Tested Perrysburg teen reels in record muskie

A beaming Jake Lederer shows off his 42-inch muskie took last summer after a 20-minute test of his skills at Alum Creek Reservoir. Enlarge

In muskie fishing, you normally don't have to separate the men from the boys because this is not usually a sporting endeavor that meshes well with the impatience of youth.

On a good day, muskellunge are moody, elusive, stubborn, persnickety, and temperamental. Most other days, they are just simply invisible.

Maybe those muskies are just mad because their formal name muskellunge comes from the Ojibwa word maashkinoozhe, which means "ugly pike." Frustrated fishermen have called them much worse.

Muskie are sometimes referred to as "the fish of ten thousand casts," because they are such difficult quarry for many fishermen. Don't put Jake Lederer in that group, and despite his mere 16 years sharing this planet with muskies, don't misinterpret his relative youth as a stumbling block to muskie fishing success.

The sophomore at Perrysburg High School will be honored next month when the Ohio Huskie Muskie Club holds its annual banquet in Newark for the 42-inch muskie he caught last summer in Alum Creek Reservoir, near Delaware, Ohio.

Lederer had been out casting for a couple of hours on a hot, clear day when the big fish slammed his lure. That muskie finally surrendered after about a 20-minute stalemate.

"I could feel the weight as the muskie fought, so I knew it was a good fish, and once the head and the body came up where I could see it, that confirmed it," Lederer said. "It had a lot of energy and put up a really good fight."

Although that muskie will earn him the top honor in his division from the club, it is not the largest one Lederer has landed. He got a pretty early start at muskie fishing.

Lederer caught his first muskie at age four. He started attending tournaments with his Dad when he was five, and won his first event at nine, beating all of the adults.

Lederer's father, Fred, a Waterville native who developed his affinity for fishing while spending time on Lake Erie with his Dad and uncle, caught the muskie bug while on a Canadian trip years ago. The 51-inch muskie he met on the other side of the border has had something to do with the family's long-term relationship with muskellunge, which is the largest member of the pike family.

"I guess I knew I had another muskie fisherman on my hands when Jake caught his first muskie while casting," said the elder Lederer, who serves as the president of the Ohio Huskie Muskie organization. "He saw the fish follow the bait, then worked it just right to get the fish to strike. He did exactly what his Dad had always told him to do."

Muskies are found throughout the Great Lakes region, and present a moutharmed with rows of fearsome looking teeth that are as sharp as surgical steel. These fish will eat anything they can fit in that wide mouth, including frogs, snakes, mice, ducklings, birds, and muskrats. If you are fortunate enough to fool them with an artificial lure, it's game on.

"The thing that makes muskie fishing so much fun is just the thrill of the catch," Jake Lederer said. "There's a lot of challenge and adventure in trying to outsmart them and catch them, but the fight they put up makes it worth all of the time you spend out on the water."

Most all of the muskies the Lederers and other members of the club catch are gently resuscitated and released. Only fish that do not survive the extended battles are kept and preserved as wall mounted trophies.

"First, I think you spend a lot of time learning about muskies and what makes them so different and unusual," Jake said. "Along the way, you develop a respect for them. They're the top predator in these lakes and rivers, so that's who you are taking on. The bigger they are, the harder they are to catch, and the more adrenaline you use in the fight."

The Ohio Huskie Muskie club has about 220 members and puts on four events each year. The members maintain a database on their catches to help the state set stocking quotas, because biologists have determined that Ohio no longer has sustainable natural reproduction of its muskie stock.

Contact Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6068