Biggest follow/ biggest fish you’ve seen?

I know it’s a very suggestive topic as far as judging size in water etc. but what’s the biggest fish you’ve ever seen.
For me there’s two that stick in my mind. Largest fish ever seen was on Mille Lacs while fishing for smallmouth with my wife.. was reeling in a nice 3-4 pounder and was just about to lip it when all of a sudden out of nowhere a giant, and yes I mean GIANT fish probably mid to high 50’s tried to eat my smallie at boatside. Scared the crap out of me as I almost fell overboard and left a nice scar and frayed tail on the bass. Biggest follow I’ve ever seen was on a hard to fish/seldom fished metro lake. Easily a 40 lb.+ class fish.. Had her follow up to the boat once in each of the last two falls on the same bait in the same spot. Next year I plan on winning this game. So let’s hear your fish stories.

My big fish story sounds awfull familiar to your Mille story, same thing. IMPRESSIVE!

BIRDDOG

A small Lake in Western Wisconsin. I was working a breakline in about 12 feet of water. Ahead of me maybe 30 yards away was a hen mallard. Wham! A Musky came up and took her off the surface like she was a mayfly. After I got done crapping my pants I started digging through the bait box to see what I had that looked like a duck. A week later I had a follow in the same spot, this fish was well into the 50 inch range. It was a pretty cold follow and I never saw her again…..

Rootski

I have a fish that I thought was close to 60″ dialed in on Lake Minnetonka. Been working her 3 years.

I thought she was 60″……..

But another guy caught her and she measured out at 56″ without pinching the tail!

Atleast I know where she lives!

Was 5 feet from a 9′ Nurse Shark, while Scuba diving in Cozumel 2 weeks ago

big g

I know exactly what you are saying about a fish “standing out”. I had a 55-56″ on a lazy follow in Lac Seul that I can safely say was the biggest I’ve seen. One of those fish that makes you pause for just a second. That pause probably didn’t help my figure 8 much, but oh well it was big.

MId 50’s musky that hangs around my dock in June and July. I got a fairly good measurement at 56″ as she just sat there one day. The impressive thing is the width. I’ve tried everything I own to hook up but no luck. Maybe I need Gary’s pink Phantom..

11.5 Mako Shark Circling our boat until we tossed a sliced AmberJack out and it was GAME ON

2.5 hours later with a legal catch we released the BRUTE. THat was estimeated by the FLORIDA GAME & FISH @ 11.5′ and 450 lbs. Only the seoicnd one caught off the Ft. Myers Coast in a long time!

Not very exciting.

Other than that a 50 to low 50″ Skie on a Metro Lake, perhaps the same one as Jeremy???? This was a few yers back las ttime i saw here. I saw her a total of 3 times.

Last summer on WBL. Buddy was reeling in a sunny on ultralight up to the boat. Out of nowhere a pretty large class muskie shot out like a bolt of lighting and grabbed ahold of the unsuspecting sunny. It was close enough to the boat that we could see everything. Muskie drilled it once, let go, circled and came back a grabbed it again. Actually had it on the line long enough to get it to the side of the boat and it let go and sank back into the deep. Coolest thing I’ve seen in a while. Rough measurement at the side of the boat put it close to 50″. Probably exageratted a little due to the level of excitment in the boat, but still pretty cool.

Quote:

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MId 50’s musky that hangs around my dock in June and July. I got a fairly good measurement at 56″ as she just sat there one day. The impressive thing is the width. I’ve tried everything I own to hook up but no luck. Maybe I need Gary’s pink Phantom..

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Me and my pink Phantom will be there sir!
But you know what! That tells me there are 2 mid-50″ fish in Tonka! Mark, weren’t you in the boat when a guy from FM caught a 56″ on Tonka, for some contest?

I’ll tell ya where mine lives, if you tell me where that one was caught!!!

Great thread!! But definitely a hard question. Thinking back I would have to say there were two. Both on Cass, both in Allen’s Bay. Two separate years of the Frank Schneider. The first came off the cabbage bed out in front of the resort. I was working the steep break off the tip, and noticed that schools of perch were following my Tiger Tube up from the bottom of the break. I immediately switched over to the Salmo Fatso, and not two casts later I had a fish come hot, head the size of an ice cream bucket, I went from a rapid pump down to a twitch and pause. The fish, for sure Mid 50’s bumped the bait twice with it’s mouth barely open, continued to follow until it got next to the boat then slowly turned and swam back down. The second was the following year, back in the shallow reed bay just to the east of the resort, Bobby was in the front hucking a Phantom, the fish basically came from out of no where, and aggressively chased the bait boatside for two turns and then disappeared. That was another mid to high 50’s fish with an enormous head and back.

Cass is so tough sometimes because the water is so clear. You see fish at times from a long way away, and they are all so educated it is tough to get them to commit.

Without a doubt a mid 50’s fish on a lazy follow on Vermillion. Very well built as well.

We let it rest and came back in 2 hours at sunset. Exact spot – smashing strike……and a 36″ fish came to boat

The big one was comfortably into the 40LB class.

Tim

Mille Lacs last August. Myr Mar area casting a bucktail. Supertanker followed 2-3 times but not too hot. Definitely a monster…

HINCH!!!!!!!!
YOU STAY THE HECK AWAY FROM THAT FISH!!!!!!! I GOT HER EAR MARKED!!!!!! (just kidding. She is a biggun huh!!!???!!??)

She gave me the jukes too…….And I hate her for it!

I think a friend of a friend stuck her last year early in the season. I think that fish ended up 53.5″ and thicker than an opera singer!

I am going to say in my muskie fishing infancy of 3 years I don’t think I have seen a really big fish. My fishing partner and I have only boated fish between 27 and 42 inches. I have seen some in the water that look bigger, but if I was forced to guess I would say mid forties? This is my results of fishing Tonka and Waconia.

Vermillion, 3 years ago in an eye tourney. Got blown in a little too shallow. Look down and there she was behind my measely 6lb test leader and leech. She just sat there and laughed at me for some time then slanked off into the depths. I’ll be back for her now that I’ve started getting a taste for this addiction.

Not much of a Muskie man but the biggest was in front of fishermans warf on Mille Lacs. Had to change my drawers

Yeah! I don’t think there’s many fish bigger than the true giants of Mille Lacs. I would almost bet a paycheck a new state record will come out of there this season.

About the state record. Are there that many guys who are really fishing with right baits to catch a 58″ fish?? Not that a fish that size won’t hit your everyday 7-9″ bait, but I’m wondering if those fish are intested in bigger meals. I’m thinking 14 – 16 tulli’s probably really turn them on. Just an uneducated guess/assumption on my part.

I was in Canada and had a nice 18 inch walleye on and a muskie came up and knabbed her and held on for about five min when we finally netted her she was a 54 inch Muskie and had girth. It was the most unbelievable thing that has ever happened to me on the water.

It was a 54″ and it was my boat and my spot . I had seen that fish a few times. Very thick, took two of us to lift her for a quick photo. The one around my dock is bigger. I have to admit I did hook that fish once fishing for sunnies. Got spooled on the first run so it really wasn’t much of a battle. Just zip and snap.

I think you should reveal the location of your dock to me

I know where it is!

I’m curious of the biological implications of a lot of these posts regarding muskies movement. I have been told they stay in one spot, and I have had people tell me that I’m nuts when I tell them they are territorial. I have caught most of my muskies on rivers so I’m not sure the same principal totally applies but maybe it does. Any thoughts from the muskie junkies here.