Yep, that’s a big’n.
Nic Koss is not a stranger to catching muskies, but this is a whole new different ballgame for the guy…
But this time, it ended in heartbreak.
According to Field & Stream, Koss was fishing with Tanner Talbot of Tanner’s Guide Service in Monticello, Minnesota, and boated a MASSIVE 53-7/8-inch muskie with a 25-inch girth.
Talbot told the outlet:
“We were casting in open water using pull-pause baits after finding some schools of tullibee. We were just covering water and jumping from bait school to bait school when we found a little wolfpack of muskies.
We let the lure sink about 10 feet down before we started pulling and pausing a Beaver Bait, and the fish rose from 24 feet to take Nic’s lure at 15.”
He added that the key to muskie fishing on that specific lake is to move out to open water after the spawn:
“Some of those muskies are so big they don’t even do the spawn anymore and instead stay out there year-round.
But there’s a population that moves out when the water temperature is around 60 to 75. They’re just roaming all over the place feeding.”
The massive catch was all caught on video. During the battle, you can hear the guide begging the fishing gods to keep that monster on the hook.
“Please stay on, please stay on… don’t try to horse it.”
Koss said he thought the guide was just hype because he had just caught his first muskie, but then he realized it was because of the size of the fish:
“At first I thought he was just trying to get me hyped up about my first muskie, but then when the fish came to the top of the water and I could see it and he freaked out again, I thought, ‘This is big.’
I was trying to be all calm, cool, and collected at that point.”
However, the catch was just shy of the Minnesota state record, which was set back in 2022 by Eric Bakke at 58 inches.
Talk about a tough one to swallow… Koss was only five inches short of being a state record holder. Nevertheless, this muskie was a huge one… a once in a lifetime kind of fish.
And the video? Pure gold.
Check it out:
@tanners_guide_serviceThis was an awesome experience. Let me know if you want to get out on some minnesota muskies. 53 7/8X25”
