longest fight with a muskie

[jwmiller33]

i have never caught a big muskie before, but i am a huuge muskie fan and wish i could catch one... i was thinking and wondering how long some of you guys have fought one of these suckers before boating them? i was with a buddy this summer who caught a 36" and that one probably had about a 4-5 minute fight.

anybody have any crazy stories ok super long fights? i'd be interested to hear and thanks in advance for sharing!

[Scottie Thomas]

Im interested to see what people say about this, hopefully not a lot of crazy long fights.

The longest one Ive personally had was the spring in Northern MN. I hooked a 48 3/4 incher with a bulldawg on the end of a cast. Two of the hooks pinned the fishes mouth shut so it came in mouth closed like a torpedo. It went on two runs and was able to run quickly because of the closed mouth. We tried netting it 4 times before she hit the bottom of the bag; this fight lasted about 3 1/2 - 4 minutes.

I would say the vast majority of fights with muskies last under a minute.

[JimBuck]

Unless it happens unintentionally while fishing for another species...it's under a minute before she hits the bag. They typically let me know when it's time. Nothing worse than netting a muskie prematurely.

[MuskieJunkie]

For me about 3 minutes, fish hit on the end of a bomb cast, I got a poor hooket on it so I rolled the drag back and played it out a little, as soon as the fish hit the net the hooks came out.

My friend accidentally hooked one while ice fishing (6 lbs test bobber rig with crappie minnow). Fought it for about 10 minutes until the hook came out. If you search you tube for "what could've been musky" you can watch part of the fight. I can't post the video here becuase he yells a 4 letter word at the end of it.

[hunterjoe]

Most of the fish we've caught this year we've had to wait for the net man to get the net ready. Not too many fights over a minute. I did catch a couple long(er) line trolling by myself that took a few minutes, but nothing over 2 or 3 minutes.

[Jim Uran]

HA HA!!! Isn't this a question that will get someone scolded...

[bronzeback]

no, I think he's just curious.

I had a battle this summer with a 49-50" when I was out by myself. Hit in the middle of my cast, and I got her to the boat easy. Getting her in the net was another issue though. Having a fish of that size decide to go on another run when you only have one hand on the rod is no good. She ended up surprising me like that two or three more times. The fight probably felt like it lasted longer than it really was though. I'd say a max of 2 to 3 minutes. Leaning towards 2. Felt like an eternity though, I hadn't put a fish over 41 or so in the boat all year and I wanted that girl badly.

[Muskiefool]

Longest Ive seen was last year, cool water and a heck of a fish caught on the end of a long bomb cast; I suppose it took 2 min maybe 3 at the most, one of the shortest was also the largest (Crooms Massiff) I suppose 40-60 seconds.

Long battles are good for the funny papers, there is no need for it use the right gear the right net and the proper tools.

Play her quick and let her go.

[slovene]

Have caught two trolling on walleye gear (10 lb. test), a 52" (25 min.) on a #9 floating Rap and a 48" (about 7 min.) on a #5 Salmo Hornet, both on Pike Bay on Vermilion and both before muskie season opened. Water was still plenty cold (before Memorial Day) and they both swam away to fight another day (I hope so!). Only two I have ever caught, as I don't fish for them intentionally, but can see why some guys get excited about fishing them!!

[muskieboy46]

Alright alright, i'll be the second to admit a longer fight. When I was 14years old my family was visiting my uncle at his cabin. While trolling for pike with my mom I hooked into a 48incher. Of course we didn't know what to do and were not prepared as no one in my family had ever fished for muskies. After a couple runs we tried to scoop the fish into our northern net, which conveniently broke the hoop. So back to fighting the fish for a couple minutes longer while my mom calls my dad who drives the neighbors boat and another net out to us (we were fighting the fish right in front of the cabin). So all in all probably 10-15mins.

I was 14 and didn't know any better. Now my fights all last around 1 min and I love my big net, jaw spreader, 10inch pliers, and hook cutters.

[dcmusky]

Longest Ive seen was last year, cool water and a heck of a fish caught on the end of a long bomb cast; I suppose it took 2 min maybe 3 at the most, one of the shortest was also the largest (Crooms Massiff) I suppose 40-60 seconds.

Long battles are good for the funny papers, there is no need for it use the right gear the right net and the proper tools.

Play her quick and let her go.

Seemed like a half an hour to me. Accually the longest fight I had was this year and she got off a foot from the net, about a 3 1/2 min fight, but WOW!

[dcmusky]

Now that I think of it maybe the guy holding the fishin poles time is alittle different than the guy holding the net.

