Downstate angler Mike Decker landed an impressive, 55-inch muskie recently while fishing on Lake Ontario off the Oswego coast.

“It’s the fish of a lifetime,” he said. “I’m a salmon, trout, walleye guy. I never fish for muskie. I know they’re big, but I didn’t know they got that big.”

Decker, who works as a police detective for the city of Port Jervis in Orange County, said he has a place in Fair Haven and often fishes in pro tournaments on Lake Ontario. He caught the muskie on Aug. 5 while practice fishing for the A-TOM-MIK Invitational salmon fishing tournament.

He was fishing on a boat owned by a buddy, Brendan Shambo, who owns Screwy Louie’s Sports Shop in Fair Haven. Nick Overaker, another friend, was also aboard.

Decker said he caught the fish off the Oswego shore while trolling in 90 to 100 feet of water using a Michigan Stinger UV Seasick Waddler lure. It hit the lure about 40 feet down. Decker said he was using 30-pound test line with a 20-pound, monofilament leader.

He said the fish took about 10 to 15 minutes to land. Overaker netted it. Decker said he didn’t weigh the fish, but estimates it was 40 pounds or more.

“I was worried. They line was frayed. If he shook his head one more time, he would have been gone. He absolutely destroyed the spoon,” he said.

He said the lure’s treble hook ripped into the fish’s gill “and it was bleeding all over the place.” Knowing it wouldn’t survive if released, Decker decided to keep the fish, which is currently in his freezer. He plans to turn the frozen carcass over to a taxidermist who will take a mold of the fish and make two replicas. Decker will get one. The other will hang in Screwy Louise’s Sports Shop, he said.

Decker said his father, Mike Decker Sr., runs a fishing charter boat business,White Cap Charters, out of Fair Haven.

The state record for a muskie (muskellunge) is held by Arthur Lawton, caught in 1957 in the St. Lawrence River. That fish weighed more than 69 pounds and measured 64.5 inches.