Syracuse.com - Audio: St. Lawrence charter boat captain tells of 60-inch muskie landed by one of his clients

[HuntingNY-News]

The truly amazing thing about the tale is that since the fish was hooked on the outside of the mouth and was unharmed, both captain and client agreed to release it! It's definitely one of the biggest muskies caught in years on the river.

Submitted photoRich Clarke, left, and his client, Dan Polniak Jr., who landed the 60-incher.

Rich Clarke, a St. Lawrence River charter boat captain who operates out of Clayton, sent me this eye-opening photo of a 60-inch muskie caught last Sunday by his client, Dan Polniak Jr., of Ogdensburg.

The fish was hooked on an 8-inch Believer lure that Clarke painted himself to resemble a smallmouth bass. The fish, which jumped three times, took about 20 minutes to get in, Clarke said.

The truly amazing thing about the tale is that since the fish was hooked on the outside of the mouth and was unharmed, both captain and client agreed to release it! It's definitely one of the biggest muskies caught in years.

Clarke said he didn't get a chance to weigh the fish because he was worried about killing it, but estimated it weighed about 60 pounds, or more. It had a 29 1/2 inch girth, he said. The following is his account of the battle.

For more on this story, and about fishing for muskies this time of year on the St. Lawrence, see Friday's Outdoors page in The Post-Standard.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog