ST.CROIX. - Muskies Inc. August MUSKIE.pdfADVERTISING SALES TEAM Kevin Richards, Editor / Ad Manager...

THERE ARE OVER 30 ST. CROIX MUSKY RODS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO PERFECTLY WORK YOUR FAVORITE BUCKTAILS,

CRANKBAITS, JERKBAITS AND, OF COURSE, LIVE BAITS. VIEW THEM ALL AT: www.stcroixrods.com.

NOTHING HANDLES MUSKY LURES LIKE A ST. CROIX.

Purchase a collectable 18"x24" poster of this ad by sending $10 (includes shipping & handling) to St. Croix Rod, Attn: Poodle Poster, P.O. Box 279, Park Falls, WI 54552.Please include your mailing address. Or visit www.stcroixrods.com and go to SHOP > ACCESSORIES. Offer is good while supplies last.

August 2010.....MUSKIE 1www.muskiesinc.org

Departments2 President’s Message,

Dan Narsete

3 About the Cover, Juris Ozols

4 MUSKIE News

6 Lunge Log, Jim Bunch

8 Index of Advertisers

9 Figure 8, Kevin Richards

10 Photo Contest, Brad Waldera

24 Chapter News and Views

34 Member Photos

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MAIL TO MUSKIES, INC. 1509 Stahl RoadSheboygan, WI 53081

1-888-710-8286

Regular Membership: q 1 Year-$35.00 q 2 Years-$65.00 q 3 Years- $95.00

Family Membership: q 1 Year-$47.50 q 2 Years-$90.00 q 3 Years-$132.50

Junior Membership (Under 18): q $20.00

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(to find the number of the Chapter you wish to join, see the Chapter News & Views section)

ContentsMUSKIE • VOL. 44, NO. 8

Join Muskies, Inc. ...or give a membershipas a gift.

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MUSKIE magazine is published monthly and isthe Official Publication of Muskies, Inc.Ellen Wells, Administrative Secretary, 1509 StahlRoad, Sheboygan, WI 53081. Ph: 1-888-710-8286.© Copyright 2010 by Muskies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Features11 Cindy’s Muskie, Henry Hempe

12 Figure 8 Exploration - Let’s Talk 8s, Gregg Thomas

15 Muskie Spawning on Minnesota’s Leech Lake

16 Educating Non-Muskie Anglers, Colby Simms

19 Mayfly Life Cycle [Photo Journal], Juris Ozols

20 Teaching Kids About Fishing Can Change Lives,Shane Eakle

22 Is This a Muskie?, Mary Mallott

THERE ARE OVER 30 ST. CROIX MUSKY RODS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO PERFECTLY WORK YOUR FAVORITE BUCKTAILS,

CRANKBAITS, JERKBAITS AND, OF COURSE, LIVE BAITS. VIEW THEM ALL AT: www.stcroixrods.com.

NOTHING HANDLES MUSKY LURES LIKE A ST. CROIX.

Purchase a collectable 18"x24" poster of this ad by sending $10 (includes shipping & handling) to St. Croix Rod, Attn: Poodle Poster, P.O. Box 279, Park Falls, WI 54552.Please include your mailing address. Or visit www.stcroixrods.com and go to SHOP > ACCESSORIES. Offer is good while supplies last.

STC Poodle Ad.8.5x11 3/22/10 10:10 AM Page 1

Board ofDirectors

Executive CommitteePresident, Dan NarseteEmail: [email protected] President/Finance, Jim ShannonPhone: 612-670-8943Email: [email protected] President/Fisheries, Research & Youth,Tom PennistonPhone: 608-558-9657Email: [email protected] President/Internal Affairs,Perry PetersonPhone: 253-850-5889 Email: [email protected] President/Membership & Marketing,Greg WellsPhone: 920-457-3720Email: [email protected] President/Communications,Rich GallagherPhone: 847-341-1723Email: [email protected], Kathy GoonPhone: 419-945-2940Email: [email protected] Master, Ron GroeschlPhone: 262-271-1002Email: [email protected] Secretary, Ellen Wells1509 Stahl Road, Sheboygan, WI 53081Phone: 888-710-8286Email: [email protected], David Cates

Regional DirectorsRegion 1 Term Expires

Rory Potter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2010Ron Teschner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2011Carl Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2012

Region 2Fred Brogle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2011Robert Benson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012Leo Kofoot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2013

Region 3Joel Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2010Chad Theesfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2011Doug Dible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012

Region 4Kimberly Cates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2011Earle Hammond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012(Vacant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2013

2 MUSKIE.....August 2010

Afew months ago I was speaking to my friend and colleague Jim Shannon aboutmuskie anglers. Jim said, “You know muskie anglers are a funny breed, they willthink nothing of dropping $20,000-30,000 on a boat, but will be up in arms over

paying $35 for membership to an organization and will use the rationale that $35 is worthtwo baits.”

Upon hearing this I responded that it is kind of like the U.S. Congress which willspend $30 billion on some big ticket item, but will fight tooth and nail against allocatinga couple of million dollars for education. This conversation underlined the rationale thatyou and I often deal with in regard to recruiting more muskie anglers into Muskies, Inc.

I am well aware that anglers could buy one or two Bulldawgs, bucktails, or the latestand greatest glide bait for the cost of an MI membership. But think about what they wouldgain by joining MI. Our members are supporting an organization that has donated mil-lions of dollars back to the lakes and rivers we all love to fish. The stocking programs, catch-and-release awareness, education, and research we support contribute to better fishing forall of us. The data supplied by Jim Bunch and our Lunge Log proves that what we are doingis working and that our $35 annual membership is a good investment. By supportingMuskies, Inc. anglers support our sport and the fisheries we all love. We are helping tomake more and bigger muskies – this means greater fishing opportunities for all. We appre-ciate YOUR membership! Please help us increase OUR membership!

That being said, I would like to formally welcome our newest chapter - Chapter 60from Spokane, Washington. Thanks largely to the efforts of Perry Peterson (VP-InternalAffairs) and his lovely wife Jani Kuper we now have a greater presence in the northwest. Itis this level of dedication and hard work that should be an example for all chapters, mem-bers and officers to follow. These two have cultivated members for a number of years, trav-eled on their own dime, and spent many hours in developing relationships with our newestmembers in Eastern Washington.

The last item I want to mention (if you can believe it) is that at the end of this monthI will actually be fishing and not just talking about it. Like many of you reading this arti-cle, my father and I will be taking our annual pilgrimage to the north; our destination willbe Eagle Lake, ON. Trips like these help foster the lasting relationships which we all treas-ure. My hope is that each of you gets to go muskie fishing this year with someone impor-tant to you.

Tight lines, Dan

The President’s MessageThe President’s Messageby Dan Narsete

Muskies, Inc. PresidentEmail: [email protected]

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MUSKIE Magazine StaffEDITORKevin Richards7618 Sunrise Ridge RoadHenley, MO 65040Phone: (573) 280-2300Email: [email protected] EDITORJuris OzolsPhone: (612) 747-0178Email: [email protected] CONTEST EDITORBrad WalderaPhone: (701) 642-1952Email: [email protected] LOG EDITORMembers Only Fishing ContestJim BunchPhone: (715) 226-0295Email: [email protected] SALES TEAMKevin Richards, Editor / Ad ManagerPhone: (573) 280-2300Email: [email protected] Fierstine, Advertising Sales RepresentativePhone: (218) 252-0947Email: [email protected] ACCOUNT MANAGERSunray Printing Solutions, Inc. - Stacey ThielenMAGAZINE DESIGNSunray Printing Solutions, Inc. - John WindschitlILLUSTRATORS/CARTOONISTSRichard Gross, Charles WeissFIELD EDITORSPatricia Strutz, Colby Simms, Sean Landsman,Adam Glickman, Bob Chochola,Steve BudnikEMERITUS EDITORSRod Ramsell, Keith Ogden, Jim SmithMUSKIE is published exclusively for the member-ship of Muskies, Inc. and subscriptions come witha paid membership. Muskies, Inc. is a non-profitorganization. Membership classes and associatedannual dues are listed on the form at the bottomof page one. Copies of MUSKIE magazine areavailable at $3.00 each from the Muskies, Inc.Administrative Secretary.

Contributors grant rights for M.I. to publish once inMUSKIE Magazine, both the print and on-line ver-sions, including archives and on the M.I. Web site.

Submissions toMUSKIE Magazine

Persons interested in submitting articles forpublication are directed to our website www.muskiesinc.org for a link to MUSKIE Magazine,where you will find links on the left side of thepage providing information necessary for submis-sions to MUSKIE Magazine. Further questionswill be answered by Kevin Richards, Editor.Submissions may be sent to: 7618 Sunrise RidgeRoad, Henley, MO 65040 or by email:[email protected]. Phone: (573) 280-2300.

ABOUTTHE COVER

Muskies, Inc. is now up to theeighth annual Commemorative Lure.The program began in 2003 withthe classic Hawg Wobbler, andsince then our August magazinecovers have featured the CraneBait, Grandma, Suick, Phantom,DepthRaider, and Jones Special.

Our 2010 Muskies, Inc.Commemorative Lure is the“Dictator” from Tyrant Tackle, acreeper-style topwater lure in theirBaby Loon pattern as shown on thismonth’s cover. The Dictator is 6inches long and weighs 2.75 ounces. It’s made of high pressure poly-styrene which has the density and buoyancy characteristics of moreexpensive balsa lures.

These 300 signed and numbered baits will come in a jewelry-stylepresentation box. They will be available for shipment in September.WWaattcchh ffoorr yyoouurr oorrddeerr ffoorrmm iinn tthhee mmaaiill tthhiiss mmoonntthh!! The cost of the lureswill be $45 each. Funds raised will be used to support our Fisheries,Research and Youth programs. If you need additional information youcan contact Jim Shannon at: [email protected]

The Dictator comes in six finishes: Baby Loon, Bullfrog, Firetiger,Orange/Black, Black/Orange, and Clown. The Tyrant Tackle guys haveover 10 years experience in the tackle industry and they have been veryactive with Muskies, Inc. You can learn more about Tyrant Tackle at:www.tyranttackleinc.com

– Juris v


Changes to MUSKIE Photo GuidelinesEffective immediately all photos submitted for our Photo

Contest and Member Photos pages must be submitted in digital for-mat via email to Photo Contest editor Brad Waldera at:[email protected]

In addition, MUSKIE Magazine will not consider publishingany photos of fish which show significant bleeding. The only excep-tion would be in conjunction with a scientific or educational articlefor which such a photo would be appropriate to the story line; thiswould be very rare.

Montana Tiger Muskie RecordMontana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) announced that a 30-

pound, 48.38-inch tiger muskie caught by Jesse Sanchez of Billingshas been certified as a new state record.

Sanchez caught the big fish May 15, 2010, while fishing from aboat in Deadman’s Basin Reservoir west of Ryegate. He said he caughtthe fish on a four-inch-long Daredevle spoon using a light rod, spin-ning reel and 10-pound line.

Montana FWP certified the fish as a state record after verifyingthat it was legally caught, that the angler was properly licensed, andthat the scale where it was weighed was certified.

The tiger muskie was more than two inches longer and twopounds heavier than the previous record (46 inches and 27.87pounds) which also was pulled from Deadman’s Basin Reservoir.

FWP planted tiger muskies in several Montana lakes in the 1990sand the early part of this decade in an attempt to control a prolifera-

tion of white suckers. White suckers compete for food with moredesirable species, such as trout and kokanee salmon. Biologists credittiger muskies for a downward trend in white sucker populations atDeadman’s Basin and other lakes where they were planted.(Editor’s note: the paragraph above certainly adds more support to theinformation presented in Colby Simms’ article that starts on page 16.

A Very Costly Fishing License!A story from Yahoo Sports by Pete Thomas of GrindTV.com

reported that the anglers aboard the fishing boat Citation had beenparticipating in the annual Big Rock Blue Marlin FishingTournament off North Carolina when one of the anglers landed whatwas by far the biggest fish: an 883-pound marlin, a tournamentrecord.

The team was declared winner of the prestigious competitionand there was plenty of celebration. A post-event lie-detector testrevealed that one of the hired crew did not possess a valid fishinglicense, available to North Carolina residents for only $15, or $30 fornon-residents.

That was a violation of tour-nament rules and after lengthydeliberation tournament officialsapparently disqualified the catchand denied the Citation team thewinning purse.

The new winners were thosewho fished aboard the vesselCarnivore and caught the sec-ond-largest marlin, weighing528.3 pounds. They got a grandtotal of $999,453.

According to the state’s fish-eries division, the crew memberwithout the license went out andbought a license after the catch ofthe monster marlin, bringingmore shame to his team. He’ll befined $35 and ordered to paycourt costs totaling $125. Thatbrings the real cost for NOT buy-ing a $15 fishing license to justabout one million dollars! v


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S M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T“Muskies, Inc. is an active, service-oriented, non-profit

organization with the single focus of improving the sport ofmuskie fishing for men, women, and children.

Our mission is to unite all muskie fishing interests for thepromotion and protection of a high quality muskellunge sportfishery in the United States and Canada.

We will accomplish this by supporting conservation prac-tices and research based on sound scientific merit, and carriedout by authorized federal or state agencies, appropriate academ-ic institutions, Muskies, Inc chapters, and their members.

We are committed to the abatement of water pollution;maintenance of records for muskie habits, growth, and range;and the dissemination of muskie information to everyone.”

Adopted, April 2002


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REGISTER ONLINE THROUGH LABOR DAY AT:

www.twincitiesmuskiesinc.orgOR REGISTER THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 AT:

REED’S FAMILY OUTDOOR OUTFITTERS • WalkerONE STOP • Longville

43rd ANNUAL FRANK SCHNEIDER, JR. MEMORIAL

Muskie Tournament43rd ANNUAL FRANK SCHNEIDER, JR. MEMORIAL

Muskie TournamentSEPTEMBER 10-11-12, 2010LONGEST-RUNNING MUSKIES INC. TOURNAMENT

FOR MORE INFORMATION: DENISE OLSON 612-804-4687

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First Five Months of 2010!Some newspaper guy called last week. He wanted to get a handle

on how the muskie season was going in 2010. I took some time andexplained that the season never closes in most of the east and south.He was from a small town in Wisconsin and I am not sure how hewas going to compare any numbers I came up with. Never the less allhe wanted was numbers. I called him back with the following. Thisyear for reported entries from January 1 through June 10 there were2347 of which 28 were 50 inches. For the last five years it comparesto 2009 – 2570 (17 fifties), 2008 – 2187 (12), 2007 – 2697 (13), and2006 – 2888 (17). These are stats for the first 5 months of each year.He hung up and went off to do his thing. What does this mean?Probably nothing, however I like the 50 inch thing. As I told him, asof June 10th, probably 80% of Muskies, Inc. members who will fishthis year have not been out yet. He thought he had a scoop. Ohbrother! Now you have the scoop.

