photo contest – september · 2011-09-26 · photo contest – september by brad waldera, photo...

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

Photo of the Month This month’s photo contest entry is aperfect example of getting back fromthe resource for what you’ve put intoit. I don’t know of too many peoplewho have done as much for catch &release and stocking fish inMinnesota as Chapter 54’s PresidentDan Crooms. Dan was recentlyrewarded for those efforts when helanded the 55 inch beauty in thisphoto. Because of the efforts ofMuskies, Inc. chapters in Minnesotasuch as Chapter 54, Minnesota isnow becoming a hot spot for big fish.By the stocking and catch and releasepromotion that Muskies Inc. chaptersare doing, maybe someday soonmore of us will be fortunate enough tocatch fish such as this.Congratulations Dan, you earned thatone. Fellow Chapter 54 member JohnUnderhill (also a great ambassadorfor Muskies Inc.) was the net man andphotographer.

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“Make Yourself Small!”

Take a moment to look at the two pictures below. Which fishlooks larger? Would you believe that there is less than an inchof difference in size? The fish on the left that I am holding

was only half an inch shorter than my brother Brett’s fish, but it looksextremely small in comparison because I didn’t “make myself small”.

That is a term my brother uses when talking about how to getthe best picture you can no matter what size fish you catch. Brett hascaught hundreds of muskies, and in the process has learned firsthandabout what works and what doesn’t when you’re trying to get a greatphoto of a beautiful fish you just caught.

My brother and I fished together for a week on Lake of theWoods in July. During that time he shared some great tips with methat he said I could pass along to our readers. They may help you geta little more from yourmuskie pictures. As previ-ously stated, he says to firsttry to “make yourselfsmall”.

In a way, you shouldtry to minimize yourselfwhile at the same timemaking the fish the mainsubject of your photo.Granted you will still wantto be able to see the angleryou’re taking the photo of,

but it’s not really necessary to feature him from his hat to his shoes.When holding the fish, you may also want to stand more sidewaysand hold it with the tail slightly angled downward. Do not hold it ina vertical manner, as this could be harmful to the fish. Also, hold thefish out away from your body if you can. This may be more difficultwith larger fish, so keep that in mind. The welfare of the fish shouldalways take precedent over everything else.

When taking the picture, try to fill the frame with the fish whilegetting a decent view of the angler as well. You may even want to con-sult with your fishing partner for the day about what steps you’regoing to take when you do get a fish in the net. A little preparationcan go a long way. Thanks Brett for some good tips that can be veryuseful whether you’re the one taking the picture or the one holdingthe fish. Good fishing all, and keep those photos coming. v

September 2009.....MUSKIE 1www.muskiesinc.org

DepartmentsIFC Photo Contest, Brad Waldera

2 President’s Message,Dan Narsete

3 Magazine Notes, Juris Ozols

3 Index of Advertisers

4 MUSKIE News

7 Figure 8, Kevin Richards

8 Lunge Log, Jim Bunch

25 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

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ContentsMUSKIE • VOL. 43, NO. 9

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

q VISA q Discover q MasterCard

MUSKIE magazine is published monthly and is theOfficial Publication of Muskies, Inc. InternationalOffice: Ellen Wells, International Sec., 1509 StahlRoad, Sheboygan, WI 53081. Ph: 1-888-710-8286.© Copyright 2009 by Muskies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Features13 Off-Shore Structure Fishing for Muskies,

Larry Murphy

16 Characteristics of a West Virginia StreamMuskellunge Population,Scott Morrison and Michael Dougherty

20 The Two-Pound Triumph, Paul Hartman

22 Late Summer and Early Fall in Canada,Colby Simms with Ray Simms

24 Think Before You Drink, Patricia Strutz

InternationalOfficers

President, Dan NarseteEmail: [email protected]

Vice President/Finance, Jim ShannonPhone: 612-670-8943Email: [email protected]

Vice President/Fisheries, Research & Youth,Dr. Tom Betka, MDPhone: 920-544-5868Email: [email protected]

Vice President/Internal Affairs,Perry PetersonPhone: 253-850-5889 Email: [email protected]

Vice President/Membership & Marketing,Greg WellsPhone: 920-457-3720Email: [email protected]

Vice President/Communications,Dale VercauterenPhone: 920-826-5810Email: [email protected]

Treasurer, Kathy GoonPhone: 419-945-2940Email: [email protected]

Members Only Fishing Contest, Jim BunchPhone: 715-226-0295Email: [email protected]

Web Master, Ron GroeschlPhone: 262-271-1002Email: [email protected]

Int. Administrative Secretary, Ellen Wells1509 Stahl Road, Sheboygan, WI 53081Phone: 888-710-8286Email: [email protected]

Regional Directors Term Expires

Region 1

Brad Waldera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fall 2009

Rory Potter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2011

[ Vacant ] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2011

Region 2

Bob Timme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fall 2009

Will Schultz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall 2009

Fred Brogle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2011

Region 3

Joel Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall 2009

Doug Dibble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall 2009

Larry Besant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall 2009

Region 4

Kimberly Cates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall 2009

Rich Gallagher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall 2009

Earle Hammond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall 2009

The President’s MessageThe President’s Messageby Dan Narsete

Muskies, Inc. International PresidentEmail: [email protected]

2 MUSKIE.....September 2009

Ahhhh…the Fall. The kids are back in school. No more water skiers blazing overyour favorite weed bed; no more melting like an M&M on a sunny dog day. Ratherit’s time for feasting muskies, the biggest suckers you can find, and Jingle Tooth.

Mist filled mornings, the subtle bite of the first frost, changing colors and frequent trips toyour favorite waters…a great time of year.

We have had another fantastic year with a record number of big fish being caught,improving conditions for all anglers and growing chapters in and around the US. If youthink about the impact that we have on the fishing world as a whole it is quite immense.Through early efforts of our members and other organizations such as Trout Unlimited,B.A.S.S., and the Walleye Federation have all followed suit. States ranging from Minnesotato New Mexico and Washington to New York have all adopted rules and regulations fromour many efforts. Think again about other organizations. Trout Unlimited, though muchlarger in scope, has followed suit on a lot of the issues that we share in common. Water pol-lution abatement, catch and release, youth programs and the like are all goals we share.

Tell me then, what is new in your chapter? I think we will really have the opportuni-ty to communicate with greater frequency with the new website we are launching. Forums,announcements, and information should permeate the organization with greater ease.

Important events which are coming up are the new regional meetings. Each regionwill hold their first Fall meeting on the weekend that corresponds to the region number. SoRegion One will meet the first week of October, Region Two the second week, and so forth.Fred Brogle has been leading the charge for an Executive Director, which I believe is thenext evolution for our organization. Let me tell you from experience that it would be a greatasset to the many of us who continue to serve this fine organization largely Pro Bono. Ibelieve that with a paid position it would help to usher greater accountability and growthfor us on a macro level. This is not to say we won’t have challenges ahead, but I believe ourgroup will continue to head in the right direction.

Until we see each other again . . . Tight lines, Dan v

Check out the M.I. Membership Challenge on page 14. Onewinner will take home more than 70 awesome prizes, includingover 50 muskie lures, other great tackle items, and a guidedmuskie trip on Green Bay!

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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]

LUNGE LOG EDITORJim BunchPhone: (715) 226-0295Email: [email protected]

ADVERTISING SALES TEAMKevin Richards, Editor / Ad ManagerPhone: (573) 280-2300Email: [email protected] Baker, Advertising Sales RepresentativePhone: (701) 866-9393Email: [email protected]

PRINTING ACCOUNT MANAGERSunray Printing Solutions, Inc. - Stacey Thielen

MAGAZINE DESIGNSunray Printing Solutions, Inc. - John Windschitl

ILLUSTRATORS/CARTOONISTSRichard Gross, Sherry Hunt, Charles Weiss

FIELD EDITORSPatricia Strutz, Colby Simms, Sean Landsman,Adam Glickman, Bob Chochola,Steve Budnik

EMERITUS EDITORSRod Ramsell, Keith Ogden, Jim Smith

MUSKIE is published exclusively for the mem-bership of Muskies, Inc. and subscriptionscome with a paid membership. Muskies, Inc. isa non-profit organization. Membership classesand associated annual dues are listed on theform at the bottom of page one. Copies ofMUSKIE magazine are available at $3.00 eachfrom the Muskies, Inc. International Office.Contributors grant rights for M.I. to publishonce in MUSKIE Magazine, both the print andon-line versions, including archives and on theM.I. Web site.

