What is your Biggest?

[muskyhunter28]

O.K. So every time I go to the lake I here some Rookie say, " I know a Guy that knows a Girl that knows a guy that caught a 53" inch musky, right were you are fishing". And now the new rumor on the Street is some Lady caught a 56" incher.
So I ask if they got a pic or even saw one......The answer is always nope!
So my question to you guys.
What is the Biggest Musky you have seen,and or Pulled out of a Washington State Lake?
The Biggest I have seen was 47.75 out of Merwin!

[Kenster]

The biggest Tiger I have seen..... is always the one that didn't hit! She will follow deep but never strike! 48"+ in the wild, gauranteed. Biggest I've gotten 45" from Mayfield. Picture? Yes!

Kenster

[fishaholictaz]

I saw one in Mayfield that was over 50" I would say but I don't know but it was well over 42"! By far the bigggest fish I have ever seen in a lake:pale:

[Rosann G]

Bill pulled a 48"er out of Tapps a couple years ago and I measured it and took a picture of it before he put it back in to be caught again.
R

[Don Wittenberger]

48", 28 lbs., from Mayfield Lake several years ago.

[Kenster]

I saw one in Mayfield that was over 50" I would say but I don't know but it was well over 42"! By far the bigggest fish I have ever seen in a lake:pale:

If you remember the difference between an 8" bass as compared to a 16" bass, it's only eight inches and maybe 2- 2 1/2 pounds. But take a 50"+ TM compared to a 42" TM, we're talking 8-18 pounds difference. You would know the difference between 3'6" and 5'2"+TM. I think you need to go back and CPR that beast so we can all see! Nice to see you over here TAZ!

Kenster

[fishaholictaz]

I am moving to Wyoming soon so I am going to fish for toothy critters ie; trout, Walleye, tigers and pike it should be fun:cheers: I think there is a pretty good population over there nothing like some lakes here but I should be able to find a few with a little help from my friends on line!

PS the fish I saw was FAT if it is that easy to tell this fish was a around 48 for sure it had another smaller on swimming with it that was way bigger than the one I caught that was 20 some inches.

[mtsiview]

I saw one in Mayfield that was over 50" I would say but I don't know but it was well over 42"! By far the bigggest fish I have ever seen in a lake:pale:

If you remember the difference between an 8" bass as compared to a 16" bass, it's only eight inches and maybe 2- 2 1/2 pounds. But take a 50"+ TM compared to a 42" TM, we're talking 8-18 pounds difference. You would know the difference between 3'6" and 5'2"+TM. I think you need to go back and CPR that beast so we can all see! Nice to see you over here TAZ!

Kenster

Hey Kenster,

On my construction jobs, 50" is only 4'2", not 5'2"! Maybe it's been so long since you have actually had to use a tape measure, that they have changed that much!=d>

[Travisah]

Guys, My wife and I are looking at relo-ing out to the Seattle area in a few weeks. I need some help. I am a big Muskie guy and took the pluge this year and picked up a new Ranger Angler. I have been getting tons of use out of it on the waters in MN hammering for lake sharks. When this came up I cringed thinking "Seattle don't they only have Salmon?" After a bit of research I was very pleased to see that there is a Muskies inc out there. What is the fishing like? How many lake option are there with in 30mins to an hour of the city? What kind of tackle are you throwing? Are there Navonics (or any company) GPS chips for the local lakes or are paper maps the only way to go? Are there only tigers out there... no pure strain?

I have been in the game for several years with a 47 and a 53 (replica on my wall) as highlights... will I be able to come close or beat these out there?

Where does everyone get there lures out there?

I will be there next weekend on a house hunting trip... any pointers would be greatly appreciated as I plan to check out the fishing seen as well!!

Take care,
Travis

[Anonymous]

Hi Travis & welcome to the beautiful Northwest.
What part of MN.? My spouse grew up in Minneapolis & fished there & the Big Chip constantly.

"What is the fishing like?" ----10,000 casts LOL
"How many lake option are there with in 30mins to an hour of the city?" ---- One.. Lake Tapps. 6 more lakes, state-wide.
"What kind of tackle are you throwing?" ----- Smaller than your used to. They turn up their noses at Double Cowgirls and your 12 inch suicks.
"Are there Navonics (or any company) GPS chips for the local lakes or are paper maps the only way to go?---" Some and no.
"Are there only tigers out there... no pure strain?" ------- Only Tigers... and we love 'em. Just like we love our salmon.
"I have been in the game for several years with a 47 and a 53 (replica on my wall) as highlights... will I be able to come close or beat these out there?" ------- Yup, we're close.

"Where does everyone get there lures out there?" ----- Some Sportsman's Warehouse, Some Auburn Sports & Marine, Worden's Lures, some Rollie & Helen's, Smokey's, Pastika's. Sound familiar?

Travis, check out www.nwtigermuskies@comcast.com
There is all kinds of information on the web site that will answer all your questions and more. You do not have to be a member to come to a Chapter meeting. You can hook up with many of our anglers, there, too. Next meeting is Thusday, July 17th. Always the 3rd Thursday of the month, unless we have a picnic or something.... always check the web site, first.

