Roller’s phone started ringing almost immediately and hasn’t stopped. He has spoken to newspapers in New Zealand, magazines in Denmark and folks from many points in between.
“For five days after that my phone did not stop ringing, and when I was on the phone there would be five more ringing in,” he said. “It’s been goofy”
The world-record trout not only turned the world’s eyes toward Michigan’s fishery, it also set off a flurry of record-book fish caught in Michigan waters just as everyone was watching. On Sept. 27, Kyle Anderson of Rapid City caught a state-record muskie, a 50-pound, 8-ouncer out of Torch Lake. On Oct. 10, Rocky Richards of Algonac boated the largest muskie ever recorded on the hallowed waters of Lake St. Clair, a 44.5 pounder.
Mind you, a 50-pound muskie could be considered child’s play in Wisconsin, where the state record is also the world record – a 69-pound, 11-ounce behemoth caught in 1957. Same with Minnesota, where a 54-pound fish was caught, also in 1957. (What was up with that?) But for a state record and a world record to fall within weeks of each other is worth noticing. And these are big-time gamefish, not mooneyes and ciscoes.
“I think it's a real testament to the world-class fishery that Michigan can provide,” said Todd Kalish,
Supervisor of the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources' Central Lake Michigan Management Unit in Cadillac. “I've talked to other people about this and I think the fact that Michigan is producing this potential world record, and then all the state records, not only is a testament to good fishing but also to the good environmental ethic we have in Michigan.”
Kalish, who saw both the world record brown trout and the state-record muskie in person (“They were just monsters”), said Michigan's fishery is largely a product of programs like Natural Rivers, designed to protect, preserve and restore aquatic habitats.
“You’re not going to have good fish populations or good fishing without good aquatic habitat,” he said.
Kalish also noted Michigan’s wide range of fishing opportunities. A Michigan angler can pull a salmon out of a Great Lake, a northern pike or walleye out of an Upper Pensinsula cool-water inland lake, a brookie out of a trout stream or a largemouth bass from a warm southern Michigan lake. And that just scratches the surface.
“I guess that just goes to show you that when a lot of guys say this is one of the best fisheries in the entire nation for multiple species it's not just a bunch of B.S.,” said Kevin Backus, who captains the charter boat Mister Muskie Too on Lake St. Clair. “It's factual and these records are proving that.”
Lake St. Clair has yielded a healthy number of muskies in the 40-pound range this year, according to Richards, and fall is the best time to catch big muskies. So it’s likely that more big fish will be taken before the Lake St. Clair muskie season closes Dec. 15.
“As far as I’m concerned I live on the best muskie lake there is,” Richards said. “We hardly ever get shut out from catching at least a fish. The fishery is that good now. This year has just been amazing for big fish being caught.”
The big catch in Michigan’s muskie world came from Torch Lake, a cold, clear “mini Great Lake” that runs some 300 feet deep and is loaded with plenty of fatty forage fish like whitefish and lake trout, according to DNR fisheries biologist Nick Popoff. Those kinds of forage fish help predators like muskies gain weight, and the cold water helps, too. Lake St. Clair’s warmer waters mean the fish have a faster metabolism and burn more energy, thus putting on less weight.
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Rocky Richards (left) caught this 44.5-pound, 56-inch muskie on October 10.
It’s the largest muskie ever recorded on Lake St. Clair and one of several
40-pound fish caught in St. Clair this year. Also pictured are Dave
Gattine (center) and Tom Loy, who operates
Big Fish Charters out of Algonac.
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Big Fish Tips |
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Kevin Backus is the captain of Lake St. Clair charter boat Mister Muskie Too and grandson of legendary muskie angler Homer LeBlanc. He offers these five tips for catching elusive muskies: |
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Get all the information on muskie fishing you can. Read books and magazines, check Internet fishing forums, talk to muskie guides and other anglers, visit bait shops and marinas. |
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Learn the waters. Get a map of the lake and determine where the depth changes and weed beds are. Talk to local anglers and find out where muskies have been caught in the past, things to look for and areas worth targeting. |
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Take a charter and learn from a pro, and find one that's suitable to you. Sometimes that's as simple as finding a captain you get along with. Talk to charter captains and make sure you know what to bring, what is included in the price and what you can expect. Some anglers prefer a boat ride where the captain does everything but reel in the fish; others want to participate. Matching the captain with your style will make the whole outing more enjoyable. |
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Be dedicated and determined and put in your time. Homer LeBlanc said it best: “Fish hard and think like a muskie.” |
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Fish during optimal times, both of the day and of the season. "I joke around and say fish whenever your wife will let you," Backus said. On Lake St. Clair, optimal seasons for muskie fishing are the heat of the summer and fall feeding time. Optimal time of day can vary, based on solunar tables, the weather and other factors. |
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Healy's brown trout was something of an anomaly, according to Roller. It's not unusual for bigger browns to come into the rivers in the fall to feed on salmon eggs, but they're not usual in the river in early September and they tend to spotty even when they do show up. The fish's size is another matter entirely.
“The biggest brown I ever had a client catch was 18 pounds, and that was 17 years ago,” Roller said. “An 18-pound brown is gigantic, and you’re talking almost two-and-a-half times that … you would never say you could go out and catch a fish like that.”
But even if that’s the only one out there, Roller said that won’t stop people from coming to Michigan to fish world-record waters.
“That fish is going to bring a lot of people to the area and the people of Manistee are really excited,” he said. “That fish, if it's marketed right, could be a huge boom for years to come for Manistee. And it could be the same for Michigan. The fact that this fish came from Michigan is a feather in the cap of the fishery we have here.” |
