A real fish story

[Spiel]

A real fish story

He catches record muskie -- and then leaves it for somebody else

 

 

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

BILL LANKHOF / TORONTO SUN

 

 

When Dale MacNair hooked a muskie that had a bigger belly than many people, he knew he had a "dream" catch.

 

What the 45-year-old Ottawa fisherman didn't realize is that he'd get more attention for letting the fish go than for actually catching it.

 

"It is a very impressive fish. There hasn't been anything this big caught since 1949," MacNair said of the 145-centimetre muskie he caught in the chill and gloaming on the St. Lawrence River, Nov. 28.

 

"Kids are amazed when they see this fish, a 33-inch (84 cm) girth -- that's bigger than a lot of men's pants size," said McNair, who will bring a replica to the Toronto Sportsman's Show on Saturday.

 

The actual fish he can't show anyone. It's back out bellying up somewhere to a perch dinner.

 

There was never a doubt that fish was going back into the water, said McNair, even though photos of him holding the fish show it to be a world record candidate. Muskie Canada's formula puts the size at 30 kilos; the U.S. formula makes it 34.9 kilos.

 

Muskie Canada says the last official Canadian catch- and-release record close to MacNair's catch dates back to 1988, when a Toronto man caught a 29.5-kilo muskie in Georgian Bay.

 

"I'm still getting calls every day ... but the bigger buzz is that I didn't kill the fish. I let 'er go. If I would've killed the fish, there's no question it would've been a world record," said MacNair. "It's recognized as the world's biggest catch-and-release muskie which means more to me than having a dead fish."

 

McNair grew up fishing Atlantic salmon in New Brunswick and about 18 months ago caught the muskie bug. "I relive it every time I tell it," he says of the day he came face to fin with history. He, girlfriend Julie Cashaback and fishing buddy Sal Rotolo fished uneventfully until late afternoon and decided to move to an area known as the 40-Acre Shoal.

 

"It's -4 (degrees) before the wind chill, 25 mile an hour winds from the west, three-foot waves, five o'clock, pitch black ... my rod gave a tick, tick and I picked it up."

 

Seconds later, MacNair knew he'd scored big. The fish screamed line off his reel, then reversed direction. Rotolo turned on his boat lights. When the fish was nine metres off stern, "she launches out of the water. It's a sight the three of us won't ever forget," said MacNair.

 

Nobody, will let him forget. He was invited to the Chicago Muskie show in January, then the Milwaukee Muskie show and another in Columbus. He appeared at the Ottawa Sportsman show. This weekend it's Toronto. He's been invited to the St. Catharines Muskie Odyssey and the Ottawa Carp Show.

 

"It's been insane," MacNair said from his Ottawa custom glass shop. "Larry Ramsell, he's a muskie historian and author in Hayward, Wisc., drove 16 hours to Ottawa to meet me, shake my hand and look at pictures. He slept on the floor in my condo, got up at 5 a.m., and drove all the way back."

 

The Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward recognizes a 31.6 kilo (69-pound, 11-ounce) muskie caught by Louis Spray in 1949 as the record. The International Game Fish Association in Florida, recognizes a 31.7 kilo (69-pound, 15-ounce) fish caught on the St. Lawrence by Marv Lawton in 1959.

 

"Ninety-nine percent of muskie anglers don't believe either," according to Ramsell. "Many would like to see a clear and clean record caught to settle the issue."

 

But MacNair has no regrets. The St. Lawrence lost 70% of its muskie population to a virus in 2004. "I know guys with over 400 hours fishing on the St. Lawrence without a single fish," said MacNair, adding, "a fish with this strain of genes will produce a lot more muskie. This will help the population come back."