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History of World Record Muskies
The History of World Record Muskies goes back over 100 years, with most documented fish caught from 1939 to 1949. Two of the best Muskie fishermen back in the day, where Cal Johnson and Louis Spray, bought from Hayward, WI. They battled each other catching record Muskies for ten years.
The last two Muskies that made the record book were both caught in 1949. Cal Johnson's 67Lb. 8oz. and Louis Spray's 69Lb. That was a good year for Muskie fishing.
Cal Johnson's is a beautiful, mounted Muskie which is on display at the Moccasin Bar, in Hayward, WI. It is truly something to see.
Of course, there are some off the wall crazy stories that Cal’s Muskie is a fake, and its skin was somehow starched many inches to look much larger than it was. I did taxidermy on Muskies for many years and I can tell you, there is no way to starch the skin of a Muskie, it will always be within a fraction of an inch to what it was when caught. Too bad people feel the need to make up stories like that.
The taxidermist on Cal’s Muskie did a beautiful job of portraying a Lake Court Oreilles Muskie with tiger stripes and deep colored sides, but there is one thing on Cal's Muskie that is not totally correct. The mount looks as it did in its prime, as it should, but like almost all old Muskies, it had lost most of its beautiful tiger stripes and much of its color, you can see in the picture of Cal holding it, all those are missing. In any case, Cals Muskie was a giant and for many years would have looked as it does now on display, one of the most beautiful Muskies you will ever see.
Oct. 20, 1949, Louis Spray caught the existing world record Muskie in the Chippewa Flowage. The fish weighed 69 pounds, 11 ounces. The Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and the Illinois and Wisconsin DNRs recognize Spray's fish as the currant record holder.
Although Spray's fish was lost in a fire, there are two replicas on display, one at the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and another at The Landing Bar / Restaurant on the Chippewa Flowage.
Louis Spray with his world record Muskie.
Artur Lawton Muskie, 1957
There is another clam of a world record Muskie caught in 1957 by Arthur Lawton on the St. Lawrence River. This fish was said to weigh 69-pound 15-ounce, 4 ounces more than Louis Spays world record. The problem was, Lawton did not save the fish, instead gave it away to a friend who ate it. The one picture he submitted as photographic evidence turned out to be another fish that he caught the week before. That fish weighed only 49 1/2 pounds. The Lawton Muskie was declared fraudulent by the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.
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