Cave Run Giant Breaks Longtime State Record
by Crash Mullins
Musky Hunter Field Editor

Kentucky's famous Cave Run Lake has long been called the "Musky Capital of the South" and it has now asserted itself by producing the state's record Musky.

On Saturday, May 9, a 44.38-pounder measuring 53 inches was caught by Scott Flatt of Lexington, Kentucky. The previous record was a 43-pounder taken by Porter Rash from the Kentucky side of Dale Hollow Reservoir in February 1983.

The morning that Scott landed his record fish, he was trolling along a heavy stand of timber on the main basin of the lake, what local fishermen refer to as a timber line. Scott was using a jointed Believer Lure with a seven-foot St. Croix rod with 30-pound Musky Mono by Cortland.

Al Surmont, a fisheries biologist at the Minor Clarke Fish Hatchery located at Cave Run, confirmed the Musky at 53 inches long with a 26-inch girth. Amazingly, the Musky was stocked in the lake in 1989!

During the past 10 years, the Minor Clarke hatchery has conducted a special research program on fin clipping, enabling researchers to look at their records and know exactly the year in which a particular fish was stocked. If you'll notice in the picture, the right pelvic fin has been clipped.

The taxidermist who will be mounting Scott's fish found this female to be full of eggs, which is unusual for that time of the year.

Surmont said that while researchers were Electro-fishing in early April they shocked a 51-inch, 41 1/2-pounder which was recorded on film and aired by Kentucky Afield TV. Surmont said that the fish was also stocked in 1989.