51 inch River Monster Muskie

Steve Heisler has been coming to Oak Haven for the last sixteen years. He and his family and buddies like the opening week of Walleye fishing. This year's Walleye opener was Saturday, May 13th.

After catching a bunch of Walleyes Saturday, Steve and his buddy O.J. were working their way back to Oak Haven, jigging for Walleyes with six pound test and a sixteenth ounce jig. It was just getting dark when O.J. heard Steve say "get the net!" (Great words aren't they!) O.J. grabbed the Walleye net that they had and readied himself. Steve did what he could to get the fish near the boat. When O.J. netted the fishes head, the guys realized they only had a third of the fish in the net...and it fell back into the water and took off downstream. Both guys realized this would be a long shot.

Now, we can't tell you exactly where Steve caught this fish. You'll have to either talk to Steve, or stay at Oak Haven to obtain this inside information. But we can tell you there was a beautiful river side home in the background, a nice campfire burning, and five people down on their docks cheering on Steve to land this big fish. A very cool situation indeed!

After several tense minutes, the fish came along side the boat and between the net, Steve's assistance and O.J.'s arms, the river monster was pulled on board. Steve had one main concern....get the fish back in the water so it survives. Someone on a dock took the picture of Steve holding the fish while O.J. shines a flashlight on it. The picture is a little rough, but the minutes these guys enjoyed Saturday night...will never be forgotten. The fish was released alive as people cheered. Nice work guys!!