Fishing guide Chase Gibson caught West Virginia’s new state-record muskellunge—a 39.6 pounder that measured 54-inches long. The hefty muskie was caught at Burnsville Lake, which is a 968-acre lake in central West Virginia. West Virginia’s previous state-record muskie was a 34.5-pound muskie that measured 53.5-inches long that was landed by Joe Wilfong in 2017. That fish was pulled out of West Virginia’s Little Kanawha River.
Gibson targets muskie with his guiding company and writes for Musky Hunter Magazine. He hooked into the record muskie while fishing a timbered cove while a group of crappie were suspended above the structure. The lure he used was a Musky Innovations Dyin’ Dog—a 13-inch jerkbait meant to resemble a dying fish. The lure is made with a hard-plastic head and a replaceable soft-plastic tail.
“She was barely hooked with one treble in the corner of her mouth,” Gibson said in an interview with WFXR Fox. Instead of getting the fish…