May Lunker of the Month!Nick Tanner is from Sheldon, Iowa and a member of the Upper

Great Plains Chapter. Nick is not a long time veteran of muskie bat-tles over a long period of time. As a matter of fact he has only report-ed muskie entries to us in 2009 and 2010. On May 25th he had a real-

ly neat day with surface bait on West Okoboji. This lake has someserious history in the Lunge Log. It’s all right there on your comput-er. Nick’s comments on that day follow:

The 52-incher was a personal best and completely unexpected. Theseason had only been open for about a week in Iowa and we were just outtaking care of that itch. She hit hard on a topwater. It was definitely thestrongest fish I have ever caught. The crazy part of the whole deal is oncewe got that fish released I re-tied my line and about a half an hour laterwe saw a nice fish swim right past our boat. So I, a little jokingly, tossedthat topwater over its head in the direction it was going. I brought thebait over where I thought she was and as my partner chuckled, thatmuskie came flying out of the water, mouth wide open, and changed thosechuckles to disbelief. That one was 48.5. So I get a 52 and a 48.5 inone day in Iowa making this even more unreal. Thanks, Nick Tanner.

Lac Courte Oreilles! Couderay!On June 4th this year Dennis Marienfeld of Columbia, MO

caught a 50 inch muskie at night with his son on Couderay. Just thename Marienfeld means history. I called Dennis and caught himhome in his cabin on Couderay and got an updated history of himand the lake. Lac Courte Oreilles is the French version of the lake.That appears on the maps. But the easier name is simply Couderay.It is in Sawyer County Wisconsin just south of Hayward and just westof the famous Chippewa Flowage. It connects to Grindstone, andWhitefish. It is deep, clear and just over 5000 acres. It was the homeof the Cal Johnson 67 pounder way back in 1949.

Dennis Marienfeld has been on that body of water since a child,actually since age 7 to be precise. His grandfather Fritz bought theAlpine Lodge there back in the late 1940s. So Dennis has been goingthere ever since. The place is no longer a lodge and Dennis has a lakehome there. Dennis is a life member of Muskies, Inc. He joined backin 1981. He talked about the old days when the Indian guides usedwooden boats with 3.5 HP Johnson motors. He said those guideswere tough people. They would go out and row (no motor trolling)for 4 hours, have lunch and then row another 4 hours. Then theywould do it again the next day.


the Lunge Log

by Jim Bunch

Nick Tanner, Chapter 2952 inches, May 25, 2010

May LunkerWest Okoboji, Iowa

Surface BaitFish I.D 286085

Dennis Marienfeld, Chapter 05, 50 inches, June 4, 2010.Lac Court Orielles, WI. Homemade Buck Tail

Fish I.D. 287048

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Dennis is a retired physician and taught at theUniversity of Missouri. His time on the water at Couderayhas been limited due to the miles involved. This muskie onJune 4th was caught on a homemade bucktail. It is doublebladed with only one treble hook and Couderay silver andblack of course. He calls it his workshop version of theCowgirl. We wonder how many of those exist across thecountry. This is another example of the desire to catch amuskie on your own production. It’s not about the money;it’s just the idea that we can do it ourselves.

This muskie was very special to Dennis as he usuallyfishes alone but on this night his 26 year old son Brian waswith him. This eliminated the need for the timer on the cam-era and reduced the hazards of being alone after dark. It camefrom a deep mid lake hump with weeds on it. Dennis hadbeen thinking a surface bait after dark is not the only answer,he was right. In the excitement they did not use the girth tapethat was lying on top of the tackle box. He says in the picturehe shares with us the muskie is laying on his lap. We note hisblue coat appears to be quite wet. The muskie was actuallyquite heavy for this time of year. In the dark he says it was aleast 50, but probably a touch longer. One reason for the sin-gle treble is the hook removal. He explains that cutting justone hook and you are free from net, fish, and yourself. So along time Missouri muskie veteran gets his longest of his lifeon his lake on his lure with his son. This was a great event forDennis. What more could be right? Life is grand!

West Battle, MN!Chris Swanson is from Blaine, MN and the North

Metro Chapter. His June 5th muskie was long and lean.However the length was 55 inches which gives him a stranglehold on the June Lunker of the Month. There are many daysleft in the reporting period for June Lunker so it is not con-crete yet. However at 55 inches it will take a super muskie totop it and the cement is drying. His lure is called a Trolldevle.It is a spoon but he was casting it. More on that next month.

Jim BunchThe Lunge [email protected] 226-0295

www.muskiesinc.org August 2010.....MUSKIE 7

Chris Swanson, Chapter 21, 55 inches, June 5, 2010.West Battle, MN.,Trolldevle. Fish I.D. 286992

(more Lunge Log on page 8)

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INDEX OFADVERTISERS

BOAT FOR SALE (A BLOND AND HER BOAT) . . . . 4

CHAPTER 01 - FRANK SCHNEIDER, JR.

MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

CHAPTER 05 - LAKE POMME DE TERRE

36TH ANNUAL TEAM TOURNAMENT . . . . . . . . . 31

JOE BUCHER OUTDOORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

LAC SEUL FLOATING LODGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

M.I. 2010 COMMEMORATIVE LURE . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

M.I. MEMBERSHIP CHALLENGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

MOREHEAD TOURISM COMMISSION . . . . . . . . . . 23

MUSKIE MAGAZINE - CATCH THE FEVER . . . . . . 14

MUSKIE MAVERICK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

POPLAR RIDGE OUTFITTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

ST. CROIX RODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC

USDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

YOUNG'S WILDERNESS CAMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3


This is what we’re all about . . .This issue of MUSKIE brings together an interesting collection

of features from a wide range of authors, but the central theme is cer-tainly education. The authors include two professional muskieguides, one “rookie guide”, a school teacher, the executive director ofa watershed foundation, and an angler who just caught her firstmuskie.

As I said, the central theme of this issue is education. Educatingour readers on many things – how to catch more muskies, how to pro-tect their habitat, and especially how to communicate our love ofmuskies and their role in the aquatic world to others. For Muskies,Inc. to be successful this communication must not only continue, itmust increase.

I recently talked with the new Deputy Director of my old agency,the Missouri Department of Conservation. We acknowledged thatthe world is changing and a smaller percentage of our population isreally tuned-in and turned-on by fish, fishing, hunting, and resourceconservation in general. This is serious. Every angler, every hunter,ever conservation-aware person needs to actively share the messagewith friends, family and potential supporters of wise resource use. Ihope you have noticed that this is the fourth issue in a row where thistheme has been an important part of the MUSKIE message.

Most of us realize that our freshwater lakes and rivers are fragileand many of our members are not shy about standing up to protectthe fisheries we love. The challengeswhich face our muskie fisheries arenot unlike the challenges whichimpact many other fisheries. In JuneI attended an International CatfishSymposium. There are some strongsimilarities between managing andprotecting trophy catfish and trophymuskies. Some of the largest andmost unique catfish on our planetare facing serious threats due to habi-tat alteration, dam building, over-harvest, and pollution. At this timein our world I would say the outlookis much brighter for muskies than itis for many rare species of catfish.Many of the world’s best fisheries sci-entists are working on catfish; at thatsymposium I was pleased to talkwith fisheries biologists who interactwith at least four of our chapters (5,9, 16, and 57); it IS a small andinter-connected world.

Scientists try to convince a largely unaware public that our oceanfisheries and habitats are also quite fragile. Sadly the recent BP oilspill has heightened awareness, but at a great environmental cost. Buthow long will most folks really care about the environmental recoveryin the Gulf once the headlines have switch to something else? Wemust not be so short-sighted. As a society we need to keep our eyeson the big environmental picture.

In my opinion, anglers are one of the most powerful and effec-tive groups of environmental conservationists, but we need manymore members to join our ranks and become active. Be an educatorand a recruiter, help our numbers grow!

So remember Carpe Diem from last month – seize the day – seizethe opportunity to make a difference.

After the thrill of catching your next muskie do your best to care-fully release it to fight another day; the future of our muskie resourcewill literally be in your hands!

- Kevin v

Figure 8by Kevin Richards

[email protected]

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Announcing the 2010 Muskies, Inc.

Commemorative LureOur 2010 Muskies, Inc. Commemorative Lure is the Dictator

from Tyrant Tackle (www.tyranttackleinc.com) in theirBaby Loon pattern as shown here and on the

cover of the August 2010 issue of MUSKIE.These 300 signed and numbered baits will come in a

jewelry-style presentation box. They will be available forshipment in September. Watch for your order form in themail this month! The cost of the lures will be $45 each.

Funds raised will be used to support our Fisheries, Researchand Youth programs. If you need additional information you

can contact Jim Shannon at: [email protected]

The Dictator is a creeper-style topwater lure. It never leaks and neverloses its buoyancy because it is made of high pressure polystyrene which

has the density and buoyancy characteristics of more expensive balsalures. The Dictator is 6 inches long and weighs 2.75 ounces.

8 8


Photo Contest – Augustby Brad Waldera, Photo Editor • [email protected]

Photo Tip I decided to use a couple of black and white photos this month;

one on this page and the other on our Member Photos page. Blackand white photo conversions are very easy to do with digital cameraphotos. Many of today’s digital cameras also allow you to take yourphotos in black and white by simply switching one of the settings onthe camera. You can convert your color shots to black and white with

photo editing programs, such as Picasa 3, which is a free programyou can download from Google (picasa.google.com). In some pro-grams you can change a photo from color to black and white withjust a single mouse click. In other editing programs you can fine tunethe effect you want by adjusting slider bars. Each program is slightlydifferent, so it depends on which one you’re using.

One thing to remember about tak-ing a picture in black and white insteadof in color and converting it is that youwill not have a color version of thatshot. On the other hand if you take theshot in color and convert it to blackand white you can save both versions.Keep that in mind.

At times it can be handy to convertphotos from color to black and white incases where the camera’s white balancewas mistakenly set to the wrong tone.Maybe your pictures turned out toogreen or possibly had a bluish tint.Converting them could make them“keepers” instead of throwaways.Sometimes black and white shots canshow more detail or enable you to get a“dated” look to your pictures, as wasthe case with the shots sent in byChapter 04 member Kevin Pischke.

The example shots here show howhe made a recently taken photo looklike an older photo by converting theshot to black and white. He went onestep further to pull of the look by as heput it, “pulling out my classic EagleClaw 5’9” Granger Muskie Rodtopped with a period correct DiawaMillionaire”. The boat is a borrowed1977 Forester bass boat that pulls theshot off nicely. Without knowing, itwould be hard to say when the blackand white shot was actually taken.

Thanks for submitting these,Kevin; I’m sure our readers enjoy see-ing what can be done with a little extraeffort. Maybe some of our memberswill follow your lead and we’ll see moreblack and white shots in future issuesof MUSKIE. Learning how to do thismight be a good way to pass the timeover the winter or during bad weatherwhen you can’t get out on the lake.

Good fishing all! v


S teve Reinstra, former Capital CityChapter President and Hank Hempe,MI Parliamentarian, donated their

“guide services” to a silent auction fund-raiserlast year for a large Madison, WI non-profitorganization. Cindy Klein, an MI member, isfrom Brodhead, WI. Her husband, Randy, wasthe successful bidder on the trip, which hepurchased for her.

Here’s a photo of Cindy right before shecalled her husband - Cindy’s second wordsto him on her cell phone call from the boatfollowing the successful release of her 43-inchmuskie were, “No, I’m not kidding, I reallydid!.” She did, indeed. v

Cindy’sMuskie

by Henry Hempe


Iknow what you are probably thinking . . . another Figure 8 arti-cle. What could he possibly tell me, that I don’t already know?You take the rod and draw an eight in the water beside the boat.

Unless he tells me to do a pair of 4s instead of an 8, I am going on tothe next article. Hold on - I do have something to say. Being a fish-ing guide for a living I get a ton of people in my boat, and I am wit-ness to some pretty bad figure 8s. Iam not picking on anyone. I amjust commenting on one of thebiggest keys in musky fishing. Thisis not going to be a long essay. Iwant to make this short, sweet andto the point. That said, let’s talk 8s.

First, let’s discuss set up.When it comes to rods, PLEASEstart using longer rods. With theadvances that have been made inequipment over last few years, youno longer need to use a short rod.These days 7’6” to 8’6” rods have

enough power to throw baits twice the size they were 10 years ago.Take the St. Croix 8’6” Extra Heavy Legend Tournament rod; it israted for lures up to 10 ounces! This is a rod that has the length to dobig 8s and the backbone to heave huge baits. The length of the rod iskey to doing a good figure 8.

As for reels, this is a personal preference. To me it is easier toengage the reel (which is importantwhen starting the figure 8) whenthere is a thumb bar. Reels like St.Croix’s Avid 300 have the thumb barand make it easy to depress the but-ton prior to starting the 8. Like I saidit is personal preference, as long asyou can engage the reel it doesn’tmatter.

Leader length is another issuethat I have seen guys run into.Personally, I think anything over 12inches is too long for casting. Unlessyou are using direct tie with a UniKnot to connect the leader directly to

the main line, the leader does not need to belonger then 12 inches. The closer you get the lureto your rod tip the more control you will have overthe lure’s action. This is very important, becausewhen at close quarters with a fish you must havecontrol of the entire situation which includes luredepth, speed and action. All of these things areimpacted by rod length and the amount of lineyou have out from your rod tip to the lure, includ-ing the length of the leader. That’s it for set up;remember longer rod plus shorter leader equalsmore control. Now let’s look at technique.