Submissions toMUSKIE Magazine

Persons interested in submitting articles forpublication are directed to our websitewww.muskiesinc.org for a link to MUSKIEMagazine, where you will find links on the leftside of the page providing information neces-sary for submissions to MUSKIE Magazine.Further questions will be answered by KevinRichards, Editor. Submissions may be sent to:7618 Sunrise Ridge Road, Henley, MO 65040or email: [email protected]. Phone:(573) 280-2300.

ABOUT THE COVERYes indeed, a big fish and a bigsmile. And why is Kristi Hartman sodelighted? Well, she just brought inthat 47-incher on White Bear Lakenear Minneapolis on 2-lb line whilefishing for sunnies in May. Hadmuskie season been open, thismuskie could well have been a line-class world record, although it wouldhave been released anyway.

The photo was taken by Kristi’s hus-band Paul, a man who knows a thingor two about catching big muskies.And a bit of a twist, as Paul com-ments: “The muskie was most likelyone which I had helped stock intoWhite Bear Lake as a fingerling in2000. This fish came from a muskie rearing pond that I manage near NorthBranch, MN. The pond is a cooperative project between Frankie’s Live Bait& Marine, the MN Muskie Guides Association, the MN DNR, and the TwinCities Chapter of Muskies, Inc., funded by the Minnesota MuskieTournaments.”

Read the full story and more pictures on page 20.

INDEX OF ADVERTISERSBEST OF THE BEST TOURNAMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19BIG WOOD MUSKY LURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18DUCKTAIL LURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7FITTANTE REPLICAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18GIL HAMM CHAPTER CHALLUNGE THANK YOU SPONSORS 12HAYWARD LAKES CHAPTER 13 TOURNAMENT . . . . . . . . . . 6JOE BUCHER OUTDOORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20LAC SEUL FLOATING LODGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4M.I. MEMBERSHIP CHALLENGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14MOREHEAD TOURISM COMMISSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15MR. J’S MUSKY LURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21NW TIGER PAC CHAPTER 57 TIGER TOURNAMENT . . . . . . 17RED WING LODGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31SIMMS OUTDOORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23ST. CROIX RODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11TACKLE DIRECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33TAYLOR COUNTY TOURISM COMMISSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5YOUNG'S WILDERNESS CAMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13


NOTICE TO CHAPTERS:The deadline to send chapter reports to the editor is the 25th of each month, orabout five (5) weeks before the magazine is mailed to members. We are also offer-ing chapters the opportunity to submit 5 to 10 photos of chapter activities so we canfeature your chapter on the monthly chapter banner. – Thanks!

Motion to be considered atthe Fall Regional MeetingsFrom Fred E. Brogle, Region 2 Director

This motion was introduced and sponsored by the HeadwatersChapter and the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC). This motionis calling for an ALL chapter vote to authorize the ExecutiveCommittee (EC) to create a motion for the spring 2010 meeting tohire a fulltime Executive Director by August 1, 2010. This motion isseeking chapter opinion first and will give the EC the ability to cre-ate the options needed to set the process in motion.

The Regional Organizational Plan suggested that a full timeExecutive Director is needed to keep up on the day to day operationsof Muskies, Inc. At this time in our economy, when marketing seemseven more essential, many individuals with executive marketing expe-rience are seeking new employment. In order to complete theRegional Plan, and considering the current job market, it appears thatnow would be an opportune time to move forward.

The motion below has been submitted to the EC and to the web-master for posting. Copies were also distributed to the RegionalDirectors.

Muskies, Inc.Fall 2009 Region 2 MeetingMotion FormMotion is a change to (Must Check One): N/AA. By-Laws of Muskies, Inc.B. By-Laws of the Chapters of Muskies Inc.C. Chapter CharterD. General Policies, Positions, and Guidelines

Verbiage to be changed by this motion. Include the page and para-graph id. (If new just place the word NEW.) N/AMotion to read as Follows:

That the Executive Committee of Muskies, Inc. propose the fol-lowing motion for action at the Spring 2010 meeting of the Board ofTrustees: “Muskies, Inc. to employ a full-time Executive Director byAugust 1, 2010.”Submitted by Chapter: (number and name)

Chapter 12, HeadwatersHas this motion been endorsed by:A. Chapter President: Bill JacobsB. Region 2 Director, SPC Chair: Fred BrogleC. Past MI President, Past SPC Chair: Steve Budnik

Name and email and phone number of Chapter President:Bill Jacobs (MI) Chapter 12 (Headwaters) (715) [email protected]

Name and email & phone number of Regional Director, SPC Chair:Fred Brogle (715) [email protected]

Name and email and phone number of Past MI President, PastSPC Chair:

Steve Budnik (715) [email protected]

1. How does this motion support Muskies, Inc. Objectives?An Executive Director will provide a unified direction internallyand a stable face to the external community. It will provide day-to-day organizational direction and consistent oversight of paid staff.

2. Why is this motion being proposed?The appointment of an Executive Director is a key priority forimproving the management of MI. The corporation’s StrategicPlanning Committee has recommended the appointment of anExecutive Director for a number of years. Given the currentfinancial woes of the nation and the high unemployment rate, thetime seems to be right for our ability to identify a candidate froma larger than usual pool of available people and employ the appro-priate person for the position. A full-time Executive Directorcompletes the Regional leadership plan.

3. What may happen if this motion is not passed?The corporation will continue to experience shifting directionwith the election of each new President. Our Presidents have notbeen able to devote full-time attention to corporate matters.

4. Who will benefit from this motion and how?There remains some level of membership discontent with the cor-

DONATIONSJULY 2009

Special thanks toevery donor!

William Cornatzer

August Stempihar

Lorin Nevling

Raymond Stout

Harold Wohl

John Unison

Bill Brunstad

Russ Warye

Leonard Jaworski

Richard Olenoski

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poration. While the number of chapters has grown significantly,the membership has lagged. Member’s concerns are unlikely to beresolved on a piecemeal or activity basis as they are only sympto-matic of a basic over arching problem i.e., lack of integrated man-agement control that is totally disciplined, responsible, andaccountable. Integrated management requires the services of asingle individual to manage and lead the organization.

5. Who may be affected negatively if this motion is passed?The activities of the organization will not be affected negatively.

6. When do you propose this motion take effect if passed?The implementation date proposed is the appropriate time priorto the Spring Board meeting so that there is sufficient time forposting and response by the membership. The hiring of anExecutive Director is proposed as August 1, 2010.

7. If there is financial cost for this motion, how should this projectbe funded?There is a significant financial and/or time investment cost toimplement this motion. The movers of the motion do not havefull access to the financial records of the organization but the lead-ership has projected a sense of increased financial stability. [Moredetail on this subject in Item 12.]

8. What is the financial benefit to the chapters and/orInternational if this motion is passed?Long term the position will provide unified management and pri-ority setting. This will result in cost savings and increased revenue.

9. How does this motion impact positively any existing events orprojects offered by a chapter or International?There would be no immediate impact. Eventually programs andprojects would be prioritized according the needs of the organiza-tion and the wishes of the membership.

10. How does this motion impact negatively any existing events orprojects offered by a chapter or International?No apparent negative impact.

11. Details of implementing the plan if themotion is passed.The Executive Committee will need todevelop, or appoint committees to devel-op, the necessary information to providethe details of the Spring 2010 motion.{See next item for details.]

12. Detail the people/roles required toimplement the project if the motion ispassed.There may be some temptation to com-bine the Presidency and the position ofExecutive Director, but the two positionsare mutually exclusive as it would lead tocomplicated conflict-of-interest issues.Most importantly, the process of checksand balances would be voided by such anaction. The hiring of the ExecutiveDirector will require a major effort by theExecutive Committee and/or the commit-tees they appoint to assist them in theirefforts. It is suggested that he followinginformation needs to be developed inpreparation for the Spring Board meeting.• The EC needs to finalize a positiondescription for an Executive Director,including qualifications. This must bedone in concert with the Bylaws

Committee. The SPC previously proposed a position descriptionand, although it was not approved, it provides a basis for finaldevelopment of the description.• The EC appoint a Search Committee to: draft and place adver-tisement for solicitation of applicants; accept applications, evalu-ate applicants and select those to be interviewed; develop inter-view questions; conduct interviews; evaluate candidates and makehiring recommendation to the EC. • We suggest that the EC appoint a committee consisting of theTreasurer and members of the Finance Committee to fully devel-op the financial aspects of the proposal. Among other things thecommittee would: make recommendation on salary range; deter-mine costs other than salary (Social Security, Workman’sCompensation, other insurance, office operating expenses) anddevelop an annual budget for the Executive Director.

