RIPLEY, W.Va. — Though it will never be verified, one Jackson County angler and his friends feel confident he caught a world-record muskie in Mill Creek.
“Buddies of mine did some research and they can’t find a bigger muskie caught out of a kayak or caught on a fly rod,” said Logan Martin of Ripley.
Because he released the fish after photographing it, the record could not be certified.
The whopper stretched 45 1/4 inches long and had a 25-inch girth. Martin caught the muskie on a fishing trip with his buddy Nathan Rees of Ravenswood in the early spring, two weeks before his wedding.
“He told me that morning before we got on the water he had a feeling I was going to catch a big fish,” Martin said. “The water was up and muddy, but it was going down. We were going to fish, but we didn’t have any great expectations.”
Martin said they fished for about three hours when the giant female suddenly blew up right at the end of his kayak on a black articulated fly. It took a while to get her in.
“We were in these kayaks and with the water up a little bit the current was moving pretty good,” he said. “The net was in my buddy’s kayak so he was trying to move into position. I was hooked to her and she was going where she wanted to go. There was a lot of structure in that area and we were scared she was going to hang us up in all of that structure.”
During the fight, Martin hung on as the fish dragged his kayak around the river. Noticing the fish was moving in a circle, Martin directed Rees to a spot and raised her on the next pass. The muskie swam right into the net, though the net wasn’t nearly adequate for a fish of her size.
“When we measured her she was in the net and it was too small. She was starting to get stressed. We didn’t want to stress her too long, so we measured her without pinching the tail or anything,” Martin said.
After some cherished photos, the big fish was turned back into the water of Mill Creek. Although Martin has fished some big fish out of the stream, it wasn’t the kind of place he’d expect to catch a potential world record.
“The only thing we can think of, that’s not super far from the Ohio River and the creek is not very long,” he said. “It was early spring, so she probably came up there to spawn and was just waiting for the water to clear to get back out to the main river.”
Although it will never be officially recognized as a record, it will be regarded as one heck of a catch and for Martin, who is an avid muskie fisherman.
“Unless it’s an accidental death, muskie fishermen generally release the fish,” he said. “In our mind we’ll let her grow and we’ll come back and catch her again.”