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Posts: 561
Location: Monee, Illinois | New State Record Tiger Musky Caught in Will County
On an unexpecting Friday morning, Michael Behmetuik of Lockport caught a once-in-a-lifetime fish. It was a new state record tiger musky.
Behmetuik was fishing Lake Will which is located just outside the town of Wilmington. Lake Will is a private club lake and probably better known for its bass fishing. That’s exactly what Behmetuik was doing, fishing for bass. As he was casting a black and silver Rapala a huge 31 pound, 3 ounce Tiger Musky took the bait. This record breaking fish had a girth of 22 inches and was 46 and a half inches long.
Behmetuik told me he never expected to get a record musky. But he was so proud of this large fish, he thought it would make a great trophy mount. So, when he brought the fish home, he noticed that it would not fit in the freezer. So from there, he checked with some family and friends and found himself in the same boat. No freezer big enough.
Planning to have the fish mounted, he figured that maybe it would be best to bring it right to the taxidermist. So off he went to Smith’s Taxidermy on Washington Street in Joliet.
Bill Smith, the shop owner called me to tell me the story and said when he looked at this fish he thought a new state record Tiger Musky was in hand. After taking his preliminary measurements and weight, Smith figured the fish to be considerably larger than the existing record. August 31, 2002, a 29 pounds 8.96 ounce Tiger Musky was taken from Lake Summerset in Stephenson County. The North American record is 51 pounds, 3 ounces.
Minor problems existed for Behmetuik when it came to weighing the fish on a certified scale. After a few tries, he found that the stores he went to had scales that bottomed out at 30 pounds. This was exciting, yet frustrating. He has a huge fish but can’t get it legally weighed. Where can he go to get this monster sized fish weighed and in a hurry before it lost body weight through dehydration?
Finally, Behmetuik was directed to bring the fish to the big scales at Henry’s Bait and Tackle on Canal Street in Chicago. There it was finally weighed on a certified scale and it broke the existing record by nearly two pounds.
Illinois DNR Fisheries biologist Rob Miller was contacted to inspect the fish and confirm that it is a Tiger Musky and once that’s done, Behmetuik will be in the Illinois record books.
Isn’t that something? When you least expect it and with a stroke of luck that trophy fish finds its way to the end of your line. Well, congratulations Mike, you did a good job in getting that fish and besides having that fish registered in the record books, that trophy mount will be yours to remember that day for years to come.
http://pub38.bravenet.com/forum/3190475728/show/331087
The link is to Illinois Outdoors website where the above story was reported. Picture of fish will be up shortly from what I understand.
pgaschulz
Wish he would have let it go though....
Edited by pgaschulz 8/12/2004 9:43 PM
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Posts: 335
Location: Orland Park | Too bad it wasn't the biggest tiger muskie ever released in the state of Illinois. My uncle caught a 45" tiger a few years back, and he never gave it a second thought not to release it. Give it a few more years, that could have been a world record.
Anyway, great catch and congrats!
Edited by Commanche Jim 8/9/2004 6:02 AM
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Posts: 32884
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | 'Behmetuik was fishing Lake Will which is located just outside the town of Wilmington. Lake Will is a private club lake and probably better known for its bass fishing.'
The fish was a hybrid, undoubtedly stocked, and wouldn't have reproduced anyway. Great story, and a very nice fish anywhere, with potential to be a new State of Illinois record. Congratulations to the angler! |
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Posts: 20211
Location: oswego, il | That area is loaded with strip mining pits which are mostly private clubs now with the exeption of mazonia and part of braidwood. I used to belong to the south wilmington's club just south of there. They never stocked musky of any kind in there but a few of the clubs have. I wish they all did, these lakes are deep and very clear with good hard botom and a muskie could reproduce in them.
I don't blame the guy for keeping it but the mentality in that area and for most of those clubs down there is catch and keep for everything. |
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Posts: 956
Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | Hey Mike,
Congratulations on a new Hybrid State record. Now I can give my buddie Rob Mcdermott (Current record holder) some ribbing as his record about to be surpassed (pending DNR verification). Time for some trash talking. Any ways congrats to both the old and new record holders its great to see this type of progress in Illinois. Now lets see some pictures.
Karl. |
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| Congratulations to the lucky angler, what a great fish anywhere and especially IL.
When I was growing up in Plainfield IL I belonged to a private lake club (The Pure Rod and Gun Club) with my Dad and boy was it some great bass and pike fishing, and I am sure now it is even better. Back in the day I caught some monster pike out of Strip Pits in Will County and only my lunker 25 pounder from Lac Suel really dwarfed those IL fish! That brings back memories of my picture in the town paper with my first musky when I was 15, a 37 inch tiger from the Mighty Chip. I hope I can catch a 48 to 50 inch tiger sometime because I would love a digital replica of a pretty tiger to go with my other big muskies! 
Steve
Edited by muskyboy 8/9/2004 10:38 PM
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| Nice fish but my thought is that since the fish came from a "Private Club Lake" it should not be recognized as the official state record, State record fish should only be recognized if caught from public waters. Perhaps there could be a Private Lake designation or category
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Posts: 28
Location: SOUTHERN..MN | Anon - 8/9/2004 10:08 AM
Nice fish but my thought is that since the fish came from a "Private Club Lake" it should not be recognized as the official state record, State record fish should only be recognized if caught from public waters. Perhaps there could be a Private Lake designation or category
my thoughts exactly! |
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Posts: 561
Location: Monee, Illinois | Here is a link to a picture of the state record Tiger.. Not the best picture but it is what it is.
http://www.geocities.com/illinoisoutdoors/FishingReportNew.html |
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Posts: 28
Location: SOUTHERN..MN | MAN THAT IS DEFINITELY ONE UGLY FISH! |
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