PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Ice fishing season is in full swing in Western Pennsylvania, and one Pittsburgh angler reeled in quite the catch.

Nicholas Colangelo and best friend Luke Wholey were ice fishing in Northwest Pennsylvania Monday when Colangelo landed this 53-inch musky.

Colangelo and Wholey slept in an ice shanty overnight and fished for about 18-hours until the musky took the bait, a 3-inch shiner.

“The weight was unbelievable, I’ve caught a lot of muskies, but never felt anything like this,” Colangelo said.

Colangelo said he didn’t see the fish for the first 10-minutes, and it took him about a half-hour to hand-reel it in.

“We brought it in through a 10-inch hole in the ice, and it barely fit through the hole,” Nicholas said.

Colangelo said they snapped a few picture of the monster catch, measured it, and had released it in about 90-seconds.

“These big fish are so rare, and so old, it’s really important that we let them go,” Colangelo said.

He estimates the fish to be about 30-years-old.

“In three to five years, this fish could break the state record.”

Colangelo didn’t weigh the fish, but says he and Luke are on a mission to break the state record of 54-pounds from 1949.

Colangelo grew up in Pittsburgh, and his family owns Colangelo’s Bakery in the Strip District just down the street from where Wholey owns Luke Wholey’s Wild Alaskan Grille.

“I couldn’t do any of it without Luke,” Colangelo said.

Nicholas says they try to get out as often as they can, especially on the now famous “Musky Monday.”

“I just do it because I love fishing, and I love being outside.”

Colangelo says that was one of just four muskies they landed that day.

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