Scientists say this muskie weighed somewhere between 55 and 75 pounds.
The Mille Lacs Band Department of Natural Resources was conducting research on walleye patterns via electrofishing at Mille Lacs Lake this past spring when wildlife officers came across an absolute brute of a muskellunge.
According to reports from those who saw the fish, it measured over 5 feet long and weighed anywhere from 55 to 75 pounds, putting it in the world-record discussion.
As soon as the researchers noticed the muskie surfacing during the shock, they got it into the boat for a hasty length measurement and a few photos. And, fortunately for American fishermen, they returned it to the water.
"We weren't looking for the muskie," DNR Aquaculture Biologist Keith Wiggins-Kegg said in a press release. "That wasn't our objective."
The team recorded a measurement of 61.5 inches, which narrowly edges the world record for a hooked muskie, a 60.25-pounder caught in Hayward, Wisconsin, in 1949.
"We didn't have a large-enough scale on board to weigh that big of a fish," Mille Lacs DNR Fisheries Manager Carl Klimah said. "A fish like this can weigh between 55 and 75 pounds, but we will never know for sure. We can say that it was a huge fish and hope that someone catches it again so we know."
So here's a public announcement to all the ambitious anglers out there: there is a world record swimming around in central Minnesota. Sure, muskie may be considered "the fish of 10,000 casts," but at least you have a head start in knowing exactly where to go, right?
NEXT: WYOMING MAN UNLAWFULLY TAKES 500 POUNDS OF ANTLERS FOR DOG CHEW COMPANY
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