How big is this muskie?

[dougb]

I need some help from some of you guys who have seen and know the approximate weight of muskies.
I am try to figure out the size of this muskie my 15 year old daughter caught this summer. This July while fishing in Ontario my daughter hooked and eventually landed a 52" muskie. We were fishing for walleyes with bottom bouncers and thinking that she would have a hard time handling the b.b. I set her up with a jig and leech (6lb. test line).
Pretty soon it looked like she was snagged but in fact had hooked this big tuna. The fish was hooked under the chin. I was in no way prepared for a fish this size (check out the landing net) and didn't even realize there were muskies in the system. Anyway about an hour and 15 min later we pulled this thing in the boat.

The fish is huge. I didn't get a girth measurement and I did a lousy job of photographing the fish (anxious to get her back in the water - she was pretty gassed. Luckily a neighbor had a digital video camera and I was able to take a few stills off of it.

Any thoughts on the weight of this fish? We marked our boat paddle to get a length and it was just over 52".

O.K. now I have to figure out how to post these photos.

Thanks.
dougb

[jimh874]

my brother got one last year at first ice that was 51.5". the best weight we got off the scales in the bait shop was around 37 pounds.
that should get some idea that it was a monster she cought.

nice fish, get those pics up

jim

[taxmancommeth]

Doug,

Scott from ZOOMN.com here, I will try to get the photos that you sent me on here. Send them to me again as I think they are at home on the PC, not here at work.

I will get them on here for you.

By the looks of pictures that I saw this thing was a PIG... Only about half of the body is in the net. I would have guessed that it would have been 51 x low 20's!

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GET-ER-DONE

[dougb]

Thanks Jim and Scott.
Scott I just sent you 3 photos.
Doug

[taxmancommeth]

The still photos of the fish! It almost resembles the one caught on the big pond a few weeks back (see link).

http://www.northmetromuskies.com/Stories3.html

Great fish Doug & family!

[This message has been edited by taxmancommeth (edited 08-30-2004).]

[taxmancommeth]

Forgot the weight part: L x G x G / 800

A 20 inch Girth would be around 26 lbs
A 24 inch Girth would be around 38 lbs
A 27 inch Grith would be around 47 lbs

All I know it is a nice fish!

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GET-ER-DONE

[dougb]

Thanks Scott
Nice job. When I first saw that fish I thought she had hooked a hippopotamus.
Doug

[buzzsaw]

That fish eats children!!!

[Greg Clusiau]

We boated a 52"er on Lake of the Woods, with a 24" girth, and it weighed 42 pounds.

[Failin'onPhalen]

Niiiiiiiccccce Fish!

Careful about the 'child-eating' comment, see story below:

Posted on Sat, Aug. 28, 2004

Big fish puts the hurt on little boy

Bite wounds take 11 stitches to close

BY SAM COOK

Duluth News Tribune

One moment, 11-year-old Mason DeRosier was hunting frogs. The next, he was fish bait.

Mason and his sister Katelyn, 9, were wading in about a foot of water on Island Lake, near Moose Lake, Minn., when he was attacked by a muskellunge or a northern pike. The resulting lacerations required 11 stitches.

Both kids are from Silver Bay, Minn., and were at a family cabin on Island Lake when the incident occurred about 5 p.m. Thursday.

Mason's father, Richard DeRosier, was in a paddleboat just offshore and witnessed the event.

"I was facing them, and I see a hell of a swirl," said DeRosier, a Lake County deputy sheriff. "Before I can say, 'Holy moly! Look at that!,' all of a sudden the swirl is by their feet."

Mason said he saw the original swirl just offshore.

"It was like maybe 5 feet in front of us," Mason said. "Then, it splashed right at my foot and bit me. It hurt."

The fish didn't let go immediately.

"I smacked it in the head and tried to pry it off my foot," Mason said. "He let go, but he bit my hand."

Both children were screaming throughout the incident, their father said. Katelyn wasn't bitten.

Mason was taken in his grandfather's motorboat back to the cabin, where he washed his wounds. Then he was off to the hospital emergency room in Moose Lake. He received eight stitches in his left hand and three in the bottom of his right foot. He has numerous other bite marks across the top of his foot, his dad said.

"I'll bet he has 20 cuts on his foot and 10 cuts on his hand," Richard DeRosier said.

Nobody got a good look at the fish. Island Lake, just across Interstate 35 from Sand Lake in Pine County, has muskies and northern pike, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Either species would be capable of inflicting the kind of wounds Mason suffered.

Because Mason's foot hurts too much to walk on, the family decided to postpone a planned trip to Valleyfair.

Again, Niiiiiiiccccce Fish!
Failin'

[marine_1]

I would take a guess that the girth on that baby is around 24"

[dougb]

Thanks for all your help guys.
For all future storytelling I'm going to go with 40 to 45 lbs. as the estimated weight, (with the option of raising by up to 10% as may be necessary due to excessive beveraging or in the spirit of competition).

Again thanks.
Doug

[AndyW]

How big? VERY big!

Nice job!

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~Andy