# New State Record at CC?



## Dross (Mar 19, 2012)

I was at Cabela's yesterday and heard that a 61in Muskie was caught at CC a few weeks ago, a state record! Anyone else hear about it? I was at Wellman's a month ago Monday(yesterday) loading my boat. Just before I was getting into the front of my boat, 3 ft from me, I saw a monster of a fish! There right at the outside edge of the dock was the biggest muskie I have ever seen in person. As it was unafraid of me and everything else going on, it just sat there parallel with the dock for at least a minute or so, making it easy to estimate it's length, which I set it easily to be at least 5ft. I wasn't the only one who saw it. I hollered at my son-in-law to look down from the boat and his jaw dropped when he saw it. I would love it if CC could produce some monster crappie like that, but heck, can't have everything, haha


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## polebender (Oct 29, 2011)

If it was caught a few weeks ago, it would've been all the news and fishing sites by now! So likely a rumor or someone is pulling your chain!


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## EStrong (Jul 23, 2014)

In Ohio, state record fish are by weight, not length. So if this was caught, properly weighed, FROZEN, and then sent to the Outdoor Writers of Ohio State Record Fish Committee for verification, pretty sure someone would have mentioned how much it weighed vs. length. Here's the link: http://outdoorwritersofohio.org/ohios-record-fish/


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

E strong that still hurts to read, it brings back memories of my 20" Crappie, no scale, catch and release lake and worse of all Freeze the fish and mail it off, wth!


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

I was lucky for my record fish to get WV DNR to come verify my catch, only took 30 phone calls and 6 hrs of hanging around for them to get there, ( hard to find anyone on a Sat afternoon) but once they verified it, it was successfully released, My hats off to WV DNR for their effort to allow this fish to be released!


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

What a thread.


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## Dross (Mar 19, 2012)

Well, thought it was worth mentioning and after thinking about it, the guy at Cabela's also said it was still being looked at, or something to that nature. Hahaha, oh well. After the one I saw at Wellman's, I wouldn't be surprised if it does come to pass.


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

I can see the fish you seen being around 4'. When you don't have much experience with big muskie a 4' will look like 5' etc.


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## Dross (Mar 19, 2012)

No, really, he was right up next to the dock and I had time to walk from his head to his tail, mentally marking on the dock. If I got on my knees, I could have touched him. Up until then, I watched a guy pull in a 42in over by the marina and I got up close and personal with that one. This one was much bigger, trust me.


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## Earthworms (Dec 15, 2014)

I call bs..skis are not shallow now


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

EStrong said:


> In Ohio, state record fish are by weight, not length. So if this was caught, properly weighed, FROZEN, and then sent to the Outdoor Writers of Ohio State Record Fish Committee for verification, pretty sure someone would have mentioned how much it weighed vs. length. Here's the link: http://outdoorwritersofohio.org/ohios-record-fish/


You do not have to send in your fish to have it certified.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Flathead76 said:


> You do not have to send in your fish to have it certified.


I wondered if you were going to chime in since you're a record holder. Lol


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## Roscoe (Jul 22, 2007)

We don't have 61" Muskies around here in SW Ohio. Go to St. Lawrence River for those.
Fish stories or rumors are always suspect.


Roscoe


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

Flathead76 said:


> You do not have to send in your fish to have it certified.


What's the procedure? This is from the rules on their application form:

*Fish must be kept frozen intact until certified, as OWO reserves the right to examine it*


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

You get em weighed on a certified scale , and must be able to provide a printout or picture of the weight . 
The fish needs to be looked at and identified by a DNR representative. 
I imagine if you could keep it alive , and actually have someone respond in a timely manner ya could do that . Usually tho your dealing with a dead fish tho. 

From then on its a matter of submitting the paperwork to the Ohio outdoor writers who maintains the Ohio state records . 

I had a couple back in the day . Which have since been crushed .


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

Here is the page that spells it out . 

http://outdoorwritersofohio.org/ohios-record-fish/


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

Carpn said:


> You get em weighed on a certified scale , and must be able to provide a printout or picture of the weight .
> The fish needs to be looked at and identified by a DNR representative.
> I imagine if you could keep it alive , and actually have someone respond in a timely manner ya could do that . Usually tho your dealing with a dead fish tho.
> 
> ...


