Northland Outdoors first reported: Muskie guide Dustin Carlson of Duluth has seen a lot of big muskies. But none of them measure up to one of near world-record proportions that his uncle caught aboard Carlson’s boat July 16 on the St. Louis River. “It’s absolutely the highlight of my life,” said Carlson, 34, a muskie guide for 10 years. Charlie Gallagher of Crete, Ill., caught the tiger muskie that Saturday afternoon while throwing a red-squirrel-pattern Top Raider top-water lure along the edge of a weed bed, Carlson said.
The muskie was 48.5 inches long with a 28.5-inch girth. A muskie length-to-weight formula put the weight of the fish at 49 pounds, Carlson said.
The Minnesota record for a tiger muskie is 34 pounds, 12 ounces. The world record, according to the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, weighed 51 pounds, 3 ounces, and was caught in Lake Vieux Desert on the Wisconsin-Michigan border — in 1919.
Gallagher’s fish, which was released after Carlson took photos of it, had a huge belly, uncommon for muskies at this time of year.
A tiger muskie is a natural hybrid between a female muskie and a male northern pike. It exhibits the characteristics of both fish. It has branching dark bars on a light background and its tail has rounded tips.
“It’s amazing to see a fish of that caliber,” said Carlson. “It’s just a rare freak. I’ve probably gotten close to 500 e-mails and text messages from guys all over the country and even from Europe.”
Pete Brzezinski, another area guide, catches two to three tiger muskies a year on the river, but this one was something else, he said.
“I’ve handled a lot of gigantic fish,” Brzezinski said. “I’ve handled fish up to 45 pounds. But I’ve never in my life seen a fish like that. It was amazing.”
The girth of the fish is what sets it apart, he said.
“To have a 48.5-inch fish with that kind of girth,” he said. “A lot of guys talk about fish with a 28-inch girth. But this is what a 28-inch girth looks like.”
Gallagher couldn’t have kept the fish even if he had wanted to. Regulations on the St. Louis River require a muskie to be at least 50 inches long to be kept, and most muskie anglers routinely release all the muskies they catch. Continue reading….
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