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Posts: 1185
Location: Iowa | Hey all,
with all of this talk about the giant Green Bay fish...I was curious to know what the biggest fish people have seen is...realistically of course...I have seen two the were about the same size and would easily push the 60 pound mark in my eyes...I would realistically say that one I saw an Mille Lacs year one early evening was 58-60 inches long and solid as far as girth...none of this skinny lomng fish stuff...I seriously had to sit down on collect myself after that beast swam by in about 10 feet of water...the other one that I saw was on Eagle Lake about 3 years ago and was easliy over 55 inches...we were casting a rock reef adjacent to a spawning bay during the first week of June and this super tanker followed my Rizzo Tail...I was so awe strucken that my lure sank slowing to the bottom loosing the interest of this massive female that was solid and weighed probably 55-60 pounds easy...my buddy and I both had to sit down and collect ourselves after that fish appeared and then disappeared like a ghost...I have seen many 50+ inch fish in my day but the 2 I just described are by far and away the 2 biggest muskies I have ever seen in my 22 years on this earth...both made me incredibly weak at the knees and scared to be in a boat...
Big Perc
Edited by Big Perc 4/28/2005 10:06 PM
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Posts: 16
| so last year i had one on that was easly 50-52 in. long..........she took 3 seperate runs to the weedbed she came from and that weedbed was atleast 25-30 yards from the boat she was a beast..........but 3 years ago on cedar lake in ontario just up the lake from where i had this last one on was easly 6-8 in longer.........me and my dad were fishing between an island and a point near ord lake..........it was a bright blue sky and we were fishing for pike..........all of a sudden this giant log came outta nowhere behind my dads spinnerbait.........the fish kept coming and coming and it was seriously the biggest fish ive ever seen in person..........we both froze for a second while my dads spinnerbait just stopped and fluttered deep beneath the boat as this fish moved from the back to the front and then went into the depths.........it was an amazing site and me and him email eachother weekly with canadian trip stories and this one is usually mentioned on a weekly basis.........
b_fUNk |
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| In my lifetime fishing muskies for now my 27th year, I have scene two fish 60 inches plus, but both were sighted many, many years ago. I have scene several other 50 inch plus, but nothing like these two monsters  |
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Posts: 16
| the one i described that me and my dad saw 3 years ago in canada makes you scared to reach into the water to grab a smallie or a walleye.........you dont know whats down there |
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Posts: 466
Location: Pittsburgh, PA | saw one in georgian bay about 9 years ago that was in the 55" class |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | My brother and I were at Gander Mtn and flipping through mags at the mag rack. He holds up a page from about ten feet away and says.."Look at this fish." I looked and said "That's Spence Petros". He proceeds to read the text under the picture and starts shaking his head saying "you are sick man, you are sick". He just doesn't get it. |
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Posts: 1245
Location: Madtown, WI | Eagle Lake-
throwing a 10 inch jake, superman...in a shallow bay in the fall.....a railroad tie follows in my bait just under the surface (I was working it high)...the fish swam slowly right next to the boat and both my buddy and I (My buddy puts 100 muskies in the boat a year himself...he knows size) we both just look at each other after it swims off.....we both say 56-57 inchs and deep and thick...
I have seen a couple 52-54 inch class fish (few of these out of the water)....but didn't come close to this super tanker....
Guess where I am going this summer.....
Cory |
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Posts: 4266
| I've seen a few that were definite 52-55 inch fish, some up close and personal. The biggest that I saw was in Lake X. Not only was it the longest fish that I ever saw, but it was obviously the widest fish that I had ever seen. It was scary. It ate a little Crane during the up north opener about 15 years ago and took off for 100 feet of water like a tank. I got her back to the top once, about 15' from the boat before she shook her head once and straightened 3 hooks.
