John Gergen of Phoenix, Ariz., landed a monster musky, July 1, 2011, on Lake Sallie near Detroit Lakes. He and his family say it measured 57.5 inches and weighed more than 54 pounds -- a weight that would break the state record. The fish will likely never challenge the record of 54 pounds, in part, because of the state government shutdown. (Courtesy to Pioneer Press: John Gergen)

Put an asterisk next to Art Lyons and his 54-pound, 56-inch muskellunge that has held the mantle of Minnesota state record since 1957.
An Arizona angler caught a bigger one, he and his family say, but with the state Department of Natural Resources largely shut down with the rest of Minnesota's government, they stumbled in their attempts to get the fish in the record books.
And with the 57.5-inch, 54.5- to 55-pound bruiser now lying in pieces in a taxidermist's studio, we'll likely never know for sure.
It was the evening of July 1 - Day 1 of the state shutdown - and 22-year-old John Gergen of Phoenix wanted to make just a few more casts on Lake Sallie near Detroit Lakes. He already had caught a 45-incher a few minutes earlier, and his 12-year-old brother, Jared, told him, "You got your muskie for the day. Let's go in," Gergen recalled.
Then their father cruised by in a Jet Ski. "He was like, 'Hey, John, let's go Jet-Skiing,'â " he said. "I was like, 'No, I want to take a few more casts here.'â "
Gergen has spent most of his summers at a family cabin at the lake, usually pursuing muskies, a larger cousin of the northern pike. The point on the lake where he was fishing never had produced much for him, but local walleye anglers had told him for years of the monster muskie that haunted the spot and often stole their nice-sized fish.
Just a few more casts.
The water was clear, and Gergen could see his black-and-green Bull Dawg lure - a garish pile of rubber to the eyes of anyone but a muskie fisherman - as it rose and fell over the weed tops in about 16 feet of water. "Then I just saw this head, this huge head," he said. "It was just so big, so huge. And it took the lure."
After 15 to 20 minutes, Gergen and the beast were spent, and the muskie was in the net. Like most muskie anglers these days, Gergen generally prefers to release trophy fish, and he said his intent was not to kill this one. But after hours of attempts to revive the fish, it turned belly up and died.
At the cabin, Gergen stepped on the family's scale, then stepped off, then stepped on with the fish. His dad and brother did the same.
"We did it like 10 times," Gergen said. "It was 54.5 to 55 pounds every time. The scale is accurate."
But the scale wasn't certified by a government weights-and-measures official, as required by the DNR.
No one in the family even thought the fish might be a record until that night, when a local bartender told them the record. The next morning, Gergen and his dad drove the fish to the DNR fisheries field office on the lake. It was closed, and with the state shut down, they abandoned their attempts.
If a field officer had been there, he or she would have been able to positively identify the fish species and steer Gergen to a certified scale, such as those at meat markets or post offices.
DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr said he's excited such a big fish was caught and noted that the catch-and-release ethic has led some to suspect other record-breaking muskies had been caught and released without being weighed.
"Since this fish didn't survive, it could have been weighed on any certified scale, but unfortunately, it doesn't appear these folks were up to speed on that," Landwehr said.
And now it is probably too late.
Gergen's entire fish still could be weighed ... in parts. Leonard Sunram, owner of Leonard's Taxidermy in Detroit Lakes, is preparing it for a mount. He said he has kept all the remains - with stomach contents that include a 12-inch bullhead and a 17-inch partly digested fish that Sunram thinks is a largemouth bass.
"I suspect it might have lost a little bit of weight, though," Sunram said. "They'll start to lose weight pretty quick out of the water. But in 45 years, it's the biggest muskie I've seen. Fifty-four pounds? That's no exaggeration. I believe it."
Gergen said he's not angry the political impasse might have kept his name out of the record books.
"I don't really chase records," he said.