Giant Musky Caught!

[cbrooks]

Congrats on the fish and thanks for the post. Wow you had four fish of that length in your boat. Good work.

[nater]

Congrats Matt and great job Tim!! Awesome pictures and a true mn monster!

[Double D]

Dang fool caught a legless alligator and didn't even know it!!

Congrats on a nice fish.

DD

[Fish&Fowl]

Absolute HOG...congrats and nice pics too!

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Thats an awesome story and pics

Thanks

[10,000 Casts]

Nice Fish!!! Nice hold and the release pics are awesome!

[St_Croix_Banks]

Great read and pics. Did I miss where you posted the GPS coordinate for us?

[bemidjibasser]

That is a frickin' TANK!!!

[mrklean]

thats a pig right there nice job

[fishuhalik]

Great, great fish Tim!

[Brett Waldera]

Matt & Tim,

Great fish...you two appear to have some major chemistry when fishing together!!

Congrats,

Brett Waldera

[Scott M]

Awesome read. Congrats!

[jigginjim]

Super fish, How the magic? lake and bait? E-mail me

[Tim_Anderson]

To all,

It has been really fun to tell this story, and to read all of your comments. I was just trading emails with Matt, and it is kind of funny. We are both still basking in this feeling that comes when you catch a fish of this caliber. It's as if we are glowing. We keep looking at the pictures and re-living it over and over. Guys, if you haven't experienced this, you really need to!

In reading your posts, I felt compelled to respond on a few levels. This may get long, so please bear with me.

First and foremost, I appreciate all of your kind words. It feels good to be congratulated and affirmed. But having said that, I will say something else: if anything good ever happens to me, it is a direct gift from above. That is my belief. So if I die tomorrow, I want to be known as the musky guide who put God first. He gets the glory!

Second. I have witnessed so many times on forums that someone posts a big fish picture and story, and out come all the nay-sayers and it turns into a big hoopla. I was really pleasantly surprised to see that not happen here. And that tells me something. It tells me that Matt and I are believable. That also feels really good.

And finally I wanted to say that I made a pact with myself some time ago. The agreement that I made was that I was never going to gain fame or fortune at the expense of the resource (I will not share specific information with the masses). It is the old "double edged sword" concept. Fame and fortune always come with a cost. Many have used things like TV, magazines and the internet to gain notoriety. And in the process, they have inadvertently cranked up the fishing pressure on their given lake.

Another thing I have witnessed is that they become hated by those who have no use for them (people that don't need a guide). I really, really don't want to be that guy. And so I sit back quietly and do my thing. We boat lots of muskies, and some really really big ones, and most people never even know. That is probably the biggest reason why I remain a part-time guide. If someone has a way for me to become a full time guide quick without jeopardizing the resource, I'd really like to know how!

The point I am getting at is that I left out some vital information on purpose. I didn't say where we caught the fish. I didn't say what we caught it on. I basically just told the story and posted a few photos along with it. I sincerely hoped that you all could just enjoy it for what it was, and just leave it at that. And it appears that you have! So thank you for that.

Now I will divulge this. I can think of a half dozen or so lakes in this state that consistently put out fish of this caliber. My clients, friends and I have boated fish of this magnitude in several of them. As for the others, I personally know people who have done the same. And this is how we do it.

I have a dozen or so guys who I network with. Someone is always fishing. We email and talk on the phone daily. We share EVERYTHING, and in doing so, we help one another to be successful. If you don't have a group like this, you need to do so.

When I am not guiding, I am usually fishing (with my friends, or alone) to try and stay on the pulse of the musky bite. It's very much like pre-fishing for a tournament, and it helps me immensely to consistently put my clients on fish.

And, we work very hard at catching fish like the one at the top of this thread. When you see the pictures, it all seems very glamorous, but the truth is, this fish took hundreds and hundreds of hours to catch. I can't even tell you how many times we fished all day or all night (or both) and came up with nothing. But hey, I will tell you this. It was all worth it.

On a lighter note, Matt has earned the nickname - "hoover." It's because he tends to fish stuff pretty clean before I get there even though I'm in the same boat. My only defense is to speed up the boat so there are bigger gaps between his casts. But at the same time, speeding up the boat is not conducive to night fishing, and that IS when the big girls like to eat. Hmmmm? What to do? Guess I'll have to sleep on that one.

Gotta get up early to guide again, so I'm outta here.

Thanks again guys for making this a fun topic. And good luck to you all.

Tim

[Deitz Dittrich]

wow, a beast and an even better story to go with it.. Awesome work guys!!

[john skarie]

Tim;

Your philosophy of being "secretive" about your success in combination with your network of info sharing with friends is spot on.

I have a similar circle of guys that share info and we all have benefitted from it in "big" ways.

Awesome fish, you can't hide big in a photo.

JS

[ande]

Tim,

I wish all guides shared your perspective on the resource!

That fish was a tank. Like a good friend of mine says its hard to hide big.

Appreciate your faith also.

[marine_1]

What a Tank that thing is you sure it was only 55? Looks to be at least 63 Congrats.

[muskieboy46]

I have a dozen or so guys who I network with. Someone is always fishing. We email and talk on the phone daily. We share EVERYTHING, and in doing so, we help one another to be successful. If you don't have a group like this, you need to do so.

Can I join your group?

[HugoBox]

I have a dozen or so guys who I network with. Someone is always fishing. We email and talk on the phone daily. We share EVERYTHING, and in doing so, we help one another to be successful. If you don't have a group like this, you need to do so.

When I am not guiding, I am usually fishing (with my friends, or alone) to try and stay on the pulse of the musky bite. It's very much like pre-fishing for a tournament, and it helps me immensely to consistently put my clients on fish.

Tim -

Congrats on a HUGE fish.

I haven't met you personally but based on the posts of yours it sure seems like your boat is well deserving of such a fish. Its interesting to see your note above about your network. I've gotten to be pals with a few guys and we've shared every bit of info on fish this year and I'd like to think we've all seen the benefits of it. In my case I'm probably more of a leech cause I don't know a lot about muskies but its amazing how much it helps not to be out there alone. About a week ago I changed from a lake that was producing to a secondary body of water based partly on conditions but mostly on a report from a friend (and darn good fisherman) who WAS on the "hot" lake. I ended up sliming the net up twice that night by changing things up. Your advice is very good.

Good luck the rest of the year.

-erik