Frenchtown teen catches bucket-list fish

Captain Ahab had his white whale.

Eli Foster had a muskie.

Eli, 14, achieved a lifelong dream earlier this month when he reeled in a 47-inch muskellunge (more commonly known as a muskie) off the shore of Lake Erie.

The young fisherman from Frenchtown has been angling to catch the elusive fish since before he can remember.

“My grandpa would tell me stories of catching them and how hard they bite,” said Eli. “I remember in the second grade for a school project, I had to make a bucket list. That was on my bucket list. It’s been on there for a while.”

After spending over half his young life chasing the fish, Eli finally can cross that goal off his list.

It was a long road to get there.

Eli started fishing when he was 2 years old.

His grandfather, Les Messer, lives on the banks of Lake Erie in Frenchtown and introduced Eli to the sport.

“He picked it up so naturally,” said Eli’s mother, Katie. “My dad knows the lake like the back of his hand. He taught Eli everything he knows.

“Eli could even charter people now if they want to catch perch or walleye. He knows exactly what spots to go to and what tackle to use. He’s the person to see if you want to know anything about fishing.”

Neither Katie nor Eli’s father, Jerry, are much into the sport. But Eli definitely took the bait.

Over the years, he has become a master at catching Lake Erie’s more common game. Eli fishes up to five days a week for at least four hours every trip. Some days he’ll fish off the shore and some days he goes out on the boat with his grandfather.

“He’ll call my mom and dad every morning and ask them to take a picture of the lake and send it to him,” Katie said. “So he’ll know if the water is good for fishing. If it looks too rough, he won’t go. He knows all about wind direction and wind speed and all that.”

Eli’s grandfather primarily fishes the large populations of perch and walleye in Lake Erie. Occasionally, he has hooked a muskie, but Eli has only ever heard the stories.

“He catches like one or two each year,” Eli said. “He doesn’t catch them on purpose though, it’s always on accident. They fight hard and a lot of the time they’ll break his line because he’s not ready for it.”

Enamored by his grandfather’s stories, Eli was determined to one day hunt down his own muskie.

Known as the “fish of 10,000 casts,” the muskie is a rare sight in Lake Erie. A very territorial and predatory fish, the muskie populations generally keep to the area of Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. Muskies also have low spawn rates and take longer to mature compared to other local fish, limiting their numbers even more.

“It’s a challenge catching them,” Eli said. “It’s almost unheard of, especially in Lake Erie.”

Eli estimated that around 20,000 muskie can be found in the local waters of Lake Erie compared to a population in the tens of millions for perch and walleye.

Knowing that catching a muskie could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance, Eli wanted to be prepared. He regularly spent his monthly allowance on new tackles, rods, and other gear. He also researched and watched videos online to learn the tips of tricks of the trade.

“I even offered to do a charter for him over the summer so he could catch one,” said Katie. “But he said no. He said that was cheating and he wanted to wait until he could get one on his own.”

The coronavirus pandemic opened up Eli’s schedule even more to find time to fish.

“Over the summer he was fishing every second he could,” Katie said. “He’s been doing a lot of home school too. He brought his laptop over there (to his grandparent’s house) and would fish in between classes. Whenever he had a few minutes break, he would cast.”

Eli’s dedication finally paid off. On the evening of October 8, he rode his bike less than a mile to his grandparent’s house at Stony Point like he had done so many times before and cast off the shore.

Before long, he felt a tough yank on his line.

“I wasn’t really expecting much,” Eli said. “When I hooked into it, I thought it was just a really big fish. Then I saw it jump and I knew it was a muskie.

“Right then and there, I started to freak out.”

Eli yelled out for his grandfather who came running out of the house to watch his grandson battle the massive fish over the next few minutes.

“It felt really super heavy,” Eli recalled. “The head shakes were insane. I’ve never felt a fish bite that hard or pull back that hard. ... At one point, I thought it was going to get off, but it turned and came right at me.”

Katie raced over when she got the call.

“I was in my pajamas and I jumped in the car and drove over there,” she said. “I was shocked when I saw how huge it was. I had seen pictures of muskies, but it was unbelievable when I saw it.”

The excitement of the moment drew in a small crowd.

“He was yelling for my dad when he hooked it and all the neighbors were running outside to see what the commotion was,” Katie said. “I was really happy for him. He’s been waiting to catch this fish for so long.”

Never one to keep trophy, Eli quickly got a picture with his white whale and then released it back into the water.

“It feels like a big weight has been lifted off my chest,” he said. “It just feels like I can impress anyone now by telling them that story.”