Back in June 2017, Gary Gilbert of Becker, Minnesota, was out walleye fishing on Lake Mille Lacs when he spotted what he thought was a big belly-up walleye—only to realize, as he pulled and pulled, that “it just kept coming.” The Twin Cities Pioneer Press revealed that what he hauled in was a 59½-inch muskie, a true river monster that would have shattered Minnesota’s catch-and-release record (56⅞ inches) if it had been caught alive. Fisheries experts believe the fish was around 25 years old, one of those rare outliers that few muskies ever reach. Gilbert measured it with engineer’s precision, posed for a photo, then respectfully slid the fish back into the lake—though his boat carried the smell for weeks. Now, years later, the jaw-dropping photo has resurfaced on social media, sparking record-chasing chatter far beyond Minnesota. And let’s be honest—whether you are fishing in the Midwest or in Montana, every angler knows the thrill (and heartbreak) of a fish that almost rewrote the record books.