The first part of the figure 8 is the mostimportant. In most circumstances this is the firsttime the lure makes any kind of major change.Think about it, a fish is following a lure that no

The first part of the figure 8 is the mostimportant. In most circumstances this isthe first time the lure makes any kind ofmajor change. Think about it, a fish isfollowing a lure that no matter howwildly the lure is being worked is notgoing to take off to one side and startdoing some crazy circles in the water.


matter how wildly the lure is beingworked is not going to take off to oneside and start doing some crazy circlesin the water. Therefore the first partof the figure 8 is crucial. Making thetransition from the retrieve to the 8has to be smooth and the lure’s actioncan not be altered in any major way.This means the blades must not stopspinning on a bucktail, the lure shouldnot pop out of the water, and the lureshould not sink while the rod tip isdoing the figure 8 (which often hap-pens if you have too much line out).You must be paying attention, makethe transition smooth, think aboutwhat you are doing and practice, prac-tice, practice.

Once your lure gets to the boatand the transition is smooth you mustremember to make your first turnaway from the boat. Meaning bringyour bait to the boat and your firstturn should be going away from you.This is very important; if you turn thebait toward you the benefit of thelonger rod is lost. By turning the lureaway from you, you can reach outwith the rod and make huge turns

which are important in allowing thefish to follow the bait. Making theturns wide on the 8 is crucial.

This brings me to my next point.The main reason people don’t get fig-ure 8 fish is because they cut the turnstoo tight. If the fish loses sight of thelure, it will generally lose interest.Only extremely aggressive fish willchase a lure once they lose sight of it.Wide turns are only one point of agood 8, putting the “moves” on thefish is what separates the men fromthe boys.

Knowing how to control thelure’s speed and depth is my nexttopic. At the beginning of your 8 tryto speed up the lure. Most fish seemto react to the speed of the lure. If thefish speeds up there is a good chanceit will try to strike. If it stays the samespeed or slows, this usually means aless aggressive fish. The only hope isto drag the lure quickly by the fish’sface causing a reaction strike.

Speed is the key and controllingit is crucial. A good rule of thumb for

This muskie hit at boat side on the figure 8. (Continued on page 14)

speed is slow on the turns and fast in the straights. Whatthis means is when you are coming into a turn slow thelure slightly. It is like a point guard bringing the ballfull speed down the court doing a quick stutter stepand blowing by his defender. This slight stutter andthen blowing the lure out of the turns is deadly on anactive fish, but you have to be ready; most fish will hitthe lure just as you stutter or right after. Being pre-pared is the key.

As for depth, remember high on the turns, deep inthe middle, meaning not only are you reaching out forwide turns with the rod, you are also changing thedepth of the lure. Making the lure rush up on theturns and then down in the middle is an amazing trig-ger. By changing the depth and incorporating thespeed change, you are adding two new dimensions tothe lure’s action. These little depth and speed changesare the triggers that most people don’t talk about forfigure 8s.

The figure 8 is not an end-all to catching fish, but it is somethingthat should be practiced and mastered. Unfortunately you will notcatch every fish, you will probably pull the lure away from a numberof fish, but you will get better with practice and time. Musky fishingis not a science, it is a skill that has to be learned and applied. Thefigure 8 is just one small part of the big picture.

Gregg Thomas owns and operates Battle the Beast Guide Service inKentucky and Minnesota. He and the guides who work with him serviceabout 400 clients each season. You can contact Gregg via his website:

www.battlethebeast.com


The author with an awesome muskie.

FIGURE 8 EXPLORATION(Continued from page 13)

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Fisheries, Research & Youth

MUSKIE Magazine – Catch the Fever!!


Faced with the threat of a large boat harbor on FiveMile Point, the Leech Lake Area Watershed

Foundation (LLAWF) joined forces in 2003 withMuskies, Inc. and the MN DNR Section of Fisheries tocomplete a major conservation project to protect one ofthe seven known muskie spawning areas on Leech Lake.

Muskies, Inc. chapters across the Midwest raisedover $25,000 which triggaered an equal match from theReinvest In Minnesota (RIM) Program. LLAWF con-tributed over $150,000 in shoreland parcels on otherlakes to trigger a RIM match towards the $900,000acquisition of 1,150 feet of privately owned wild shore-line and 30+ acres on Five Mile Point, now known as theFive Mile Point Aquatic Management Area (AMA).The AMA is owned and managed by the DNR to per-manently protect critical muskie spawning on LeechLake.

The Leech Lake Area Watershed FoundationNeeds the Help of Muskie Fisherman Again!

An additional 200 feet of shoreline and 6.5 acresadjacent to the Five Mile Point AMA and offshore fromthe spawning area is threatened by development.

Please help raise $50,000 to purchase this property

and protect the entire muskie spawning area from possi-ble degradation that could occur with lakeshore develop-ment.

HELP PROTECT MUSKIE SPAWNINGON MINNESOTA’S LEECH LAKE

The Hugh C. Becker Foundation of the Twin Cities Chapterof Muskies Inc. has already pledged $10,000.

Some anglers who pursue other species such as crappie, walleyeand bass have had negative feelings about muskies and muskiefishing for many years. Many of them believe that muskies eat

the fish that they target and damage the fishery by doing so. Whileit is true that a muskie may eat the occasional game fish, these fishspecies are not typically the muskie’s preferred prey and are not usedas often as many baitfish species are. One of the likely reasons thatmany anglers have held onto the belief that muskies damage the fish-ing for other game fish species is because they’ve probably had amuskie follow or even attack a smaller game fish that is on the endof their line. The common schoolof thought is that if this occursonce in a while when they happento be on the water fishing, that itmust happen all of the time. Whatmany fail to take into considera-tion is the fact that this fish isbeing fought by an angler. The fishis struggling and making itselfappear injured. This preys on amuskie’s instincts, just as it wouldany other predator. It is becausethe fish is being played to the boatthat the muskie comes in to inves-tigate or attack. How many times though, have we seen a bass attacka hooked bluegill or crappie that’s being fought? Bass sometimesattack other bass on the line, pike and walleyes attack other pike andwalleyes, and catfish attack crappie and so on. I can’t tell you how

many times I’ve been fighting a saltwater fish when it was attackedby a larger, or even a smaller, predator. The fact is that it is a result ofthe fish being fought by the angler and the struggling that it pro-duces. I’ve even seen big largemouth bass attack small muskie beingplayed to the boat, but it doesn’t mean that they prey on them on aregular basis, and it certainly does not mean that they negativelyimpact the muskie fishery, just as muskies do not negatively impactthe bass fishing.

Studies have shown that baitfish species such as shad, ciscoes,suckers and other similar prey items are used heavily by muskie

where they are available. In fact,muskies typically prefer not to eatfish species with sharp spines intheir fins. These fish simply do notgo down well. Soft rayed baitfishare much easier to swallow and amuch better food source. In theiraquatic world muskies are similar tohumans; they are at the top of thefood chain. Because of this, theycan pretty much pick and choosewhat they want to eat in a givenbody of water, so it just stands toreason that they will select their pre-

ferred forage where it is available. Just as most of us would pick asteak and lobster dinner over a sandwich and cold fries if given theoption, muskies will hunt and target their preferred food sourceswhen they are readily available.


The bottom line is that when otheranglers’ attitudes are changed they’llshed a more positive light on muskies toothers in the sport fishing community.The end result will be additional carein the handling and release of thesewonderful fish and a better overallfishing experience for all of us.

Mark Boone is a FisheriesBiologist with the MissouriDepartment of Conservation and for-mer coordinator of Missouri’s MuskieProgram. Mark advises, “I’m notaware of any muskie population thathas adversely affected other fisheries.Muskies have prey preferences justlike people. In the Midwest, muskiesprefer gizzard shad”. They also eatsuckers that are often common inreservoirs. Muskies have a tendency toeat fusiform (long and slender) fishrather than game fish species such ascrappie and sunfish. As muskieanglers, we often find ourselves in aposition to use this type of informa-tion to try to help change negativeattitudes that other anglers possess.

Thankfully, as time continues,more and more negative attitudestoward muskies and muskie fishingfade. Today’s anglers are better edu-cated and less apt to hold strong neg-ative feelings toward fish species thatdo not adversely affect other gamefish populations. Many of today’sanglers are open-minded and willing to listen to a case that is wellpresented. As muskie anglers we should be willing to try to changethe minds of folks who may have negative attitudes, especially if theyare open-minded and willing to listen to what we have to say. In theNorth Country it’s easy to show that muskies do not hurt the fishingfor other game fish species by looking at the health of the fisheries.Many of the very best walleye, trout, panfish, and bass fisheries in thenorth also contain muskies. In fact, some of the best places to targetone or more of these species are also some of the best places to targetmuskies. This is proof that muskies co-exist well with other game fishand do not hurt the fishing for these species. In the south, there’s asimilar but also different school of thought. Impoundments wheremuskies have been stocked are prime places for the birth of negativeattitudes toward these fish, as they would not likely exist in thesewaters without stocking efforts. What many fail to realize is thatother species, even bass, were once stocked into many of theseimpoundments as well. It’s just that they typically existed in thesewaters for a longer period of time and may reproduce on their own.These fish populations might not require regular stocking to main-tain their numbers.

Anglers have pursued bass, catfish, bluegills and other species onmany of these waters for years before the introduction of muskie intothe system. In the past, it seemed that every time a cold front shutthe action down, someone would blame the muskies. We’ve all heardit at one time or another. “The muskie are eating all of our fish” isthe common statement when poor weather conditions are actuallythe culprit and anglers refuse to change their tactics and adjust to getback on the fish. Again, thankfully, these attitudes are changing, withthanks in large part to our fisheries biologists and other experts whospread the truth about muskies, but also thanks to knowledgeablemuskie anglers who work to change negative attitudes. Many anglersin the south are also beginning to realize that good places to fish forother species also contain muskies. In fact, just like in the North

Country, some of the best southernmuskie waters are also excellent bass,catfish, panfish and walleye fisheries.Shawn Hirst is a Fisheries Biologistwith the Illinois Department ofNatural Resources. Shawn has datashowing that muskie stocking doesnot have a detrimental effect on otherfish species in a lake. In fact, he offersthe following, “During my spring2005 survey on Kinkaid Lake Irecorded the second highest large-mouth bass catch rate (bass/minute)on record and the highest crappiecatch rate (crappie/minute) onrecord. Also, the bass population hasincreased since the muskie stockingprogram was initiated in 1985”.Again, this type of information canbe extremely beneficial to muskieanglers who work to change negativeattitudes. A good idea is to suggestthat anglers concerned with the pres-ence of muskies in their favoritewaters contact the state fisheries biol-ogist in their area, as this will likelyput all of their fears to rest.

Another point is that just likestripers and other large predators,muskies utilize large populations ofbig baitfish like gizzard shad thatcan grow to a size unusable by mostother fish. When large gizzard shadand similar baitfish species growvery large, few predators can preyon them, and they can competewith game fish for food. Muskiescontrol these large baitfish. RaySimms and I guide on KinkaidLake in southern Illinois and haveboth fished its waters for morethan 20 years. As regulationshave changed, we’ve seen theentire fishery improve first hand.The muskie fishery at Kinkaid isexcellent and has been gettingbetter and better for many years.At the same time, the bass fish-ing, crappie fishing and catfishfishing has continued toimprove as well. The large-mouth bass fishing has reallyboomed, and we’re catchingmore and bigger bass each yearon the water. It certainlyseems that the muskie haveco-existed quite well with bassand other species in Kinkaid.


(Continued on page 18)

Kevin and Brian Duffey have been fishing Missouri’s Pomme DeTerre Lake for many years for both muskie and bass and have hadgreat success with both species. Kevin offers, “The fishing for eachspecies at Pomme is rivaled only by the other. The muskies seem toeat mostly shad and we catch most of our fish on shad imitatinglures”. The fishing guides on my team and I have had good bass fish-ing success on other popular muskie waters like Kentucky’s Cave RunLake, The Chippewa Flowage in Wisconsin and Pipestone Lake in

Ontario, to name just a few. It cer-tainly seems that good muskie fish-ing and good bass fishing go handin hand, and the same is true formany other species as well, fromnorth to south.

We should all try our best toeducate non-muskie anglers aboutour favorite fish and help dispelthe myths that muskies damagethe fishing for other species. Oneof the best places to do this is atthe boat ramp. Strike up a con-versation with a bass, crappie orwalleye angler. Ask them howthey did that day and showinterest in their favorite fish, asthis will help them relate well toyou. I’ve been able to changenegative attitudes that otheranglers on my home watershave had toward muskies overthe years, and I’ve even seensome of them take up oursport as well. The bottom lineis that when other anglers’attitudes are changed they’llshed a more positive light onmuskies to others in thesport fishing community.The end result will be addi-tional care in the handling

and release of these wonderful fish and abetter overall fishing experience for all ofus. This is just another one of the manyways that we can all work together to bet-ter the entire sport of fishing. Thanks andgood luck! v

Thanks to Colby Simms from SimmsOutdoors (www.SimmsOutdoors.com) forallowing us to use this article in MUSKIE. Itwas adapted from an article he previouslypublished in Esox Angler. Muskies, Inc.members can have a big impact on angler per-ceptions. For a great example, check out thestory by Mary Mallott which starts on page22 of this issue!


EDUCATING NON-MUSKIEANGLERS (Continued from page 17)

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Guide Service or Full Packages Available 807/937-2249


Waters throughout the U.S. and Canada are host to some 630species of mayflies which typically hatch actively in June and July.

Hexagenia (“Hex”) is oneof the most widespreadmayflies in NorthAmerica. During theirhatch they will collect onany available vertical orhorizontal surface.

Winged adultHexagenia are theonly stage in the insect’slife cycle that mostpeople ever see.The adults live onlyone to two days. At dusk or at night,females fly into alarge swarm of males.They mate in flight.

Within minutes of mating, the female settles down to the lakesurface, lays up to 8,000 eggs, and dies. Dead and dyingmayflies blown into the back of a bay can form a thick blanket,but a change in wind can clear them out.

