muskie

South Onondaga woman lands monster St. Lawrence River muskie on ultra-light rig

Leanne Waterman , of South Onondaga, holds up a monster muskie measuring about 50 inches that she caught and released recently on the St. Lawrence River.

Her husband, Steve Waterman, said she hooked the lunker on a white Mr. Twister plastic grub on a bladed spinner in about 8 feet of water near their cottage on Carleton Island, near Cape Vincent.

"When I saw that fish flash the first time, I knew right off it was muskie. It was crazy," he said. "She landed it 45 minutes later in 50 feet of water. The boat drifted about ½ mile during the fight."

The amazing thing about the catch, the husband said, was that the fish was caught with an ultralight rod and reel and on 6-pound test line without a steel leader.

Waterman said his wife, who stands 5 foot, 4 inches, is an experienced angler but added that this fish really tested her.

"It had many, many runs and nearly emptied the spool on two occasions, " he said. "We didn't have a netadded so it was difficult to get it into the boat."

Waterman that "many unbelievable things occurred during the battle." He said the fish jumped several times, got line caught under its sharp gills when it spun around and miraculously the line didn't break - and that he dropped it back in the water the first time he attempted to get into the boat because it was thrashing so much.

He said he didn't have a ruler or tape measure.

Waterman said as he put the muskie back in the water to release it, he first held it alongside his boat. He made two scrape marks on his boat to denote its size and then measured that distance when he got back to shore.

"That fish was 50 inches long, give or take an inch," he said.