13. How long will it take to complete this project if the motion ispassed?The motion to employ an Executive Director must be promulgat-ed by the Executive Committee for consideration at the 2010Spring, Board meeting. The implementation date for the hiringof the Executive Director is proposed as August 1, 2010.

14. Which International Committee or Vice President is responsiblefor the implementation of the motion?The President, the Executive Committee, and the ad hoc commit-tees that they judge need to be involved. This is a complicatedissue that cuts across many aspects of the corporation.

15. Comments are required.Comments on the Forum Board from members were strongly infavor of engaging an Executive Director. It is anticipated thatsupport for this motion at the 2009 Regional Meetings in favor ofengaging an Executive Director, will provide direction and courseof action to the President and the Executive Committee.

– As submitted on July 27, 2009 v

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Dealing with a Skunk in the BoatIn July I got to fish Lac Seul, Big Vermilion (MN), Lake of the

Woods, and West Battle (MN). This included 4000 miles of drivingand 12.5 days of fishing.

While I have caught more and bigger muskies on trips that weremuch shorter and less exhausting, this trip was special for many rea-sons. Along the way I visited with 3 MUSKIE authors, a number ofadvertisers, and quite a few Muskies, Inc. members and prospectivemembers.

The first 6 days of the trip were the toughest as it was the firsttime anyone in my boat had ever been skunked by the muskies at LacSeul. The muskies did it right too, they skunked the whole boat! Ina nutshell the muskies were as cool as the water temperatures. Whenwe arrived at Lac Seul on July 4th the water temp was 62 degrees; after6 days we found some water in the upper 60s but that was rare. Wesaw almost no muskies during the first few days, but as usual, we sawone Lac Seul monster plus a couple of 4-footers by the end of our trip.

We don’t go to Lac Seul figuring to load the boat with muskies(although we’ve had some outstanding fall trips for size and numbers).Like a lot of guys, we go there for that fish of a lifetime. I’ve pho-tographed Lac Seul super-tankers for 2 fishing buddies and on thistrip I was lucky enough to have one smack and miss a jerkbait; that’senough to keep me going back! I was also really pleased that my son,Patrick, landed his biggest pike (a chunky 41-incher) on our last day.Another highlight was enjoying an island lunch with Frank Walterone afternoon.

We made some new friends at camp who helped us deal with the“skunk in the boat”. Tim and Linda from Bemidji, MN are die-hardwalleye anglers who lifted our spirits with a plate of freshly cookedwalleye! The next day we talked to our other neighbors Don and Kurtand their sons Josh and Caleb. Both families are from La Crosse, WI.They were interested in our muskie stories and realized we were on atough mission. They asked, “Would you like a couple of walleye toeat so you won’t have to stop muskie fishing to catch dinner?” Within2 days we were eating a couple of their walleyes and they were fishingfor muskies and big pike! When I got home Don sent me a photo ofa pretty 39 1/2 inch pike he caught at the end of theirtrip. I hope we get at least a couple of new M.I.members out of this encounter!

Walleye really help ease the pain of having askunk in the boat. However, the only sure cure is togo fishing again until you land a muskie. We stoppedat Big Vermilion on our second trip north. I had leftmy boat at Timbuktu Marina 10 days earlier forsome work. Not only did they do a terrific job on therepairs, mechanic/author Brett Sitter took us outmuskie fishing the first night. He hooked about a42-incher and showed us some great spots. The nextmorning I released my first Big V muskie beforeheading further north.

On Lake of the Woods I was lucky enough to

release 3 muskies up to 44 inches. The biggest came on a homemadecowgirl-style lure which Iowa members Scott Larson and Leo Kofootleft on my table when they headed home – thanks guys!

My travels ended with a night of fishing with former editor KeithOgden and his family on West Battle Lake. Keith and his nephewMark both had hits that night but the skunk returned to my boat. Noproblem – I know the cure – I’ll be fishing again soon!

Agency Updates and 3 Little Muskies . . . I believe readers enjoyed the agency updates which I shared in my

feature story last month. There will be more to come, but this monthwe have published one that came as a stand-alone study update fromScott Morrison and Michael Dougherty of the West Virginia Divisionof Natural Resources. I hope you take the time to review their reporton the muskellunge population in Middle Island Creek.

Speaking of agency updates, here’s a bit of info from my homestate of Missouri. In my first 32 years of muskie fishing I had caughttwo muskies which were less than 20 inches long; both were fromPomme de Terre Lake. They represented less than one percent of mytotal muskie catch.

Back in June while fishing with buddies at Pomme de Terre Icaught three more mini-muskies from 15 to 19 inches long in oneday. I heard of several other folks who had also caught mini-muskies.

I contacted my old pals at the Missouri Department ofConservation and found out that my catches were a good reflection ofthe current muskie population. Pomme had a banner number ofmuskies stocked in 2008 as it was the “pulse” year of the new 6-yearstocking regime. Lost Valley Hatchery came through with 8,015 Iowasource fish that averaged over 13 inches in length when stocked.

I also learned that last year the hatchery switched to golden shin-ers (rather than fathead minnows) for muskie forage. In doing thisthey saved money, but is it possible they also helped increase survivalof fingerlings in the wild? Only time and repetition will tell, but Iwanted to share this observation.

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

8 8Figure 8by Kevin Richards

[email protected]

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Starting A Junior Member.The Alcorn Family!

Frank Alcorn of the Three Rivers Chapter is fairlynew to this muskie thing. You would not know it thoughif you look up his muskies in the Lunge Log. Howeverhe has a priority that is a bit more important than hismuskie list. He and wife Elain have a son named Jacobwho is just 8 years old and they are trying to get himinterested in this muskie thing. Here’s what Frank wroteto the Lunge Log.

I joined last year and love it! Had to have my wife joinin mid summer to enter a tourney with me so this year I gotit together and we joined as a family. I’ve been using themagazine and youth pictures to kind of get my son into itmore. It’s tough when the bite is slow to keep a little guygoing. This day on the water I’ll never forget! We had somuch fun. My son and I had a smokin’ day on July 3 andended up trolling up 9 fish on Chautauqua. We were takingturns on the rods and it just so happened every time I wasup it was a small fish, just the opposite when Jake was up;his 5 included a 48 and a 46. These were trolling fish,when the rod goes off I pluck it from the holder and then he’son his own, if he loses it, he loses it. I don’t help him one bit.I’m so glad he holds the fish himself for his own picture. Forthe 48-incher he was screaming it was too heavy when Iplaced it in his arms! I’m like, “Suck it up and smile for thepictures!”

the Lunge Log

by Jim Bunch Jacob Alcorn, Age 8, Chapter 16. 48 Inch, July 3, 2009

Chautauqua, NY. Crank Bait. Fish I.D. 270316

Jacob Alcorn, Age 8, Chapter 16. 46 Inch, July 3, 2009Chautauqua, NY. Crank Bait. Fish I. D. 270213


As soon as we got home we had to go and enter the fish for him. Itold him that he should be in the top few for youth largest releases withfish like that (he was at 6th and 12th when this was written). He ispumped up and told my wife that for the next tourney that he was goingto be my partner. Look out 3 Rivers guys I’ve created an animal.

Update, update, Jacob was in that tournament and got another46 incher. Frank says something was wrong with the tail and it wasprobably really 48 or 49.

Stocking Muskies!The Madison Chain!

There are so many feel good stories across North America aboutMuskies, Inc. Chapters stocking muskies into new waters or toimprove existing waters. It would take a very large book to sum it allup. The Capital City Chapter is one of our larger chapters and very

aggressive in their efforts to improve the muskie fish-ery. On May 30th this spring Jeff M Hanson of theCapital City chapter caught a 52 incher on the Chainto record the first muskie over 50 inches there. Thiswas the first verifiable 50, and the first in the LungeLog. Then 3 days later he did it again. The MadisonChain muskies have been getting bigger and biggerover the years. It is known as a very good numberswater. Now they have crossed over the famous 50 inchbarrier. Jeff M. Hanson’s fish list in the Lunge Log ispretty scary - it shows 1,464 entries as of today (July25, 2009). We say that because when he gets hot thatcan change in a hurry. We of course talked to Jeff andhe shares the following with us.

