11/05/2025
A musky this size is nothing to write home about, but the story behind it is what makes it so special:
A year ago today, my cousin Connor passed away unexpectedly. He was like an older brother to me and was a huge part of why I got into fishing. I was devastated.
That same week, I had a shoot planned with , , and at Lake Saint Clair. With the funeral scheduled for the following week, I got my s**t together and went up to Canada anyways. After all, Connor would want me to be there.
For four days, we dealt with tough conditions. The bite was slow, but everyone managed to catch one.. except for me. I couldn’t buy a bite to save my life and now it was time to head home.
Right before we crossed the border, Ben suggested we stop at the Detroit River. We’d only have an hour or so to fish, but why not go down swinging.
So we launched the boat and immediately Ben catches another one— talk about adding insult to injury. I’m still skunking and my time is running out.
With 10 minutes left before we have to hit the road, we decide to do one last drift…
That’s when this giant hit the net.
My prayers had been answered with one of the fattest fish I had ever seen… even looked like it could be close to 50 inches.
We threw it on the bump board.. it was a millimeter under the 47 3/4 line.
I was disappointed that it didn’t quite reach 50, but happy to lose the skunk. I thought to myself, maybe that was cousin helping me out at the buzzer.
It wasn’t until a few days later I was looking through old photos at the viewing… and that’s when it hit me.
My cousin had worn 47 and 74 his entire hockey career.
We’ll call that a 47.74”.
//
🐟