PM me if you need more info. We always try to give a warm welcome to fellow husk'averns & cheeseheads. :compress:

and "hammering lake sharks "... what? Minnehaha? http://www.tonyrogers.com/humor/live_sharks_mn.htm

[Don Wittenberger]

I agree with what KUP said, and add the following information:

Washington Lakes Stocked With Tiger Muskies

Merwin Reservoir, near the town of Woodland, 4090 acres, about 4 hours' driving time from Seattle
Mayfield Reservoir, near the town of Mossyrock, 2050 acres, about 130 miles from Seattle
Curlew Lake, near the town of Republic, 870 acres, about 300 miles from Seattle
Newman Lake, near Spokane, 1200 acres, about 320 miles from Seattle
Evergreen Reservoir, near the town of Quincy, 235 acres, about 160 miles from Seattle
Tapps Lake, on the outskirts of Tacoma, 2296 acres, about 40 miles from Seattle
Silver Lake, Spokane County, 486 acres, about 300 miles from Seattle

Merwin and Mayfield Reservoirs are hydropower reservoirs. They are long, narrow, deep, and have very clear water. Evergreen Reservoir is an irrigation tank that gets algae blooms and hordes of mosquitoes in summer. Curlew is a pretty lake near the Canadian border with an interesting variety of structure. Tapps is an urban lake that gets heavy boating traffic. Newman and Silver lakes are suburban lakes in the Spokane area on the opposite side of the state near the Idaho state line, and a very long drive from Seattle.

Our lakes lack the complex midlake structure typical of midwestern lakes. The forage base also is different; they feed mostly on squawfish. Washington has a 50-inch minimum size, 1 fish per day keep limit, no closed season, and prohibits use of live fish for bait. As a practical matter, the tiger muskies are dormant in winter and most are caught from early June through September. Fish over 50 inches are rare, but 30-pounders are possible. The state record is 31.25 lbs.

Published paper topo maps do not exist for any of our muskie lakes. They are mapped on Navionics chips but how good those maps are is debatable. Merwin, Mayfield, and Tapps in particular, have complex shorelines and bottom contours that the map chips don't do justice to. In my opinion, your best bet is to learn the lakes by fishing them, and commit that information to memory or draw your own maps. I don't use maps to fish these lakes. I use visual cues, and watch my depthfinder a lot.

[kevinb]

O.K. So every time I go to the lake I here some Rookie say, " I know a Guy that knows a Girl that knows a guy that caught a 53" inch musky, right were you are fishing". And now the new rumor on the Street is some Lady caught a 56" incher.
So I ask if they got a pic or even saw one......The answer is always nope!
So my question to you guys.
What is the Biggest Musky you have seen,and or Pulled out of a Washington State Lake?
The Biggest I have seen was 47.75 out of Merwin!

No kidding...everytime at Tapps I run into somebody who tells me about this monster tiger they caught(no pics)
My personal best tiger....a whopping 38incher.

[muskie guy]

I'll see if I can dig up a picture of a 51 inch, 36 pounder from Hauser Lake, just across the Washington/Idaho boarder. Caught on a white Terminator spinnerbait, during the hot hot hot days of August.

[Deadeyemark]

46.5x22 You've already seen the pic. I have seen a few 48-50" fish in Tapps, Mayfield, Curlew and Merwin. They didn't get that size by eating artificial lures. There's usually a bit of luck involved when a good fish is boated. Weather, feeding moods, lure choice and presentation come into play also. So does location. Big fish are never far from deep water. I'm sure the sun and moon also come into play if all else is a go.

[Don Wittenberger]

Well, the big ones do eat artificial lures, Mark -- at least, the ones that get caught do. But who knows how many wise old tigers are lurking in the murky depths that nobody knows are there because they've learned to tell the difference between prey and lures? I suspect there's some we don't know about that will never get caught because they're too smart for us.

I can only speak from my experience with big fish that did get caught, or at least hooked, and there isn't a consistent pattern to them. If you only fish shorelines, then you'll catch them from shorelines and miss the dropoff fish and suspended fish. I think they're in all three of those places, although we don't see or catch very many fish on Merwin's shoreline cover anymore. I suspect they've been pushed off by fishing pressure. Anyway, here's a quick rundown on the big fish I've crossed paths with:

On Sept. 14, 2005, Mike Nielsen hooked a large fish on a Deep Invader that was laying on a log in about 10 to 12 feet of water. It dove into deep water, wrapped a log, and broke off. We didn't get a good look at it, but Mike has always insisted it was larger than the 31.15-lb. tiger muskie he caught 3 days later. That one took a Windel's Muskie Spinnerbait cast to a log in shallow water close to the bank.

In late July of 2006, Mike hooked a fish we estimated at 28 to 30 lbs. on deep shoreline cover that broke his line. A day or two later, on July 31, 2006, Mike caught a 28-pounder on the same lure that took his 31-pounder, from a sunken tree going out into 50 feet of water, but the fish was hooked close to the bank in about 6 feet of water. In this case, the fish was shallow but right next to deep water.

