About Giant Muskie
Hayward has a fish large enough to walk inside. The Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame’s giant muskie rises roughly four and a half stories and stretches across an area approaching half a city block, transforming Wisconsin’s most famous game fish into a building-sized roadside landmark.
Visitors enter through the tail and travel through the body before climbing toward the head. The giant open jaw contains an observation platform with room for about twenty people, allowing guests to stand inside a muskie’s mouth while looking across Lake Hayward.
The fish sits above an approximately 88,000-gallon pond on the museum grounds. Nearby buildings contain tens of thousands of fishing artifacts, hundreds of mounted fish, antique outboard motors, tackle, records, and Hall of Fame displays.
Plenty of fishing museums mount impressive specimens on walls. Hayward decided that was not enough and built a fish large enough to become part of the museum itself. The final result gives visitors the rare opportunity to see Wisconsin from the perspective of something being swallowed by an enormous muskie.