Where Will The Next World Record Muskie Come From?
        Shortened version from January 2005 issue of MidWest Outdoors
                      Canada Fever written by Casey Ladowski
   The elusive fish of 10,000 casts, more commonly known as muskie or musky, has always been an ultimate, fresh water trophy fish. The muskie was a rare fish to catch even in lakes that were known to contain them.
   The size limit increase as well as the new attitude of "catch and release" has helped dramatically increase the fishery size. Normally, the larger fish that wind up getting released are the females that spawn and provide more fish of better size in the future.
   Now, you may ask, just where are all these large Muskie? I think they are there, but it takes a lot of work to catch one.
   What will it take to break the current record? First, I think you will need to fish a lake that is known for holding big fish. But with many anglers practicing catch and release, I don't think the day is very far away for breaking the world record.
   In my ongoing quest to catch a king-sized muskie, my adventures took me to Lake of the Woods and Eagle Lake this past summer. I also spent several days fishing the Indian Lake Chain. However, I found a real sleeper big muskie opportunity this year in a body of water called Dinorwic Lake in Dinorwic, Ontario.
   While fishing at Pine Sunset Lodge on Dinorwic Lake, I met and spoke with Kevin Lynch, a senior investment advisor for Sperry Van Ness. Kevin has been a serious muskie fisherman for the past 12 years. He takes a few weeks off each year to bring his rig up to Canada and and fish only trophy producing lakes. We compared our notes and shared some of our adventures. This was his second year at Pine Sunset as he had a terrific year boating and releasing seven large muskie last year.
   During our short stay at Pine Sunset, and at dinner one evening, we had the pleasure of talking extensively to our guide, John Harrison who has guided on the Dinorwic Chain of lakes for many years. John told us about a muskie that he had on his line that was several inches larger than the current record. He estimated it to be around 70 inches! We just might have to go back this coming year and book a date with John and that new world record.