This isn't really a muskie catch story, but it may fit in. I was fishing with a few of my friends along a small/medium sized medium/fast flowing river in mid spring a few years ago. We were in an area where the water slows down and eddies into a large pool. There was one kid that was with us that wasn't exactly what you would call an outdoorsman. We were just spending the afternoon/evening catfishing, and wouldn't you know it, he got the first bite on an uneventful day. He picked up the rod about half way up the shaft and kind of pulled quickly straight up with one hand. He had this look on his face like "eww, don't let the line touch my $80 shirt" Ha Ha!!. He then held the rod straight out far away from his body and reeled it in with his thumb and pointer finger. We kind of ribbed him on his "fish fighting" techniques as he got the smallish fish close to shore, and just then, out of nowhere, we noticed a large wake coming up behind the fish and "SPLASH!!!" I caught a quick glimpse of a Muskie which must have been around 40 inches making a swirl at the fish he had hooked. It must have thrown water 4 ft in the air, and just as it did the kid let out a yelp and nearly dropped the rod
!!! The fish he had on was a small rockbass, and it had a few teeth marks across its back and was dying, so I threw together a ranshackle rig with a large hook and leader, and tried to get the fish's interest again, but no luck. This was the funniest thing I had seen fishing since I watched a drunk guy yelling and screaming that he was fighting "A Giant", as he said, from a pier on the Outer Banks, which turned out to be a pair of blue jeans that was being pulled on by the current.
As it turns out, we needed the humor as my good friend ended up catching his hand and arm on fire with lantern fuel later that evening and ended up having to jump in the river. Led to a trip to the ER with second and third degree burns. OUCH!
Happy fishing
Brian