On July 22, 2007, also at Merwin, Tony Welch caught a 47" x 26.5-pounder from a tree floating on the surface. The fish was laying in the branches about 40 feet out from the bank where the water was approximately 30 feet deep, but wasn't very far down, and hit a shallow-running crankbait. The lure was a small nondescript no-name hunk of plastic in the ugliest color you can imagine, probably made in China, that Tony bought for 3 bucks at a Portland surplus store.

I caught my 28-pounder at Mayfield from a shallow stump on a Believer. This September fish was in about 5 or 6 feet of water, quite a ways in from the dropoff. She probably was there in search of prey.

[Deadeyemark]

Don,
I didn't say that big fish never hit artificial lures. Only that they didn't get big by eating artificial lures.
There are more little fish caught stories than there are big fish caught stories. I've been lucky enough to catch my share of bigger fish but I throw bigger baits than most folks and for most of the day where as most folks throw smaller baits then step down further yet to bass size lures sometimes within an hour or so fo fishing. They seem to catch more muskies but most of them are small.
Big fish are usually older fish and have gotten conditioned to artificial lures on most bodies of water that get any kind of fishing pressure. That's why you see them follow but not strike many times.
What kind of line are you and your group using that you're getting broken off so often? I've never broken off on a musky and have plenty of them try through various types of cover. In fact, the times I've snagged up and needed to really put hard on my line, (I keep a 1" x 6" long wooden dowel in the boat for wrapping the line around) I've opened up the hooks. I've never broken off on a snag either. I use 65# Power Pro on most of my rods. 80# on my two jerkbait/glider rods. 125# and 180# respectively, flourocarbon leaders from Charlie Runyon. You might get bit once more with lighter line/leader but what good does it do if you break off and leave a trophy musky with a lure stuck in it's mouth that could stop it from feeding and possibly die of starvation, never to be caught again.
Fishing Merwin last Friday, the fish didn't seem to mind my heavy gear one bit but I did notice that there was "0" fishing pressure besides my boat. These fish seemed to be alot more active than what I've been fishing for in this area, that's for sure. Other than the lond drive/expense, I'm looking forward to my next trip to Merwin.

[Don Wittenberger]

We use a variety of lines in my boat depending on the fisherman (there are 3 of us, and we each have our own preference). I keep one of my rods rigged with 80# superbraid, but it's visible in Merwin's very clear water, so I prefer using 30# Cortland Musky Mono. Unlike superbraid, it has a bit of stretch, which offsets its lower pound test and also helps prevent tearing hooks out of the fish's mouth. We've lost very few fish because of broken line; and those we did, with one exception, wrapped the line around logs on the bottom. Stronger line is of no help in that situation; in fact, you want the fish to be able to break loose. I'm not saying a fish getting away with a lure in its mouth is a good thing, but it's preferable to leaving the fish attached to a log.

The main point I wanted to make in my comment above is that I see no pattern in our catches of big fish. They weren't in any special place; they were mixed with average-sized tiger muskies in milk-run spots. We've hooked them in hot weather in August and drizzly weather in September. We've hooked them shallow and deep. We've hooked them on lures of all descriptions. Looking back on the big fish we've encountered, I can't draw any conclusions. Big fish appear to be random events.

I'm not sure what you mean by "they don't get big by eating artificial lures." I don't believe some fish are smarter than others, and consequently live longer and grow bigger. Despite the old fisherman's saying that "they don't get big by being stupid," they ARE stupid; and the fact big ones get caught along with the rest indicates they're not smarter than run-of-the-mill muskies. While it's tempting to believe older, larger, fish are harder to catch because they possess accumulated wisdom, there's no logical basis to believe that. This presupposes they can think. I don't believe they can. They are very primitive animals that react instinctively to hunger and stimuli, and I believe whether a particular fish gets caught is mostly a function of random chance, and how big a tiger muskie grows is a function of a combination of genetics and accidents of longevity. The reason we catch fewer big ones is because there's fewer of them to catch; I've seen no evidence they're better at avoiding anglers.

[Kenster]

I saw one in Mayfield that was over 50" I would say but I don't know but it was well over 42"! By far the bigggest fish I have ever seen in a lake:pale:

If you remember the difference between an 8" bass as compared to a 16" bass, it's only eight inches and maybe 2- 2 1/2 pounds. But take a 50"+ TM compared to a 42" TM, we're talking 8-18 pounds difference. You would know the difference between 3'6" and 5'2"+TM. I think you need to go back and CPR that beast so we can all see! Nice to see you over here TAZ!

Kenster

Hey Kenster,

On my construction jobs, 50" is only 4'2", not 5'2"! Maybe it's been so long since you have actually had to use a tape measure, that they have changed that much!=d&gt]

LOL!!! OUCH! You got me! I should proof read atleast 17 times not 16.

Kenster

[Rosann G]

Good information Don, thank you. I tend to agree with what you say about no patterns on where, when, or what lures catch muskies. It being in the right place at the right time with the right lure for that day, time and place and alot of luck too.
Rosann

[muskyhunter]

My biggest was a 45x 20 at Tapps. The biggest I've seen is at a lake down south. If I said how big it was you'd all think I was crazy and full of shazzbat. Its unphathomable...really!