among the hundreds of letters I have received since landing this new world record fish was one from Harry T. Miszewski of Milwaukee who wrote: “In 1946 I hooked into one of the two big Musky around Moccasin Bar. I lost it after a five-minute battle. Saw his back when he turned and rolled away from the bait and his back alone was four feet long. My brother-in-law had one of them on the week of July 4th this year on Moccasin Bar and after only a minute it snapped a brand new line. Also, a Mrs. Tracy from Georgia lost a big musky there in 1946...” The rain changed to a drizzle by the time we reached the extreme east corner of Moccasin Bar. Phil rowed the boat fairly close to the rushes and weeds as we worked along at medium speed. The lure, a chub-finished Pike-Oreno, wobbled and shimmied about six to eight feet down, over a bottom of anywhere from ten to fifteen feet deep. The waters were still ruffled and the wind was just right. I was using a light South Bender rod, four feet and eleven inches long. My reel was a South Bend Perfectoreno, the line a Gladding Invincible 30-pound test. To this I had attached an eight-inch wire leader with Cooper snap and swivel. It’s a good outfit for musky fishing. By the time the boat had traveled a hundred feet from the edge of the bar, I felt a terrific strike. It seemed for a moment as though I had snagged a sturgeon in the nose, for the fish did not move at first. Then I could tell that tell-tale back and forth movement of the fish’s body, and I realized I had hooked into one of the big Mudky we had been fishing for during the past six weeks. “Son, I’m into one this time!” I yelled to Phil. “Now do just as I tell you and we’ll try to land him somehow.”
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