Having a biologist look at the fish to identify it is the hardest part since you have to go to one of the 5 district offices in the state to find one. If you get the fish on a weekend you would have to keep the fish alive. Most do not have those resources to even try to accomplish this. Also your would have to make damn sure that the wieght was documented on a state certified scale. The record perch this year had a hang up because the original paperwork was sent in with a wieght that was not on a certified scale. If he would have released the fish he would not be a current record holder. They outdoor writers record panel made him unthaw the fish to get it rewieghed on a certified scale and resubmit his record fish application. It can be a lot of hoops to jump through but the process makes every attempt to have record fish as legitimate as possible. As far as record fish that have been released I think the blue catfish is the only one. He made arrangements with the outdoor writers and the biologists to make it happen.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Flathead76 said:


> Having a biologist look at the fish to identify it is the hardest part since you have to go to one of the 5 district offices in the state to find one. If you get the fish on a weekend you would have to keep the fish alive. Most do not have those resources to even try to accomplish this. Also your would have to make damn sure that the wieght was documented on a state certified scale. The record perch this year had a hang up because the original paperwork was sent in with a wieght that was not on a certified scale. If he would have released the fish he would not be a current record holder. They outdoor writers record panel made him unthaw the fish to get it rewieghed on a certified scale and resubmit his record fish application. It can be a lot of hoops to jump through but the process makes every attempt to have record fish as legitimate as possible. As far as record fish that have been released I think the blue catfish is the only one. He made arrangements with the outdoor writers and the biologists to make it happen.


You mean you didn't release your fish? Lmao


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

beaver said:


> You mean you didn't release your fish? Lmao


Seams to be a pattern.


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## EStrong (Jul 23, 2014)

Carpn said:


> Here is the page that spells it out.
> http://outdoorwritersofohio.org/ohios-record-fish/


Ummmm, I think I posted that link in my original post earlier in the thread.



Flathead76 said:


> You do not have to send in your fish to have it certified.


Sure, there are exceptions if the "official" officials are there and can verify. Most of the time people are going to follow the instructions laid out by ODNR and The Outdoor Writers of Ohio.

When Salmonid caught that record Blue, he was fishing a tourney, and was able to get the right people to actually show up at the weigh in who could verify and certify the catch. And that was West Virginia not Ohio. I highly doubt if someone pulls in a record fish in a non tourney environment, that someone from any State's DNR would show up on site and verify it. I can see it now, TrailBreaker pulls in a record carp at the Hamilton Dam and all of ODNR and OWO drops what they're doing to run down there and verify it. Bahahahahahaha!


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## EStrong (Jul 23, 2014)

Tom 513 said:


> E strong that still hurts to read, it brings back memories of my 20" Crappie, no scale, catch and release lake and worse of all Freeze the fish and mail it off, wth!


Yeah I remember that other thread and your catch. Personally, unless I was lucky to get someone there to verify it or fishing a tourney, I wouldn't kill off a trophy or record fish for the ego. Seems like a waste of what took years to become something that spectacular and awesome.


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

Sorry , I overlooked your link...just trying to help people out . 

It's not hard to get it verified ...but it's good to have some idea what it takes beforehand.

Good luck everyone .


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

EStrong said:


> Ummmm, I think I posted that link in my original post earlier in the thread.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


They probably had a certified scale at the wiegh in. Otherwise finding a scale that goes over 50 pounds can be a real challenge. There was a rod and reel common carp record fish application that was kicked out. The fisherman could not find a scale that went over 50 pounds. So they cut the fish in half weighing both halves. Fish must be whole. Record that did not count.


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## EStrong (Jul 23, 2014)

Carpn said:


> Sorry , I overlooked your link...just trying to help people out .
> 
> It's not hard to get it verified ...but it's good to have some idea what it takes beforehand.
> 
> Good luck everyone .


No problem brother, we're good!


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## EStrong (Jul 23, 2014)

Flathead76 said:


> They probably had a certified scale at the wiegh in. Otherwise finding a scale that goes over 50 pounds can be a real challenge. There was a rod and reel common carp record fish application that was kicked out. The fisherman could not find a scale that went over 50 pounds. So they cut the fish in half weighing both halves. Fish must be whole. Record that did not count.


OMG! LOL, cut it in half. Lord... Caught in the Hamilton area I guess, LOL. 

