The author’s father shows off a fine muskie caught in Mille Lacs lake. Photo by Ron Hustvedt.

Minnesota is 150 years old this year and not a day has gone by when there wasn't great muskie fishing to be had. Some old-timers may try to convince others that the good old days have come and gone, but that's not the case for the mighty muskie.

It's been 53 years since the heralded Leech Lake muskie rampage, when anywhere from 100 to 200 muskies were caught in a single week. Most of the fish weighed 20 to 30 pounds. In today's terms, these were mid- to upper 40-inch fish.

Not a bad week of fishing by most accounts, but it doesn't even compare with the rampages we routinely experience every year on numerous bodies of water around the state.

When the Minnesota Muskie Tournament Trail stopped at Mille Lacs last year for its annual two-day tournament, 60 anglers caught and registered 33 muskies longer than 40 inches, including seven that were 50 inches or longer.

"If you factor in the catches our guys made pre-fishing and after the tournament plus all the other muskie anglers on the lake those two days, and you might be seeing a bite that blows away the one from the past," said Paul Hartman, tournament director and coordinator of the Minnesota Muskie Guides Association.

The anglers that fish the Muskie Tournament Trail don't fish in tournaments for a living, but they are some of the best around. It could be argued that because they are so talented, it doesn't compare.

Let's examine the results of the state's largest muskie tournament that drew more than 700 anglers from all levels of experience in the muskie-fishing world.

The 2007 Frank Schneider Memorial Muskie Tournament registered a total of 95 muskies, all exceeding 40 inches and six measuring longer than 50 inches.

In 2006, the same number of anglers caught 107 muskies, nine longer than 50 inches. Each tournament taking place over three days (27 fishable hours) put the legendary rampage to shame.

Hartman was quick to point out that all the tournaments mentioned also include dozens, if not hundreds, of muskies ranging from 32 to 39 inches that were never registered.

"Those fish are caught and released without ever being officially counted, whereas 50 years ago, those fish were kept as well," he said.

The biggest difference between then and now is that nearly all fish caught 50 years ago were kept, while all the fish today are handled very carefully and released.

"Because we don't stack them on clotheslines anymore, it overshadows the fact that we have more and larger muskies today," Hartman said.

Muskies Inc. and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources are given credit for this through their education and stocking programs. A massive stocking effort initiated in the early 1980s introduced muskies to dozens of lakes around the state where they'd never been and enhanced existing populations.