47-inch muskie caught at Orwell

By Lauren Radomski (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, July 2, 2008

What began as a routine fishing trip turned out to be the “thrill of a lifetime” for one Fergus Falls man.

Bill McDaniel, 74, was fishing along the Otter Tail River at Orwell Dam in late May when he caught the biggest fish of his life: a 47-inch muskie.

McDaniel doesn’t usually fish at the Orwell Dam, but headed out to the bank of the flowage because his boat motor was in the shop getting repaired.

His first cast got hung up on a rock. He thought his second had, too, until he felt a big tug on his line.

McDaniel, who’s loved to fish since childhood, said he initially had no idea what was causing the massive pull at the end of his line.

“It took about 30 minutes to reel him in,” McDaniel said, “and I didn’t see him until I got him up the bank.”

Fishing alone that day, McDaniel received some help from a stranger upshore, who provided a net to bring in the catch and a camera to capture it.

“We became friends real fast,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel doesn’t know the muskie’s weight — “I tried to weigh him and he broke my scale” — but its length alone suggests a whopper.

“I’ve caught all kinds of fish down there but I never expected this,” he said, explaining that muskies are typically lake fish. He’d hoped to catch walleye that day using a lead-headed jig, a worm and a 10-pound line.

“The one thing it shows,” he says of his catch, “You don’t have to go to Canada to catch big fish.”

Arlin Schalekamp, manager of the DNR’s Fergus Falls Fisheries Office, said the fish was a trophy fish.

“It was possibly 30 pounds when he caught it,” Schalekamp said.

Schalekamp said he has seen some 50-inch muskies in lakes that are stocked by the DNR. But they are rare.

“So to get one that is approaching 50-inches is a pretty special fish,” he said.

McDaniel released the fish back into the river.