I heard of fish going close to 50 lbs being taken thru the ice out in Minnesota last winter but as far as I know Bob's NJ state record muskie still stands as the world record musky thru the ice. Who'd have ever thought it would have come from NJ?
Also, from talking to him as well as other guys that were out there that day, he made a bunch of attempts to revive the fish to release it and kept it only after he had realized the fish would not survive. Guess that could of had something to do with the fact that fish got squeezed thru an 8" hole with a girth of I believe it was 28".