Angler gets closer to world ice fishing record: 47-inch tiger muskie caught on Otisco Lake

Inch by inch, ounce by ounce, the tiger muskies caught ice fishing this winter on Otisco Lake just keep getting bigger.

Will the world ice fishing record for a tiger muskie caught on a tip up be broken this winter? Three anglers this winter have come close. The most recent catch was a 47-incher caught Saturday by Walter Kemblowski, 61, of Marietta, on a small shiner.

And coincidentally, Kemblowski was accompanied on the ice that day by fishing buddy Tom Boise of Lakeland, who currently holds the record set in 2009. That fish measured 45 ½ inches and weighed 27 pounds, 5 ounces. The world record, maintained by the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Wisconsin, is determined by weight.

Kemblowski’s fish was weighed on the ice with a reliable electronic scale, said the two anglers. It was 26 pounds, 10 ounces.

Looking at cell phone photos…