Ice Fisherman Catches 45-Pound Muskie, Starts A Border War

A massive muskie pulled through the ice on Greenwood Lake is stirring up a little interstate rivalry.

The 45.02-pound fish, caught Feb. 24 by Warwick, N.Y., angler Victor Gelman, appears poised to set a New Jersey state record. But because Greenwood Lake sits directly on the border between New York and New Jersey, there's been some debate about which state actually gets to claim the fish.

Either way, it's an absolute giant.

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Gelman — who owns the Warwick Chocolate Company — was ice fishing alone on the lake when he hooked the fish of a lifetime.

"I was all alone, sitting in a chair that morning watching my tip-ups with live 8-to-10-inch sucker baits below the ice," Gelman told Outdoor Life. "The wind was blowing 25 miles per hour, and the temperature was about 20 degrees. It was right after the blizzard of the century when I got on the ice at 8 a.m., and the fish didn’t bite until 4 p.m."

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After eight hours in brutal conditions, he finally got the only bite of the day. And it was a good one.

When the flag popped on his tip-up roughly 80 yards away, Gelman hurried over and began hand-pulling the line.

"I pulled on the line, and it was like having a tug-of-war with a Rottweiler," the 47-year-old angler said.

When the fish's head finally appeared at the ice hole, he knew he had something special.

"I finally pulled the fish to my hole and when its head popped up, I knew it was a giant," Gelman said. "Then it pulled back down through the hole and took off on another run."

Eventually, he managed to haul the fish onto the ice.

"I knew it was a special muskie," he said.

The fish measured 51.125 inches long with a 27-inch girth and tipped the scales at 45.02 pounds.

If certified, that weight would surpass New Jersey's current muskellunge record of 42 pounds, 13 ounces — a record that has stood since 1997.

But Was It Caught In New Jersey Or New York?

Here’s where things get interesting.

Greenwood Lake is considered a "boundary water," meaning it spans both New York and New Jersey. The fish was reportedly landed on the New York side of the lake — yet the catch is still recognized as the largest muskie ever recorded from Greenwood Lake and the largest recorded in New Jersey waters.

In other words: it counts for Jersey… even though the fish may have technically come from New York. Which doesn't really seem fair, but I don't make the rules.

Gelman originally hoped to release the fish. But after realizing it was deeply hooked and bleeding, he decided bringing it to biologists would be the better option.

"I didn’t want to keep it," he explained. "But I knew it was close to a record, and the New Jersey fisheries department likely would want to see the fish and inspect it, which was better than putting it back in the lake to die."

The muskie was later taken to the Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery, where it was weighed on a certified scale. Gelman ultimately donated the fish to the hatchery so biologists could study it and learn more about how it grew to such an impressive size.

"I love muskie fishing and would never have caught my fish without the outstanding stocking and research work done by state biologists who created the fishery in Greenwood Lake through their tireless efforts," Gelman said. "It’s my honor to help the fisheries staff."

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