The biggest fish caught at the Fort Kent muskie derby

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 11, 2025

Jim Campbell is the $2,000 winner of the 2025 Fort Kent International Muskie Derby. His fish was 42 ⅝ inches and 21.05 pounds. Emma Castonguay won $500 in the youth category, catching a muskie 42 ⅝ inches and 18.12 pounds. The St. John River was once renowned nationwide for its native brook trout fishery, with fish reaching five pounds. In 1980, Quebec stocked muskie in Lac-Frontière at the headwaters of the Northwest Branch without installing barriers or notifying Maine agencies. Muskie quickly spread throughout the system. The invasive predators devastated the brook trout population.