Muskie fishing has been tough this year on sprawling 16,600-acre Audubon Lake located in central North Dakota, south of the town of Minot. But Kim Fundingsland has fished the big lake for many years, including over 60 times in 2025.
“Audubon offers a wide range of good fishing for smallmouth bass, pike, walleyes and muskies,” Kim tells Wired2fish. “But we love muskies, and Kelli and I started a milk run of good muskie spots I know about that September 20 day.”
The anglers were casting at a high spot or hump in the lake from their 17-foot Lowe boat at noon. The hump had a sand and rock bottom just a few feet deep where baitfish congregate. Kim cast a large, homemade muskie spinner to the spot and as soon as it splashed down something moved up into the water behind it.
“I started a retrieve, and as it got close to the boat, I could see a muskie coming in,” said Kim, a 73-year-old retired Minot, ND outdoor writer. “I thought the fish was following the lure, and I was gonna start doing ‘figure 8s’ with my spinner to make it strike. But then I saw my lure was gone – in the fish’s mouth, so I set the hook.”
The muskie instantly jumped beside the boat, showering Kim and Kelli with lake water. Then it darted left and right, and jumped again, head up thrashing and water splashing, said Kim.
“My daughter got the net, and she did a great job, because she’s a very experienced angler,” Kim said.
The anglers measured the fish’s length at 45.25 inches; slightly longer than the current state record muskie. They didn’t get a girth measurement of Kim’s fish, but they made photos.
North Dakota requires all muskies under 48 inches to be released. Kim says he’d have released the fish even if he could have kept it to have it officially measured and weighed on certified scales.
The current North Dakota record tiger muskie was 45 inches long, weighing 40 pounds, caught in 1975 by Marvin Rolette from Gravel Lake. The fish presumably was caught and weighed prior to the current state mandate that all muskies under 48-inches must be released.
Kim says it’s an odd state fisheries law, but dedicated muskie anglers like he and Kelli release all fish they catch anyway.
After Kim caught his muskie Kelli wanted one, too. They fished the hump a bit longer, and Kim hooked another good muskie on his spinner, but the fish got off.
Then the anglers fished for smallmouth bass a bit, while Kim kept thinking of spots they could try that were similar to where he caught his muskie so Kelli could catch one, too.
“I remembered a similar hump that was less than 100 yards from where I caught my 45 incher, and we ran to it so Kelli could try to get one,” Kim said. “We started casting and on about her fifth or sixth cast with a big spinner she hooked a fish she thought was a pike.
“But I saw how long it was, and the tiger markings on its sides and knew it was another big muskie.”
The fish then jumped three feet out of the water, fell back, and jumped again, said Kim. He got the net, and Kelli worked the tiger muskie into it. She got the fish out of the net, then measured it at 43.25-inches in length.
Kelli’s fish was just short of Kim’s record-size muskie, as well as the current state record caught in 1975.
A few photos were taken of Kelli’s catch, and the tiger muskie was unhooked and promptly released.
“We did a lot of high fives,” Kim says. “It was just an incredible day. There was no way to make that fishing day any better, so at 2:30 p.m. we headed home.”
Kim and Kelli have no plans to have replica mounts made of their tremendous tiger muskies.
“We both know there are bigger fish in Audubon Lake, and when we catch one of those, maybe we’ll have a mount made,” Kim said.
