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In 1954, Edwin got a tip of a world record size Muskie in a small lake on the Mississippi river chain in Northern Minnesota. Edwin followed up on that tip and moved his Muskie fishing to Minnesota where he caught some big fish, one being the state record at the time. In 1957 Edwin's son Bruce joined him on the water and the two continued the hunt for a world record Muskie. Over a year passed with no sign of a record-sized fish; Edwin told Bruce it was maybe time to move on. That all changed, however, one late evening when there was a knock on their cabin door. It was another fisherman who was staying at the same resort. Edwin had talked with this guy down at the dock the day before, so he knew Edwin was a Muskie fisherman. The guy was visibly shaking as he told them about being out fishing for walleyes that evening with his wife and daughter. It was almost time to head in, when this giant Muskie surfaced alongside their boat. It was 7 feet long, the scariest thing he had ever seen. He said his wife and daughter will never go out on the lake again and asked Edwin to please catch that monster. Edwin thanked him for the trip and told him he would do his best to remove that Muskie from the lake. The spot he described, they had not fished so it would be interesting to check out. With a lead like that, the thought of moving to another lake was over. They would return and work that spot every weekend. Then it happened, this monster Muskie, the guy told them about, followed Edwin's bucktail up to the boat. Edwin had to sit down to recover after seeing this giant fish. It was not just a giant Muskie; this fish was beyond anything Edwin could ever imagen. Like the guy said, it was close to 7 feet in length, just too much to comprehend. Edwin thought it could be the last of an extinct strain, that somehow managed to survive in the Mississippi river chain of lakes. The Ojibwe in northern Minnesota had a name for a giant Muskie like this, "MaashkinoozheIt". It was said to be a scary looking fish, which was so huge, it was known to attach children and even adults, so the Ojibwe did not allow swimming in waters that held these monsters. This Muskie was scary alright; its head was huge; its jaws were extremely long, and its eyes were so big, Edwin named it, "Big Eye". They fished years for this monster having encounters with it, one could never imagine. Big Eye would often come up on the surface not far away just to look at them, then slowly sink away.  The fish showed a leave of intelligence that made them question their end game of killing this incredible fish. After years of fishing for Big Eye, it finally hit one of Edwin's homemade baits.

  Bruce looked over and saw a boil on the surface about 5 feet in diameter. Take the oars and get us out into deep water, Edwin said in a very concerned voice. Bruce sat down and started to row. He could see the huge dark amber colored fins of Big Eye on the surface about 10 yards behind. Big Eye was following along most of the time, but when this giant Muskie would put on the brakes, his dad would call out to stop rowing. After they got out to deeper water, Edwin said, that should be good, Bruce quickly stowed the oars away and grabbed the special made extra-large scissor gaff, which Edwin had made for this moment. Bruce cocked the gaff all the way back and stood at the ready as Edwin slowly reeled in line. Before Big Eye came into sight it dove down under the boat. Edwin had to work the line around the transom and under the outboard coming up on the other side. By that time Big Eye had surfaced about 20 feet out. They had seen Big Eye many times, but never in full daylight like this. The sight of this giant fish laying there 6 inches out of water in good light was totally unbelievable. They knew its eyes were incredibly large, almost 2 inches in diameter, but this was the first time Big Eye was this close looking directly at them. Its eyes were hypnotic to the point they both froze for a few seconds. Bruce had to look away to clear his head. I cannot move him Edwin said, put the gaff away and take the oars again, we need to beach this guy if we can. Big Eye started smashing its huge jaws together and shaking its head from side to side with so much power, they could feel the anger it had of being hooked. The sound of its giant jaws smashing together was something they would never forget. In seconds the bucktail flew out of its mouth and landed in the boat. It was over, Big Eye was no longer hooked. They both stood there in total defeat. This monster fish had won the battle but still lay there looking at them. It seemed like it was processing what had just happened as they stood there doing the same. Then this incredible fish from another world slowly sank away, taking their dreams with it. They sat down in the boat and did not talk. After some time, Edwin started the outboard and headed back to the dock. They loaded up and took off for home, neither of them talked all the way back to the Twin Cities, there was nothing to say, they had just lost a Muskie that would destroy the world record and be impossible to match. The defeated feeling they had would haunt them throughout the winter. They both felt it was the last chance they would ever have at catching, Big Eye. They fished for Big Eye the next summer, but not with the same drive. Big Eye had given them so many years of the most incredible times of their life's, there was no way they could kill this fish, the world record was no longer that important to them. They went back Muskie fishing in Hayward, Wisconsin. Edwin had some health issues in the late 60s which retired him from Muskie fishing, but he always loved sharing stories with Bruce about the adventures they had together chasing that incredible Muskie, Big Eye.  Years later after Edwin's passing, Bruce's son Blake started Muskie fishing with that same drive Edwin had. 
Recently, Blake told his father, they needed to make a drawing of Big Eye well Bruce could still recall exactly what that giant Muskie looked like. Lucky for them there was a guy that started a fish replica business in Duluth, Minnesota. Realistic Replicas. Brian the owner is a total artist. Bruce worked with him for almost a year, to come up with an exact replica of this monster fish.

It will soon be on the wall at their cabin as a reminder of that fish and the incredible times they had chasing it.

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This picture was taken right after they picked it up from Realistic Replicas, so it was still in the plastic cover. This giant Muskie is 75 inches in length and looks totally the same as it did when Edwin and Bruce fished for it back in the early sixties.  If you have any information or stories of a Muskie like this, we would love to hear about it. You can contact us at swedesintheweeds@gmail.com

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