Another record fish looks to have come out of Mille Lacs. This time it’s a 54-inch muskie.

Fishing record-chaser Arthur "Art" Weston has seen his share of big catches with nearly 40 yet-to-be-beaten, world records under his belt. But when Minnesota muskie expert Nolan Sprengeler took him out on Mille Lacs last week to go for a new muskie record, Weston tried something he never had before — night fishing.

"Having never night fished before was a wild experience for me," Weston, who lives in Kentucky, said in a statement to the Star Tribune Thursday. "Casting these massive lures into the darkness and the depths is frankly a bit unnerving."

On Oct. 29, his second night on Mille Lacs, Weston, with Sprengeler as his guide, landed the mother of all muskies, a 54.33-inch or 138-centimeter fish which he believes is likely to set the all-tackle length world record for the species. The record is currently pending and under review by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA).

Weston had never fished with Sprengeler before, but had heard good things about him from other anglers. Weston, who last year made headlines for catching a 283-pound alligator gar, contacted Sprengeler to come up with a plan to try for the all-tackle length world record for muskie. They agreed to fish at night, Weston said, because the bigger muskies can often be the most "lure shy." Possibly they've been caught and released before. Or they are old enough and smart enough to recognize an artificial lure.

After no luck the first night, the pair set out at about 6:30 pm the second to a few of Sprengeler's favorite spots. Weston's lure "got smashed" about 30 yards out from their boat just before midnight. The hit made him let out an audible "Ooof," Weston said.

"The strike was not what I was expecting, it was like a Mack Truck grabbed my lure and headed the opposite direction," he said.

Sprengeler, who didn't respond to requests for comment Thursday, is no stranger to huge muskies. In November 2021, Sprengeler, of Plymouth, landed a massive muskie of his own on Mille Lacs that measured 57 3/4-inch and weighed 55 pounds and 14 ounces. For that catch, Sprengeler and two friends had to break the ice for about 100 yards to get his boat into open water on the lake's west end.

Shannon Fisher, a DNR fisheries manager, said he's heard about the catch on Mille Lacs via media reports. Minnesota has its own record fish program, but as of Thursday afternoon, no one had applied for a new catch-and-release muskie record.