Articles have been written by a few different “Musky Experts” and they have concluded that Wabigoon Lake is one of 7 lakes in Ontario that could house the next world record musky!

Let’s start with a little history of “the goon”. Wabigoon Lake became famous among musky fisherman across Canada and the US in the late 1970′s & early 80′s. Craig Dawson was one local angler who caught the musky fever in the late 1970′s & early 80′s his family owned Birch Cliff Lodge on the North shore of Wabigoon Lake. He regularly guided on the lake but his passion was to catch the next World Record Musky! Around that timeline there was a Canada wide fish derby called ” The Molson Big Fish Contest”  that ran all year long from coast to coast. In 1981 nine of the ten largest muskies caught in Canada were caught on Wabigoon Lake, many of those were caught by Dawson.

This spurred the influx of Musky Anglers from across North America in search of the Next World Record Musky! This influx ran up to the late 1980′s. There were record numbers of monster fish caught during the hey day! Unfortunately during this time period the practice of catch & release was rarely used. This was devastating for the musky population in Wabigoon Lake.

During this in the mid to late 1980′s Bernard Lebeau, one of the world’s foremost musky experts had came to Wabigoon Lake to study the Musky in Wabigoon Lake, over a few of summers he studied the musky. During these studies he had a live net in which he caught a monster musky, one more impressive than any that he had seen. This is a portion of an article written by Larry Ramsell on “How Big do Muskies Get”.

Do Muskies Really Get That Big??
by Larry Ramsell, Research Editor

And let us certainly not forget the musky that Bernard Lebeau captured in his net on Wabigoon Lake at Dryden, Ontario in 1985. At approximately 5 feet long and a head so big that Bernard couldn’t get his arm all the way around it, it was massive. Unfortunately it got ornery and escaped shortly after the photograph, seen here with and provided by Bernard (see photo), was shot, so no length, girth or weight was taken. Had they been able to corral it, it would have been implanted with a transmitter and could have provided some incredible data! As a side bar to that fish, after Bernard examined the Ontario record 65 pounder caught by Ken O’Brien in 1988, he told me by phone…:

“I hate to tell you this, but the Wabigoon fish was much larger than O’Brien’s fish!”

(To see this article & the photo go to http://www.bonnybay.com/howbigdomuskiesget.htm

Also Bernard’s research  was telling him that the musky fishery on Wabigoon Lake was in distress! Luckily in the late 1980′s the Musky season was closed on Wabigoon Lake! In the mid 1990′s the season was re opened but with limitations that if any one wanted to keep a musky it must be at least 52″ long! This along with groups like Muskies Inc. promoting safe handling of muskies as well as catch and release of Muskies was a start to the rebound of the Wabigoon Lake Musky population! In the late 1990′s the Ontario MNR decided to put a Minimum keep size of 54″ for Muskies on Wabigoon Lake and a few others where Muskies had the potential to grow to be a World Record Musky!

Here at Davis’ Bonny Bay Camp we get many anglers who come year after year in search of the World Record Musky! This will be our 11th summer owning the lodge and we have been pleasantly surprised with the increase in numbers of Muskies caught here. As well as a full size range from small to Super Tanker Sized! Every season we are seeing more fish in the 50″ plus range! In all of the time that we have been here we have had out guests catch legal fish 54″ + but due to there great ethic’s they have been released!

In the January/February 2012 issue of Musky Hunter magazine, there is an article with photo’s Titled “Numerous Huge Muskies Caught in the US & Canada”. The first Musky in the Article “was caught in Ontario’s Wabigoon Lake and is the largest fish in the report” On July 30, 2011 Travis Turond Caught this 57″ Musky at 8:30 in the evening on Wabigoon Lake! Travis released the beast to the depths of the Goon to grow larger! Maybe in the next few years Travis will catch the Next World Record Musky! I don’t know the girth of the fish but at 57″ long it is just one inch shorter than Ken Obrien’s Ontario Record 65lb Musky!

We are excited to see the rebound of the Musky Fishery! Wabigoon Lake is living proof that catch & release as well as imposing size limits on fish work well! We enjoy catching more fish & better quality fish than we have been able to catch for years! As well even with the size rules we are still able to catch & keep enough for a good feed!

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