The fish of a lifetime slammed Andrew Slette's black, tube-shaped lure at 6:30 a.m., only five casts into a designated muskie outing on Otter Tail County's Pelican Lake.
"He was right on top of structure, 6 or 7 feet deep," said Slette, a 20-year-old member of the Fargo-Moorhead chapter of Muskies Inc. "I'll probably never top it.''
Slette's 57-inch monster — 3 inches shy of 5 feet — was confirmed today as a state record in the DNR's new recognition program for certain fish that are caught and released. The catch-and-release records for muskie, flathead catfish and sturgeon are based solely on length and rely on photographic evidence, plus a witness account.
Slette, an electrician who lives in Hawley, said his recent catch outmeasured the 54-incher he caught last year, also on Pelican.
He said he's hopelessly addicted to muskie fishing and all of its trappings of expensive equipment. The $35 lure he used to catch his record-setter was on the "cheap side" of what he normally spends, he said.
"I was 8 years old when I caught my first muskie on Lake of the Woods," he said. "There's a fever to it, I guess."
The topwater bait he was casting on June 24 was equipped with a tiny propeller that spins when pulled through water. The fish ambushed it one-quarter of the way into the retrieve, and Slette experienced a two-minute frenzy.
He said the fish dived under the boat a couple of times and then circled it, forcing him to scurry to every corner of the vessel before the fish swam into a net manned by friend Josh Karch. The heavy-duty fishing line Slette used was 80-pound test.
