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| My brothers and I worked the Wisconsin resorts during the late 1950s to 1963. During those years we would plant the corn in our farm in Illinois and then pile into a 1950 dodge and make our way to Minnequa Wisconsin. For most of those years working Art Schroder's Squirrel lake resort. During those years the story of a giant Muskie was the big discussion. Named Old Grand dad every fisherman would swear that they hooked him and he broke the line, pulled the rod out of their hands, you have all heard similar stories. Just as the season finished, the last year we were there he died and surfaced on the shores of the island. A young fisherman Philip I think his name was saw him and came and got us. the fish was somewhat bloated and we wrapped him in some netting and brought him to the dock at Schroeder's resort. He was heavier than our scales which only went to 50 lbs and we had to hang him over the water because the cross bar that was on the dock was only 5 feet. So he was close to or more than 5 feet in length hard to know exactly because the crossbar was 5 ft so you have the hanging hooks and turnbuckle which are probably 6-8 inches from the crossbar. So we took some pictures and I think the head was mounted at the grocery store and dock and gas pump across the lake, I think Browns resort? My older brother is now ill and my other brother died years ago. And when the Navy took me in 1967 most of my pictures got scattered. I have done some searching but find no articles in local papers wondered if anyone else remembers or had similar stories I am attaching picture of my mother with a dogfish from the 1920's |
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Location: FIB land | Fun story to read , thanks for sharing . |
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| That is a typical Northern Wisconsin old time story. I have heard that in so many variations over the years... Always seems like they would fight the fish for hours and lose it. Always a world record. A lot of the time the fish would be seen under the boat with the head on one side and the tail on the other... |
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| I think one of the best versions I heard was the fish was so big they could never set the hooks into it... So they made a custom rod out of golf club blank. They then hooked it but of course the fish broke the rod and they lost it. |
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Location: oswego, il | The pictures would have made the story even the head pic in the grocery store. |
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| I believe strandcpa was being sincere in his memory. It was an enjoyable read for me. Would have really liked to see the pics.
Sure, many of the old Wisconsin stories had a bit or a lot of salesman in them. One of my favorite WI stories regarding world record fish is one I read in a magazine as a kid of Big George written by Bill Tutt. |
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| Excellent read, glad you were there to experience with your brothers and share it with us ! |
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| I was sitting in my office and saw that this old posting that I made years ago was still there. A couple of fun stories about working the Art Schroeder Squirrel lake resort in the 1959-1963.
1. We worked late into the fall one year I think 1960. And I went swimming when the lake was too warm and got a bad ear infection. Went to the doctors office in Minocqua the waiting room had several fishermen with hooks in their mouths, heads, cheeks etc. That big red buck tail caught one of them right in the mouth.
2. I think the muskie length allowed was 28-29 inches or bigger we had stretching boards that we nailed the muskie to keep it from shrinking. A 30 inch fish would shrink when frozen. We worked in the kitchen and my older brother was the boat boy so the fishermen would bring in an undersized by mistake. Measuring it in the boat but not making the length when laid out on a table. Gutted and stretched you could easily get a couple of inches when freezing.
3. Some of the fishermen used a surface float for trawling with harnesses for baby ducks or squirrels I am sure that PETA would have had fits if they ever knew.
4. I hooked a keeper muskie from the dock using a light spin cast rod, he or she was keeping the kids from swimming so put a lure under its mouth and snagged it when the fish realized it was hooked it surfaced and snapped that line as if it was a piece of thread. |
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| 5. At or near Labor day the fishing season was over on Squirrel lake and the cabins emptied and the restaurant closed. We took the left over groceries and steak etc. And were invited to the Island (Squirrel Island) owned by a wealthy family. We cooked and waited tables for all the wealthy families who had resorts (mansions) on the lake. Local Sheriff always attended and he let us drink beer and wine even when underage 18.
6. I learned to water ski on the lake and my older brother could ski on almost anything made of wood, his favorite was an orange canoe paddle. He would fall off and be in the middle of the lake, and we would have to go get the skis he dropped off when he switched to the canoe paddle. So often he was in the middle of the lake waving the canoe paddle to keep from having a boat run over him. The tourists in the boat would ask if they could help him and he would answer (has anyone seen my Canoe?)
