59 inch MONSTER – Boatside Eat – Some Musky Artwork
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Holy Geez....
This fish ain't no joke:
This ridiculous 59.5 incher was caught by Cullen Veiders on Lake Ontario near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River on October 24th.
Cullen is a custom baitmaker (Muskie Candies Customs) and caught this enormous beast of a 'skie on one of his own lures – a 10-inch Deep Sniper Orange-Belly Night Stalker.
He also weighed the fish at 58 pounds (unofficial), using a scale and a net hoop.
A couple more pics.... how insane is this headshot??
And here's another awesome shot that really shows off the massiveness of this Lake Ontario leviathan:
Amazing fish and congrats to Cullen on catching a MONSTER on one of his baits. 💪
What do muskies eat???
Was just thumbing through an older study on musky diets in northern WI and dug up a juicy/hilarious nugget:
Esox masquinongy (our favorite fish) literally eat more MUSKIES than walleye.
Folks that complain about muskies eatin' all the walleye obviously don't follow fisheries biology.
When they examined the stomach contents of 1,092 muskies, they found five walleye....and six muskies. That's bad news for the anti-musky crowd.
Turns out muskies eat more FROGS than walleye, too.
Wonder how many guys are usin' topwater frogs for muskies 🤔
You can take a closer look at the data here:
Remember: context is everything when you're lookin' at stuff like this. Every water body is going to be a little bit different. For instance, muskies LOVE slurpin' down gizzard shad in lakes where they've got 'em, same with lakes that have suspended forage like cisco/tullibee.
That said, the northern WI lakes in this study had plenty of walleye to eat, and they still weren't the meal of choice. Now suckers and perch on the other hand....
GIF Central
Here's some sweet clips we dug up on the internet this week.... GIF-ified:
Let's start with this shot from Joe Holland in Maine with a tentative musky eyeballin' the camera:
Joe was deadstickin' a small jig in this clip. The moment he softly moved his bait, the musky darted off faster than a jackrabbit on a hot date – you can see at the end of the GIF.
Next, we have a cool shallow water boatside eat from @jlyonfishingteam in clear water on a windy day – not a bad clip considering the conditions:
Cool behind-the-scenes look at Markus Lukic (Mega Lures) burnin' some scales on his homemade wooden lure:
This Week's Mashup:
Mashup time!
#1 – Stickin' with the wood burnin' theme, here's a really cool one from @artdoorlife, burnt on curly maple wood:
#2 – If you're Christmas shoppin' for a musky angler, it's tough to beat a REALLY nice fishing reel, and the TranX 400HG fits the bill! Our buddies at Taps & Tackle have a few in stock:
#3 – How gorgeous are the patterns on these two 'skies from Jimmy Lacerte?? 😍
#4 – PMTT dropped their schedule last week. Here's the post with the deets if you're interested. Btw, Qualifier #3 TBD is on Lake Vermilion:
BTW, the Minnesota Muskie Trail recently announced they are paying out $15k to the Team of the Year next year. 👀
QUICK HITTERS:
– A+ fall musky action w/ Todays Angler (video)
– Jigging cadence tips for rubber w/ Hoyer (video)
– Beginner fly fishing musky tips (link)
– Musky movement in Rideau Canal (link)
THIS WEEK'S MONSTER MUSKIES:
Awesome 53.5 x 23" fall beauty for Mathias Bellemare fishin' with his pops:
Sweet shot of a true Great Lakes cruise missile via Moxon's Guide Service:
Congrats to Bill Swanson on boating this absolute sumo-sized New York musky fishin' with his buddy Vance Kaloz:
Wanna be featured in Musky Insider? Send in your recent trophy musky photos by replying to this email. You might just see your pic in next week's newsletter. 🤙
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