Pennsylvania Ice Fisherman Catches Monster Muskie OutdoorHub Reporters 02.16.15



Sometimes, ice fishermen are reminded that they may need to cut bigger holes in the ice. Nicholas Colangelo was fishing in Northwest Pennsylvania last week when he found that a 10-inch hole barely accommodated the massive, 53-inch musky he pulled in.

“The fight was 30 minutes long, I didn’t see the fish for the first time until the 10 minute mark!” Mark wrote triumphantly on Facebook. ” For the next 20 [minutes] this fish would take off on 60-feet runs each time I got it near the hole—eventually got it by the [gill] plate and landed the biggest fish of my life.”

Colangelo had been fishing with his friend Luke Wholey for about 18 hours before he caught the massive fish on a three-inch shiner. The anglers quickly posed with the musky for a few pictures and then released it back into water. Colangelo said he did not weigh the fish, but estimated its weight at well north of 40 pounds and said it was possibly over 30 years old. The angler added that it was one of four muskies they caught that day, along with an eight-pound walleye.

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

That record has stood for more than nine decades. Pennsylvania’s largest muskellunge dates all the way back to one caught in Conneaut Lake in 1924. According to fishandboat.com, that fish was pulled in by Lewis Walker, Jr. and weighed 54 pounds, 3 ounces.