I caught the 52” on May 30th on a Musky Magnetcrank bait made by Kermit Good of Detroit. I have muskyfished the Madison Chain for the last 25 years and guid-ed the last 14 years. We usually put 180-200 fish a yearin the boat but none in Madison over 49”. Then A 50+finally came in the boat after having a few shots over thelast few years. That day, I was fishing with my goodfriend Craig Eversoll. I had already caught a 48” earlierand joked to Craig we better go home because that’s theonly hit we are going to get because we had only been get-ting one shot a day. Then the big girl hit and I told Craigit is bigger than the last one, it’s huge and it’s taking lotsof line. It stayed deep for a while then it came up by theboat and Craig scooped it up and turned to me and saidI think that’s it, its for sure over 50”. Sure enough it wasa 52”, took a few pics and let her go. I could not talk forabout 30 Min I was so happy.

Then 3 days later it happened again. Caught a 50.5”on a MX6 from MuskieTrain; a new bait I started usingthis year but have put a pile of fish in the boat on them.When this one went in the net I never guessed it was goingto be over 50”. Laid it on the rule and sure enough 50.5”I was in shock. Craig once again took great pictures andwe got her back in the water. I never got any sleep thatnight I could not believe what had just happened. Tospend 160 days a year on Madison water and have neverboated a 50” here and then get two in three days. It wasshocking to say the least.

These are the first two Musky ever documented over50” on Madison Chain waters that we know of and for

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Jeff M. Hanson, Chapter 8, 52 Inch, May 30, 2009.Madison Chain, WI, Musky Magnet. Fish I. D. 268272.

(Continued on page 10)


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sure the first for Muskies, Inc. I have been a member of the CapCity chapter since 1993. What they have done to these waterswith the help of WI DNR is unbelievable. We now have a 45”size limit and the fishing is getting better and better every year.Bigger and more fish. I can’t wait till the Leech Lake strain fishthat the club has bought over the last few years get big. TheFlatlanders chapter has helped with donations as well.

Gerard Hellenbrand of Cap City, who has been theresince the chapter was just a puppy, tells us about the stock-ing. “We started in conjunction with the Portage MuskieClub raising muskies in an old wastewater treatment plant in1986. Mainly raising hybrids, which was easy to do. Thetrue muskies on the other hand were a lot harder. Cap Citygot a hold of two old submergible pumps and some fundingto get things started. In the early 90s we quit doing that asthe return was not good enough and started buying themfrom private hatcheries. Then the last few years we pur-chased the Leech Lake strain (just as 1st WI does). We haveheard about fifties caught outside of Muskies, Inc. on theMadison Chain, but to get a picture and verification hadbeen like pulling teeth (until now).”

2009! How is Fishing?Go onto our web site and search for fifties, it will blow

your mind. Mark Carlson, who is one of the most danger-ous muskie hunters in the world, has struck again. Hereports a 58.25 inch with this awesome picture. If that is notenough, he is not even in line for Lunker of the Month forJuly. The Wisner picture is coming next month. Oh by theway Junior Division, Wesley Worel and his 30 fifty inchersand his 326 entries will turn 18 years old this December. Hewill go right from the Junior’s to the Men’s Masters. Doesthe name Joe Hardy ring a bell? We will hear from him. Hewill travel anywhere. He heard about the muskie thing inNew Mexico and decided to check it out. He caught noth-ing the first 3 days, then redesigned his attack and caught 42in seven days. Of course he holds the state record, just oldhat for Joe. Linda Rice up on Lac Seul, look her up, every-thing is “normal” up there.

Keep a tight line, Da Bunchman715 [email protected]@charter.net

LUNGE LOG (continued from page 9)

Mark E. Carlson, Chapter 32, 58.25 Inches, July 1, 2009St. Lawrence River, ON. Grandma Crank, Fish I.D 272734.

Musky Ad.8.5x11 1/10/08 10:38 AM Page 1


Just like many other great ideas or innovations my introduction tostructure fishing for muskies happened by accident. I had beenfishing my usual spots on the Lake of the Woods out of Young’s

Wilderness Camp (near Nestor Falls, Ontario) butthe muskie action was slow. This particular yearthe ice-out happened early, and the water waswarmer and lower than normal. The backs of thebays were clogged with weeds and an algae bloom- fishing was tough. We continued to pound theslop, but all we were catching was pike. Duringdinner one evening a group of guys shared theirstories of success, and noted that they were seeingand catching muskies well off the bank in the mid-dle of the bays. Given our lack of success, wedecided to give this a try.

We motored to a nearby bay and started casting randomly fromall sides of the boat. As we blew across the bay I noticed a large rocksitting by itself in the middle of the bay. We had driven through thisarea before but had never seen this “school bus” sized reef nearly 300yards from the nearest shore. The wind was blowing, so I cast a brownbucktail across the rock and a low 40s muskie hammered the bait.After releasing the muskie, it became clear to me that we were done“bank pounding” for this trip. I had a paper lake map in the boat,and a hand-held Garmin GPS. We marked the reef that we had justfound on the GPS and then started staring at the map to find similarspots. It turned out that there were bunches of off-shore pieces ofstructure in the area that we had never spent thetime to locate or fish. What a mistake! Not onlydid these places hold fish, but many of themseemed to be ignored by the other muskie fisher-men in the area.

So what is “structure fishing”? If you’re a mid-western bass fisherman like me, it might mean

fishing places like points, creek channels, ledges, saddles, flats, etc.that are away from the bank. But on a natural lake like the Lake ofthe Woods, I consider “structure” fishing to be targeting off-shore

spots with an irregular feature coupled with asubstantial change in depth. My favorite piecesof structure in a natural lake are islands and reefs,especially submerged reefs that aren’t visible whenthe water is at normal pool. The spots that haveadditional features like isolated weeds, a smallbreak or hole between two reefs, or even a treethat was sunk on the edge are even better piecesof structure. These places should have a prettyfast depth change and have deeper water nearby.In my opinion, the further from the bank and theharder to find, the better the spot!

If you fish natural lakes like the ones in Minnesota, Wisconsin,and Canada, then you know exactly the types of spots that I’mdescribing. During my “bank pounding” days, these were the typesof spots that I avoided because I didn’t want to crack up my boat onthe rocks. Now I’m searching my maps to find these off-shore reefsand islands.

Finding these types of places can be interesting. Years ago all Ihad was a paper map and a hand-held GPS with no internal map card.Many times the paper map would give me only a general idea ofwhere to look. I would do my best to triangulate the location based


The author with guide client Andreas Paulsen and alow 40-inch muskie.

My favorite pieces ofstructure in a naturallake are islands andreefs, especially sub-merged reefs that aren’tvisible when the wateris at normal pool.

on the map, but the only way to actually find a particular submergedreef is to idle back and forth watching the depth finder (with some-one in the front of the boat watching for rocks). Once I located anedge with the depth finder I would idle in a circle to find the edges ofthe reef. At first I would waypoint just the top of the reef, but I laterfound that it made boat positioning easier if I marked the edges all theway around versus just marking the top. I also start a new trail on myGPS as I fish each submerged reef so that I can see where I’ve been,and what parts of the structure that I have missed.

I remember having a great morning fishing off-shore structure afew years ago when we decided to take a break for lunch. We wereblowing along discussing the day when I noticed that the depthchanged from 18’ to 3’, then back to 18’. I immediately grabbed amarker buoy and tossed it behind the boat. After a quick look at themap we found that the submerged structure we saw wasn’t on themap. We quickly put down our sandwiches, turned the boat aroundwith the trolling motor, and then landed a nice upper 30-inch muskieon a 6 inch perch Suick. After a few pictures and a clean release, wewent back to our sandwiches with one eye still on the depth finder. Afew years earlier we were fishing the Stoney Portage area of the Lakeof the Woods and we had just caught and released a low 40-inchmuskie. While releasing the fish, the boat blew away from the reefinto an area that we thought was wide open. I remember lookingdown and seeing a 3’ depth reading. A quick look at the GPS showedthat we were well past the reef that we had marked, so once again wehad stumbled onto another “undocumented” rock. After a couplemore casts, another muskie was in the net for pictures. Ever sincethen I keep a few marker buoys ready just in case.