Reminds me of two guys in Hamilton I saw once. One guy was standing on top of the other's shoulders trying to measure a flagpole. They both kept falling down and this went on for a few minutes. I walked over and said, "Why don't you guys just pull the pole out of the ground lay it flat and measure it that way?". Zeke then replied, "We're trying to measure the height, not the length of the darn thing Einstein!".


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## dytmook (May 3, 2015)

EStrong said:


> OMG! LOL, cut it in half. Lord... Caught in the Hamilton area I guess, LOL.
> 
> Reminds me of two guys in Hamilton I saw once. One guy was standing on top of the other's shoulders trying to measure a flagpole. They both kept falling down and this went on for a few minutes. I walked over and said, "Why don't you guys just pull the pole out of the ground and measure it that way?". Zeke then replied, "We're trying to measure the height, not the length of the darn thing Einstein!".


Seems like something that would happen at the dam, or so I hear.


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## cali2ohio (Nov 27, 2010)

Earthworms said:


> I call bs..skis are not shallow now


I call bs on you calling bs..... you weren't there!!!


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## Dross (Mar 19, 2012)

Just for the record, with my career as a custom furniture builder, measurements was a major part of my job. After day after day, year after year of measuring, I probably have a keener sense of visual length determination than many who rarely, if ever, uses a tape measure. As with a machinist in a machine shop, he can just look at a bolt and tell what size it is, and what thread pattern(metric, standard, etc). 99.9% of the time he would be right so with my experience with measurements, I trust my estimate of the fish's size and will stand by it with full confidence. And don't take it wrong but for anyone to say fish of that size can't exist in Ohio sounds foolish to me.


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

Dross said:


> Just for the record, with my career as a custom furniture builder, measurements was a major part of my job. After day after day, year after year of measuring, I probably have a keener sense of visual length determination than many who rarely, if ever, uses a tape measure. As with a machinist in a machine shop, he can just look at a bolt and tell what size it is, and what thread pattern(metric, standard, etc). 99.9% of the time he would be right so with my experience with measurements, I trust my estimate of the fish's size and will stand by it with full confidence. And don't take it wrong but for anyone to say fish of that size can't exist in Ohio sounds foolish to me.


Having a tool and die background I will agree with this statement. It can be down right uncanny how good you can be at this if you do it on a daily basis. On the flip side I do get fooled on fish from time to time. Water can make judging fish difficult at times. Maybe it's the wow factor because it's also not something that I do 40-60 hours a week as a job.


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## Dross (Mar 19, 2012)

yea, if fish is deep enough, the length can be misjudged. In this case, it was only about a foot under the surface( it's only 3, maybe 4 feet deep there), right up next to the dock and I
was looking straight down at it. It absolutely showed no fear of me, after a minute or so, it just slowly went on it's way, haha


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

I had a similar sighting in Arkansas about 20 years ago, I had a 8 ft Alligator Gar come up not 25 ft from me and roll on the surface and take a few gulps of air, Nobody believes me to this day...LOL I believe ya man.. we all know they are in there and CC has several 50's to boot to back it up.
Fish on I say....My guess is he was hungry for a small prop...waiting for someone to drop in a 9.9hp at the ramp for a mid afternoon snack...


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## Dross (Mar 19, 2012)

Well thx Salmoid. With the water so clear and that close, I was struck by the absolute beauty of the fish. The richness of all it's colors and the appearance of pure strength and good health was nothing less than spectacular!


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## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

I'm with you on the fish you saw. I hooked and fought for a few minutes a 60 plus in a central Ohio creek. I had 6 pound mono unfortunately. What I don't believe is that a summer ski would have enough weight to break the record.


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

Earthworms said:


> I call bs..skis are not shallow now


Ha. No way in the world could this be farther from the truth


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

Central oh is going to be slammed with anglers from the north coming down for a legit shot for a 60!


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## ruffhunter (Dec 10, 2005)

My retired neighbor, is Monday through Thursday, full time, Caesars Creek musky fisherman. He brings up a bunch of biggins. He has a 49" he caught last year on the wall with a state certificate.


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

ruffhunter said:


> My retired neighbor, is Monday through Thursday, full time, Caesars Creek musky fisherman. He brings up a bunch of biggins. He has a 49" he caught last year on the wall with a state certificate.


Finally a legit claim in this thread.