[jwmiller33]

HA HA!!! Isn't this a question that will get someone scolded...

i think you are taking it the wrong way. im not even a muskie guy. i just know they put up good fights and i was curious as to whats the longest some of the muskie guys have fought a fish for.... i dont see anything wrong with that????

its not like i'm promoting lengthening out fights on fish or anything along those lines... i think you should re read my post as to what i'm asking

[snowman678]

I don't think this was specifically posted towards you, just the general audience. It has a tendency to get a little heated in here at times when someone is perceived to have done something wrong, and someone else tries to "educate" them. As for your original question, you probably see the trend. For the most part, muskies are a pretty short fight, but very intense. I would describe it as 30 seconds to 1 minute of chaos. The longest fight I've seen was a 33-34" fish that my dad caught while walleye fishing w/ a light action rod and 4lb test. We had no net in the boat as it was a catch/release outing in Canada, so it took several tries before sucessfully hand-landing it; I would guess 5-6 minutes total (seemed a lot longer at the time).

[jwmiller33]

gotta love "hand landing" big... especially big skies. light action rod with 4lb test must have been a heck of a fight. im jealous

[Nick Kuhn]

Took my brother about 15 minutes on a ML rod with 10lb fireline (a 40" fish), can't say I've had any take longer. Usually it takes longer to aline the fish for a good net job then it does to get it boatside.

[roughfish29]

sorry its not a muskie,

but i got my pb pike on an ultra-light while i was carp fishing, it was about a 10 min fight. But what surprised me the most was that i caught this fish on BREAD!!!!!

[Scoot]

I took almost 10 minutes to land a 51 two years ago. I was using a MH spinning rig (this was my sight fishing rig for muskies- appopriate leader, 40# Powerpro, big reel, pretty seven foot spinning rod) with a jig and sight fishing. I saw a big fish sitting up shallow, pitched out in front of him, he swam past my jig and under a dock. I cast back to the dock and he rocketed out from underneath the dock and swiped at the lure. I felt the line "tick", but couldn't see much as the fish broke water when it slashed at the jig. I set the hook and had the fish on. A few seconds later I realized I had the poor gal hooked way back near the tail. I can say with confidence that a 51" fish does not go into a net very well when mostly coming to the boat backwards! I got completely dominated! Fortunately, the water wasn't particularly warm, I was sure to be extremely quick with one pic in about six seconds, and she swam off with no problems at all.

[MeyersBros]

Yea musky are not the biggest fighters out there, but boy can they jump! I hate hooking into a musky and fighting it for 45 seconds or so and right when she comes within 10 feet of the boat she jumps 3 feet in the air and whips the lure right out of her mouth!!! any of you had some good jumpers?

makes me want to scream and punch my fishing partner! So be careful coming with me!

[Shawn Kellett]

Muskies typically don't fight too long if you are using muskie tackle. If you look at the fishes biology, they're designed for lightning fast strikes of short-med distance. Salmonoids on the other hand are more of a pelagic fish that cover distance for a living. They give a much longer fight and I love catching them for it. That being said, there's nothing out there like a muskie strike! That's why I like casting vs trolling.

[Jim Uran]

Originally Posted By: leechbait

HA HA!!! Isn't this a question that will get someone scolded...

i think you are taking it the wrong way. im not even a muskie guy. i just know they put up good fights and i was curious as to whats the longest some of the muskie guys have fought a fish for.... i dont see anything wrong with that????

its not like i'm promoting lengthening out fights on fish or anything along those lines... i think you should re read my post as to what i'm asking

I fully understand the question! I've seen people get attacked for honestly answering a simple question such as this. I simply fired a warning shot that hopefully would prevent someone form getting bombarded!! Good post, keep it up.

[scsavre]

I try to replay it in my head but man it is hard to guess. I would have to say most of mine were between 1-2 minutes. Man that seems like a short battle for the amount of time you put into it. I fish by myself 90% so it can take me an extra few seconds.

I think i would have to say that some of my best battles are the lower 40"ers. Seems to take me a little longer with all the jumping, but yet just enough power to make some runs. the 50"s this year just did long runs and seemed like an eternity but might have been shorter battles.

[BlueBillStacker]

Seen a guy this spring while in wisconson crappie fishing fight one for 45 minutes not on musky tackle but whatever we left before we could see the conclusion must have been a monster i love that lake!!! prob real good bout now on the sunken island!!!

[BlueBillStacker]

49 in is the biggest this year and i bet that fish was bigger for sure

[Musky Buck]

I'm guessing but 5 minutes roughly would be the longest. I see some on video take a bit but that's to help fill for footage, sometimes they are gased laying by the boat and of course they can get a bit of a second wind but that's that.