7. The ink pot was a small connected lake there was a trophy muskie in that lake, The water was pure black I think from the copper minerals in the lake. I often wondered if that muskie was ever caught? Does anyone know? There was an open dump at the end of the ink-pot lake we would take a boat into the ink-pot lake, after supper and we had finished cleaning up the dinning room. It was still light enough to see 10-15 black bears eating garbage. I read several years ago that a black bear had mauled a person neear there. I understand that to be very rare, like once every 60-80 years |
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Location: E. Tenn | Wimuskyfisherman - 2/15/2019 11:02 AM
...the fish would be seen under the boat with the head on one side and the tail on the other...
Last year, up in Wisco, there was a retired couple in the next cabin.. They were only interested in panfishing. We got to talking on the dock, and he mentioned this friend of his who made that same claim repeatedly, and asked if it was even possible for a musky to be that big.
I had an epiphany of sorts and replied " If your buddy hooked a fish that big, and he saw it with his lure its mouth, do you really think he'd be turning around to see where its tail was?"
He chuckled and said "Yeah, I think I can call bull(This happened because Cave Run Legend has no self control) on that the next time I hear it."
strandcpa: Great tale... enjoyed reading it!! |
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Location: E. Tenn | miket55 - 3/13/2023 11:10 PM
Wimuskyfisherman - 2/15/2019 11:02 AM
...the fish would be seen under the boat with the head on one side and the tail on the other...
Last year, up in Wisco, there was a retired couple in the next cabin.. They were only interested in panfishing. We got to talking on the dock, and he mentioned this friend of his who made that same claim repeatedly, and asked if it was even possible for a musky to be that big.
I had an epiphany of sorts and replied " If your buddy hooked a fish that big, and he saw it with his lure its mouth, do you really think he'd be turning around to see where its tail was?"
He chuckled and said "Yeah, I think I can call bull (This happened because Cave Run Legend has no self control ) on that the next time I hear it."
strandcpa: Great tale... enjoyed reading it!! |
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Location: E. Tenn | bull(This happened because Cave Run Legend has no self control)"
What in hell just happened here?? lol |
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| Great memories strandcpa ! Thanks for sharing |
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| A few thoughts, Fishing was way different back then.
First the rods were short and made of fiberglass, metal, bamboo a lot of reels had no drags, think lines, poorly made leaders and even lures would be pulled apart and guns and gaffs to land your fish. Small boats and motors were the norm and they rolled up the sidewalks in town after Labor day. There was a 30" size limit and 99.99 of the fish that were legal were kept.
There were less Muskies back then but more feed in the lakes. And looking at the old skin mounts of the day most were 47"-49" but most fish over 48" weight 30 pounds. Were some of the fish overestimated? Of course by a long shot.
A few things to look at, maybe the gene pool was not watered down, and there was no Native American spearing and with the flimsy tackle big fish smashed a lot of tackle. And every once in a while someone landed a 45-50 pound fish and it was put on a scale. We've had fish in our boat up to the low 40 pound range. Back in the 1940's and 1950's my dad and grandpa seen fish (in Wisconsin) that were way, way, bigger. Here something that was not changed we still fun to go North and fish and sit around at night and drink Beer talk of large fish and the good times we have chasing them. Except no talks of the 100 pounder anymore. |
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Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | It’s pretty crazy how there were a lot of world class size fish that came out of northern wisco back then and now that there are more fisherman than ever before with the best gear/graphs ever, they don’t show up anymore. I definitely believe there were some giants back then, but it’s strange that they haven’t showed back up size wise like minnesota fish have. There are more fisherman than ever with the best gear/electronics/skill and it still is super rare for a mid 50’s fish to come out of northern wisco compared to minnesota/g bay/st Clair. You would think with catch and release becoming so common those fish would come back eventually |
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Location: MadCity Wisconsin | It's great, in my opinion, to hear the old stories of fishing in the decades gone past. I don't judge the accuracy of any of these stories. They are told in the way they were remembered at the time. I certainly enjoyed this one.
Thanks for posting strandcpa.
Edited by Steve Reinstra 3/14/2023 9:56 PM
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| Couple of comments have been made about the weight of fish caught decades ago. I have wondered about that as well. 50+ years ago I remember being in a sport shop in Eagle River and there was a mount of a fish with an incredible girth. Don't remember the specifics but it was an upper 40s fish and weighed in at about pound per inch, according to the attached plaque. Both my uncle and I were amazed at the weight and girth.
