Fish-Hawk.Net

Well I finalyy got one today.
Went to Kemptville, on the Rideau.
After about 1/2 hour of not catching any bass I headed to the channel to troll for some Muskie.After about a 1/2 mile troll along the outside edge of the weed line I get A hit, my rod doubles over, I hit the kill switch and stop to fight the fish. After a grueling arm thumping,shoulder aching, 6 minutes, I finally see the fish. I started doing the Elvis thing about here. My legs start shaking, I start sweating, and babbling about getting the net ready. My buddy finally gets to see the fish as it swims past the boat for the first time, i finally get her turned into the net, and in the boat.
After 4 real quick Photos, and measuring, and a round of applause from the 6 cabin cruisers watching, It's time to send her home.
After her return home and she got underway she keep serfacing. Not belly up, just sitting on the surface. This bothered me with all the boat traffic so we go grab her and head to shallower water away from the boat traffic. we stayed with her for 45 min until she finally swam away. We stayed in the area for another 15 minutes to make sure she didn't resurface.
We fish for awhile longer then headed home.
I still have goosebumps.

I caught her on a Blue Fox #5, Yellow & Red bucktail spinner.

48.5" long
17.5" girth
Appro. weight 33lbs

Beauty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Way to go man!

Nice catch... good job in releasing that fish. Just wondering how you got 33 pounds? without giving you a hard time that fish is probrobly under 20 pounds.

Approx. weight came from.

http://www.outdoorsite.com/fishingcalc/index.cfm

it's pretty close with bass and pike, so I feel it to be good enough for this one to. and without giving you a hard time it is more than 20 lbs.

Hey FF

thats a hell of a first fish ,man you didn't leave much room to get bigger I agree with your wieght.....way more than 20..........congrats

Beautiful fish FF!

Didn't you recently get traded to Team 3?

I caught an identical length fish to yours a few years back and the consensus was it would have weighed 32-35 pounds. Are you sure on the girth?

CCB

A couple weeks ago my Dad caught a 48" Musky which cam in at 25.2 pounds on the digital scale.

Nice catch dude !

:-)

Thanks Folks

I've never dreamed of catching a musky this big, I always wondered what it would be like though, Now I know.

I'm so excited still, I still can't beleive the size of the teeth on her.
I never get this excited about Getting my first trophy buck, or first trophy turkey.
I never thought catching a fish would make me feel this good. What makes it the most satisfying is the fact she still lurks out there, to give someone else this great feeling.

I'm not positive on the girth as my buddy took it, abuot hand width behind the gills. I don't think it's right, it looked alot fatter then 17".
And I do beleive it 30 or better as I was the one lifting it .
It don't matter what it weighted, as I said I used a calculator for Approx. weight.
Lets not make a weight issue here as I, and many others use the calculators to get an Approx. weight, because it don't matter what she weighed.

Beauty fish. Congratulations! It's always nice to see someone catch their first muskie.

According to 4 accepted muskie weighing standards, that fish would weigh on average about 20pds.

Crazyhook and I are certainly not trying to take away from the glory of your catch. It's a beautiful fish! We're mearly trying to point out that people tend to overweigh muskie. They are large fish, but their overall weight can be deceptive. As an estimate, this is the best chart to use: http://www.muskiescanada.ca/Files/weight_chart.pdf

Congrats again on a wicked first fish!

I am cringing at the 48" fish on a digital scale though. Yikes.

HW

Hawg nobody can take this away from me


As stated the girth was taken about 5" behind the gills, as we were rushing to get her back in the water. She was as thick through the back as a thermos. I stand 6' 3", weigh 250lbs and she still looks huge.
I beleive she was in the 22 to 24 inch range. and by that puts her in the 30lb range by your chart. I know for a fact she was pushing 30lbs.
Just because of a rushed measurement taken in the wrong spot by 2 very excited people don't mean we're wrong. fish weight will vary as you see in the chart.
Her actual weight will never be known, but she's a 30 to me and a few others, and thats whats going in my book.

Thanks
Dave

Very nice fish !

congratulations !

/p

Congrats FF,

Nice to see you cared enough to stick around to make sure she was OK. That shows real sportmanship!

Experience/story like yours stay with you for a life time.

So let me guess, now your hooked on Muskie fishing (getting rid of all your bass gear??).

BTW...great picture. Be sure to blow her up and hang her over the fireplace!!

Cman

what do you think the girth and weigh of this fish is?


nice catch but not 30 pounds...

Oh for Pete's sake - give it up you guys!

Great fish man!