Althoughunattractive, a

surface sheet ofdead mayflies is safe

to motor through, butyou might want tocheck your water

pump every once ina while to make sure

it is not clogged.

Sometimes fishingpicks up as manyspecies feast on themayflies, also calledfish flies. These peli-cans are coming tofeast on fish entrailsleft after filleting pikeand walleye for shorelunch during themayfly hatch. v

Mayfly Life Cycleby Juris Ozols


Jim Moore, Chapter 09 President, submittedthis article written by Shane Eakle. Jim sharedthat Shane is a long-time member of Chapter 09who grew up in the chapter as a junior memberand now teaches and coaches at the high schoollevel. He and his grandfather, Robert “Pap”Eddy, have always mentored young people andencouraged them to fish and enjoy the outdoors.

In today’s world, it is very difficult to getour youth to slow down enough to eveneat dinner at the table let alone take a few

hours out of their lives to go fishing. If thereis one thing I have learned as a coach andchemistry teacher, it is that the more we cankeep our youth involved, the less trouble theyseem to get into and the better off they seemto turn out. With these thoughts in mind, Iattempted to pass on my love for fishing andthe outdoors to each of my football andwrestling teams. I set up summer fishingtrips for all of my student athletes who showed commitment to excel-lence by attending 85% of scheduled summer workouts. Usuallyabout 20 to 25 kids would qualify for these three day float and camp-ing trips. The students were allowed to bring their dads along andwe usually had about nine to ten fathers attend as well. Many ofthese student athletes incorporated fishing into their lives on a dailybasis afterwards. Since these trips turned out so well over the past5-6 years, I thought why not incorporate this type of trip into myclassroom?

Using West Virginia Teaching Standards along with the help ofthe West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, a trip was plannedto incorporate one of my favorite hobbies into my classroom. Iapproached my principal to see if he would give approval for me andone other science teacher (Ryan Stocking) to take seventy-eight ofmy Science 10 Honors Students on a fishing trip on a local river, the

Tygart River. For added help I called my grandfather, Robert “Pap”Eddy and my brother Zac Eakle; both are also members of WVChapter 09 of Muskies, Inc. They gave up time to come and helpthese kids on our fishing trip.

I showed the principal that the students had to research speciesof fish in West Virginia and construct a fish identification bookletwhich included a color picture with basic information on the back.Some of the information included state record citation size, any spe-cial regulations, how they came to WV and what they ate, and otherthings. The principal asked if I was crazy, but said if two of us want-ed to take that many kids fishing, go for it and be careful.

Even though WV is known to some degree for fishing and hunt-ing, almost 40% of my students had never fished before this plannedtrip. After the students each presented their species to the rest oftheir classmates, we had one day designated as “Fishing 101” show-

TEACHING KIDS ABOUT FISHINGCAN CHANGE LIVES

by Shane Eakle

Students had a good timeand most hated to leaveand head back to school.Many said they were goingto have to start fishingsome on their own, whichwas part of the originalgoal of this trip.

ing students how to tie basic knots, how to handle various species offish, and to explain our fish logging protocol, including measuringand releasing them. We covered one of the most important safetyprocedures - don’t hook anybody! Needless to say, Wal-Mart’s fish-ing department loved this project as there was a mad rush on fishinggear as kids all wanted their own gear. We had students bring extrafishing gear so those who didn’t have rods didn’t have to buy them,but lots of students still wanted to go get their own.

The day came and we took roll and headed about one miledown over the hill to the banks of the Tygart River. We spread outalong a hike-in only park so that the students could fish withoutbeing right on top of each other. The fishing was slow as only sevenfish were caught, plus some trees and rocks. Three different specieswere caught: smallmouth bass, rock bass and sauger. The sauger wasthe largest fish of the day at 16 inches long. With Ryan and Pap’shelp we were able to avoid any hooking of students and quickly

untangle knots and lines that got crossed. All fish were successfullyreleased back into the water.

Many students were around when fish were caught so they couldall help ID the fish and record the data so we could quickly get themback into the water. Students had a good time and most hated toleave and head back to school. Many said they were going to have tostart fishing some on their own, which was part of the original goalof this trip. I never realized how big an impact taking just one kidfishing can make, let alone taking a large group. I am asking all ofus in the fishing world to try to take a kid fishing. If you do takeyour kids fishing, thank you and now see if they have any friends thatwould like to go with you. I was blessed to have Pap, Dad and Momto take me hunting and fishing and I have memories that no one cantake from me. Go make some memories of your own. v


+Proper Muskie

Holding Techniquesfor MUSKIE Magazine Photos

including Covers, Article Support,Photo Contest Entries

& Member Photos

Gil HammChapter

ChallungeAugust 25-27, 2010 on

Lake Vermilion, MN

Don’t forget, it’stime for the…


“Is this a muskie?”That’s what I asked the man and woman fishing in a nearby boat

when a really big fish surfaced with my lure.My husband, Lew, and I were bass fishing at Lake Kincaid in

southern Illinois the first weekend in May 2010. We arrived around2PM Friday afternoon and put the boat in. We saw several boats fish-ing with huge lures (by our standards) and discovered there was amuskie tournament going on or getting ready to start the next day.We didn’t even get a bite that afternoon and took the boat out of thewater around 6PM since a heavy storm waspredicted. There was a huge thunderstormthat night. Lightning struck by the cabin nextto ours and took out the electronics on the carand the boat that was parked there.

It was overcast Saturday morning andlooked like it might rain some more, but weput the boat in and set out.

We’d been fishing for an hour or so. Itwas about 10AM. I was fishing with aShakespeare Ugly Stick, and a little Zebco 33reel that my husband laughs at. Fresh out ofthe box it is wound with 10 pound test lineand that’s probably what was still on it. My lure was a white 1/4ounce Johnson Beetle Spin about two inches long. I like to leave myoptions open to catching a crappie or bluegill. I’m happy to catchanything! We still hadn’t had a strike. I cast toward shore and was

reeling in. I stopped reeling about halfway back to the boat to pushmy glasses up. When I started to reel again, I thought my lure hadsunk to the bottom and was caught on a limb or something. I jerkedto see if I could pull it free. It didn’t feel like it moved, then I saw thishuge fish come to the surface for a couple of seconds, and then it tookoff with my line.

I had noticed a woman and man in a boat nearby that weremuskie fishing with those huge lures. I called over to them, “Is this amuskie?”

They asked if we wanted them to comeover and help land it. We didn’t have a cluehow to do it so we said, “Please help!”

The woman picked up the biggest netI’ve ever seen and they came over. They intro-duced themselves as Jenny and Denis. Atfirst, Jenny was going to net the fish fromtheir boat, but quickly saw that wasn’t practi-cal. Denis and Lew got the boats together andthen Jenny and her really big net came aboard.All the while, I was just trying to keep the linetight, reeling, and letting the drag work as thebig fish made its runs.

The first time Jenny actually saw the fish,she got at as excited as I was. It came up several times and gave us alla good look, but it was always either too far from the boat or washeaded away so she couldn’t get it in the net. Then it would dive

again; we were in well over 30 feet of water. Jenny said itwas a female because it had marks on its head and alsobecause of the size. She said the marks were from themale trying to get the female to go where he wanted forspawning. While waiting to net the big muskie there waslots of time for talk; Jenny told us a little about muskiefishing and about the muskie club she and Denis belongto. You could tell she was into this muskie fishing bigtime! She was working as hard running around our boatwith that heavy net as I was fighting the fish.

I was getting tired. Several times I sat down for acouple of minutes, but I really needed to stand to be ableto follow the fish around and handle the rod and reelwell. I didn’t know how long this had been going on, butmy arms were beginning to shake. At one point I toldJenny that she could take the rod and fight the fish, butshe declined. She said that this was my fish, and that wewere going to land it, and I would have a photo of the fishof a lifetime to show to my children and grandchildren!She said that I was going to have to be more patient thanthe fish to be able to catch it. A couple of times, Jennysaid she thought the fish was getting tired, but when itcame up near the boat, as soon as she moved the net, ittook off again. Lew was working the trolling motor andThe author fighting the muskie with a trusty Zebco 33 while Jenny stands

ready with the net.

While waiting to net thebig muskie there was lotsof time for talk; Jennytold us a little aboutmuskie fishing and aboutthe muskie club she andDenis belong to.

Is this a Muskie?Muskies, Inc. members help land a whopper!

by Mary Mallott


Jenny was telling him when to go toward my line and whento stop, trying to make sure the fish would come up near theboat so she could net it. Jenny said “Mary, there are a fewthings in life that you cannot control, and this fish is one ofthem!”

Finally, after over an hour, it came up close enough andheaded in the right direction so Jenny could net it. She gotthe net crosswise on the boat and straddled it and Lew keephis foot on the end of the handle flat and parallel on the boatfloor to make sure the fish didn’t swim back out of the netinto the lake. Jenny called out for Denis tobring over her muskie gloves and the “bump-board” to measure it. She cut the line and gotthe lure out of its mouth, not an easy task.Apparently that fish still wasn’t as tired as I was!

Sometime during all this, Jenny gave meher iPhone to take pictures. Dennis had a cam-era as well and both of us were taking pictureswhile Jenny, with a little help from Lew, wrestledthe fish onto the boat and onto the bumpboard.Forty-nine and a half inches! Wow! Jenny want-ed to get her back into the lake pretty quickly, sowe couldn’t weigh her, but Jenny said the biggestmuskie she ever caught was 35 pounds, and thatshe thought that this one was even heavier!

Jenny got the fish back into the waterquickly and held the base of its tail until it slow-ly swam away, straight down into the depths. Icollapsed onto the seat. I was exhausted! Jennyhad to be tired too. She did a lot of hard work,handling that heavy net for an hour or so, andthen wrestling the huge muskie. She said shehad intended to get a picture of me holding it,but once she got it out of the water, she didn’tthink I’d be able to handle it. I’m sure she wasright, especially as tired as my arms were bythen. And she didn’t want to keep it out of thewater any longer.

I gave Jenny my email address so she couldsend me the pictures. Lew and I thanked themagain. We never would have landed it withoutthem. We didn’t have either the equipment orthe knowledge. And they obviously trulyenjoyed the whole process. Jenny said severaltimes how lucky she felt to be a part of it. Theygave us an experience to remember forever!How fortuitous that they happened to be fishingnearby when I hooked that muskie. v

Mary and Lew Mallott live in Collinsville, Illinois,near St. Louis. Jenny Reisch lives in Springfield,MO and Denis Ledgerwood lives in Ballwin, MO;both are members of the Pomme de Terre Chapterof Muskies, Inc.

Lew, Jenny (holding the muskie), and the author,Mary, still taking pictures with Jenny’s iPhone!

ATTENTIONCHAPTER

CONTACTS:Please make sure

your chapter addressand phone number

is correct on this pageAND on the M.I. website.

Whenever you updatechapter information on

the website, please send anemail to the Editor so we can

keep this page current. Thanks!

Chapter News and Views

Special Events

2010Aug. 25-27, 2010

2010 Gil Hamm Chapter Challungeat Lake Vermilion, MN. Sponsored byTri-Esox Productions - Chicago MuskieShow.Contact: Jeff Young:

[email protected] or (218) 821-3669

September 10-12, 2010Pomme de Terre Chapter Annual Muskie

TournamentLake Pomme de Terre, MOwww.missourimuskies.org

October 1-3, 2010Hayward Lakes Chapter 33rd Annual

Fall Tournament. For information call715-634-2921 or on the web visit

www.muskiesinc-hayward.org

No. Chapter, Address Phone #01.....Twin Cities, 6311 Steller Circle, Excelsior, MN 55331......................................952-474-596702.....Fargo-Moorhead, Box 2021, Fargo ND, 58107................................................701-298-903203.....Chicagoland Muskie Hunters, 7600 Kilbourn Ave, Skokie, IL 60076 ...............847-677-001704.....Titletown Muskies, Inc., 3097 Inverness Lane, New Franken, WI 54229 .......920-866-970505.....Pomme De Terre, PO Box 5, Hermitage, MO 65668 .......................................417-993-003506.....First Wisconsin, PO Box 122, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 ...............................715-864-226907.....South Side Muskie Hawks, 5211 S. Narragansett Ave., Chicago, IL 60638......773-581-865008.....Capital City, PO Box 8862, Madison, WI 53708...............................................608-669-504609.....West Virginia, 1270 Federal Road, Little Hocking, OH 45742 .........................740-667-357110.....Heartland, 239 8th St SE, Mason City IA 50401..............................................641-424-082711 .....Mississippi Valley, 5301 11th Ave “C”, Moline, IL 61265 ..................................309-797-180312.....Headwaters, PO Box 652, Eagle River, WI 54521...........................................715-891-557413.....Hayward Lakes, PO Box 609, Hayward, WI 54843 .........................................715-634-454314.....South of the Border, 28926 W. Big Hollow Rd, McHenry, IL 60050.................815-385-902615.....Star of the North, 16774 West Bay Drive, Pengilly, MN 55775........................218-885-167716.....Three Rivers, 119 Bus Lane, Renfrew, PA15136.............................................724-789-786617.....Quad County, PO Box 185, Plano, IL 60545....................................................815-695-149418.....Hopedale, 15 Township Rd 125, Dillonvale, OH 43917 ...................................740-769-726919.....Akron-Canton Muskie Maniacs, 10957 Northwood Ave NE, Bolivar OH 44612.330-874-277320.....Between the Lakes, PO Box 61, Sheboygan Falls, WI 53085-0061 ...............920-564-322621.....North Metro, PO Box 41216, Plymouth, MN 55441 .........................................952-469-215522.....New Jersey, http://www.mi22.com/ ..................................................................................TBD23.....Cleveland, 5007 Starr St., Newton Falls, OH 44444........................................330-219-796424.....Brainerd Lakes, 18031 Heritage Road, Brainerd, MN 56401 ..........................218-838-550926.....Central Wisconsin, PO Box 263, Medford, WI 54451 ......................................715-748-487428.....Shawnee Muskie Hunters, 61 W. Jennings, Wood River, IL 62095.................618-610-500329.....Upper Great Plains, 1788 Hwy 4, Estherville, IA 51334...................................712-362-250130.....God’s Country, PO Box 1461, LaCrosse, WI 54602 ........................................608-792-772231.....Penn-Ohio, 309 Spring St, Jamestown, PA 16134...........................................724-932-581532.....Flatlanders, 5776 Vesper Drive, South Beloit, IL 61080 ..................................815-389-462233.....Lake Superior, 2031 Hwy. 33 S., Cloquet, MN 55720......................................218-879-271235.....Milwaukee, PO Box 28842, Greenfield, WI 53228...........................................262-442-626037.....St. Cloud, 312 18th Avenue N., Sartell, MN 56377 ..........................................320-656-116038.....Vikingland, 2909 Wicken Lane NW, Alexandria, MN 56308.............................320-846-797539.....Fox River Valley, 1253 Cobblers Crossing, Elgin, IL 60123.............................847-741-977141.....Central Ohio, 870 County Road 9, Fremont OH 43420...................................419-992-450442.....Hoosier Muskie Hunters, PO Box 501371, Indianapolis, IN 46250 .................317-577-805045.....Kentucky, 212 Linden Ave., Southgate, KY 41071...........................................859-441-166646.....Bemidji/Cass Lake, 16256 Andrusia Rd NE, Cass Lake, MN 56633...............218-335-859747.....Michigan Muskie Alliance, PO Box 512, Caledonia, MI 49316 ........................616-447-168849.....Webster Lake Musky Club, PO Box 670, No. Webster, IN 46555 ...................574-834-166950.....Penn-Jersey, 510 Bryton Ave., Pottstown PA 19465.........................................484-459-594052.....Daniel Boone, 813 US 62, Maysville, KY 41056..............................................606-759-761053.....Huskerland Muskie Hunters, 15706 Hamilton St, Omaha, NE 68118...............402-498-895954.....Southern Crossroads, 1524 Country Club Rd, Albert Lea MN 56007 .............507-373-181856.....SW Ohio Muskie Assoc., 524 Sterling Meadows Place, Brookville, OH 45309..937-833-183357.....NW TIGER PAC, P.O. Box 5515, Kent, WA 98064 ..........................................253-850-588958.....Lake St. Clair Muskies, Inc., P.O. Box 805915, St. Clair Shores, MI 48080....586-873-578159.....New Mexico Muskies, Inc., P.O. Box 65575, Albuquerque, NM 87193............505-264-299960.....Mountain Muskies, 37720 N. Sheets Road, Elk, WA. 99009...........................509-999-0717

