DULUTH 鈥� Mike Sertich was fishing for walleyes through the ice in Minnesota's Northwest Angle on Lake of the Woods when he felt a hit a bit harder than any walleye.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure it was the same fish that hit me a half hour before, but the first time, he broke me off right away. The line broke just below the swivel,鈥� said Sertich. 鈥淭he second time, it was like a train hit my line. He took off to the other side of the lake.鈥�
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Sertich, the former Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs men鈥檚 hockey coach, counted each time the fish made a run, then, when it slowed, he would reel it back in. That was 25 times. The battle lasted an hour.
The fish hit a 录-ounce banana jig, gold, tipped with a minnow.
鈥淗e spooled me twice. It was a miracle that he didn鈥檛 just keep going,鈥� Sertich told the News Tribune, referring to the fish pulling nearly all the 6-pound-test line off his reel. 鈥淚 could see that knot coming up and thought, well, this is it.鈥�
But the fish finally tired, and one of Sertich鈥檚 angling buddies got down on his knees and managed to grab the fish below the gill plates and haul it out of the 10-inch diameter hole in the ice.
A 4-foot-long muskie. Somehow, the muskie's sharp teeth avoided the thin fishing line. And somehow, the small hook on the little jig didn't bend or break.
When the commotion calmed, the fish measured out at 48 inches long and about 20 inches around the belly. The muskie was estimated at 35 pounds. But it was never weighed. After a couple of photos were snapped, the big fish was released to swim again.
鈥淲e weren't sure what it was until it came right up under the hole. We thought maybe a northern or a sturgeon or even a lake trout? Nobody was thinking muskie,鈥� Sertich noted.
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Sertich credited the 30-inch rod he was using that was handmade by Duluth's Geoff Vukelich of Dam Goods and Gear.
Sertich, 77, has been making the annual ice fishing trek to Oak Island at the far northern tip of Minnesota for 30 years with longtime friend Dave Zentner of Duluth and others. While other members of the group have caught big northerns nearing 40 inches in the past, nobody had ever caught a muskie through the ice like Sertich's.
"It was pulling so hard I thought he had a harbor seal on the line or something. ... Sertie is a good walleye fisherman, but for anyone to keep that fish on that long ... amazing. We were sort of mesmerized by the whole battle," Zentner said. "After a while, I thought maybe someone knew it was Sertie in our (ice fishing) house and was playing some sort of trick on him. But then we saw the fish."
鈥淚鈥檝e never even caught a muskie before, except by accident. I鈥檓 a walleye guy,鈥� Sertich noted.
The battle took place on Jan. 13 out of Sportsman鈥檚 Oak Island Lodge. Sertich said the walleye fishing was pretty good over the three-day trip until a cold snap hit the last day. While muskies hitting through the ice Are fairly rare, this was at least the second big one to hit on Lake of The Woods this winter. A Rice Lake, Wis., girl landed a 50.5-inch muskie on the south shore on Dec. 31.
A Virginia native, Sertich was head coach of the UMD Bulldog men鈥檚 hockey team from 1982 through 2000 and brought the program into prominence in NCAA hockey. He went on to coach at Michigan Technological University before retiring in 2003. He later volunteered with the College of St. Scholastica and Hermantown youth hockey programs and worked with the U.S. National Sled Hockey Team.
Sertich moved from the Duluth area to rural Eveleth in 2016. In 2022, a battle he continues to fight today.
鈥淚鈥檓 day-to-day,鈥� Sertich said. 鈥淭oday is a better day. 鈥� I鈥檝e got a big checkup coming in February, so we鈥檒l see how that goes.鈥�
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