Another way to find pieces of off-shore structure, especially sub-merged structure, is to observe where the walleye fishermen are sit-ting. I recall watching multiple guide boats hit the same off-shorespot in eastern Sabaskong Bay one day, and I finally decided to go takea look. Right where the boats had been sitting was another unmarkedreef well away from the bank. I’ve raised multiple muskies on thisspot even though I haven’t put one in the net yet. I have it markedon my GPS and someday it will produce a monster.

Advancements in technology have made this type of off-shorefishing much easier. I have traded my old paper maps, black andwhite graph, and hand-held GPS for a Lowrance X28-C depth find-er and GPS unit along with a detailed lake map chip from Navionics.The biggest benefit for me is the ability to see the lake map detail withmy waypoints superimposed on the map, and then see my active trailas I move across the structure by my waypoints. I have found that theNavionics map is right a lot of the time, but it’s not right 100% of thetime. In many cases I’ve seenwhere submerged reefs on theNavionics map are 50 to 75yards away from the way-points I have for the samepiece of structure. I use themap chip to get me close tothe spot, but I still need toidle back and forth to pin-point the exact location. Thebottom line is that the mapchips can be a great tool butthey are only accurate to adegree. Be ready to searchand explore to find some of

OFF-SHORE STRUCTURE FISHING(Continued from page 13)

The screen of the depth finder/GPS withNavionics map showing how the authormarks structure for fishing.


these hidden spots, and don’t race through a new area just because themap chip tells you its wide open! Once these spots are marked, I canfish them year after year with the same accuracy. Over the years I haveaccumulated the location of hundreds of isolated rocks, reefs, andsand bars. So many that there’s no way that I could remember themall, so I appreciate the help of some electronic memory aids.

One key to fishing off-shore structure is to determine how themuskies are positioning themselves on the structure. Wind directionor current is the key! When the wind is blowing, some current isbeing generated across the structure. On man-made flood controllakes, there is often a current when the dam is opened to draw downthe water. When these situations occur, the muskies generally posi-tion themselves to face into the wind or current. In my experience,the most active muskies will sit on either the front or rear side of thestructure in 3’ to 5’ of water.

To successfully fish off-shore structure requires stealth, and a lit-tle planning. First off, I shut down my outboard well away from thestructure so I don’t spook the fish. I then slowlyposition the boat so that I am approaching into thewind. Since the waypoints I captured show me theedges of the structure, I position my boat behindthese marks and start casting to the down-windside of the structure. I then make my way aroundthe structure staying outside of my waypoints. If Iam guiding folks that haven’t fished a particularpiece of structure before, I will mark the down-wind and up-wind sides of the structure with amarker buoy as I make my way around the area. Idon’t just watch my waypoints, I also watch myGPS trail to make sure that I’m covering the areaand I watch my depth finder to make sure I stay onthe deep edges of the structure. If you determinethat the muskies are sitting on the front side of thestructure on a particular day, then most likely othermuskies on similar pieces of structure will be doingthe exact same thing. This “pattern within the pat-tern” can be especially helpful when fishing largereefs, or when you’re in an area with hundreds ofreefs to cover.

I’ve also seen days where we will raise fish onspot after spot, but only get lookers and followers.That use to bother me, but not anymore. When Isee a fish I make a mental note about the spot, thenI move on to the next reef. Even if I can’t catchthem, I like finding them and knowing where they

are. When the weather changesand clouds roll in, usually withsome wind, I start hitting all thosepieces of off-shore structure thatheld fish. When the weather turnson the bite I have a “milk run” ofspots to hit that I know are holdingfish. When this happens, you havethe opportunity to boat a bunch offish in a short period of time sinceyou are keying on structure thatyou know held fish. A lot of timesyou’ll catch multiple fish on eachpiece of structure when doing the“run and gun” back to these spots.

Another guide client, ChristerWilhelmsson from Sweden, withan off-shore muskie

Author’s son Joey with another off-shore muskie.



From 2002 to 2007 the West Virginia Division of NaturalResources conducted a muskellunge study on Middle IslandCreek, a 77-mile stream located in west-central West Virginia.

Fish were collected to evaluate muskellunge population characteris-tics, to determine movement patterns of muskellunge, and to see ifdifferences exist between a 6-mile long catch-and-release fishing regulation area and the rest ofthe stream. All muskellunge were initially cap-tured using an electro-fishing boat. During asampling run fish were netted, their locationnoted using GPS equipment, and total lengthsrecorded. Muskellunge larger than 18-incheswere marked with two different tags, a PIT tagand a uniquely numbered dorsal fin tag.Recaptured fish supplied movement and growthinformation. Fish were recaptured with electro-fishing gear or byanglers. The West Virginia Chapter of Muskies, Inc. supplied a PITtag reader to selected members. Movement data was analyzed usingGIS technology.

A total of 245 different muskellunge were collected (Table 1).Ninety-five fish were collected from the catch-and-release reach, while150 were taken from standard regulation areas. More males were col-lected than females. More muskellunge greater or equal to 30-inch-es, the legal size limit for standard regulation areas on the creek, werecollected than fish less than 30-inches. Legal-sized muskellunge com-prise 56% of the fish collected, and 61% of the females and 57% ofthe males sampled were greater than or equal to 30-inches.

Table 1. Muskellunge collected fromMiddle Island Creek, 2002-2007.

Muskellunge Total Catch & Release Standard Regs.Number Collected 245 95 150

Females 71 30 41Males 118 39 79Sex Unknown 56 26 30Under 30-inches 104 40 6430-inches & Over 141 59 82

Middle Island Creek was surveyed 49 days during this study.Electro-fishing was conducted 20 days in the catch-and-release reach(C&RR) and 29 days in standard regulation reaches (SRR). Totalcatch per unit effort, the number of fish collect per hour (CPUE) was

2.70. Catch rates were not significantly different between regulationreaches, and CPUE in the C&RR reach was 2.50±1.43, while CPUEin the SRR reaches was 2.84±1.41. CPUE for legal-sized muskel-lunge also was not significantly different between reaches (C&RR:1.61±1.01; SRR: 1.90±1.20). A significant difference was found in

seasonal electro-fishing catch rates. CPUEbetween November and May was 3.01±1.29,while CPUE for June though September was0.93±0.75. The seasonal CPUE difference wasprobably due to water temperature differences.

Yearling muskellunge collected in the springaveraged 13-inches in length, while age 2 fishaveraged 19.5-inches. Age and growth data col-lected from 114 muskellunge captured andrecaptured in early spring are presented in Table

2. Age at first capture was assigned using data gathered from an ear-lier study. Females grew faster than males every year of life, and aver-aged at least two-inches longer than males starting at age 5. At age 9,females averaged 37.1-inches long, while males averaged 33.7-inchesin length. Theoldest fish col-lected during thiswork was afemale that weestimated to be18 years old.This fish was firstcapture when shewas 41.5-inches,and we estimatedthat she was 13years old. She was recaptured five years later and was 47.0-incheslong. The oldest males collected were estimated to be 15 years old.These two fish averaged 36.6-inches in total length.

Eighty-seven muskellunge, 36% of the total, were recaptured atotal of 143 times. Fifty fish were recaptured once, 23 were recap-tured twice, 11 were recaptured three times, one four times, and twowere recaptured five times. These fish, on the average, moved 3.1miles in the 512 days between captures. The average movement forfemale muskellunge was 1.9 miles in 504 days, while the average

Table 2. Age and growth data from recaptured Muskellunge collected from Middle Island Creek, lengths in inches.

AGE

Sex 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 18Females 24.4 27.9 31.1 32.6 34.1 35.6 37.1 38.3 39.5 38.9 41.8 39.0 - 47.0Number 7 23 17 29 19 17 13 6 6 4 3 1 0 1Males 23.4 26.6 28.9 30.6 31.3 32.7 33.7 33.9 35.0 35.6 35.1 36.1 36.6 -Number 9 17 21 19 27 16 15 11 8 9 5 4 2 0Average 23.9 27.4 29.9 31.8 32.4 34.1 35.3 35.5 36.9 36.6 37.6 36.6 36.6 47.0

A two year old, 19 1/2 inch muskie collected alongMiddle Island Creek. Photo by Scott Morrison

The muskellungepopulation in MiddleIsland Creek is healthyand supplies excellentfishing opportunities toWest Virginia anglers.


movement for males was 4.0 miles in 537 days. The electro-fishingboat could have moved fish; therefore significant movement is onlypresented for fish recaptured at least 1,500 yards from capture. Fifty-two muskellunge showed significant movement, 22 of these fishmoved upstream and 30 fish moved downstream. All movement datashould be considered minimums, as fish could have moved greaterdistances before they were recaptured. Fish moved throughout thelength of Middle Island Creek (Figure 1). At least 11 of the recap-tured fish moved more than 10 miles (Table 3). Male muskellungeappear to travel greater distances than females. Males accounted forthe seven longest moves, and six of these males moved downstream.The longest move was 51 miles in 538 days. Another male moved 46miles in 360 days. The greatest movement discovered for a femaleduring this study was 18 miles in 1,109 days. The greatest dailymovement was by a male that moved 3.5 miles in one day.