Special events listings are provided atno charge to Muskies, Inc chapters.

To list your chapter's event,email to:

[email protected] by ground mail:Kevin Richards,

7618 Sunrise Ridge Road,Henley, MO 65040

Please send announcementsat least 2 months in advance.


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Greetings Thrillseekers,Summer is here and the Chicagoland Muskie Hunters chapter

of Muskie Inc. is as busy as ever. Members have been all over theMidwest and Canada and the results are amazing. Seems thewarmer waters this year have really turned the fishing on. Just areminder, if you have any questions about any particular lake orlakes, bring a lake chart to the next meeting and there will be atleast a couple of folks that can not only mark the charts with hotspots but they can probably

Our latest meeting had Phil Guttman (www.muske62.com),professional angler as our guest speaker. Excellent presentationrelated to lure sounds and colors. We learned a great deal as Philbrought audio on the sounds various bucktails produced.Additionally, Phil was able to clearly present the visual differencelure colors have depending upon depth and water clarity. As Philsaid, “fish see contrast, not color”.

Phil spends a fair amount of time on the Chain ‘O Lakes inNorthern Illinois and Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada. Hewas able to share some of his knowledge on those bodies of wateras well. Thank you Phil as we all learned a great deal.

A number of our members were at Gompers Park in Chicagofor this year’s “Get Hooked on Fishing, Not Drugs”. Yes it was rain-ing at times but spirits were high and many fish were caught by thekids attending. Simultaneous to this event there was an outing onthe Chain ‘O Lakes which was well attended.

Chapter finances are looking good and we seem to have anexcellent guest speaker schedule for the remainder of the yearthanks to Frank Loye. While July and August will be “on the water”meetings, we look forward to speakers Kevin Moore, SeanBermingham, Doug Welch and the special December presentation.

You are encouraged to come to any of the next ChicagolandMuskie Hunters meetings. Everybody shares their knowledge andexperience. Chicagoland Muskie Hunter meetings are now thesecond Tuesday of the month at the Park Ridge VFW located at 10W. Higgins Road, Park Ridge, Illinois at 7:30pm with free pizzabeing served about 8:00pm. Keep the calls coming with questionsabout joining Chicagoland Muskie Hunters. As always, feel freeto call Dean Rosset at 847-677-0017 or [email protected] myself at 847-434-1400 or [email protected]

Take care, Kevin M. Lynch

Minutes June 5, 2010 Meeting: The meeting was called toorder at 11:30AM by President. The Financial report was given bythe Treasurer. Earle Hammond gave the Regional Director’s reportand current information from Muskies, Inc. The contribution by Mrs.Jon Kirby was discussed and the award will be made at the tourna-ment dinner by a drawing, and the winners name will be re-deposit-

ed into the drawing box for further awards. Mrs. Jon Kirby hasagreed to provide a self-inflatable life vest in honor of her late hus-band, Jon. A discussion of Kids Day was conducted and all plansseemed to be in order for that event. It was brought to the club’sattention that there will be a new head of the fisheries departmentin the Missouri Conservation Department as the present chief. Noname has been given for his replacement as of this time. A motionwas made & 2nd made and a unanimous vote made to provide acomplimentary membership to MI along with the magazine to thelake biologist. An invitation to attend a sports show in Iowa wasreceived and rejected because of the demands made by thoseshows already committed for in 2011. A discussion was held regard-ing the proposed Executive Director for MI and the general mem-bers are still against this proposal. The meeting was suspended forlunch and resumed as soon a lunch was finished. It was voted onby the Board of Directors that were present directing Fred Wehrli toopen a checking account at Bank of Urbana, to be titled “RegionalDirectors Expense Account”. Fred Wehrli, Earle Hammond andWayne Humphrey will be the authorized signers on this account,and only one signature will be required for a check. No further busi-ness, the meeting was closed at 12:55PM.

Thanks Fred Wehrli - for a wonderful meal at the Prime TimeOuting!

Please participate in MDC’s Show-Me Muskie Program byturning in your muskie fishing and catch reports! MDC recent-ly eliminated Henry Sever Lake from the list of lakes where muskieswill be planted in the future. There will be muskies there for a fewyears to come, but they will eventually die out and there will be oneless lake for muskie anglers to fish in Missouri. Why did this hap-pen you ask? Well, the answer is simple – there is very low fishingpressure for muskies on this lake. If you don’t think so just checkthe release records for this lake and you will find that hardly anyonefishes for muskie there. So there a message here for those of uswho pursue these elusive fish in Missouri. We really need to fillout the Show-Me Muskie forms and submit them to MDC andwe need to fill out our MI release forms and submit them to ourcatch & release chairman. If we don’t, maybe we will be readingabout other lakes in Missouri that are being dropped from the list ofmuskie fisheries. Could it even happen on Pomme de Terre?Probably not, but the state has a limited budget for planting theseelusive fish and if there is not much interest in fishing for them whywould they continue? So the message is loud and clear - fill outthose reports requested by the state telling them how many hourswe fish, on which lakes, for which species, even if we don’t catchour favorite fish. We use the facility, so why not let them know justhow much this means to us, lest we want to lose the privilege alto-gether. Illinois stocks over 100 lakes with muskies and seem to beadding more each year while Missouri keeps reducing the numberof lakes which have support muskies. Are there simply moremuskie fishermen in Illinois vs. Missouri? More interest? Or simplybetter reporting? The choice is pretty clear and it’s your choice!Remember, Bill Edgar is our release Chairman; you can contact Billat: [email protected]

Last minute update on MDC retirements and newFisheries Chief (from Kevin Richards). Just before our magazinedeadline I found out that Chris Vitello took over as MDC FisheriesChief as of July 1, 2010. Chris is a long-time employee of MDC anda superb choice. I’m happy to say that Chris has even caught andnetted muskies out of my fishing boat! I should also report that

Chicagoland Muskie Hunters7600 Kilbourn Ave. • Skokie, IL 60076

847-677-0017 – Dean [email protected]

Meets 2nd Tuesday 7:30 PM, Park Ridge VFW 10 West Higgins Ave., ParkRidge, IL.

03

Pomme de TerreP.O. Box 5 • Hermitage, MO 65668314-878-7732 – Wayne Humphrey

www.missourimuskies.orgMeets: Various days-Call for schedule

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there were 5 very significant retirements at MDC as of June 30th.They included Fisheries Chief Bill Turner; Resource Science ChiefRon Dent (who was one of the early leaders of Missouri’s MuskieProgram); Fisheries Asst. Chief Rich Wehnes; Blind Pony HatcheryManager Gary Heidrich (who raised many muskies for us all); and

former Pomme deTerre FisheriesBiologist DaleCornelius. Dale heldhis retirement/fishingparty at Pomme inearly June whenseveral muskies andwalleye were beingcaught. Specialthanks to each ofthese men for allthey have con-tributed to our fish-eries and aquaticresources inMissouri.

Wayne Humphrey

2010 Calendar of events:Aug 2 - General Meeting at Chippewa Rod & Gun Club 5:30 PMAug 16 - Chapter Board Meeting, 6:00 PM Chippewa Rod & GunAug 21-27 – Gil Hamm Chapter Challenge, Lake Vermilion, MNSept - No General Meeting scheduledSept 17, 18, 19 – 34th Annual Chapter Tournament

Our Topwater Challenge was held at Holcombe on June 12th.There were 22 people at the cookout at noon and everything wascooked from burgers, brats, hotdogs and even fresh walleye on thegrill. Other clubs that were represented were the God’s Countrychapter, Titletown and North Metro chapters of MI. There were 7 fishcaught in the event, which is really good. Last year this event wasone by Tim Sheppard from the Titletown chapter of MI and he fishedhis heart out to keep the traveling trophy in Titletown’s hands andhe succeeded again. God’s country came in 2nd with the biggestfish, a 46” from Anthony Wiltinger. Here are the results:

1st. Tim Sheppard (41.5 and 34.5”) 24pts (Titletown)2nd Anthony Wiltinger (46”) 20pts (God’s Country)3rd Jason Smith (37.5” and 33.5”) 19 pts4th Paul Riedel (43.75) 17.75pts.5th Jim Bunch 37.25 (11.25pts)The Kleeba Challenge was held June 19 and 20 at Lake

Holcombe. This is the state chapters of Muskies, Inc. There were 70people attending from 7 different chapters. There was a get togeth-er Saturday at noon at Big Swedes in their pavilion. God’s Countychapter (the event host) provided a meal, there were some rafflesand a good time was had by all. There was 17 total muskiescaught, with the biggest 44in. God’s Country Team #1 came in 1st

with 4 fish, 44 pts. God’s Country Team #2 came in 2nd with 3 fish,35 pts. 3rd place went to 1st Wisc #1 team of Paul Michels, LenRubesch, Jason Smith, Jess Hanvold, Chuck and Cortland Spletter.For those who went all had a good time. The Central Wisconsinchapter will host the event next year and they are thinking it will beback on Lake Holcombe.

Our Wednesday night league has completed 4 nights of fishing

through late June.There has been 15 to20 people fishing eachWednesday and 11muskies have beencaught. Scott Schreiberis the current leaderwith 4 muskies. Thisincludes a 46 inch anda 40.5 inch tiger. JasonSmith was the net manfor the tiger and got asuper picture. The pic-ture is so neat that weshare it with you.Cortland Spletter (age12) also got a 41 inchon Old Abe on June23rd.

Our annual fall tournament is September 17, 18, 19. The tour-nament headquarters has been East Bay on Lake Holcombe for anumber of years. There is an issue there as it is only open forscheduled events due to financial issues. We have been told it willbe open for our tournament. However the board is working on aback up plan just in case something happens at the last minute. Inother words stay in touch with our chapter’s web site as time getsclose. Thanks

Jim Bunch

The June meeting wascalled to order by PresidentJohn Daley, and The first itemon the agenda was to hearthe fishing reports from theclub trip to Lac Vieux Desert.Jack Frost reported that hehad caught the first legalmuskie of the year from thelake, a beautifully-marked 42inch tiger muskie. Others,including Bob Jeffries, report-ed great smallmouth, crap-pie, and walleye fishingAttending the outing wereBob, Jeffries, Les Feher, TomPavlowski, Steve Schmidt,John McNicholas, the JackFrost group which includedJack, Kathy Frost, Len Frost,Geri Frost, grandson Asher,

granddaughter Eva, son Chuck, daughter-in-law January, brotherMark, friend Dave Luecht, Dave’s daughter Lauren, Lauren’s friendTim Helenhouse, and Dave’s grandson Jacob. Also attending theouting was the Mike Blazek group which included Mike, his brotherBill Blazek, nephew Bill Blazek, Jr., brother-in-law Mike O’Meara,friend Tom O’Neil, friend Mike O’Neil, friend Brandon O’Neil, andfriend Sergio. In addition, Ian Niemiec, his father-in-law Ray Ulbert,and Sean Kays rounded out the group. Everyone reported having agreat time, and that the food and accommodations provided bySunrise Lodge were excellent. This is a yearly event for us whichjust seems to get bigger every year, with many of the attendeesbeing repeats from previous years.

CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS (Continued from page 25)

Former Pomme de Terre Fisheries Biologist DaleCornelius received his retirement plaque fromnew Fisheries Chief Chris Vitello during a BBQdinner at Pomme de Terre Lake.

South Side Muskie Hawks5211 S. Narragansett Ave. • Chicago, IL 60638

773-581-8650

Our meetings are held every third Wednesday of the month at MamaLuigi's located at 7500 S. Harlem in Bridgeview, IL starting at 7:00 pm.

07

Jack Frost with Sammy Allard ofFrankfort, IL, and the third place prizethat Sammy won in our mini-fundraiser.

First WisconsinP.O. Box 122, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729

Jason Smith - 715-726-9912 • 1-888-726-6733www.firstwi.muskiesinc.org

Meetings 1st Monday, 5:30 PM, at Rod and Gun Club, Lake Wissota from May toSeptember and at the Fill Inn Station, 104 W. Columbia St., Chippewa Falls fromOctober to April.