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

DHower08 said:


> Ha. No way in the world could this be farther from the truth


I agree with earthworms. When his post was written with water temps in the mid 80's he is correct. They will move shallow in the mid 70's as the bait fish move shallow.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Tom Dees used to guide there
He ran gander mtn. He believes it will provide a state record soon


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

Legend killer said:


> I agree with earthworms. When his post was written with water temps in the mid 80's he is correct. They will move shallow in the mid 70's as the bait fish move shallow.


I will respectfully disagree. If they werent shallow with water in the 80s then why do i hook up and have so many follows saugeye and bass fishing with water in the mid 80s fishing water 10 ft or less? They get down in the weeds and wait for an easy meal to swim by. 

Same reason people will catch eyes in shallow clear water on bluebird days when the waters no cooler than the air is warm. Just because a fish is suppose to do something or be somewhere doesnt mean it will


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

Your right, WEEDS. CC Is known for its vegetation?


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

Never been to cc but all the lakes i fish are full of muskies. I dont fish for them but all year i encounter them shallow


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

No disrespect but this thread was about CC. 

But for what we are talking about. I agree thick weeds and deep.


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## burnsj5 (Jan 30, 2014)

I think there are always fish shallow to some degree. Majority, probably not, but some, yes. Can't tell if earthworms was being serious or not. There's a guy who records his trips to CC and posts online, has 3 or 4 videos from last month alone. Has follows and catches fish each trip all shallow...


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Agree with legendkiller on that one... i've been fishing cc for 20 years now ...I don't ever recall fishing a weed bed on Caesar's Creek


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

Was never refering directly to c.c just the simple fact that their will always be fish shallow. 60" muskie? Who knows if their is 55s caught everyyear why cant a 60 be swimming around and shallow


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

DHower08 said:


> Was never refering directly to c.c just the simple fact that their will always be fish shallow. 60" muskie? Who knows if their is 55s caught everyyear why cant a 60 be swimming around and shallow


OP said he saw the supposed 5 footer shallow @ CC in the middle of a hot summer. That is why I agreed with earthworms statement. Choosing my statements based on THIS THREAD not a general statment.


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

Ok well if you want to believe that a giant fish wont be shallow in hot water on a hot day thats fine. Im not going to keep going back and forth about it. I know fish arent always where someone that wrote a book says they should be


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## ItsAlwaysSunnyInNEOhio (Jun 18, 2013)




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## david11959 (Apr 22, 2004)

It Tom Dietz and I have not heard of a Muskie being over 52 or 53 inches.
Tom Dietz said they stop growing to much when they hit that size


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

david11959 said:


> It Tom Dietz and I have not heard of a Muskie being over 52 or 53 inches.
> Tom Dietz said they stop growing to much when they hit that size


Dang...sorry I misspelled, I've seen a 57...in person...alive.....taped


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

????. There has been lots of documented fish up north of fish in the high 50's. I don't put a lot of stock in mr dietz.


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

Agreed with legend. Theirs fish in the 55 range caught every year to say theirs not fish over 53 is silly


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## Dross (Mar 19, 2012)

Hahaha, 4 or 5 years ago, CC was the top muskie lake in Ohio. 3 years ago, in the no wake zone where the marina is, I started watching a group of boats(several boats from a muskie club), and one of them got to within 10ft of me. As we were talking, he nailed one and after about a half hour or so of fighting it, going probably a hundres yds from me and back, he landed it only a few yards from where I was at.. it measured 42ins. It took him about 20 minutes of nursing it back to a state where it finally swam off. To think that lunker 'ski can't be in CC today, to me, is foolish thinking. I figure if the lake had 'ski's at 42 inches in it 3 years ago, there would be no problem for it to have 'ski's of 60+ inches in it today. We're talking of a growth of only 18ins in 3 years. Not hard in a lake with all the bait fish CC has. And on top of that, our winters haven't been that harsh the past 2, 3 years. To sum it all up, I saw what I saw, period. And for those that don't believe it, that's your problem not mine, haha. Good fishing to all!


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## Roscoe (Jul 22, 2007)

There are NO 60" Muskies in C.C.Lake period. You might have seen a big fish but no way it was close to 60".


Roscoe


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

Roscoe said:


> There are NO 60" Muskies in C.C.Lake period. You might have seen a big fish but no way it was close to 60".
> 
> 
> Roscoe


I'm in the market for a used Scuba diving suit for a decent price. Would you be willing to sell me yours now that you're done using it?


