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If you happen to encounter the social media profiles of Colin Greene, it is clear that he is a busy man. Not only is the Pennsylvania native a cognitive therapist by day, but he also holds a license as a trout guide, works as an ambassador for Dynamic Lures, and owns the Tank Fishing apparel company.
Greene’s Instagram is populated with photos of the angler catching beautiful fish all over the country. He’s landed impressive largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, rainbow trout, brown trout, tiger trout, snooks, sturgeon, barracuda, snapper, catfish, and northern pike.
It is Greene’s most recent eye-turning catch that he considers “probably the best catch of my life,” however.
“It Was a Dream to Work in the Fishing Industry”
Greene has actively built his reputation within the fishing industry for several years now. The California University of Pennsylvania native said that “basically, it was a dream to work in the fishing industry” – a dream that was realized when he was hired by Dynamic Lures as its Eastern U.S. brand ambassador.
For Greene, however, his emerging status within the industry afford him the potential to do more than just catch the fish his followers see on social media. Through his work as a guide, clothing apparel company owner, and cognitive therapist, Greene has also been able to holistically provide unique fishing opportunities to individuals who have overcome incredible adversity.
During his many excursions on the water, Greene often takes youth he sponsors with him. Often, these resilient individuals have grappled with brain injuries, survived brain cancer, etc. Greene’s countless hours on the water and ventures into the business side of the industry allow him to create memories with these individuals that may never happen otherwise.
“It’s a business where I make some money, but that money goes back to equipment and costs to go fishing and take these kids with me,” he says. “It’s really about making these kids’ dreams a reality and influencing them with fishing.”
On perhaps his most important of fishing, then, Greene happened to have two of the young men he regularly works with on the boat with him.
Blood Moon, Good Omen
There seems to be a trend in fishing where anglers will often catch a “personal best” just before landing an even bigger fish.
Greene’s back-to-back “PB” catches might have been a bit shy of rewriting the records books, but they are still the type of fish most anglers can only dream of catching. Just a week before hauling in the largest muskie of his life, Greene hauled in what was, at that point, the largest muskie of his life.
The blood moon proved to be a positive omen for Greene who landed a feisty 47 1/2 inch muskie while fishing with his girlfriend and his father. In addition to catching a monster muskie alongside loved ones, Greene got the fish to bite on a Perch J-Spec by Dynamic Lures — the same company he works for.
The first of Greene’s consecutive monster muskies actually broke his net. Determined to return the fish safely to the water, Greene was unable to get a weight on the specimen. Even without a weight, however, it was clearly the largest he had ever pulled.
“Basically Having Fun, Not Expecting Anything Special”
On May 21 – a week after landing his blood moon muskie – Greene returned to the same fishery with his father Ralph and Tank Fishing colleagues Will Demosky and Jason Baker for what he expected to be a fairly low-key day on the water.
Greene notes that the goal for the day was “basically having fun, not expecting anything special.” On the heels of his then-PB muskie, it is almost unrealistic to imagine surpassing such a significant fish, especially when the species carries the name “fish of 10,000 casts” because of the difficulty involved in actually catching one.
The team had been on the water for awhile on what was a rather unremarkable day: they had brought in a few small fish at this point, the air temperature was around 80 degrees, and the surface temperature was in the high-60s. Perhaps the most notable data point on Greene’s forthcoming catch was the fact that his massive muskie would hit right around 12:30 p.m. – “not at all the average time to catch a big muskie,” Greene says.
Throwing a Mepps bucktail on a St. Croix Musky Mojo rod with a Shimano Tranx baitcaster and 50 lb. Yo-Zuri braid line, Greene noticed that an enormous muskie was following his retrieval.
“The mass was so big, it was alarming,” Greene recalls. “I’ve told people it was almost like someone was freestyle swimming at my bucktail. It felt like it was being followed by a human.”
With tension mounting as a true apex predator closed in on his lure, Greene opted to keep his eyes glued on the bucktail.
“It Absolutely Crushed the Bucktail!”
As Greene’s lure approached the boat, he immediately went into the “figure 8” motion. The fish wasted no time striking.
“She chomped it,” Green says. “It absolutely crushed the bucktail!”
Overcome with excitement, Greene eschewed the convention of forcefully “driving” the hookset on a muskie, instead “pulling up nice and slowly” while still managing to get the hooks secured in the fish’s mouth. Within about twenty seconds, the fish was controlled and in the net (which did not break this time).
“We all screamed for like a minute straight because we were in disbelief,” Greene recalls. “We were all thinking, ‘what just happened here?'”
Despite the joy and chaos on the boat, Greene took it upon himself to be the calming presence and made sure that he and his crew efficiently made use of the brief time they would have with this majestic creature. His father helped him bring the muskie safely into the boat where they snapped several photos before returning to fish to the water.
Greene estimates that they spent about two minutes with the muskie in the water, making sure the fish was fully revived before releasing it.
Shortly after the fish submerged, someone asked if anyone could see where it went. Almost on cue, the muskie’s pronounced red fins emerged on the surface.
Greene said that he told his companions, “that’s the fish’s way of saying ‘I made it. It’s like she’s shaking your hand and saying goodbye.”
“He Said It Was the Best Fish He’s Ever Seen Come Out of There”
During the catch, a Department of Natural Resources official was nearby to observe the moment.
Greene recalls that the official estimated the fish was right around twenty years old. He also told Greene that the muskie was “the best fish he’s ever seen come out of there.”
Per Greene’s request, Premier Angler is not disclosing the location of his catch. We can confirm, however, that this muskie is one of the longest ever recorded on this particular fishery.
So, just how big was this mammoth muskie?
Greene’s tank measured an incredible 53 inches and weighed 45 pounds.
Could there be an ever larger muskie in Colin Greene’s future? You can keep up with his Instagram to see if he is able to surpass this beauty!
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