More Jaws Found
by Larry Ramsell
And yet another set of jaws from a huge dead muskie have been found. Such stories all tend to "get the juices flowing!" All of those stories had one common thread, and that is that in all cases, the found jaws, or remenants thereof (i.e., huge bite marks on intended victims), took place in very large waterbodies.
It has long been considered that it takes big, deep water to grow big muskies. I myself, have subscribed to that theory in the past, but no more! Last fall, I received a letter from a Mr. Bill Mea. It was about a huge set of jaws that had been found that measured 9 inches wide at the back. They were found in a relatively small northern Wisconsin river, which shall remain nameless as it couldn't take a lot of pressure. Bill's story follows:
"The bottom half of this Musky's jaw was found in an area that is no more than four feet deep...The jaw from the musky was found by an old man who lived on the...of the...river. There is a water fall or an abrupt rapid drop that limited this fish to about a thirteen mile area. The average depth here is about two feet but there are four or five holes to 8' in this section.
"Not all river fish are skinny. Two days before I made a float trip on the...of the...a young man caught his first musky in the area I floated. It was 48" & 33#. This was in July of 2003...
"A few years back the largest musky caught in the Hayward area for the year was caught in the Chippewa River down near Radison. I think it was about 43#. Occasionally a real monster is seen on these river trips but not often."
Muskies are historically a river fish, so it should come as no surprise that occasionally a very large specimen can and has shown up, especially if it is in a section of river that gets little or no pressure. In fact, when I checked my archives and talked to some of the old timers around here, I realized and learned that several "huge" muskies have come from area rivers, icluding a 52 pounder from a river you could practically spit across and another of over 56 pounds (some say it was in the 60+ pound range) from another fairly small river! I know from personal experience, that there are many, many miles of rivers in the northern part of Wisconsin that are seldom fished. A great chance to get away from the crowds, get back to equipment basics and enjoy nature at its finest, with the chance at a real monster! Enjoy and good luck.
Larry Ramsell is a musky guide in the northwest Wisconsin area. Larry is also available for talks and seminar's and has an "Out of Print" musky book service. Larry can be contacted by mail at: 9407 N Highline Road, Hayward, WI 54843 or by phone at: 715-634-9882 or on the Internet (best) at: [email protected]. Check out Larry's web site at: www.larryramsell.com. 

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