Table 3. Muskellunge Movement Data forMiddle Island Creek, 2002-2007.

Metal Fish Minimum Days Moved YardsTag Sex Length Miles Between Downstream Moved/

Number (inches) Moved Capture or Upstream Day

433 Male 37.0 50.8 538 downstream 166452 Male 37.1 46.3 360 downstream 226442 Male 33.0 41.2 354 downstream 205285 Male 35.5 37.8 1,824 downstream 36303 Male 36.3 21.3 389 downstream 96296 Male 40.0 19.4 329 downstream 103253 Male 31.5 18.0 1,097 upstream 28478 Female 43.0 17.6 1,109 upstream 28429 Female 36.3 16.5 392 upstream 74262 Male 36.0 14.1 331 downstream 75228 Female 38.0 10.4 329 downstream 56

One fish was caught by anglers three times and twice showed sig-nificant movement. This 35.7-inch male was first captured with elec-tro-fishing gear in April 2002, and eight days later was caught by anangler, 3.2-miles upstream. On October 2003, the 37.0-inch fish wascaught seven miles downstream and had moved into the catch-and-release area. This muskellunge was again caught within the catch-and-release area in October 2004, and was 37.2-inches long and hadmoved downstream about 200 yards. Other fish showed little move-ment. Fifty-four fish moved less than 550 yards. One fish was col-lected six times, and the greatest distance between capture points wasless than 1,600 yards.


Lake Tapps, WA.Chapter #57 Muskies, Inc.

Open TournamentSaturday, Sept. 12, 2009

100% Catch & Release$2,800.00 Cash Pay Back1st, 2nd & 3rd Place$100 entry per 2 person teamPayback based onfull field of 35 teamsLake off limits Sept. 11th Dinner & Awards Ceremony!RAFFLE: OVER$3,000 IN PRIZES !!

For complete info & rules go to www.nwtigermuskies.com or 253-850-5889

Norm DillonMerwin Res.May 2009

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on e-Bay

Proceeds from thisTournament willbenefit youth, education & the fishery in WA.

Figure 1. Collection and recapture collection locations for allmuskellunge recaptured from Middle Island Creek, 2002-2007.


Anglers cannot easily identify marked fish, and itis expected that more tagged fish were caught thanreported. Most anglers do not have a PIT tag reader,and after approximately six months the dorsal fin tagbecome skin covered and is difficult to read. Anglersreported catching 24 of the 245 marked muskellunge.These 24 fish were caught 28 different times.Fourteen of these fish were males, five were females,and five were fish that did not have their sex deter-mined. Two fish, a male and a female, were caughttwice, and one male was caught three times. Thirteenfish, nine legal-size, were caught from the catch-and-release reach, and 15 fish, 14 legal-size, were reportedfrom the standard regulation areas. Anglers kept fourmuskellunge, less than 2% of the fish captured duringthis study.

The muskellunge population in Middle IslandCreek is healthy and supplies excellent fishing oppor-tunities to West Virginia anglers. Angler harvest wasnot found to be significant. Noteworthy movementof muskellunge was documented. Female muskel-lunge grew faster than males, and males were foundto move greater distances than females. Significantdifferences between regulation reaches were notfound. Larger muskellunge (fish over 40-inches)were only found in the lower two-thirds of MiddleIsland Creek. v


WEST VIRGINA(Continued from page 17)

West Virginia Chapter 09 Muskies, Inc. memberBob Hoce with a 51-inch muskie caught andreleased from Middle Island Creek (Photo by KarlYeager).

A 43 1/2 inch female musky collected along Middle IslandCreek. The fish is being held by WV DNR FisheriesBiologist Scott Morrison. Noticed the new metal tag on thedorsal fin - this was the first time this fish was captured.Photo by Gary Batton

NOTE: The tournament is full.Special thanks to all of our sponsors

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On May 17th the Hartman family stumbled upon atriumph… and a defeat. I had picked up a new TuffyOsprey from the factory over a month earlier but this was

the first day nice enough for a family outing. Knowing a nice springSunday would be busy at the boat launches of White Bear Lake wearrived at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. The family’s maiden voyagestarted off with a run down the lake to a calm cove where the hugefront deck was transformed into a pizza picnic area.

A pizza dinner with 3 1/2 year old Gracie and 11 month old Lillyon the new boat’s carpet was exciting for me and for their mom,Kristi. Little did we know the excitement was just beginning. Afterfinishing dinner, we took a leisurely cruise around more of the lakebefore stopping to try to catch a few sunnies with the girls. Westopped 200 yards from shore on a vast 5’ deep weed flat to try our

luck. I baited the first rod with two grub worms on a 1/64 ounceglow jig and tossed it. Instantly the bobber started the “bluegill wig-gle” and then slowly slipped under the surface.

Gracie was busy sorting her tackle box full of rubber twisters andworms by color and shape so Mom (Kristi) picked up the rod and setthe hook. The fish didn’t make a run or dart around; she just swama large calm arch that brought it past the boat. The fight style puz-zled me since bass and pike usually streak around. I predicted Kristiwas connected to a three-pound pike. Standing on the front deck, Ispotted the big muskie through the clear water of White Bear Lakeand made an excited announcement to the family. The fish swam pastthe boat and then the drag sang as she started peeling line off the reel.It surged some 40 yards before turning and burying into some of thenewly emerging curly leaf pond weed.


The Two-Pound Triumphby Paul Hartman

The fish swam past the boat and then the drag sangas she started peeling line off the reel.

As we maneuvered to follow the fish, sheresumed swimming – the weeds fell off the lineand the battle intensified. While Lilly enjoyedwatching the battle from my arms, Graciewould only stop sorting her tackle to observefor short periods each time the fish was nearboat side. Kristi brought the fish to the boatafter 10 minutes. Having no net, I set Lillydown and gently grabbed the fish’s tail tryingto gain control of it. It instantly streaked away30 yards, throwing a wall of water into myface. She buried herself into the weeds once

more and as Kristi gently led her back to the boat she arrived with a companion at her side.Another muskie in the low 40-inch class was now shadowing the hooked fish’s every move andcontinued to do so for the rest of the battle.

Once again I set Lilly down and grabbed the fish’s tail causing it to streak off and re-buryinto the weeds. At this point an approaching pon-toon was heading right for the fish. In an effort toavoid having the line cut, I backed our boattoward the fish. Noticing the big bend in Kristi’spole, the pontoon full of people stuck around tosee the outcome and offer encouragement.

Kristi began to complain about some armfatigue at this point and I silently started to doubtthe outcome of the fight would end in her favor.The combo she was holding was a quality Fenwick ultra light rod, but the line was six year old2-pound Trilene XL spooled on a $3 generic reel I use for ice fishing. The now numerous runshad changed the drag’s crisp clicking sound into a dull grinding noise. Worse yet, the line wasbecoming extremely twisted. The only reassuring thoughts were that there was a fresh 6’ leaderof durable #2 Berkley Fireline and that Kristi was remaining very calm throughout the fight,refusing to make that small mistake that would tip the scale in the fish’s favor.

After 33 minutes I finally restrained the fish and the pontoon of spectators joined in withscreams of excitement in victory as the large fish was hoisted aboard. As Kristi set the roddown, the line snarled into a huge tangled mess.

In all, the muskie buried in the weeds four times, jumped once, and broke free of my tailgrasp five times before Kristi reined triumphant – briefly. The fish was lightly hooked in thecorner of the mouth and measured an incredible 47 inches! We estimated the muskie to be atleast 24 pounds, maybe bigger. Once landed, the big fish also piqued Gracie’s attention. She

joined Kristi and Lilly for a look at the monster beforewe quickly returned it to the water. At this point, thetriumph slowly switched toward the muskie’s favor.

As it swam away to recover, Kristi stood up bleed-ing badly from her middle finger tip. The muskie’stooth had sliced deep into her finger during the excite-ment of holding her up for a photo.

