Whats a trophy? More of a term from days gone by when we all took a big fish to the Taxidermist! Girth is as much a contributing factor as length in my opinion, whats a more impressive Muskie a 50"x18" from Scugog, or a 47"x 24" from the French? I'm not even giving an opinion. One of my biggest fish hardly fought at all and was caught Trolling in a blizzard on the French...Not a very exciting fish but great surroundings!
To this day my most memorable fish was from Pigeon, first Muskie on a topwater lure! Only 43" but think from head to tail, probably heavier than most high 40s Pigeon fish...
My biggest wasn't 50" but had a pretty good girth...And it came from a water body I'd put alot of hours into...
All big Muskie are exciting, defining whats a trophy is up to the individual I guess, I agree with Lew, I get more satisfaction out of Multiple fish days then one big one, depending on how big...I've spent enough days not catching any to appreciate how special they are...