Trout catches huge muskie

Wadena resident Norie Trout has an ideal name for a fisherwoman and a fish story to match. On Sunday afternoon she accomplished a feat sure to strike envy into the heart of thousands of Minnesota anglers when she landed a 46-and-a-half-inch muskie.

Norie said she and her husband, David Trout, were on their pontoon "for a little ride" around a lake they prefer to remain nameless when the magnificent moment of muskie fishing occurred.

"I thought, 'Holy cow, how am ever going to get that in the boat?'" Norie said recalling the moment she realized the enormity of the creature. "I think it took me a good half hour to reel it in. I thought I lost it a couple of times."

While Norie reeled in the muskie, David hunted down a resort employee to ask for a net to scoop up the fish.

"She fought it all that time," he said.

David said he refused to help Norie reel the muskie in and told her it was her fish and her catch, although he offered some helpful advice such as keeping the line from getting hooked on the pontoon and breaking.

"She caught it on her own," he said. "I netted it. That's about it."

David said Norie caught a 3-pound northern and a walleye on Friday night and two 3-pound northerns on the same day she caught her memorable muskie. An online weight-estimating calculator put the weight of the muskie at just under 29 pounds based on its length.

"She'd just been catching like crazy," he said about Norie's fishing exploits over the weekend.

"I caught a perch the same size as my lure," he said with a smile about his comparatively unsuccessful efforts on Sunday. "That's what fishing's about. You never know what you're going to get."

Norie's muskie was so large the couple couldn't fit it in the live well and it had to travel to shore on the floor of the pontoon. David said the muskie is at Dewey's Taxidermy because Norie wants to have her fish mounted.

The couple will display the enormous fish in the family room next to David's antelope, elk, deer, moose and caribou trophies from his hunting expeditions in Idaho, Colorado, Quebec, Wyoming and Minnesota. The muskie will be the first fish to receive the honor of hanging in the room.

Norie said she enjoys fishing because there are no telephones and she can get away from people and relax.

Isaac said the couple enjoys all kinds of outdoor activities like hiking and camping.

"We're not avid fisherman," David said. "We just do it for the fun of it."