Our “one-cast-day” was over and the trip to thehospital began the next leg of the adventure. WhileDad took care of baths and tucking in the girls, Momdrove herself to the ER where an amazed staff listenedto another “fish story” as they tied up her fingertip withthree stitches.

The current IGFA world record on #2 test is a 19-pound 8-ounce muskie caught in 2004 in WigwamLake, Ontario. Kristi’s fish easily exceeded the worldline class record by at least four pounds. Kristi simplysaid, “I wish all muskies fought that hard!”

What an awesome way to christen a new boat with a two-pound test triumph over a worldline class record muskie. The muskie was most likely one which I had helped stock into WhiteBear Lake as a fingerling in 2000. This fish came from a muskie rearing pond that I managenear North Branch, MN. The pond is a cooperative project between Frankie’s Live Bait &Marine, the MN Muskie Guides Association, the MN DNR, and the Twin Cities Chapter ofMuskies, Inc., funded my the Minnesota Muskie Tournaments. v

www.muskiesinc.org September 2009.....MUSKIE 21

What an awesome wayto christen a new boatwith a two-pound testtriumph over a worldline class record muskie.

As Kristi gently led the big muskie back tothe boat there was another muskie shadow-ing the hooked fish’s every move.

The big fish also piqued little Gracie’sattention so she joined Kristi for alook at the monster before it wasquickly returned to the water.

The late summer and early fall period can be one of the mostexciting times for Muskies, Inc. members to target muskies inCanadian waters. There’s nothing better than fishing with

family. As a father and son team we’ve had manygreat experiences while fishing and guiding for thegreatest of freshwater predators. The trips thatwe’ve made together in Canada during the latesummer and early fall definitely rank near the top.

There is just something about crossing theborder - it’s an adventure in itself. Every time wetravel to Canada (or another country) it’s a greatexperience which results in lifetime memories.

We have a lot of hobbies that take us to various places. But fish-ing and all of the things associated with it rank at the top of our list.This is true even though fishing-related activities such as guiding, out-door media, and the tackle business are our only jobs.

To hear the soothing call of a loon looking for its mate, to see agiant moose push its way through the heavy brush, to photograph thegreat bald eagle soaring on high in search of a meal, are just some ofthe experiences to look forward to in Canada. The famous shorelunch tastes a little bit better north of the border, no matter how youfix up the walleyes, potatoes and beans. Washing it down with a localbrew seems a bit more refreshing as well.

The fishing is great for many species in Canada, and while themuskie is our favorite fish, walleyes, bass, lakers, and big northernpike all come out to play, even when fishing for muskies. The remoteCanadian wilderness that surrounds so many of the pristine fishinglakes will have all serious hunters considering a trip back with the rifleor the bow to chase the big game that lives on land, after chasing thebig game that swims beneath the surface.

And what about those wonderful muskies! Muskie fishing is greatthroughout much of the United States. Many top waters, like ourhome lake, offer action just as hot, but there is just something differ-

ent about muskie fishing in Canada, especially in the late summer andearly fall period. This is a time of year when anglers can experience alot of action from active fish. The waters start out very warm and the

muskie’s metabolism is cranked up. At somepoint during this period the waters start to cooland this cool down period causes the activity levelof the muskies to remain very high.

We’ll never forget the first muskie that weput in the net in Canada. We were fishing thecrystal clear waters of Pipestone Lake in Ontario.We were on a media trip through one of the tel-evision companies that we work with and cover-

ing the lake and one of its few lodges for one of the magazines wewrite for. We were working the shallow side of a small island off of alarger island complex for muskies, a good distance off the main bodyof land. After a morning of excellent smallmouth bass, pike and wall-eye fishing we were more than ready to get serious with the muskies.

As we cast to the rocky shoreline of the island, which was coveredwith grass patches and boulders, a muskie rushed up off of the break-line that fell into deep water. The water was like gin and it was easy tosee every quiver of the fish’s body as it hunted down the minnow bait.It chased almost all of the way back to the boat before hammering itwith a hard strike. It wasn’t a big fish but it put up a tremendous fight.After a few exhilarating minutes, our first Canadian muskie was in thenet at the side of the boat. The coloration and markings on thismuskie were some of the most beautiful that we’ve ever seen. We werefar from the lodge, far from anything that resembled civilization, andwe had not seen another human being for hours. An eagle soared onhigh as we unhooked and quickly released the gorgeous fishunharmed. One word came to mind - perfection.

Another thing that made that particular day stand out was whathappened a short time later on our very next spot. We were castingspinnerbaits and surface baits in the back of a large bay for muskies

In the late summerand early fall period,islands and humpshold a lot of activeCanadian muskies.


LATE SUMMER & EARLYFALL IN CANADA

North of the Border Muskie FishingFun for a M.I. Father & Son Team

by Colby Simms with Ray SimmsPhotos by the Simms Outdoors Team

The author displays a muskie with magnificent coloration.

A perfect evening for fishing in Canada.

where we had a couple of follows the previ-ous day. While working a big topwater lureoff the edge of a mid depth weed bed in thecenter of the bay, we both saw what lookedlike a nice muskie rush strait up off the bot-tom like a lightning bolt and nail the helplesslooking lure on top, coming almost com-pletely out of the water on the strike. Afteran exciting fight in the ultra clear water, thefish came near, and that was when we realizedthat this was not a muskie, but his close cousin, the northern pike,and a big pike it was. In fact, this was the largest pike that either of ushad ever caught, a real trophy, not to mention the most exciting top-water strike that we had ever seen up to that point. This was anotherall around tremendous experience for a father and son chasingmuskies together in late summer in Canada.

During another great week of Canadian muskie fishing on Lakeof the Woods in early fall we boated more than a dozen muskies upto the mid 40 inch range along with lots of nice northern pike. Oneparticular day really stands out. We caught several good muskies andseveral nice pike on spinnerbaits and tube jigs during that day, but thenumber of fish that we raised was incredible. We had follows all day,and never went very long without some kind of action. Lots of fishwere short striking but trying to hit the baits all the same. Up to thatpoint, we had never seen as many muskies in a single day of fishing aswe did that day, and the numbers were remarkable. The largestmuskie that we landed that day was a 43 incher that came out ofnowhere at the side of the boat. As the lure came up out of the waterafter the figure eight, this fish came from under the boat and lungedup out of the water after it, to no avail. Quickly driving the rod backinto the water and continuing with the figure eight finally produceda strike after a couple of minutes in the eight. The fish hit the lure

hard with a foot of line out, and after sever-al more heart pounding minutes, it wascaught, photographed and released.

In the late summer and early fall peri-od, islands and humps hold a lot of activeCanadian muskies. Irregular shorelinebanks, flats, as well as primary and second-ary points also hold a lot of active fish will-

ing to whack a good presentation. Rocky areasare great places to look for north of the border

muskies at this time, especially rocky spots with plenty of big boul-ders. Weeds and grasses also offer excellent habitat for muskies andtheir prey at this time. The healthy green vegetation produces oxygenwhich draws plenty of fish.

Many different presentations and lure options are effective at thistime as well. Trolling produces plenty of muskies but casting is oftenthe most effective fishing method. Buoyant, shallow diving minnowbaits with flat sides that produce a lot of flash and surface lures likebuzzbaits, walking plugs, and propbaits are highly effective optionsfor muskies at this time in Canada. Long arm safety pin style spinner-baits with multiple blades, swimbaits, tubes, paddle tail shads, andflashy wide wobbling spoons are top lure choices at this time as well.Slow presentations can produce, especially following cold fronts.However, much of the time faster retrieve speeds will draw lots ofattention from muskies as they are active and aggressive and don’tseem to mind chasing down fast moving prey. Fast retrieves also allowsfor more water coverage and a better opportunity to search out fishthat are most apt to bite.

Late summer and early fall trips to Canada are a real thrill, butgetting to share them with a favorite fishing partner is truly an expe-rience to which all others can be measured. Get out there, experienceall that you can, and good luck! v


Colby Simms caught this big cousin of themuskie during a Canadian adventure.


We’ve all been told to drinkplenty of water. Theharsh elements of sun

and wind take a toll; drinking plentyof water keeps us healthy and on thewater doing what we love, right? Iwholeheartedly agree. There was atime I bought cases of disposablewater bottles. I’d fill my boat withthem. I shared them with customerswho drank about half a bottle, thenwe’d toss it out at the end of the day.No more. Why the change of heart?I read a couple of startling statisticsfrom the Environmental ProtectionAgency and the Energy InformationAdministration which I’ll share withyou.