Beav |
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Posts: 686
Location: Tomahawk, Wisconsin | Last year on our honeymoon the wife had a fish follow a CJ's that was easily in the upper 50's, deeper in girth than any fish I have ever seen, and the tail was friggin huge!! I have seen many 50+ inch fish over the years but this fish is special, a true Queen of Sabaskong. Thrill of a lifetime just to see her, I don't think they come any bigger. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | A couple years ago in the Fall on Cave Run, I was throwing my BUBBA muskie treats bait and the biggest fish I'd seen came after it, until it got just to the back of Tony Grant's boat. I guess Gregg caught it later that week. m |
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| Muskydr! "You and your wife" Last year on your honeymoon" Musky fishing!!! Does she have a single sister???? |
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Posts: 1310
Location: Washington, PA | Shamu on Eagle. I still have nightmares. |
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Posts: 578
Location: Sheboygan Falls, WI | Fishing with Bill Sandy a few years ago and he had "Mammoo" up. Tandem silver/white Mepps Musky Killer. I sat there in shear awe of this fish. I asked Bill if that was a 60" fish. He concured that it was. Another time up at Bill's place I was fishing with another guy and he had one up that was pushing that 60" mark, at least that is what we told Bill. We told him the spot and everything. He went out and had her up on a Top Raider. He said that the fish was more like 58", but it was a very wide and deep fish that had a lot of weight to it.
Last fall while fishing with a friend, Troy Adler, I saw my largest Wisconsin fish. I netted, unhooked and handled a 53" fish for a guy on Lake of the Woods. This fish was right around 40 pounds or so. The fish that Troy lost with me DWARFED this fish. 5 more seconds, just 5 more seconds and she would have been in the net. This fish was huge! The width, girth and length were so impressive.
PLEASE REMEMBER ONE THING, WISCONSIN DOES NOT HAVE ANY LARGE FISH. NOTHING HERE, JUST SMALL, SKINNY PINS FOR FISH. I DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHY I FISH HERE MYSELF ANYMORE. MAYBE I SHOULD MOVE TO MINNESOTA OR CANADA. IF YOU DO FISH WISCONSIN AND SEE WHAT YOU THINK IS A LARGE MUSKY, IT IS JUST YOUR IMAGINATION. ISN'T THAT CORRECT TROY A, DAVE J, ED S, NORM W, MIKE R, STEVE W, .... LARGE FISH IN WISCONSIN ARE JUST PART OF A FISHERMAN'S WILD IMAGINATION. 
About 8 days for the southern opener and about 28 days for the northern opener. It is really starting to drag now.
Good Fishing,
Chuck |
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Posts: 714
Location: Rhinelander, WI | Up until this last summer the biggest fish I saw was a good solid 52-53 incher, built like a tank. I would say this fish was a solid 40 pounder from a small Wisconsin lake. A lake by the way that has no record of stocking. But Chuck is correct there are no big fish in Wisconsin, it’s all elusions devised by the area Chambers.....and bait shops.
However on the last day of my LOTW trip last summer I saw two fish that definitely exceeded the Wisconsin fish. The first was about 8:00am and it followed a Bucktail and then came back in on a 10” Suick It’s hard to estimate length on a fish that is in a class that is totally different than anything I have ever seen, but I am positive she was legal (54plus), but what was more impressive about this fish was it’s width. It was unbelievable.
Later in the day after we had the Houseboat all un-moored and heading back to base. My dad and I left it behind to spend a few hours fishing Whitefish bay. With only an hour left to fish I brought in another monster on a bucktail. Again this fish was HUGE, it wasn’t as thick as it’s dark water sister, but she was longer. It was 55-56 inches or longer, again I don’t trust my judgment on a fish of this class because they are just so much bigger.
I think there must be a Canadian Tourism program that plants these fish at just the right location to guarantee a return trips.
Heck I am going back to LOTW this summer but I will be at the Angle. I spent an evening this winter with my GPS unit hooked up to a battery in my living room plotting a course from Walsh’s Baystore to the first Queen I mentioned. 35 miles one way. If we get frustrated at all, you can bet I will be filling the fuel tank on the old Ranger and making a road trip. You know how many good spots we would have to drive by just to return to the location of that fish?………I would do it in a heart beat.
