Robert Hawkins’ obsession with big fish started at age 11 when he went on a fishing trip with his father and landed a 27-pound lake trout on Flathead Lake.

Now the owner of a fly shop in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, he might be a world record holder after reeling in a titanic muskie — estimated at more than 50 pounds — on Monday.

And he did it while fly fishing.

Hawkins grew up in Bozeman, where he worked as a fly fishing guide on the world-class trout streams of Southwest Montana before moving to Minnesota three years ago.

But he said his love of big fish and big waters never left him, and the 113,000-acre Lake Mille Lacs, located about 100 miles north of the Twin Cities, seems to have provided his fix.

“I’ve been addicted to muskies ever since I got here,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday. “It’s such a big fish. To chase them with fly rods, it’s just a cool thing.”

He said he hit the cold waters of the lake with a pair of local muskie fishing guides and a saltwater-weight fly rod at daybreak, and after about four hours he finally got a bite on his foot-long fly.

“I was stripping the fly and the fish came straight at me, so I was pulling my fly in with my left hand and she made a turn in toward the bow,” he said. “She did a couple big head shakes, and I managed to turn her around on one of them and she came right into the net.”

Hawkins said the ordeal lasted a mere 17 seconds, but once on the boat, the muskellunge was clearly well within trophy territory. It measured 57 inches long with a girth of 26.5 inches.

According to the World Muskie Alliance, the state record was set in 1957, when an angler hooked a 54-pound muskie that measured 56 inches long with a 26 3/4-inch girth.

But to qualify for Minnesota’s record book, Hawkins would have had to kill the big fish, something the seasoned angler wouldn’t even consider.

“Definitely not,” he said quickly. “That would be horrible.”

So Hawkins let the fish go.

The International Game Fish Association recognizes a 67-pound muskie caught in 1949 in Wisconsin as the current world record, but Hawkins may qualify for a fly fishing-specific record.

“We’ll try to figure out if it’s even possibly to pursue, but if not, it’s not a huge deal,” he said. “The fly fishing community knows that’s about impossible to beat on a fly.”

For Hawkins, it’s just enough to just have the opportunity to hook a monster fish out on the lake.

“I’ve always liked really big water,” he said. “There’s just something about it.”

To view a video of Hawkins’ muskie event, go to www.facebook.com/fshookshots/videos/1637192516544327/?fref=nf

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.