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## burnsj5 (Jan 30, 2014)

You guys are no fun. So closed minded, no imagination haha. Fish over 50 are caught out of that lake, there's no reason a freak fish couldn't reach 60", not likely but not impossible. Anythings possible, why not have an open mind. Maybe it wasn't that big and it's understandable to have doubt but why be rude and tell someone what they didn't see. First it's not possible because there are no muskie shallow in the whole lake (which there are) then because an old guide Tom Deitz was quoted as its not possible. That's like saying a human can't grow over 8 1/2 feet tall. I'm catching that 60" and will post it this fall, on a bump board haha. Good luck to the rest of the muskie hunters out there this fall not fishing for a freak nasty. (I'm now committed to only throwing double pounders after this thread)


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## Roscoe (Jul 22, 2007)

I'd say there might be a 50lb. Musky in C.C. That's a monster fish in itself. I remember Mason catching and releasing a 45lb.'er some years back. Around 51" long. I've never caught one that heavy B4.

I don't think it's rude when you know he didn't see a 60" Musky.

A 60" Musky would be at least 30 years old IMO. Ain't gonna happen at C.C.Lake.

FC
I'm hanging onto my Scuba gear for now. But thanks for the offer though. It wouldn't fit you anyway..


Roscoe


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

Roscoe said:


> I'd say there might be a 50lb. Musky in C.C. That's a monster fish in itself. I remember Mason catching and releasing a 45lb.'er some years back. Around 51" long. I've never caught one that heavy B4.
> 
> I don't think it's rude when you know he didn't see a 60" Musky.
> 
> ...



Perhaps you and Saugeye Tom will catch that giant when you go fishing for them this fall!


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

ML1187 said:


> Perhaps you and Saugeye Tom will catch that giant when you go fishing for them this fall!


I beleive! !!!!


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## Legend killer (Apr 20, 2011)

burnsj5 said:


> You guys are no fun. So closed minded, no imagination haha. Fish over 50 are caught out of that lake, there's no reason a freak fish couldn't reach 60", not likely but not impossible. Anythings possible, why not have an open mind. Maybe it wasn't that big and it's understandable to have doubt but why be rude and tell someone what they didn't see. First it's not possible because there are no muskie shallow in the whole lake (which there are) then because an old guide Tom Deitz was quoted as its not possible. That's like saying a human can't grow over 8 1/2 feet tall. I'm catching that 60" and will post it this fall, on a bump board haha. Good luck to the rest of the muskie hunters out there this fall not fishing for a freak nasty. (I'm now committed to only throwing double pounders after this thread)


Make sure its an approved bump board.


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## burnsj5 (Jan 30, 2014)

Legend killer said:


> Make sure its an approved bump board.


Oh it's approved, had it officially certified and everything after it was signed by Randy Jackson (from American Idol).


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

Roscoe said:


> I'd say there might be a 50lb. Musky in C.C. That's a monster fish in itself. I remember Mason catching and releasing a 45lb.'er some years back. Around 51" long. I've never caught one that heavy B4.
> 
> I don't think it's rude when you know he didn't see a 60" Musky.
> 
> ...


Do you go by Brock on a few of the other forums?


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## Roscoe (Jul 22, 2007)

Flathead76 said:


> Do you go by Brock on a few of the other forums
> 
> No Brock here Flathead. OGF is the only forum I belong to. Why do you ask?
> 
> ...


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

His kid is named Mason.


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## Roscoe (Jul 22, 2007)

Flathead76 said:


> His kid is named Mason.



Mason is a long time Musky fisherman at C.C.Lake. Pretty good fella he is.


Roscoe


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## Bassky (Oct 7, 2008)

Salmonid said:


> I had a similar sighting in Arkansas about 20 years ago, I had a 8 ft Alligator Gar come up not 25 ft from me and roll on the surface and take a few gulps of air, Nobody believes me to this day...LOL I believe ya man.. we all know they are in there and CC has several 50's to boot to back it up.
> Fish on I say....My guess is he was hungry for a small prop...waiting for someone to drop in a 9.9hp at the ramp for a mid afternoon snack...


My buddy had a 50" + musky to the boat last Saturday on a spinnerbait jumped and threw the bait. Had three other hook ups same day bass fishing.


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