Nail A Pig!
Mike
Edited by MRoberts 4/29/2005 8:40 AM
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Posts: 2014
| BIG!!!! on LOTW - Don't have a clue how big it was - I guess I dont have alot of experience with 56"+ fish somewhere between 56-60? It was so glued to my fishing partners bucktail I thought she would eat at any second ......the fish just layed by the boat till it slowly sinked out of sight......truely imressive fish -The crazy thing is the fish has a very distingused mark right in front (on the top side) of the tail fin -----a scare the size of a silver dollar , girth was incredible! -I think it normally eats 8 lbs walleyes! |
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Posts: 1996
Location: Pelican Lake/Three Lakes Chain | The first really big fish I saw was with Herbie on Eagle. In one day with him we raised three fish over 40#'s, one that he estimated at 45# that blew my creeper out of the water. Later in the week on Eagle we raised a fish that may have been a few pounds bigger than that, but could not get it to eat either.
It took many years to see a fish in that class again, but now in the last two years I have been playing with a very large fish on our side of the border. This fish is in the same class of those on Eagle, it will not scare the world record fish, and is not 60" but is a very large fish nonetheless. I know Steve has had the fish on, I have as well. Maybe this will be the year.
Wisconsin has big fish? Yeah right! |
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Posts: 2014
| Interesting side note......this post only strengthen what I have witnessed the past few years on LOTW - HAIR will show you where "Shammoo lives" on lake of the woods - she may not eat it but you know shes around - I probably throw hair 50% of the time I am up there but 90% of the fish 50+ that I see follow hair?????? Every post so far for LOTW these pigs were moved on hair?? |
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Location: Contrarian Island | When they get realllly BIG I don't think I can accurately judge..but one fish on Eagle this year that followed a jointed D Raider was for sure 52+ and FAT..and another one on Mille Lacs years ago followed a perch shallow invader that for a second I would have thought was a moving log...it was big.
One other fish on a LDF lake I only got a glimpse of the back 1/4 of the fish but from that, and my boat partner visibly shaking for 30 minutes I'm guessing it was another Shamu..
I hope to see some bigger..that is for sure...hopefully in the net! |
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| Sssshhhhhh......I've got a bite!
53-55" class fish....Cass lake...inhaled a Musky Treat....you know the rest!!!
Cheese is smart...I'm not.
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| I hooked....and lost the biggest fish I've ever seen off of Stretch Reef on Eagle Lake, back on August 29th, 1992.  It was about 7:45 p.m., and there were two storms converging. And bang, she is behind my lure....after 9 turns of the figure 8, (would that be a Figure 72?) she nipped at it. I had her beak hooked. She tail walked away from me, and powered down over the shallow side of the rock bar, into the depths. She knew exactly what she was doing. I'd put her at 62"-64" and FAT!! World Record? Maybe? Big fish...for sure!! I bought Andy Myer's Lodge the following year!!!
Addiction set in....and I've been fishing that pond ever since!!!!  |
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Posts: 354
| I saw it in Door County. Little Sturgeon Bay to be exact. It was about 5 years ago in the spring. Musky season wasn't even open. I was fishing for pike. It swam past the front of my boat in about 5 feet of water. For those of you who have fished Northern Door County you know how clear the water can be. I got a perfect long look at it. Absolutely tremendous girth, like a telephone pole. I kid you not. Very easily in the 40lb.+ range.
Bill C. aka the greenduck
Edited by greenduck 4/29/2005 10:15 AM
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Posts: 670
Location: Otsego, MN | Seen a lot in the low 50's, but my buddy had one up to the boat last year on a bulldawg out on Cass. The fish was easily in the upper 50's with the girth to go along with her. Her tale was like a sail never seen such a huge fish.
jeff |
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I had just boated a fish clearly over 50# with my son. We headed to another area we had seen a big girl earlier in the year. I was tired, because I had caught two muskies and about a dozen big Pike in a short time, in fact my hands were cramping up pretty bad. I clipped on a small bucktail so I could continue to fish, and pitched it to where I thought she would be. Out she came, JUST behind the lure, went around in a couple 8's, just like the other big fish that day, and then tried VERY hard to eat the lure. She was big. Blew that little bucktail right out of the water, and simply swam away, sorta sinking as she did. Later that night, my son said, out of the blue, " At least 6 inches longer..." and shook his head.
