Want a giant walleye? Try fishing for muskies

Just as I had done a thousand times that week, I swung the big crankbait around in a figure-eight alongside the boat. As the crankbait hesitated in a turn, a fish flashed out from beneath the boat and T-boned the lure. I set the hook and grunted “Fish!” to let my partner know I was hooked up to what I thought was about a 40-inch muskie, judging by the width of its head. But I was stunned to see a white tip on the fish’s tail waving much farther back in the water than it should have been. I’m a muskie fisherman first, and all the walleyes that hit muskie baits were incidental catches. But when something occurs multiple times when fishing, you’ve discovered a pattern, and big walleyes on big baits is a great one.