06

John then gave a short talk on perch and salmon fishing inLake Michigan. He went into detail on some of the rigs he uses andwhy he uses them. He also had examples with him to show howeach set-up is rigged, and had a brief question and answer sessionafterward for those interested in learning more about the set-ups.

Following a short intermission, Ian Niemiec gave directions toour club picnic which was to be held on the Saturday after the meet-ing at a private fishing club, of which Ian is a member. He stressedagain that all children under 12 years of age who are on the pier,must be wearing life preservers, and that the speed limit on thegrounds is a strictly-enforced 5mph. We agreed to meet at the facil-ity at 9AM.

The picnic turned out to be a great success with beautifulweather (though a little on the hot side), great food, and great cama-raderie. We had a nice shady pavilion in which to stay cool, fishingwas available, and everyone had a great time. Those in attendanceincluded Ian Niemiec, Deb Niemiec, their children Alex and Chloe,Grant McCahill, Les Feher, Tom Pavlowski, Duke O’Malley, JohnDaley, Mike Blazek, Tony Dyrkacz, Warren Thompson, Lynn Polyak,Jack Frost, Kathy Frost, Patrick Henry, Chris Higgins, Jake Higgins,Sean Kays, Carrie Kotara, Tyler Kotara, Alyssa Kotara, and KaylieKotara. Those in attendance feasted on half-pound burgers, hotdogs, cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, and roasted sweetcorn. Deb Niemiec also made a cake for the occasion which wasdecorated to look like a fishing pond. Needless to say, but we all atetoo much. However, we managed to work off the excess calories byfishing for the rest of the day.

Until next time, let’s all go fishing, have fun, and stay safe.Respectfully submitted, Lynn Polyak, RVP

Club members are reporting regularly on muskies beingcaught. There seems to be an unusually high number of muskiesin the upper 40”s being landed this year, and a high proportion ofthose have been caught by trollers on the Madison Chain of lakes.One notable exception was a beautiful 48.25” muskie caught byDan Okray while casting a Double 10 Spanky Bait on LakeWaubesa. Congratulations to Dan and to all the other anglers whohave netted big fish.

Information on the annual Lake Winter Outing on June 25 and26, 2010 were not available for this report. More information will beforthcoming next month. The second On-the-Water meeting thissummer is on August 9th at Lake Waubesa, and the line-up for guestspeakers at our fall meetings is complete. Here is the schedule:

September 13, 2010 - The general meeting of the Capital CityChapter of Muskies, Inc. will again feature a panel of expert anglersfrom the ranks of the club’s members. This was done last year inSeptember to help prepare and motivate members for late seasonmonsters. The topic for the evening will be “Fall Fishing.” Panelmembers, recommended because of the large number of fish theycaught last year, include Kevin Pamulak, Troy Schoonover, BryanFoerst, and Matt Hill. All panel members have extensive experi-ence fishing the Madison Chain lakes, and each will share histhoughts and insights on best strategies, tactics, and presentationsfor putting muskies in the net on local waters.

October 11, 2010 – We are very happy to have Scot Stewart,Regional Program Manager for the Wisconsin Department ofNatural Resources and longtime CCMI member, back as a fea-tured speaker. Scot will provide an update on muskies in the SouthCentral Region (SCR) of Wisconsin and more generally, statewide.This annual presentation provides current news on regulations,stocking efforts, as well as WDNR plans for muskies in the future.

November 8, 2010 – Special guests will be featured speakersat the November meeting. Dan Narsete, President of Muskies, Inc.

and Ian Young, President of Muskies Canada, will be present toshare information and insights on the current and future status ofmuskie fishing and the respective organizations they represent. Welook forward to hearing from them.

December 13, 2010 – Captain Tanner Wildes, professionalfishing guide and operator of Tanner Guide Service, will be the fea-tured speaker at the December membership meeting of the CapitalCity Chapter of Muskies, Inc. Wildes specializes in muskie andwalleye fishing on northern Wisconsin’s Chippewa Flowage and theSt. Louis River along with a number of different lakes in theHayward Wisconsin area.

As reported last month, several scheduled CCMI outings arestill to come. The 2010 Eagle Lake Outing, scheduled fromSeptember 4th through September 11th, at Andy Myers Lodge onEagle Lake in Canada is a big fish event. Contact Cory Painter at608-213-7747 or by email at [email protected]. A Vilas CountyOuting is scheduled for October 15 and 16 and will be headquar-tered out of Fibber’s Inn and Resort on Big St. Germain. Go towww.capitalcitymuskiesinc.org for more information.

Good Luck on the water this coming fall. Lee Bartolini, VP

Chuck Braniff and I spent the opening week of muskie seasonon the smaller waters of Peterborough County in Ontario. With acombined total of 44 fish more than 30”, we each established a newpersonal best for muskies caught and released during a one weekperiod. Admittedly this is not trophy water. Our largest fish was 38”and most were between 30” and 34”.

Meanwhile on the home front, WV Chapter Members wereinvolved with the Wayne National Forest Kid’s Fishing and Fun Dayand our Ohio Lakes Tournament.

Jim Moore, Bill Looney and Robin Clegg volunteered at LeithRun Campground on the Ohio River where this youth event is held.The evening before the fishing was to begin, Jim Moore chummedthe shoreline with fish food provided by Chris O’Bara, WV DNROhio River Biologist. Apparently this helped since lots of fish werecaught by the more than 70 youth participating. Included in theircatch were several 3lb. to 5lb. carp and catfish.

Despite high but quickly falling water, four nice fish were caughtduring our Ohio Lakes Tournament. On Saturday, Harry Haddoxcaught a 37” twitching a 10” Jake over the weeds at Salt Fork.

Even though Piedmont Lake was up about 5 feet, 3 qualifyingfish were caught on Sunday. Kevin Custer boated a 42” trolling aBulldog. Tim McCauley won with two muskies of 36” each during abrief flurry of activity while running spinnerbaits in shallow bays atthe upper end of the lake.

Congratulations to Tim for his tournament victory. Also, manythanks to Kevin Woolard who served as chairperson.

John Kaltenecker, Secretary

After a very long winter Headwaters Chapter 12 welcomed theseason opener here in the Northwoods. Jim Rechlitz, Roger Sabotaand Kip Cramer co-chaired our season opener and wow what anouting.

One of the warmest Memorial weekends in years here in theEagle River area of Wisconsin, with air temp in low 80s and the sur-

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West Virginia1270 Federal Road • Little Hocking, OH 45742

740-667-3571http://westvirginiamuskiesinc.orgMeets: No definite schedule-call

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Capital CityP.O. Box 8862, Madison, WI 53708608-669-5046 – Gerard Hellenbrand

www.capitalcitymuskiesinc.orgMeets 2nd Monday at The East Side Club, 3735 Monona Dr. Madison, WI.

08

HeadwatersP.O. Box 652 • Eagle River, WI 54521

715-891-5574 – Bill Jacobswww.headwatersmuskies.com

Meets 1st Wednesday 7:00 PM, Eagle River Inn, Eagle River, WI.

12


face water temp in the low 70s and light winds, boating, skiing,swimming and yes fishing all took place.......It was opening day formusky fishing north of Hwy 10 here in Wisconsin.... HeadwatersChapter 12 of Musky Inc. had their first outing yesterday host siteOneida Village and with 36 people attending a new record of 12Muskies were CPR . The fish range from 34 inches to 42 inches andwere caught on different area lakes..........They were caught onbucktails, crank baits, surface lures and bull dogs indicating a feedwas on.......The success has to do with the warm water temps andfeeding binge as everyone saw other fish follows and teasers asthey say..... Catching fish were Harvey Sadler 39.5 inches, JimHeffner 37 and 38 inches, Joe Koscnik 32.5 , Bob Jacobs, 35, TomStark 34 inches, Louie Dreager 34 and 34.5 Jay Hollnagel 34inches, Fred Brogle 36.5 inches and Scott Samuels 39 and 42inches......Hats off to these fishermen.

The 30th Anniversary Headwaters Chapter of Muskies, Inc.Spring Classic of Champions was held on June 12th and 13th. Therewere 92 teams with 184 people fishing the tournament. The head-quarters for the tournament was Wild Eagle Lodge with fishing lim-ited to the Lower Eagle River Chain. The results of the tournamentare as follows:

1st Place Team #32Jason McCrea - Phelps, WI 4 Fish 34, 36, 40, 40 inchesMarti Primich - Phelps, WI $10,000

2nd Place Team # 78Brian Krelle - Eagle River, WI 3 Fish 37, 38, 43 inchesTim Miller - Rhinelander, WI $2,800

3rd Place Team # 24Bob Jacobs - Eagle River, WI 3 Fish 36, 39, 39 inchesSteve Bassler, Jr. - Madison, WI $1,800

4th Place Team #33Dan Wojtusik - Eagle River, WI 3 Fish 36, 37, 39 inchesJohn Meyer - Louisville, CO $600

5th Place Team #38Jared Adamovich - Eagle River, WI 3 Fish 36, 36, 38 inchesCurt Priefer - Eagle River, WI $500

6th Place Team #92Steve Ingram- St. Germain, WI 2 Fish 37, 43 inchesJim Kortens - Mosinee, WI $475

7th Place Team #46Mark Lijewski - Minocqua, WI 2 Fish 35, 41 inchesClay Schroeder - Hazelhurst, WI $450

8th Place Team #88 Dewey Stewart - Pawnee, IL 2 Fish 36, 38 inchesForest Kay - St. Charles, IL $400

9th Place Team #65Paul Hansen - Eagle River, WI 2 Fish 34, 38 inchesLouis Dreger - Eagle River, WI $350

10th Place Team #15 Brian Verkuilen - Neenah, WI 1 Fish 43 inchesDarrelle Verkuilen, Jr. - Wittenberg, WI $325

Big Fish Saturday Team #15Brian & Darrelle Verkuilen 43 inches Fish $695

Big Fish Sunday Team #32Jason McCrea & Marti Primich 40 inches Fish $695

Winner of the Manufacturers Mini Tournament Team #15Brian & Darrelle Verkuilen 43 inches Fish; $560 plus Rod and

ReelFish Caught and Released: Saturday 31 Sunday 15 Total of 46

fishLakes fish were caught in: Catfish 20, Cranberry 14, Eagle 4,

Yellow Birch 2, Scattering Rice 2, Duck 2, Watersmeet 1, andVoyageur 1.

A special thank you to Carol and Rick Janick, Micki and JoeKoschnik, John Schmidt, Elmer Jensen, Courtney Froemming,Sandy and Bill Jacobs, Bob Jacobs, Rick Pahl, and Art Anderson forhelping with the tournament. Thank you to the judges in the judge

boats: Jim Chamberlin, Jay Hollnagel, Joe Koschnik, Glenn Matula,Tim Muench, Dale Petersen - Chairman, Bob Weeks, and ToddWiese.

We want to thank Wild Eagle Lodge and their staff for allowingus to use their facilities as our tournament headquarters and for thecoffee and donuts on Saturday and Sunday morning. OneidaVillage provided the noon meal on Sunday which was served by theEagle River Masonic Lodge members. A special thanks to Margieand Jerry Hollnagel, Hessenjaeger Wirehairs, LLC, for our tourna-ment flags and for the wonderful job on our website. If you have notchecked out our website, please do so. It is located at www.head-watersmuskies.com Thank you to Eagle River Distributing II andMiller Brewing Co. for our tournament trophies, Wireless AdvantageAlltel, Garth & Lisa Darton for providing our starting position num-bers, Vilas County News-Review for tournament publicity, JimKorducki for our tournament Ducktail lures, and the following spon-sors for their support: Beast Teaser Tackle, Boat Sport Marina,Braywood Resort, Eagle River Inn, Moore¡¯s Tackle, Musky HunterMagazine, Musky Magic Tackle, Lakewood Tackle Boxes, RizzoTackle, Shimano, Smity Baits, Suick Lures Manufacturing, TrophyTechnologies, and St. Croix.

Thank you to each and every one of you for helping us makeour tournament a success. Next year is the 31st Anniversary of theSpring Classic which will be held June 11th and 12th, 2011. - Jim &Carol Heffner, Tournament Directors

Congratulations to Jim and Carol and there team for a very wellrun tournament.

Glenn Matula, Secretary

The guest speaker for our June meeting was one of our localguides Bill Shumway. Bill’s presentation was very interesting andfilled with ideas and techniques and details that were new to manyof us. Bill did this as a volunteer so we thank him for donating histime. If you’re looking for a good experienced guide Bill’s number is715-634-3204.

Our club’s August event is our kids fishing day which is alwaysthe first Sunday, this year it’s the first. We meet at The Dick-SyRoadhouse on highway 77, 10 miles east of Hayward on UpperTwin Lake. We ask the guides to get there at 8:30am and the kidsat 9:00am. We fish from 9-12 and then meet back at Dick-Sy forlunch, supplied by the club. Each youngster gets a bag of fishinggoodies and we have a raffle for some bigger prizes. If you knowsome kids 10 to 16 years old who would like to join us they need tosign up at Hayward Bait and Tackle in advance. We also can usemore guides, so if you’d like to join us call Mike at 715-634-4543. Toguide you do not need to be a professional you simply need enthu-siasm, so join us!

The first club fishing outing in August will be at BigSissabagama on Wednesday the11th. We will meet afterwards atThe Black Bear Pub in Stone Lake. On Wednesday the 25th we’llfish Sand Lake and go to Angler’s Haven on LCO afterwards. Wefish from 5pm until dark but start and stop when ever you want.

In September we will have a meeting on Tuesday the 7th. Therewill be a business meeting at 6pm and the general meeting starts at7pm. The guest speaker will be local guide Jim Stroede who will talkabout using live bait and casting for fall muskies.

