Mike Nielsen of Ariel, Tony Welch of Portland, and I took advantage of cloudy weather to fish Merwin Lake for tiger muskies on July 29 - August 1. They were pretty active; we saw numerous fish, boated 3, lost 2, missed 1 strike, and had about a dozen follows. Water temp is now 73 degrees. Mike caught a 21-pounder, one that weighed 30 pounds on my tackle box scale, and lost a 30 pound-class fish that broke his line; Tony caught a 30-incher and an 8-inch squawfish that ate a 6-inch muskie crankbait; and I lost one of about 18 lbs. that spit my lure as I tried to set the hooks. All fish (including the spunky squawfish) were released. That squawfish has big ambitions; I predict he'll run for president someday. I'm calling Mike's big fish a 28-pounder because the weight formula (length x girth x girth / 800) yields a weight of 27.9 lbs. and testing my scale at home by weighing water jugs indicated it weighs a bit high. (Note: Mike's 31.15 lb. tiger musky last year was weighed on the hatchery's scale, not my scale, before it was released.) The photo shows me displaying Mike's 28-pounder on July 31, 2006, with Tony snapping photos in the background. Also worthy of note, an article written by Tony called "Tall Timber Tigers," with a photo of me and Mike playing a 22-pounder last fall, is featured in the August-September 2006 issue of Musky Hunter Magazine. The three of us plan to gather at Merwin Lake shortly after Labor Day for our annual Merwin Lake Musky Camp. In just two seasons, Mike has hooked up with three 30-lb. class fish at Merwin. There's no special trick to finding those big girls; they're mixed with the other year classes, and you just have to put in your time. We're not specifically targeting the state record, but the record (31.25 lbs.) obviously is vulnerable, and from the number of big fish we're contacting at Merwin I'll be surprised if somebody doesn't break it this year.

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