Its all work no matter what depth your fishing.

I remember reading somewhere a few years ago, I think on the PFBC website, that someone caught a huge musky outa Pymatuning during the tournament and it exceeded the state record by a pound, but it was a C&R tournament and the fish was released.

Yes the Shenango River both below the Shenango Lake and Pymatuning has big muskys. I haven't seen any personally below Shenango dam but know they're in there. I hooked a big one in the upper stretch below pyma dam a few years ago, but it was a long distance release. I caught small pike too in both stretches. Doubt there would be a state record coming out of the river or lake, but you never know...

The best shot @ a big river fish beside the rivers near " the Burgh" is the Allegheny or the Big "J".
A pure bred river musky are pretty. The mature 1's start loosing the bars on the sides and go clear. Most pureblood lake musky never loose bars. I dont know why.

On the topic of giant muskies - there's always rumors of giant fish that often turn out to be fish stories (of course). Sometimes, even old fish mounts are found to be "enhanced."

And as we've seen, these fish stories often swirl around fish caught in trap nets or electrofishing by state agencies who, according to rumor or conspiracy theory.... invariably "covered up" the catch.

Not that we don't like to hear these stories.
It is, after all, part of the muskie mystique.

Anyway, here's a pic showing some fish commission workers from NY with a giant trap net muskie that, apparently, set off rumors of a 100lb fish.
This photo is from Chautauqua Lake in the 1940s. Of note, it is from these fish in Chautauqua that PA acquired its brood fish back then. Our PA muskies are sometimes labeled "Chautauqua Lake strain."
Anyway, it's obviously an enormous fish - easily in the 60 inch range and would haunt any muskie hunter's dreams - but it's nothing near 100 pounds.

(Source: Northern Pike and Muskie, Dick Sternberg; Delosse Inc, 1992, p 27)

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On the topic of giant muskies, thought I'd re-fresh this thread.

The fish below was caught a couple years ago in the St Lawrence River (and released). This fish was measured at 6o inches and, with it's enormous girth, was estimated to be an honest 60 lbs. In all likelihood, this is the largest muskellunge caught by an angler in the last 25 or so years and it's probably the second largest ever caught. Had it been caught in PA, this fish would easily crush the PA state record.... and most other states had it been kept and weighted on certified scales. Thankfully, most muskies guys release everything they catch these days. It's nice to know that monsters like these are still roaming around out there.

Photo Courtesy: In-Fisherman magazine, May 2013, p 38

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Big girls like that is what dreams are made of. There's bin 4 or five record book worthy muskys caught in the past couple of yrs. Seeburg, McNair & Obrian are the 3 I can remember reading about. Records are cool but catch a 25 plus year old fish & releasing it. Well that's the ultimate for of respect for the fish.

That why I got a 10Wt, That why I got a 10Wt

I'm a newbie here but not to muskies and certainly not to flyfishing. You guys have had some interesting discussion on the state record fish and the whole can o' worms with Ramsell and the MDWRMA.

The fish and boat commission manages our waters so that anglers can catch fish. It's not even in their peripheral view to be managing for trophy waters. Apparently the 40" size limit was a long shot suggestion from anglers that gained some momentum and support from inside, after they had wanted to go from 30" - 36". Regardless, we should be happy that angler input was taking into account and that an impact was made.

The talk of state record fish and where they would come from is all speculation.... There are sooo many things that would need to go right for a fish to be of the right length and only limited times in the year that they would reach a girth to reach 54 lbs. You're looking at a window in the late season and super early season. One of the things that would play into it would be the cold spring like this year, and a later spawn in which the fish would retain the girth longer into the spring, creating a better chance for anglers to catch her.

One of the problems in other states is the season limit. Guys on the St Lawrence/Buffalo Harbor/Georgian Bay are trying to get longer seasons, because the cold water forage movements in the fall are offset by the warmer weather, and the fish don't come shallow early enough to be targetted in season. Anyone who fishes there will tell you that the hours and hours between fish are insane, and the temps and winds make it almost unbearable in a boat, trolling. These are the diehard trophy hunters of the world.

Brad Bohen is in one of the single best places to fish for muskies in the world. There is no shortage of fish in Wisconsin, or water to target them... There are guys doing it on the big waters of St Clair with pretty good success, I'd think that is where the next fly monster will come from. The late fall window when the shad are moving in the rivers is the time to be there.... But the big ticket is finding the place before it gets hyped like that fishery.