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Group says Spray’s world record musky is a fraud

Category: article

 Nov 11th, 2005 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Nov 11th, 2005 at 12:00 AM

New scientific evidence submitted by a group of musky anglers could result in the disqualification of the existing world record muskellunge caught by the late Louie Spray on the Chippewa Flowage on Oct. 20, 1949.The World Record Muskie Alliance (WRMA), based in Woodstock, Ill., says that based on new photo analysis and circumstantial evidence, the Spray fish is not nearly as heavy as the 69 pounds, 11 ounces it was claimed to be and that it was actually 10 inches shorter than the claimed 63 1/2 inch length and thinner than the 31 1/4-inch girth claimed.The WRMA says it is likely that Spray falsified both the length and weight of the fish by not allowing anyone other than his cronies to measure the fish and by adding weight possibly ice to the fish before it was officially weighed.The only witnesses to the late-night weigh-in on an official scale at the Stone Lake post office, besides Postmaster Jack Reinke, were Spray and his two boat partners. The fish was not examined independently to see if weight had been added to it. It was likely that the postmaster was duped by Spray and his associates into witnessing a loaded fish, the report says.Further, the WRMA says that a photo comparison of all three of Sprays fresh-caught world-record muskies, including the existing record, with the pictured mounts of those fish showed that the taxidermist stretched the actual length of the fish by 14 percent. The comparison showed the belly depth of the 1949 fish was stretched by 8.5 percent in mounting.The mount of Sprays 1949 record burned in a fire at his bar in Rice Lake in 1959.The WRMA commissioned DCM Technical Services of Toronto to do a photogrammetric study comparing Sprays known height to the claimed 69-pound fish shown with Spray in the well-known 1949 photo taken in front of a brick building. DCM was able to use the lines from the bricks to make a three-dimensional grid from which they were able to ascertain the dimensions of the fish.Further, the WRMA took cardboard silhouettes matching the claimed dimensions of the three Spray world record muskies (caught in 1939, 1940 and 1949) and photographed them with persons of known height. The new photos were matched with old photos of Spray with his three fish. From that also, the WRMA also concluded that Sprays fish were not as big as claimed.On Oct. 20, the 56th anniversary of Sprays catch, WRMA submitted its 93-page report to the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame.Given the preponderance of scientific and circumstantial evidence to the contrary presented within this report, we at the WRMA are compelled to accept the physical impossibility of the current Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame record to have weighed anywhere near the 69 pounds 11 ounces claimed by Spray in 1949, WRMA President Richard Delaney said in the report. Therefore, it is our recommendation that this and all Spray records be immediately disqualified from current or historic record status or consideration by the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum, as they represent obvious cases of fraud on the part of Spray and his associates.Hall of Fame Executive Director Emmett Brown said the Hall receives very few protests of our records maybe one or two a year but we do have a procedure. The WRMA report was distributed to each one of our board members, myself, and Ted Dzialo, the Halls director emeritus.Within a week or two, the Halls Records Committee will meet to begin reviewing the documents to ascertain the validity of the protest, he said. The committee members are FWFHF board president John Dettloff, Tom Turngren, Emmett Brown and Dzialo. The committees recommendation will then be forwarded to the full board for a final decision.There is not a hard fast timeline on the process, Brown added. Were not going to rush to judgment. Were not going to change our protocol. Were not giving this protest any more weight than we would anything else.Its certainly an important record, as all of our records are, Brown added. Let me stress that the Fishing Hall of Fame does not view this as us against the WRMA, or Wisconsin against Illinois. We are a national organization.We view this as a protest to one of our records, and we will give it all due consideration, Brown said. Of paramount importance here is the integrity of our records-keeping program. Were not going to be pushed into making a hasty decision or the wrong decision. Our decision will be based on facts, not on pressure, innuendo, bar talk or wild speculation.No decision has been made one way or another, he added.Brown said very few kept muskies are submitted for world record qualification any more. There have been a few muskies submitted in line test categories.One person who has changed his mind about the authenticity of the Spray muskies is Larry Ramsell of Hayward, who authored the book A Compendium of Muskie Angling History and has been a volunteer researcher and consultant on historical issues for the Hall of Fame. He helped the Hall set up its world records qualification program.Ramsell says the WRMA silhouette analysis together with the peer-reviewed photo analysis done by professionals makes a more than compelling case to set aside the Spray musky records.Its at least as compelling or more compelling than the photo analysis done by John Dettloff in 1992 which resulted in the disqualification of the reported 69-pound, 15-ounce musky caught in the St. Lawrence River, New York, in 1957 by Art Lawton, Ramsell added.Ramsell feels the witnesses of Sprays catch back in 1949 those who saw the fish at Hermans Landing and at the Stone Lake post office were not part of a vast conspiracy, but were misled a little bit by Spray and Sprays fishing companions. They took things at face value, he said.Postmaster Jack Reinke, who weighed the fish, no doubt saw 69 pounds 11 ounces on the scale, Ramsell added. But what we dont know is if the fish was weighted or not. There would be no reason for him (the postmaster) to suspect anything or examine anything to find out.The only people who witnessed the weighing other than Spray were his two fishing companions and the postmaster, Ramsell added. After that point, other than some brief glimpses in Rice Lake, nobody saw that fish again until after it was mounted.The person who measured the musky that Spray caught on Oct. 20, 1949, near Church Island on the Chippewa Flowage was involved in all three of Sprays world record muskies in one form or another, Ramsell added. It would be very simple for someone to take out a tape measure and call out a measurement and for everyone else to believe it but not witness it. But yet they could sign an affidavit to the fact that they did witness it, because they did watch him measure it.The WRMA says that Sprays 1949 catch occurred during an era in which many of the muskies caught on the Chippewa Flowage were embellished in size by the people who caught them. In Sprays case, the WRMA believes that he falsified all of his various world record and contest entries to earn cash, prizes, product endorsements and to promote his bar business.If the Spray record were set aside, the new world record apparently would be the 67 1/2-pound musky caught by Cal Johnson on Lac Courte Oreilles in July, 1949. The mounted fish is displayed in the Moccasin Bar in Hayward. The WRMA has submitted photos of Johnson with the fresh-caught fish and photos of the mounted fish to DCM for analysis.