Also saw a mounted musky at a cabin owned by a buddy's uncle that was similar. Just shy of 50 inches but weighed on a certified scale at 48 pounds. Now, on that fish part of it was that when the taxidermist was prepping it he found a recently eaten walleye that was over 5 pounds. The guy called and asked the fisherman, 'did you say you caught this on a sucker?'. The guy said, yeah a big sucker. The taxidermist couldn't believe the fish was still eating. He ended up mounting the walleye on the same piece of wood for no charge. It was an impressive mount. My friend's uncle said he knew there was a big fish in the area, but was shocked by it's girth when he caught it. |
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| Fish the width of the boat exist in Northern Wisconsin. All these fabled fish exist. Otherwise what's the point! |
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Location: E. Tenn | Den der's huntin season... an' dat...
https://youtu.be/tnHNqvOB42M
Edited by miket55 3/15/2023 11:48 PM
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| i love the old stories and memories. There are a lot of tales along the way, but i think the Wisconsin fish in mille lacs proved that given the proper conditions they can and do grow extremely large.
i have seen exactly one musky that i cant explain its size. if i had seen that in a 14' boat i'd image i would have thought it was even bigger, and probably stick out on both sides of the boat lol. |
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| Even 40 years ago all the old time guides would say the numbers of giant fish are way down, however if I see a giant I'm keeping my mouth shut. I've talked of seen 58" in large Canadian Lakes, but when it comes down to the small lakes in Wisconsin "I know nothing" Years ago I was in the Vilas County Area and we were going to fish a Lake with a friend who knew of Lake that had a 60" fish and the weather changed so we went somewhere else, for a joke I went to a friend who was a guide and I know he knew of this fish and I asked him about it. "dead silence" You could hear a fish jump five lakes over.
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| I think I worked that resort for 3 summers, In 1963 they had filled my job because I had to farm and plant corr, and cultivate until the corn got too high. But finding a job up there was never a problem. My two brothers worked Art Schroeder's squirrel lake resort and I found a position at Molgaards Indian Head lodge - Restaurant in Eagle River. I marveled at the patience of the muskie fisherman often booking a 14 day stay and fishing all day without a catch. I do remember with great fondness the quietness of dusk the loons walking across the lake as they landed and took off. And the sounds of their cries, the sounds of ducks and geese, squirrels and chipmunks chartering, owls and woodpeckers and as the night closed in the glow of distant northern nights coming through the evening fog. A magical place. But there was animal and bird crap everywhere, constant trips to the dump to get rid of garbage to keep the bears and other animals away.Chiggers and gnats, mosquitos and the bats finding their way into the vacation cabins and restaurant and lodge. The skunks and porcupines chewed on the cabin bottom logs to get the salt, the constant painting, deer eating anything that was planted. The moisture would age a new cabin so that it looked like it had been there 20 years in just one summer. |
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Location: E. Tenn | strandcpa - 3/16/2023 8:23 PM
I think I worked that resort for 3 summers, In 1963 they had filled my job because I had to farm and plant corr, and cultivate until the corn got too high. But finding a job up there was never a problem. My two brothers worked Art Schroeder's squirrel lake resort and I found a position at Molgaards Indian Head lodge - Restaurant in Eagle River. I marveled at the patience of the muskie fisherman often booking a 14 day stay and fishing all day without a catch. I do remember with great fondness the quietness of dusk the loons walking across the lake as they landed and took off. And the sounds of their cries, the sounds of ducks and geese, squirrels and chipmunks chartering, owls and woodpeckers and as the night closed in the glow of distant northern nights coming through the evening fog. A magical place. But there was animal and bird crap everywhere, constant trips to the dump to get rid of garbage to keep the bears and other animals away.Chiggers and gnats, mosquitos and the bats finding their way into the vacation cabins and restaurant and lodge. The skunks and porcupines chewed on the cabin bottom logs to get the salt, the constant painting, deer eating anything that was planted. The moisture would age a new cabin so that it looked like it had been there 20 years in just one summer.
Yes, but those were the days.. Nowadays the Northwoods is looking more like the Fox Chain o' Lakes..
I remember the freezers in front of every bait/sporting goods store, in Rhinelander, Three Lakes, Eagle River Minocqua, Boulder Junction and others showing off the biggest fish in the weekly derbies..
If only...
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | When I moved to Wisconsin in the early 70's there were lots of tails about muskies longer than the boat is wide than the boat. Not so much now, seems like the old plaid #*#* exaggerations are fading away. |
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| A couple years ago we spent the night in St. Germain WI. and I got up and walked over to St. Germain Marine (It was Jacks when I was young) When I walked inside for the most part it looked the same except for the fish box (freezer) and the sales lady asked if I needed help. (I had a book and a lake map) And I joked no fish box? She said "The old one died" Then when some restaurant went out of business they used something from the old Salad Bar. Then it died. I could tell she did not want to say "people don't kill fish anymore". And I did not say "we've released tons of fish bigger then any thing I've seen in that box.
