No matter what the weather is like, we as Minnesotans are always out on the lake fishing. One of the best things to do in the winter is go ice fishing!
On February 22 on Mille Lacs, Minnesotan Matt Kottke was fishing for Northern Pike when he got a bite and he battled for 15 minutes to reel in what is close to a state record of a 54-inch Muskie! The fishing setup he was using had him pulling up the line through a tiny hole.
Kottke told Kare 11:
"I basically held on as hard as we could to try to turn the fish to get it swimming the other direction and that's when we were able to make up a lot of line and fortunately got the fish up as quickly as we could without trying to damage the fish in any way,"
More than a dozen people gathered around Kottke and the small hole to witness him pull up the giant Muskie. You can watch the video of him pulling up the fish below!