This story was related to me by a friend, pro bass fisherman Bill McElroy...

Muskie Do, Muskie Don't

Recently, I had the opportunity to fish on Michigan's St. Clair River with several of my sponsors who were visiting from Arkansas.

There is a place on the river where a fairly strong current passes by some old concrete pilings. The eddies behind those pilings are usually loaded with nice smallmouth bass. We pulled our two boat justs below one of these eddies and began casting.

Suddenly, my boat partner's rod bent sharply downward, and the line began peeling out. This was definitely not a bass!

In fact, we soon discovered, it was a muskie. A really, really big muskie. In fact, it was a potential record muskie that looked to be well over 60 inches long.

The problem was that the only net on either boat would barely fit over the muskie's head, let alone his whole body. "You'll just have to play him out until he gets tired," I encouraged my sponsor, who was having the battle of his life. "Then I'll try to grab him."

Well, this guy fought that muskie - and fought it very well - forever. Finally, it looked like the big brute was tiring out. When he went under the boat for the last time, my guest suggested that we try to land it.

I went up to the bow of the boat, and knelt down as a very tired fisherman began to work the fish up from beneath the boat. Finally, I got a good look at the fish. IT WAS HUGE!!

I reached down to grab our prize. That's when the muskie tipped its head up, opened its mouth, and spit out what was really hooked on the lure: a two-pound bass!

Then the muskie, realizing its freedom, decided that enough was enough, and with a flip of its tail, slowly swam away.