Few ever forget the fish they caught as kids. Maybe the fish grow a little larger over time, or the fights become more strenuous, but those childhood angling adventures stay branded in most memory banks well into adulthood. <\/p>\n
Noah Moss of Aitkin, Minn. will certainly remember the third week of August 2022 fondly. The 13-year-old was fishing with his great uncle Dave Eichelberger on Lake Plantaganet on Tuesday, Aug. 16 when he hooked into a 51 3\/4-inch muskellunge. This is quite a feat on its own, but then Moss followed it up with another 54-inch muskie the very next day. Such a streak of luck is almost unheard of and was the focal point of the family trip to Balsam Beach Resort near Bemidji.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty been much an annual tradition for us to go spend a week together at a cabin somewhere in northern Minnesota. I just felt very fortunate this year that Noah wanted to spend time with me in the boat,\u201d Eichelberger told Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cI had taken [Noah\u2019s dad] out when he was that age and even younger and kind of got him hooked into fishing. So this trip was extra special.\u201d<\/p>\n Eichelberger warned Moss that he\u2019d probably catch his personal best crappie while they were up there, which Moss ended up doing on the first day of the trip. Once that accomplishment was checked off the list, Eichelberger and Moss decided to join Moss\u2019 dad Jordan, who was out chasing muskie. <\/p>\n \u201cWe went out the following morning and were fishing along a weed line and Noah said \u2018I got one\u2019 and I turned and looked and there was a huge boil on top of the water,\u201d Eichelberger says. \u201cAnd sure enough, it was a muskie.\u201d<\/p>\n Moss remembers the muskie not feeling very big. <\/p>\n \u201cAbout halfway through the cast, the fish hit, and it didn\u2019t feel the biggest but then we saw it surface,\u201d he told Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cWe got the fish in, it probably took two to three minutes, and we were super excited. My dad was about 50 to 60 yards away in his boat, he just came up with the trolling motor and he measured the fish and it measured 51 3\/4 inches.\u201d<\/p>\n Jordan Moss caught his first muskie on this lake many years ago, also with Uncle Dave, so some tears were shed in the process.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of celebrating, a lot of hooping and hollering, a lot of hugging going on, and it was a great thing. Noah got pretty excited, so it was good to see that,\u201d he says. \u201cWe talked about that experience for the rest of the day, it was pretty exciting for everybody back at the cabin. We were lucky that his dad was close by when we caught that fish, because he was able to come over and take pictures of us holding the fish together.\u201d<\/p>\n Jordan and Eichelberger told Noah he\u2019d be hard-pressed to beat that fish any time in the near future.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were saying \u2018Noah, that\u2019s gonna be a pretty tough fish to beat, you know. You might not catch a bigger one than that in a decade or two,’\u201d Moss recalled. <\/p>\n But the trip wasn\u2019t over yet, so they went back out the next day.<\/p>\n \u201cI had noticed an area where the wind had been blowing into this particular patch of weeds for a couple days. And I figured that might be a good place to fish. Hopefully it was blowing the bait fish into that area and the muskies were in there getting ready to eat,\u201d Eichelberger says. \u201cSo we headed in that direction and just shortly into the trip, Noah once again says \u2018Uncle Dave, I\u2019ve got one.\u2019 And there\u2019s a big boil on top of the water.\u201d<\/p>\n Just like the day before, the muskie stayed down for a bit and the fishermen didn\u2019t know just what they were dealing with right away.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked at it and I\u2019m like, \u2018oh my gosh, this one\u2019s bigger than the last one.\u2019 I couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d Eichelberger says. \u201cAnd Noah, he just played it calm. He didn\u2019t get too excited. Some other veteran muskie fishermen, they get pretty excited when they see a fish like that. But Noah was just so calm and cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Uncle Dave is very proud of his nephew\u2019s accomplishments. An avid muskie fisherman himself, he\u2019s never caught one over 50 inches before. But he wasn\u2019t entirely surprised that Moss hooked into these two fish.<\/p>\n \u201cNoah is an experienced fisherman,\u201d he says. \u201cHe is actually on the Aitkin Minnesota bass fishing team and has done very well for his age.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Noah](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/uploads\/2022\/08\/26\/image000000-1-scaled.jpg\")