several panels of experts, at several places and at multiple times and places.

Here's a story on a great big buck shot in Southwest Wisconsin, in 2005.

King Deer: Biggest ever Buck

Because of the, understandable, rules about what is typical, and non-typical this big buck was decided that one of the tines (points) was non-typical and therefore not the typical world record.  (I happen to disagree with that particular application of the rule, but that's neither here nor there.)

Rather than continue to argue, the hunter has decided to remove his buck from consideration as a world record.

And that's just for starters.

I have hunted within  the laws of the State of Wisconsin.  But I just know that if I shoot a potential world record deer, then everything that I have ever done would be called into question.  Rumors will start saying that I shot it illegally some way, or some other nonsense.  Not only would that sort of investigation not be fun, but there are still more problems.

Imagine if you become, somewhat, famous for shooting a world record.  Other people may decide that they want to hunt where you do.  This would be good, if you want to sell your property and they drive up the land price.  But if you just want to hunt in peace, you'll constantly need to worry about trespassers, etc.

You may even face extra scrutiny when you are outdoors, any misstep will call your record into question.  Look how much extra scrutiny Ted Nugent gets, when I'd bet money he's attempting to follow all of the rules and is only getting caught on violations that the average person would never have been made aware of.

There has been a lot of controversy about the biggest muskies ever caught.  An excerpt from this article on a record muskie controversy: 

"The photographs are measured and assayed from almost every imaginable angle and perspective. I am reminded of the Warren Report and their analysis of the personal photos of Lee Harvey Oswald holding firearms that were taken in the assassin’s backyard. This is the magnitude that this disputed record has risen to."

Many of the muskies once called world records have been proven not to be so.  I wouldn't dispute that Louis Spray's record muskie has some fishiness, but I doubt that all of the attempts to disprove are good for the sport.

The World Muskie Alliance seems to have been founded in order to remove Spray's record from the record books.  It would be nice if we could know what the actual world record is for muskies, but this alliance seems to have a dickish goal for itself.

Incidentally, the fish that very well could be the world record muskie, 61 pounds caught by Martin Williamson in 2000, was almost an undersized fish.  The size limit was changed the next year to 54".  The fish was first measured at 53.5", but later discovered to be 55.5" when the correct measurement was taken.  Can you imagine the world record muskie being too small to keep?  With that fish it was very close to happening.  

Biggest ever Muskie

A fisherman who caught a world record muskie would have the same problems a shooter of the biggest deer would have: increased scrutiny, character questions, etc.

One of the founders of the World Muskie Alliance has been a big supporter of bigger muskie size limits.  Pete Maina also started the magazine Esox Angler.  He said that he would be open to new ideas, unlike the established Musky Hunter magazine.  So of course when someone submitted an argument against a 50" inch size limit, that well respected fishermen was told to never send any more articles for publication in the magazine.

For my money the buck pictured here, and fish pictured here, are the biggest shot and caught without serious questions about their authenticity.  If I get an animal comparable I'll not be involved in any of the mess we have with records.

Muskie Lures

In a recent issue of Musky Hunter the editor, Jim Saric, says that he has about 350 muskie lures in his boat becasue he uses them all to catch fish.  He also said that every guide he knows has lots and lots of lures in their boats.

It has always seemed to me that the guides that I have fished with have indeed had many lures in their boats.  Generally, a bunch of bucktails, in a few colors, a few of the same crankbaits, in a few colors, and possibly a few of the same jerkbaits, in a few colors.  It makes sense that if you are a guide you do not want to get caught short a few lures when some people are paying you for your time.

I even knew a guide who used exactly one Suick for the whole year.

Having a handful of lures that you are confident in seems to me to be a better plan than constantly looking for and switching to something else.  If you have a few good lures then they should spend the maximum time in the water.

Dad's tackle box for his big fish, fly-in trip to Canada:

His spring/ early summer tackle box (change colors around and multiply by a few):