Our 33RD Annual Fall Tournament will again be the first week-end in October, this year, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Our top prize will againbe a Lund 1725 Explorer with a Mercury 50 four stroke. This is givenaway at our Sunday awards ceremony by drawing from the namesof everyone who has entered the tournament. The top fish catchergets a Mercury 25, and second place prize is a Mercury 15. All topten finishers get a trophy and merchandise prizes. The person


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Hayward LakesP.O. Box 609

Hayward, WI 54843715-634-4543

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catching the largest fish gets a Ron Lax replica. Our major prizescome from Hayward Power Sports so stop and see them for boats,motors, ATV’s or snowmobiles. They are on Highway 77 east 11miles east of Hayward. Don’t forget you can visit our website formore club or tournament information: www.muskiesinc-hayward.org

Good Fishing, Mike Persson

At our June meeting, 20 members were in attendance.Discussion points were as follows:

Jerry and Joe Marinzel demonstrated construction of theirMTailz Spinner lures. The presentation was well received by themembers and very informative. We would like to thank both Jerryand Joe for the time and support to our club.

Mark your calendars for the upcoming meetings and fish-ing events:

August 14th is our Kids outing at Lake ArthurOctober 16th & 17th at Lake Arthur Charity Challenge.

The club will be having a Cash Tournament during this event.Entry fee will be $25 per club member, and $35 for non club mem-bers. Optional $5 dollars for the 50” pot. Only Three Rivers mem-bers are eligible, the pot is currently worth $500. Details will beprovided upon paying your entry fee for the tournament. Also,after the tournament each day, there will be an $8 buffet to be heldacross from the Butler Fair Grounds.

Joe Houck of the club reported that the PA Fish Commissionwill be releasing a report regarding the recent fish kill atPymatuning. Joe stated that 98% of the kill was Crappies, and thiswas a result of the fish going into the shallow areas, where thewater temperature was up to 82 degrees. Joe also informed themembership that the fish commission put out nets in Bay 41, andhad substantial muskies caught, which they milked 3 for futuremusky production.

The release winners so far for 2010 are: Jan & Feb, no releas-es, no winners;

March, Sam Butler 43-inch from Piedmont Lake, Ohio; April,Joel Morrow had a 49-inch from Pymatuning

NOTE: It is not necessary to mail completed Lunge Logrelease forms to Fred Francese anymore, He can pull thedata anytime from the Muskies Inc. web site. He will still needto continue receive the release forms from our members thatneed to be entered into the Muskies, Inc. database.

Let us remember it is important to our sport and our ThreeRivers Chapter that we support those who so diligently support us.We want to take a moment to thank our sponsors who are: CUCULures, Gander Mountain, Green Acres, Legend Lures, Leo Lures,MTailz Lures, Muddy Creek Fishing Guides, Muskie Train, NewmanLures, Rollie and Helen’s Musky Shop, Wal-Mart, Wiley Lures.

For now, travel safe and be well, hope to see you at the clubmeetings, which are held the 2nd Monday of each month. Our nextmeeting will be held on July 12th.

Jim Patterson

The Muskie Maniacs participated in the Chapter Challenge atSaltfork on May 15th and 16th. There were 64 people that signedup for the tournament. Cliff Honeycutt from Central Ohio won the

tournament with his two fish of 39” and 37.5” fish. Way to go Cliff!That makes Central Ohio winning it the last two years. Mike Moneycaught the biggest fish for them last year. Gordon Selden won thebig fish pool with his 39” fish. We all had a great time fishing andcamping together and had a shore lunch on Saturday. We also hada chance to win some lures with the door prize tickets. A specialdrawing was held to raise money for a previous club member withtwo lure boards to help him with his medical expenses. We want tothank everyone for their support!

Our next tournament will be our Leesville Memorial tournamentJune 26th and 27th. Our tournament had to be rescheduled becausethe lake was flooded and the Marina’s were closed. I will give theresults of the tournament in our next issue.

At our June 20th meeting, we held our drawing for our 32” flatscreen TV. Congratulations go out to Cliff Jones for winning with hislucky ticket!

Our next tournament will be our combined tournament withChapter 23 on July 17th and 18th. We have the chance to fish eitherLake Milton or West Branch. It should be a lot of fun and hope thatthe weather will hold out for it.

On Aug. 7th, we are going to have our Leesville Lake Nite Bitetournament. This event is a lot of fun and look forward to it.

I will give all the highlights of these tournaments in my nextissue. Until then, hit the water hard and catch some fish!

Kevin Proffitt

During our June monthly member meeting, we made custombucktails with Breakline Tackle Company. First we kicked off themeeting with some fish stories from opening weekend.Chapter member Steve Earhart shared that he netted a nice 44”muskie for guide and chapter member Tim Anderson. MarilynDerosier shared her recent catch of a 39” muskie she caughtwhile fishing walleyes. It sounded like her fish put up quite a fight.

Jeff Young shared that the following chapter members volun-teered at the Kids Fishing Clinic at Lum Park on May 29th: Jeff,Jody, and Jayden Young; Donny and Dawn Marie Hines; Derek“Duck” Johnson, and Jim Kath. About 180 kids took part in theevent and every kid left with a prize. Thanks to all who volun-teered and help represent the chapter at this event!

Next, Jeff reminded us that the Youth Outdoor Festival wasscheduled for Saturday at the Lakeshore Conservation Club; Theretirement party for DNR Fisheries Manager Tim Brastrup thisSaturday (The BLC will be giving Tim a Framed Muskie Print thank-ing him for his efforts and support); and the first BLC outing, TheJune Clash on June 27th on Lake Alexander and Lake Shamineau.

Jeff gave a quick update on the Gil Hamm, discussed howmany teams will be attending, and soon that we will have a websiteup and running solely for the Gil Hamm.

Greg Kvale and Jeff Young concluded business withdiscussing how the meetings went with Upper and Lower SouthLong Lake Associations. They felt the meetings went very well,they put together a very informative presentation and the attendeeswere all very appreciative for this. But Jeff and Greg noted thatthere are some people still on the fence. Both Greg and Jeff agreethat we will need to have strong presence at the public meetingsheld on September 2nd to uphold our position, more to come.

Once business was completed, the attendees began makingtheir new custom bucktail lures. The meeting concluded with raf-fles and prizes. Upcoming events include the Big Dawg ChallungeChapter Outing on Mille Lacs on August 3rd, Youth Night on August10th, the Memorial Chapter Challunge on August 21st and 22nd,

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Three Rivers119 Bus Lane, Renfrew, PA 15136724-789-7866 – James P. Busshttp://threerivers.muskiesinc.org

Meets 2nd Monday 7:30 PM, Northside Sportsmans Club, Wexford, PA.

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Brainerd Lakes18031 Heritage Road • Brainerd, MN 56401

218-838-5509 – Donny Hineswww.brainerdmuskies.com

Meets 2nd Tuesday 7:00 PM, Water Fall Inn, Hwy 371 north of Brainerd byBrainerd International Raceway.

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Akron-Canton10957 Northwood Ave. NE • Bolivar, OH 44612

Gordon Selden - 330-874-2773http://[email protected]

Meets 3rd Monday 7:00 PM, Belgrade Gardens, 3476 Massillon Road, Akron,OH.

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and the Gil Hamm on Lake Vermillion on August 25th, 26th, and27th. Please visit our website for more information: www.brainerd-muskies.com Damien Williams

The Spirit Lake channel has been opened which was noted bythe increased traffic on Big Spirit Lake opening day. Marty had a fisheat his cowgirl without getting hooked at the Spirit Lake outing. Hedid take a picture of a non-member’s fish. Jerry didn’t see anything.

The Kleeba had a great turn out. Team CW managed to get onthe board with one fish despite the tragic loss of two boats the nightbefore in the Klempke garage fire. Next year is our turn to host theKleeba. We are looking for suggestions for date and lake. The nextouting is scheduled for Aug 12 on the Alexander Flowage.

Jerry Bucholtz

Check out our website (shawneemuskiehunters.org) for lots ofgood information. Thanks to Jerry and Cheryl Ford for taking overour website and adding new items such as: Hot News, memberslooking for fishing partners, and much much more.

August is a very slow time for us muskie fisherman in southernwaters. Right now we are looking forward in fishing the chapterchallenge later this month. We should have 2 full teams competingthis year. We are looking forward in meeting other members on Miand if you are there, stop in and say hi to the Shawnee Muskiehunters. I hope to remember to bring our banner this year to hangout side our cabin.

We had a club outing on Prairie Lake. Only seven membersattended this event this year but they caught four good qualitymuskies and a ton of big bass. Jim Beaty caught 3 of the 4 muskieswith a beautiful 48 incher to top it off. . This event is really a cheepweek end. The cost for the whole week end is around $20 dollarsper person. Jim Beaty is thinking of having another one sometimein September. More information on this and other events can befound on our web sight and monthly newsletter.Upcoming EventsAug. 27-28: Gil Hamm Chapter Challunge at Lake Vermilion. MN.Sept. 4-11: Shawnee Muskie Hunters week on Lake of the Woods.

Contact Craig Moser for details.Sept. 23: Deadline for the early bird sigh up for our Fall Brawl

TournamentSept. 25: Youth Muskie Tournament on Kinkaid Lake. This is one of

three in the new IYMTT (Illinois Youth Muskie Tournament Trail).Oct. 16: Fall Guide for the DayOct. 23-24: Fall Brawl tournament on Lake Kinkaid

Remember I’m in the other Lund. Walt Krause

The Iowa Muskie Tournament Trail allows people who are newto muskie fishing or totally muskie nuts an opportunity to fish differ-

ent muskie waters throughout IA with people from all over the statewith the same love and passion for muskie fishing. I enjoy meetingand learning from everyone that participates in the trail. Thanks toeveryone who make this whole thing possible. Below are theresults of the Pleasant Creek and Clear Lake tournaments.Congrats to all our winners and again thanks to everyone who cameand fished. Our final tournament for the IMTT is this month August29th on East and West Okoboji. Please visit our website under theevents page to get entry and rule forms for the final tournament atwww.muskieclub.com and come join us for the final IMTT event ofthe year.

Pleasant Creek May 16th – 16 teams total, 13 muskies caught1st Matt Williams and Paul Bushong 3 muskies 47,42, & 39 inch-

es for 60 pts. 2nd Shawn Haley and Delmer Mutschler 2 muskies 45,40 inches

for 43 pts. 3rd Steve Jonesi and Mike Grudgings 2 muskies 46,37 inches for

41 pts.4th Tom and Jesse Crawford 2 muskies 38,36 inches for 32 pts.5th Tracy and Dick Crail 1 muskie 42 inches for 26 pts. 6th Kyle and Bob Doonan 1 muskie 39 inches for 23 pts. 7th Chris Carlson and Grant Lodden 1 muskie 34 inches for 18

pts.8th Chris Wulf and Travis Youngworth 1 muskie 34 inches for 18

pts.

Clear Lake June 13th – 18 teams total, 15 muskies caught1st Brien Buehler and Nico Kotopaulos 3 muskies 49,48,35 inch-

es for 64 pts. 2nd Tom and Jesse Crawford 3 muskies 40,39,35 inches for 46

pts. 3rd Nick Bass and AJ Simpson 2 muskies 45,39 inches for 42 pts. 4th Jeff and Joel Becker 2 muskies 41,36 inches for 35 pts 5th Dick Manske and Pete Hildreth 1 muskie 47 inches 31 pts. 6th Jason Haukoos and William Peart 1 muskie 47 inches 31 pts. 7th Scott Larson and Leo Kofoot 1 muskie 41 inches 25 pts. 8th Alex Templton and Ryan Wilke 1 muskie 36 inches 20 pts. 9th Tracey and Dick Crail 1 muskie 32 in. 6 pts

As if the IMTT isn’t enough for events offered to our chaptermembers, it is now time for our annual fall tournaments. The 30th

Annual Release Tournament is September 17-19 on the IGL. The22nd IDSO Muskie Fest Tournament is October 2nd on East andWest Okoboji. Mark your calendars cause the tournaments will behere before you know it. These events are definitely the highlight ofthe season for our chapter and we can’t wait to see everyonetogether. It’s hard to beat good fishing, camaraderie, and great raf-fle prizes. All members will be receiving a packet in the mail withtournament entry and rule forms here very shortly. This will be the1st year we will implement the use of our chapter bump boards forthe release of muskies during the 3 day September tournament toeliminate having another boat in the tournament come over and wit-ness the fish. This will result in a quicker release of all fish. Forthose that participated in last year’s tournament you will rememberthe rule change, for those that are new to this process we willexplain it with more detail in the tournament packet. I look forward-ed to seeing everyone at all our events. Take Care and good luckon the water!

Pete Hildreth, President 712-363-0755

There won’t be a general meeting for August. A board meetingwill be held August 17th. Our general meetings will resume inSeptember.



Shawnee Muskie Hunters61 W. Jennings • Wood River, IL 62095

618-610-5003 – Manuel Santa [email protected]

www.shawneemuskiehunters.org

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MilwaukeeP.O. Box 28842 • Greenfield, WI 53228

262-442-6260www.milwaukeemuskiesinc.com

Meets 4th Tuesday Jan. thru May, Sept. & Oct. Meets 3rd Tuesday in Nov. only: 6:00PM Board,7:30 PM General, Waukesha Elks Lodge #400, 2301 Springdale Rd, Waukesha, WI 53186.

35Upper Great Plains1788 Hwy 4

Estherville, IA 51334712-362-2501

Meets 3rd Thursday , Legion Club, 1709 Okoboji Ave., Milford, IA.

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Central WisconsinP.O. Box 263 • Medford, WI 54451

715-748-4874 – Art Klimpkewww.centralwis.co.nr

Meets 2nd Thursday of the month at Happy Joe’s on Hwy. 13 in Medford, WI- 7:00 PM.

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The Chapter outings on Pewaukee Lake for August andSeptember will be on the 20th. The August outing will be hosted byJames Kwapil and his wife Darlene. Contact James at 414-517-4512. For September, the outing will again be hosted by Nancy andRoy Hinkforth. Contact them for outing registration at [email protected], [email protected], or 262-366-6842.

