As is the case with a lot of fish species, sometimes there isn’t a clear-cut world record holder; we’ve seen confusion and debate about the smallmouth world record. This is due, in part to the fact that there are multiple agencies keeping track of record fish, and they all do things a little differently. Plus, there are multiple categories, including weight records and length records for catch and release. When it comes to muskies, a lot of anglers believe there are holy grails of musky fishing out there, thanks to confusing reports of dead muskies washing up on shore, and shocked up by DNR folks, that are bigger than the current world records. It gets people’s expections of what the world record musky weight should be.
A Tale of Three World Record Muskies
Well maybe four world record muskies. But essentially there are at least three muskies who have had claim as the world record musky and depending on which camp you are in, may still have claim to the world record. The issues come mostly in the fact that most of record claims are so old it puts them well before there was a lot more stringent reporting and validation requirements like we have today for world record claims. Then investigations into at least one of the records found that erroneous information may have been submitted to claim at least one of the records.
We won’t toil in the mire of investigations and claims but simply just show you the names and fish that have been consider records. And I’ll provide some really exhaustive resources that have looked into the records deeply if you’re really interested. This is just to show the current “records” so the musky angling community knows “roughly” where the bar is to get to claim a world record.
In October of 1949, Louie Spray caught a muskie that weighed 69 pounds, 11 ounces from the Chippewa Flowage near Haywood, Wisconsin. That muskie is recognized by the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame as the “All Tackle” muskellunge record. It is also recognized to this day as the Wisconsin state record musky.
However the IGFA doesn’t recognize this musky as the World Record because the musky was shot twice in the head (a common practice until it was banned in 1966) by his fishing partner. That was a violation of the IGFA’s rules for landing big fish to be considered for records. So they instead recognize Cal Johnson’s 67 1/2 pound musky as the world record caught in July of 1949 Lac Courte Oreilles also near Hayward, Wis.
What’s interesting is a third musky was submitted to Field & Stream back in September of 1957 by Arthur Lawton that was 69 pounds, 15 ounces and 64 1/2 inches long. Neither the IGFA or the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame currently recognize this musky as the world record as claims and investigations into the photos and submission in 1992 showed discrepancies. The photo submitted was shown to be the same photo submitted on a smaller musky by Lawton previously. And an additional photo showed the musky to be much shorter than Lawton who was 68 inches tall.
MeatEater.com posted a very thorough look at all three record muskies if you want to read more on the claims. The GreatLakesNow.com article has more information on these claims as well.
The fourth record is the current length record. The current length record musky was caught recently in November of 2022 on the St. Lawrence River by Derek Balmas. The IGFA requires the measurement of the musky to be from the tip of the nose to the inside fork of the tail. So their musky was 135 cm or 53 inches although the total length is probably closer to 60 inches if you measure to the tip of the tail.
The Current IGFA All-Tackle Length Record
Not so long ago, many people in the musky community believed the next record would come from Mille Lacs lake in Minnesota after biologists shocked up a 61-inch fish — there was no scale on site big enough to weigh it. They were proven right in the fall of last year, kind of.
Art Weston hauled in a fish that measured 54.33 inches long, enough for it to be certified as the new IGFA All-Tackle Length World Record musky (catch and release) in January 2025. If anything, this further reinforces the beliefs of those who say the next all-tackle record musky will also come out of Mille Lacs.
There are a lot of guys adapting new marine electronics technologies and big natural swimbaits to musky fishing, and there’s a feeling that the weight record may be broken in the next few years.
Other World Record Fish