My Grandpa was alway's winning biggest Crappie for the week back in the day. |
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| Well, one simple explanation for the 'longer than the boat was wide' is the size of fishing boats back in the day. First time I fished for musky was in the early 60s, out of a wood boat that was narrow and shallow. No motor, just oars. Those narrow wood boats were easy to row but not hard to imagine a musky being longer than it was wide.
Older retired gent who owned the little resort went with me, and I mainly rowed and asked questions. We didn't catch anything but did see a big musky completely jump out of a weed bed, straight up. The guy got very excited, said it was an upper 40 fish and that he had never seen one do that unless it was hooked. We fished thar weed bed for over an hour with no results. |
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| Seems to me the fishing in N/WI is better than it's ever been in my 50 years of fishing, but I still have to wonder if there is some truth to the claim that the fish just don't get as big as they used to. Whether genetics, climate, pollution, stocking, over harvest, invasives, or some combination of those are a factor (or not) can be debated until the cows come home. I do know of some lakes that used to have a cisco population and no longer do, so it stands to reason that maybe the muskies in those lakes aren't what they once were.
I'm not ruling that out, but legend are lore are just that. And anglers are known to this day to be full of #*#*. I've fished with some of them. One in particular had a follow from what was probably a low 40's fish. I was there. I saw the fish. Every time he told the story that fish got bigger. And somehow followed multiple times, and was hooked and lost, and still kept growing. It's one thing to embellish a story a bit, but to do it in front of a guy who was standing in the boat right next to you?
Edited by esoxaddict 3/20/2023 4:05 PM
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| I read the post about the Store at ST German. Thought I would reply since I started this post years ago. The last summer I could not get the job on Squirrel Lake and took a dish washer cooks helper Job at Molgaards Indian Lodge located in St German seems to be renamed Golden pines now. After work we would walk to the lake, we had access on a narrow steep road since to use the road and access you had to go through the restaurant's parking lot and roads. The locals let us swim and drink on the pier since we kept the road clear and graded. My memory had the lake as a small lake since we had about only ten mail boxes for the homeowners located at the restaurant and had met and talked to the cabin owners many times. I looked at the current google map and it looks the lake had to be ST German Lake, which appears to be pretty good sized.Perhaps 60 years ago there was limited access and cabins on the lake or my memory is faded. The other thing we did on a sunken dirt road was shine deer. The road was sunken down several feet because of use and the sides were covered with briar and raspberry vines. So the deer just stood still when you shined them with a search light mounted on the truck. After enough beers some tried to grab them and wrestle them to the ground, that never ended very well. We shined a number of black bears but kept our distance because the truck had suicide doors and we were always in the bed or on the running boards. Take a lot more beers to face a black bear. |
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| You name the time, Big giant 40-50 pound Muskies are rare in smaller Lakes in Wisconsin. John (North Of 8) talks of a very thick fish mount seen back in the 70's in Eagle River, I knew of this mount it was in Crossroads tackle shop in the 70's it was 50 pounds but UNDER 50 inches, a very, very thick fish. At the same time every once in a while someone will catch a very long fish and kept it and it will weight out to 44- 45 pounds. Now can someone catch a 60" fish that weights 60 pounds?
YES but it's full of eggs and caught before the season starts. The thick mount John and I talk of is in one of Larrry Ramsell's books and was dying during the spawn and Ron Lax got a hold of it and mounted it. Greg Bohn got I think a 56" in June of 1994 and it weighted 44 1/2 pounds. Do people over state fish? YES!!! But you have to see a very large fish to turn it into a HUGE fish. (a 45" being mistaken for a 50" is not what I'm talking about) A few other things.
Tony Rizzo reported that he saw 80 % less Super Lunkers after the mid 80's when spearing started. Stocking mistakes (over stocking, watered down gene pool). Forage, in the old days the DNR used to net rough fish and suckers out of the lakes and in some lakes we are losing our Cisco base.(warming water?) So you bump into a very rare Super Lunker the hardest part is to get it to hit!! Of all the Muskies my family has seen since 1936 all the Super Lunkers have been spotted swimming bye or have followed a lure but was no way in heck going to strike. How clean is the water? Do you drink it? |
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| Good story there. The one I always here from my buddies dad is that they hooked a world record giant in Ontario, fought it forever but when it finally shook free there was just some scales on the hook. Of course they meant to take the scales in to try and get the fish aged but he misplaced them. Haha |
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