A West Virginia angler who decided to fish briefly before a planned grocery run Saturday landed a 51-pound muskie to set a state record for the species.
Luke King told ForTheWin Outdoors that he hooked the 55 1/16-inch muskellunge while casting a 6-inch jerkbait from shore below the dam at Burnsville Lake.
The catch beat weight and length records dating to 1997 and 2017, respectively, according to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources’ website.
“The fight was pretty epic,” said King, who is from Burnsville. “She was big and mean, but ran out of luck after the hook was set. She head-shook for a while on the surface then almost swam right towards me.
“I had one tree I had to steer her around and she came right to my feet. After she thrashed around on the surface I was able to coax her into the net head-first.”
King said a biologist with the WVDNR verified the weight and length of the muskie before King set the fish free.
“Everything was finalized,” he said late Monday. “It’s the state record for both weight and length. It just might take a few days before it’s ‘official.’ ”
ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: Alarming catch: Why Yellowstone is worried about this fish
On Tuesday, WVDNR fisheries management specialist Mark Scott told FTW Outdoors: “The fish is not ‘official’ yet as we have to have certain documentation completed. However, unless something unforeseen comes up, I fully expect this fish will be deemed the official record soon.”
On Saturday, King wrote on Facebook that the catch was a “dream come true.”
He was fishing alone when the massive muskie struck, and phoned friends for assistance in taking photographs and keeping the muskie alive. “It was a lucky trip,” he said. “I only planned to fish for a few hours before heading to the store to stock up on groceries.”
For the sake of comparison, the world record for muskie, or muskellunge, stands at 67 pounds, 8 ounces. That fish was caught at Lake Court Oreilles in Wisconsin in 1949.
–Top image shows Luke King (right) with his record muskie
