Muskie from New River may set new record

Shannon Hill caught the big fish on a Jitterstick plug after only four or five casts.
By Mark Taylor

The black Jitterstick plug was gurgling rhythmically across the surface of the New River when the attack came, the ferocious explosion echoing through the darkness.

Chris Snider wasn't the least bit surprised. The vicious muskellunge had hit his buddy Shannon Hill's lure. They always seem to hit Hill's lure.

"I call him Mr. Horseshoe," said Snider, a 33-year-old cable contractor from Christiansburg. "He just has that kind of luck."

Hill's luck rose to another level Friday.

That massive muskie weighed 45 pounds, 8 ounces, topping the state record by half a pound. Hill has already submitted his record application.

"I'm still pretty much in shock," said Hill, a 31-year-old heavy equipment operator who lives in Rogers.

Hill and Snider had the Whitethorne section of the river pretty much to themselves Friday evening, as few others had bothered to deal with the wet weather.

The men fished for bass for a while, then as darkness fell motored in their borrowed johnboat to an area where Hill had caught a 21-pound muskie on a Jitterstick two years ago.

They were optimistic but realistic. That's a must in the often trying sport of muskie fishing, when bites can be few and far between.

"Muskie fishermen tend to be solitary," said biologist Joe Williams, who helps manage the river for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "They're extremely dedicated to the sport.

"They don't mind any kind of hardships. It doesn't matter."

Hill has caught about 15 of the fish in his three years of seriously pursuing them.

"Some days you'll fish all day and not get a bite," Hill said.

Some days it's better.

"Me and Chris got two in one day last year, within two hours," Hill continued. "That's the best we've ever done."

The New is Virginia's best muskie water, by far.

"It has a lot of fish," Williams said. "And it has a lot of big fish, 20 pounds and up."

The key is a combination of great habitat and abundant forage, including minnows for smaller fish and sunfish, rock bass and suckers for larger fish.

"One big muskie we checked had a 15-inch-long sucker in it," Williams said.

In 1989, Williams certified R.A. Underwood's state record, and has heard of fish in the low 40-pound range since then. One was a 43-pounder caught and released last year by New River muskie legend Alex Scott, who has clipped a fin on many of his hundreds of muskies to mark them.

"I figured there were bigger fish out there," Williams said.

Snider and Hill both started casting Jittersticks -- big, noisy plugs that mimic injured bait fish. The only difference was the colors.

Williams, who has turned into something of a muskie fanatic himself over the past few years, doesn't think the lure makes much difference.

"If a muskie is hungry and you throw a plug in front of it, it's going to eat it," Williams said. "If it's not hungry, it doesn't matter what you're using."

It didn't take long for Hill to find a hungry fish.

"On just the fourth or fifth cast, he unleashed on it and the fight was on," said Hill, who could tell immediately that the fish wasn't one of the eager smallmouth bass that are known to attack the big plugs. "I told Chris, 'This is a muskie, and a good one.' "

After a fight lasting five to 10 minutes, Hill finally had his catch next to the boat, and Snider deftly scooped the 53-inch-long fish into the net.

"He about pulled Chris out of the boat," Hill said. "I throwed my pole down and grabbed the net, too."

The men weighed the fish on a digital scale, which topped out close to 46 pounds.

A call to a friend confirmed that the record was 45 pounds.

Unable to find a set of certified scales that night, Hill put the fish in a barrel of water overnight.

"I didn't want him to dry out and lose any weight," he said. "I knew he was close."

The next day at Custom Meat in Blacksburg the fish hit 45 pounds, 8 ounces on a certified scale, and Williams and two Virginia game wardens inspected the muskie to confirm everything.

Williams said one of the fins appeared to have been clipped, leading him to wonder if it was the 43-pounder Scott released last year.

The fish was a female, and its stomach was empty, Williams added. In other words, it was one of those hungry fish that was going to hit the first plug it saw.

That lure just happened to be Hill's.

"I was just in the right place at the right time," he said.

Like usual.