The Gil Hamm Memorial Chapter Challunge this year is onLake Vermilion in Minnesota. It’s the week of August 21-28 with thetournament fishing Wednesday the 25th 6AM to 6PM, Thursday the26th 6AM to 6PM, and Friday the 27th 6AM to noon. If you are inter-ested, contact Tom Arvoy. 262-542-9997 / [email protected]

Joel Michel needs help for the Ralph Anderson Veterans’Fishing Outing on Pewaukee Lake from Smokey’s Muskie Shop onSeptember 18th. Contact Joel at [email protected] or 262-498-5644 if you have a boat or can drive a pontoon boat to take vet-erans out, can assist with food preparation, or with other ideas.

Chapter VP Craig Ader has scheduled an extended weekendchapter outing this year to Bauer’s Dam Resort on LowerBuckatabon Lake September 24-26. Contact Craig at [email protected] or 262-250-6444. The website has more informa-tion in an electronic flier.

Planning for fall stocking in conjunction with the WI DNR andthe Amron pond continues. The WI DNR will likely supply the WIstrain which reduces the fish our chapter will need to purchase. Theforage required will remain the same though.

Please check the Chapter website for the latest information.Mike Phelps

In Memory of ourfriend and fellowFRV memberSteve Anderson

Steve was a life-time MI member whowas part of theChicagoland chapter formany years and mostrecently became anFRV member.

Steve had beenbattling bone cancersince last Novemberand finally succumbedto his illness on June5th. A memorial serv-ice was held for him onJune 11th and wasattended by FRV mem-bers to bid him farewell. Sadly, his father passed away on June 9th

after an extended illness with Bladder cancer!Steve was a regular at every FRV monthly meeting! He

worked for Albertson’s for over 30 years in their IT group and retiredabout 2 years ago. He had recently purchased a brand new rangerboat right before he retired, and he planned to fish for muskies as


39Fox River Valley

1253 Cobblers Crossing, Elgin, IL 601230847-741-9771 – Rich Gallagher

www.frvmuskie.com

Meetings and banquets: Chandlers Chop House at the Schaumburg Golf Club, 401N. Roselle Rd. Schaumburg, IL 60194. Dinner will be available starting at 6PM.

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much as he could once he was finished working. Steve attendedseveral musky trips and musky schools up on Lake of the Woods .

He was a great human being and a good man, who loved beingon the water (as you can see from the attached photo). He will bemissed by all of his FRV and Chicagoland brothers & sisters; andour lives are much richer for having known him. I was proud to callhim my friend and I will miss him very much. I know he is in a bet-ter place now, probably chasing 50” muskies 24-7.

This is a busy summer for Chapter 57. The Pike tournamenton the Pend Oreille River in June had 12 anglers and 19 pike werecaught for a total of 390 inches. They kept enough to have a greatfish fry and they got to meet new Chapter 60 members: Craig andMelodie Dowdy, Scotty and Colton Imholt and Perry Tinklenberg.Perry Petersen (V.P of Internal Affairs for Muskies Inc. and mem-ber of Chapter 57) flew over 3 days in advance so that he couldattend Chapter 60’s first meeting. They are really getting a goodstart and are even talking about having one tournament of their ownthis summer. They have chosen Mountain Muskies for their officialname and have elected board members as of the end of June.

The big Mayfield Open two-day tournament was July 24-25. Itis always our biggest fund raiser of the year.

Norm Dillon has been working on a decal design for the Sept.11th Lake Tapps members only tournament “Never Forget”.Sounds like it will be a tournament to remember with its Red, Whiteand Blue theme.

There are three other members only tournaments this yearafter this issue comes out: August 21st at Lake Merwin , The CurlewLake 24 hour extravaganza September 24th, 25th, 26th and anoth-er late year, October 23rd Pend Oreille Pike tournament. Hope allof you manage to get to at least some of these exciting events thisyear.

Everyone should check out the nifty video that Marc Martyn ofwww.Washingtonlakes.com fame, made at the Silver Lake tourna-ment in May. He fished it with Don Wittenberg and it sounded likethey had a good time fishing together even though neither of themcaught a tiger. Hope you’ve got your boat back Don and you’regetting some good fishing in this summer. Perry Petersenappeared on the John Kruse NW Outdoors radio show on May 23rd

to help promote tiger muskies and Jani Kuper appeared onSmokey’s Musky Shop radio show June 5th promoting the newChapter 60.

There have been some date changes for the Adopt A Roadclean-ups and the only one after this issue comes out is nowOctober 10th from 9:00 to noon with lunch following.

Stay safe out there and catch lots of big fish this summer.Rosann

Chapter 59 Friends,I hope everyone has been enjoying the warm weather and get-

ting allot of fishing time in! It was a great month for Chapter 59,NM Muskies Inc is now 50 Members strong. Muskie enthusiastsare finding our club and like what they see, a few new members

expressed their gratitude for our dedication for this awesome fish-ery. This is a testament to ALL the members, your hard work anddedication is reaping the fruits of a bigger stronger NM Muskies Inc.Thanks for all your support, the lifeblood of YOUR chapter is YOU,the Members! :)

I’m happy to announce that we have had a few members vol-unteer to step up on the board. It’s important we have new facescome into these positions, it insures a strong future for the club!Thanks to Justin Moore for volunteering for Chapter 59 Treasurer in2011. As of now he will be titled “Assistant Treasurer” to Leah Baca“Treasurer” so that he will be familiar with the duty when he takes itover next year. Justin has an accounting degree, was anxious tohelp the chapter in some form or another and thought it just fit!Thanks again for volunteering Justin! We also have a newSecretary: Joe Gavigan will be taking over these duties. Joe wasTreasurer for CH59 last year and continues to be an asset to theChapter, thanks Joe! Member Sean ODonnell will be the Chapter59 webmaster, if anyone has anything they feel should be on thesite such as muskie research, pictures, etc. please send them to:[email protected]

One final update regarding the board, member Dave Munsonhas agreed to be Chapter 59’s Membership Director. He will keepthe board updated when we have new members register with theclub and also notify Members via email when their membership is90 days from expiring. Thanks allot Dave, everyone’s help is great-ly appreciated!

The chapter’s next goal is to establish at least 1 more tigermuskie fishery in NM. To accomplish this goal it will be important forus to gather research and demonstrations of how other similar fish-eries have benefited through the stocking of tiger muskies; con-vince/educate the locals in the area this is a good thing and amanageable fish due to tiger muskies being sterile. We will need todevelop a Research Committee to prepare for such a task. NMDGFhas mentioned they are willing to attend meetings and provide whatassistance and research they can along the way. If anyone is inter-ested in being on the Committee please send me an email.

UPDATES: I have been wrapped up getting prepared for thewedding so Vice President Jared Blaschke will organize and planevents coming up in July and August. If anyone needs any assis-tance with anything don’t hesitate to contact him. As discussed atthe last meeting, the July 17th Quemado Camping trip will be thismonths meeting. The meeting in August has been cancelled, every-one thought it would be a good idea to take a short break frommeetings while the kids are out of school; members are campingand fishing more often, etc.

The Pick 3 Outing event was a success, everyone had a blastand we even had a couple members catch a muskie this weekend.Congratulations to Team- Sean Odonnell and Jared Blaschke, theywon this years event when Sean landed a 33 1/4” tiger. The onlyother fish landed was caught by myself and went 32”. Jared hookedup with a good chunky fish but ended up getting it punched off byTony, the Rapala extreme net man! :) Thanks to everyone thatshowed up and fished the event, we had a total of 12 people thatregistered and now CH59 has a pretty awesome lure collection forfuture fundraisers, thanks everyone! Congratulations to ChrisNordquist who won the raffle( Tyrant Czar crankbait, Tyrant leaders,Tyrant split rings, and a 2008 Limited edition commemorative, JoeBucher autographed Muskies Inc lure), I was lucky enough to winthe first door prize (1 Tyrant Czar Crankbait) and new Member GregCotton won the second door prize (Mastering Pike on the Fly Bookby Barry Reynolds). A few Members had mentioned they would liketo see another Pick 3 Outing this year, we are contemplatingorganizing something similar in the fall at Quemado Lake.

The following day Chris Nordquist and I took a few fellowMembers and friends fishing and Greg Ekburg landed his first TigerMuskie ever, the fish went 30” and is the biggest fish he has evercaught. He was excited about the catch and really enjoyed beingable to watch the fish bite his lure boatside! Thanks for coming out


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NW TIGER PACP.O. Box 5515, Kent, WA 98064

www.nwtigermuskies.orgemail: [email protected]

Hot line: (253) 850-5889 • Buddy Hartman, President

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New Mexico Muskies, Inc.P.O. Box 65575, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87193

(505) 264-2999 • Matt Pelletier [email protected]

www.newmexicomuskiesinc.org

59

guys, we had a great time and we look forward to seeing you atfuture events. We appreciate your support and hope you enjoyed itas much as we did. A big thanks to Chris for helping out with thisand the Muskie School this year, we couldn’t have pulled it off with-out him!

Regards, Matt Pelletier, President

August 13-14: 2nd Annual Big Show Shootout Muskie Tournament.For more info contact Mark Kornosky at 586-596-4481 or:

[email protected]

Lake St. Clair Muskies Inc. Chapter #58 kicked of the 2010Muskie Fishing Season on June 5, 2010. During opening weekendLSCMI and Anglers Point Marina hosted the 2nd Annual MuskieMadness Spring Tournament and what a huge success. We had32 teams participating for the hopes of their name being added tothe traveling trophy, the “Stanley Cup” of muskie trophies. DirectorsDonato Mongelli and Angelo Garofalo of Chapter #58 built this awe-some muskie trophy for the chapter to proudly display year afteryear. Angelo Garofalo is the proud angler who won the 1st Annualtournament last season. The weather was good on Saturday as thetournament got under way and the muskies were hungry. Lots offish and big fish were caught on Saturday. Team Treblemaker wason the board quickly with a nice 48” catch with only 30 minutes intothe derby, but he wasn’t there long. Team Hemi came to the boardwith a nice 493/4 an hour later, from there the fish only got biggerand bigger. All morning teams were busy catching some big fishand calling them in. Around mid afternoon, Dave Clark and TeamLiquid Sedation found the honey hole, from 1:30 – 3:30pm theymanaged to come to the board with (2) fish, the first one measuring

at 513/4 and the second one at 511/2. These two beauties were bigenough to keep them on the leader board the rest of the weekendand provide them 2nd and 3rd place honors.

Approx 20 minutes after Dave and his team released their fish,Team Reel Escape radioed in with a 52” Hog that put them in thetop spot. Saturday night the weather gave us a lot of rain, somewind and a cold front, slowing fishing down to a halt on Sunday.Some teams were able to pick away at the fish but none big enoughto change the leader board and standings.

Congratulations to Ron Siewertson for his first place win and toDave Clark for their 2nd and 3rd place finish, way to go guys.

There were well over 100 fish caught during the tournamentand 29 fish radioedinto the weigh masterduring this 2 dayevent, but ALL ofthem went back tothe lake to swimanother day. Thanksto LSCMI for the useof ‘Object” Scoringand to all MI mem-bers for practicingCatch and Releasethese tournamentsare possible. SpecialThanks to AnglersPoint Marina andTackle for hosting theevent and providingus with an awesomedinner Sunday after-noon. Also, if youhaven’t had a chanceto see the TravelingTrophy take a look atthe photo here andthen stop in toAnglers Point andcheck it out!

On June 27,2010, LSCMI is host-ing our 3rd AnnualKids Fishing Day atMetro Beach inHarrison Township,MI. We have thepavilion rented in theback basin near theboat launch andinvite everyone tocome out and enjoythe day with us. Let’s get our children out and show them what fish-ing and the outdoors is all about. Everyone is welcome, so comeon out. Food will be provided by LSCMI as well as prizes for all thechildren. Tackle and bait is also available for those who do not haveany and plenty of directors will be there early to help. Check out thewebsite (www.lscmi.com) for all the details.

With the season underway and summer approaching, let’s allhave a safe and enjoyable summer. Look forward to seeing all ofyou at many of the upcoming events. Good luck fishing.

Mark Kornosky, VP/RVP


Dave Clark holding one of his several 50”+ fish from opening day on LSCin Canadian waters of LSC.

Two of our directors built this traveling trophy forour annual opening weekend tournament; it isreally something special. The muskie in thecenter was hand carved and painted by chapterdirector Angelo Garofalo and the trophy built bymaster craftsman and director Donato Mongelli.

Lake St. Clair Muskies, Inc.P.O. Box 850915

St. Clair Shores, MI 48080586-873-5781 - Joe Lockemy, President

www.lscmi.comMeets 3rd Tuesday 7:00pm at The Sports Channel Bar & Restaurant, 25419Jefferson, St. Clair Shores, MI.

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MUSKIES, INC.1509 Stahl RoadSheboygan, WI 53081

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Karen Phillips was fishing with Gerard Hellenbrand and tookthis interesting shot of a fish Gerard released. We don’t get tosee muskies at this angle very often. Karen and Gerard are

members of Chapter 08.

North Metro Chapter member Tom Brunstadcaught this 36.5-inch fish while fishing the 1st

Wisconsin September Tournament in 2008.Looks like some tough fishing conditions.

It took 5 days of the 2010 muskie season beforeChapter 28 Secretary Steve Burian scored with this34-inch fish. It was caught from Lake Kinkaid while

Steve was fishing with Chapter 28 President ManuelSanta Cruz.

Chapter 19 Akron-Canton Muskie Maniac TangieVincent with a spring West Branch fish caught on her

favorite Orange Tuff Shad. Nice fish Tangie.

Andrew Lowther of Chapter 09 caught this fish from akayak. He says some lures actually pull the kayak

around and that good sized muskies can do that too.Looks like a fun way to target them.

Chapter 57 member Mike Floyd used his camera’s self-timer to take this picture of himself with a beautiful 47-

inch tiger muskie caught from Washington’s Lake Tapps.

Check out this nice 48-inch fish caught byChapter 02 member Ruth Anderson. She was

fishing very late in November of last year whenshe caught it. Nice fish Ruth.

Todd Jackson of Chapter 41 submitted this photo ofhis first muskie, a 32-inch fish landed within the first

15 minutes of tax day. Todd caught it using aRattletrap in shallow water while fishing Alum Creek

in Ohio. Congratulations Todd.

Capital City Chapter member Brad Nelsonreleased his personal best last September, a53-inch fish. Scottie Thomas took the photo.

Nice shot Brad.

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