She wasn't as heavy in the body as the other two we boated, but was close. That would have put her between 62" and 63".
Wabigoon, off Claybanks.
Then there is "The Queen". Pelican Lake, Oneida County. She is very large, very large indeed. This is a mid 50# class fish, and there's probably more than one. I'd say 56 to 57" class, and heavy. Stinkin' fish ate a lure for me, too. Missed her. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | moved 5 fish in the mid-upper 50's last year at LOTW, but the supertanker that i don't even want to guess at for length and depth showed herself on Trout Lake to me about 4 years ago. i shook for a week. if i did guess, she was about 6" .... between the eyes! i had a fish following me to the boat on a Cobb and just 6' from the boat it flaired aggressively .... then the big (big is a bad word to describe her) came in from the other side under the boat , never interest in the bait .... i think she was more interested in the 37" follower!!!! i can remember it like it was yesterday. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | should've mentioned it was a great year for us seeing big fish at LOTW last year, and one of the guys did boat one of them 54.5" fish .... pretty cool. |
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| I've seen a few in the upper fifty inch class and one that I couldn't put a number on. Three of the upper fifty inch fish were on the Chippewa Flowage and one on the Woods. The really big fish was on the Chip. It just came up and sat next to the boat when we were eating lunch on a hot day. Must have been using the boat for shade. Couldn't tell you how big. I honestly don't think I'll ever see one that big again anywhere. I did see one on Tonka last year that was very impressive. Didn't come up high enough to get a great look at it, but could tell it was one of those big-uns. I wish the larger fish fed the same way those spunky 30 inchers do.
Ty |
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Posts: 663
| 54" caught and released by my buddy Gary Price the same day I got my 52". Saw a fish on LOTW a few years back that was probably around that mid 50's range but so wide I couldn't believe it. |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | In over 50 years of muskie fishing, I've seen two that were honest 60" fish. One was in the early 1980's and the other was in the late '70s. Neither was after the bait. One was swimming along with the boat but on the opposite side of where we were fishing....out to the deep water side. My partner nearly fell in the lake when I pointed it out to him. He swore it was 6 feet long...no, but it was an honest 60" fish. That was on Lake of the Woods. The other was in a gin clear lake trout/bass/muskie fly-in lake. Late Sept. and was just cruising along about 5 feet down. It wasn't the least interested in what we had to throw. That represents probably close to 10,000 hours of muskie fishing in my life and only two 60" fish ever seen. And I was on water that's capable of producing that size fish. Pretty rare. I haven't seen any that size in over 20 years. But maybe this year I will.
Edited by rpieske 4/29/2005 9:31 PM
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| Big Perc,
Hope you realize the reasons for not angling for musky before the season opens on the third Saturday in June on Eagle Lake. You did the correct thing by letting your lure drop and avoid hooking that big spawning female......some serious damage could have occurred. For those that might be in the position of actually hooking a pre-season musky on Eagle Lake....or any other lake in Ontario, the law requires immediate release of the fish. This does not mean after taking pictures, doing measurements, etc. Some anglers in the past have been charged with targeting preseason musky by the MNR.....most often because they assume they can catch & release even if the season is closed........wrong! Best advice is to do what big perc did.....look but do not catch!
Gord Bastable |
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Posts: 1430
Location: Eastern Ontario | I've seen and boated a lot of 54-55 inch fish and still boat a couple fo them every single year. But this one fish I lost was an easy 58 inches long and close to 60 lbs, that killed me as it was so much bigger then anything else I ever saw. If only it could of held on for another 15 feet. |
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