“It started some time in October, a rhythm growing beneath — and in dissonance with — the melodies of fall hunting seasons. It was the fall muskie bite.
While “normal” folks were putting their boats in storage for the winter and duck hunters were hauling boats meant for a different purpose, muskie “hunters,” as we often call ourselves, were just getting serious about fishing. The stable and mild weather, which beguiled waterfowlers, afforded die-hard muskellunge addicts a steady descent of water temperatures, which, as they fell toward 40 degrees, seemed to make the biggest of muskies grow fatter and fatter, and hungrier still.
Fall muskie fishing, which ended Tuesday by law — not by a slowing of the bite — produced two especially noteworthy monsters from Lake Mille Lacs: a likely world record fly-rod muskie (yes, a fly rod) and a possible world record for any tackle, period. But from the northern lakes to the metro, the bite was on for weeks. By November, if my text message and social media feeds were any indication, the situation had spawned a sportsman’s dilemma between the greater of two goods: deer hunting vs. muskie fishing.
Day after muskified fall day, I chose deer. I should’ve chosen muskies.
60-POUND ‘QUEEN’
There’s less disagreement over who shot Kennedy than who caught the largest muskie ever. The title is steeped in lore and controversy. But it’s possible that Dominic Hoyos of Stillwater bested them all the day before Thanksgiving with a 55-inch behemoth that he landed while trolling a large Grandma crankbait. At its belly, the footballish fish measured 30 inches around, almost enough to fill out my jeans at the waist. Think about that.
Using the various formulas employed to estimate the weight of such esox specimens, The Queen of Mille Lacs, as the fish became known,” weighed between 58 and 62 pounds. The “modern day muskellunge world record” (think: weight is undisputed) was a 58-pound fish caught in Michigan in 2012.
But Hoyos, who was fishing with his buddy Dean Block of Ramsey on Block’s boat, said the notion of keeping his fish — necessary to certify the weight — was never in the cards.
“I didn’t even give it a second thought,” he said. “For me to watch that fish swim away was more exciting than any publicity from a record.”
FLY-ROD BREAKTHROUGH
Robert Hawkins, 42, of St. Paul hoists a 57-inch muskie he caught on a fly rod — likely the largest muskie ever caught on such equipment — Nov. 9, 2015, on Lake Mille Lacs in central Minnesota. Hawkins, owner of Bob Mitchell’s Fly Shop in Lake Elmo, and a group of friends have developed their own techniques and tackle for fly fishing for muskies on open water. He released the fish. (Photo courtesy of Ben Olsen)
Earlier in the month on Mille Lacs, Robert Hawkins of St. Paul hauled in a lunker for the record books. Hawkins’ 57-inch musky had a girth of 26.5 inches — between 49 and 54 pounds under the formulas — and was also immediately released. But Hawkins caught the thing on a fly rod, making the fish a shoo-in for the fly-rod catch-and-release world record kept by the North American Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wis., assuming the organization agrees that Hawkins’ atypical tackle qualifies as fly tackle.
Hawkins used a custom set-up of heavy fly fishing gear similar to that used for saltwater tarpon and bonefish, including a 4-foot length 40-pound-test monofilament tied to a 2-foot wire leader, with a hinged flashy streamer-like thing with a pair of barbless hooks in it to catch the fish. Far from graceful, casts are more like heaves, where Hawkins uses the resistance of the water to load 20 feet of line behind him, allowing him to shoot the fly some 80 feet ahead. It’s a technique he developed himself specifically for casting flies for muskies on big open water — a pursuit almost unheard of in the bait-casting-dominated sport. Fly fishing for muskies is a niche culture to begin with, and nearly all of it is focused on more finessed casting for river fish.
Hawkins angling resume is almost entirely fly fishing for trout out West. Three years ago, he bought Bob Mitchell’s Fly Shop in Lake Elmo with an eye on learning how to fly fish for muskies. Two friends, Russ Gontarek and Gabe Schubert, taught Hawkins, 42, how to fly fish the rivers, but the big-water breakthrough didn’t germinate until he met muskie guide — traditional, big-water, big-tackle muskie guide — Ben Olsen two years ago at the Minnesota Muskie Expo.
“Ben brought to the table the lake knowledge that none of us had,” Hawkins said. “All I knew was rivers. He had this knowledge of reefs and water depths and graphs and water temp layers and forage and all this crazy stuff.”
The marriage of the two worlds came together at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 9, when Hawkins set the hook on the largest muskie he had ever seen, and 17 seconds later, Olsen netted the fish, which had screamed toward the boat. Video of the mayhem, which can be seen at BobMitchellsFlyShop.com or TwinCities.com, should be an Oscar candidate for Most Stoked Fishermen.
MILLE LACS MERIT
The pervasive catch-and-release ethic of muskie anglers throughout the state is intended to allow for the fish to grow to such size. It’s worth noting that both fish — as well as untold numbers of others caught there and in various muskie lakes this fall — are still swimming today. Muskies are rare on Mille Lacs — an estimated single adult fish for every 50 acres of water — and the population is entirely stocked. The publicity over the two fish is validation for Mille Lacs as a lake that’s home to some of the world’s largest muskies — a welcome reminder for the local economy, which has been battered by troubles with its famed walleye population. News of a hot bite can be a touchy subject among muskie anglers, but crowding at the frigid tail end of the season is rarely a problem.
Hoyos, 40, has been fishing the lake since he was 12, and the former tournament angler bought a cabin on the lake to give him easy access, especially when bays start to freeze. “There were 15 — at most 20 — boats on the whole lake that day,” he said. “To catch these super troopers this time of year, you gotta be a little crazy.”
Dave Orrick can be reached at 651-228-5512. Follow him at twitter.com/OutdoorsNow”