Everyday in the United States wethrow away 40 million plastic waterbottles. It takes 55,000 barrels of oil tomake these bottles. That amount couldfuel 680,000 cars. And, it puts10,000 tons of CO2 into the atmos-phere.

Don’t those statistics make youpause? Reducing our carbon foot-print is not just a hip ecologicaltrend - dispensing of using dispos-able plastic water bottles could obvi-ously have very far reaching effects.Okay, but maybe you don’t want tosave the planet . . . how about sav-ing yourself and the ones you love?

Most reusable beverage bottles aremade out of polycarbonate. Bisphenol-A (BPA) is an ingredient used to makepolycarbonate. It is a chemical that has been linked to a long list of healthissues including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, early onset of puberty,and increased rates of some cancers—particularly breast, ovarian, andprostate. The longer a liquid, like water, sits in a container made withBPA, the more of it leaches into that liquid.

The call to ban BPA and other estrogenic activity chemicals isgrowing quickly. California has passed legislation banning phthalates(which affects male reproductive organs) and legislation to ban BPAis pending. Similar bills are pending in other states.

At the time of this writing there was still conflicting research onBPA. The National Toxicology Program has called for a ban on it, whilethe Food and Drug Administration believes more research is required.My two cents? Why take the chance when there are alternatives.

The AlternativesI’ve decided to go with a dedicat-

ed BPA & phthalate-free soft plasticwater bottle. It now goes everywherewith me. I fill it up with ice and waterand re-fill it when it is empty. Thereare dozens of different choices on themarket so I field tested a few andcame up with some recommenda-tions. Different lifestyles and individ-ual preferences will determine whichdesign is best for you.

Polar - This was probably my favoritebecause it is insulated. It has a double-wall construction which creates athermal barrier of air and truly keeps

heat out. Water simply stayed colder longer than in any other brand.It also has a foil layer between the walls to reflect solar rays. Initially Ithought the crinkled up foil looked a bit cheesy but, hey, it works! Itis dishwasher and freezer safe, durable, and very ergonomic. It fitsboth my small hands and my hubby’s large hands equally well.Available in 20 and 24 ounce sizes, it retails for around $11. (800)440-0358; www.polarbottle.com

Ultimate Direction - Big drinkers will appreciate these bottles. Sizesrange from 20-54 ounces and you can easily regulate water flow—from small sips to big gulps. They tout themselves as the biggest flowon the market. The kicker valve takes some getting used to - you “kick”the valve to the side with your hands or mouth and it retracts auto-matically into a leak proof position. You actually never have to touch

THINK BEFORE YOU DRINKA serious look at water bottles

by Patricia Strutz

Reducing our carbon footprint is notjust a hip ecological trend - dispensingof using disposable plastic water bottlescould obviously have very far reachingeffects. Okay, but maybe you don’twant to save the planet . . . how aboutsaving yourself and the ones you love?


Other Ways to Reduce yourExposure to EA Chemicals

(according towww.govlink.org/hazwaste)

1. Avoid plastic containers with thecode 7 on the bottom - unlessthe packaging indicates it is BPA-free. Some #7 containers aremade with alternative products.

2. If you are using polycarbonatebottles wash them by hand withmild dishwashing soap and notin the dishwasher. Harsh chemi-cals and heat degrade the plasticand increase leaching of BPA.

3. Don’t microwave food in plasticcontainers. Heat helps distributethe EA chemicals into food orbeverages. Ceramic and glass aregood alternatives.

4. Use new (not worn, scratched)plastic containers only.

5. Reduce your use of commerciallycanned foods. Almost all foodcans are lined with Bisphenol-Aepoxy resin and studies confirmBPA presence in canned foodsand beverages.

Special Events

2009October 2-4 35th Annual Pomme de

Terre Muskie Tournament

October 2-4 Hayward Lakes Chapter32nd Annual Fall Tournament.$30,000 in prizes. Call Hayward Baitfor information: 715-634-2921

October 10-11

CH58 Muskie Mayheim FallTournament. Contact Mark Kornosky@ 586-596-4481 or e-mail @[email protected]

October 22

CH58’s 2nd Annual Family Nite atthe Sports Channel. Enjoy family,food and good times. Contact JoeLockemy @ 586-873-5781

No. Chapter, Address Phone #01.....Twin Cities, 414 Division St., Excelsior, MN 55331..........................................952-380-121802.....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...........................................715-477-291313.....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, 5608 Brave Chief Lane, Ravenna, OH 44266 ...............................330-296-239824.....Brainerd Lakes, 18031 Heritage Road, Brainerd, MN 56401 ..........................218-838-550926.....Central Wisconsin, PO Box 263, Medford, WI 54451 ......................................715-748-487427.....Central Illinois, 1191 Sandra Lane, Monticello, IL 61856 .................................309-264-373028.....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 54601 ........................................608-786-406231.....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...........................................262-542-999737.....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 .................317-577-805044.....Colorado, 3739 Sawgrass Trail, Castle Rock, CO 80109 ................................303-668-408945.....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 ........................616-447-168848.....Arrowhead, PO Box 603, Tower, MN 55790 ....................................................218-753-261249.....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 Ass’n, 524 Sterling Meadows Place, Brookville, OH 45309 ..937-833-183357.....NW TigerPac, P.O. Box 5515, Kent, WA 98064 ...............................................253-850-588958.....Lake St. Clair, 20939 Hackel Court, Clinton, Twp, MI 48038...........................586-873-578159.....New Mexico Muskies, Inc., P.O. Box 65575 Albuquerque, NM 87193.............505-363-4624

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.

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


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Chapter Banner & Focus:Bemidji/Cass Lake Chapter #46

The Chapter News & Views banner this month features scenesfrom the 2009 Muskie Tournament held by the Bemidji/Cass LakeChapter. This was their 11th annual event and hosted 57 anglersincluding 7 juniors. The Chapter distributed some $1500 in prizes,all donated. That’s not bad for a small but expanding chapter of 45members (including a dozen new ones in the past year).

The tournament was held on lakes Bemidji, Big, Cass LakeChain, and Plantagenet and was won by Paul Schol who got a 51-incher out of Lake Bemidji. A total of five fish were caught andreleased. Chapter #46 is right in the heart of Minnesota’s primemuskie country, with not only the tournament lakes but also Leech,Andrusia, and Winnibigosh just a few miles away.

Next year’s tournament is the Saturday of Father’s Day week-end. For more information you can contact Rory Potter at: 218-368-2688 or: [email protected] Rory’s address is: 16256Andrusia Rd. NE, Cass Lake, MN 56633.

In addition to the tournament the chapter has an annualfundraiser and awards ceremony, helps out the Minnesota DNR,put in a dock on a local muskie lake, and contributes scholarshipmoney to Bemidji State University for aquatic biology programs.This year they donated $670.

Chapter #46 is a small but active and growing chapter ofMuskies, Inc!

42nd Annual Frank Schneider MemorialMuskie Tournament, September 11-13

This is Muskies, Inc.’s oldest fishing contest. For over 40 yearsthe Twin Cities chapter has been holding a tournament in northern

Minnesota. The first tournament was on Cass Lake and the eventhas grown to include 21 lakes in the Bemidji-Walker-Cass Lake-Longville area of northern Minnesota with over 600 participants. Inthe 1990s the tournament, formerly referred to as “TheInternational”, was re-named to honor Frank Schneider Jr., long-time Muskies Inc. member who worked tirelessly with theMinnesota state legislature and other outdoor organizations toimprove fishing and hunting opportunities in the state.

This year’s tournament will be September 11, 12 & 13. Withover $30,000 in prizes, it promises to be a great event. Fishing inthis tournament has become a long-time tradition for many muskieanglers, some who have fished it for over 30 years. We find that wehave many families and groups of friends who return year after yearfrom all areas of the country. With anyone who catches a 40-inch orlonger muskie eligible for the Grand Prize drawing, there is greateropportunity to take home a new boat.

The grand prize, a Skeeter 1790T boat/trailer with a Yamaha75 hp 4-stroke, was obtained through Skeeter Boats and Frankie’sMarine in Chisago City, a long-time supporter of Muskies, Inc.Anyone who registers a muskie 40” or longer will be eligible for thegrand prize drawing. The winner will be able to use the boat in tradefor any other boat from Frankie’s.

Included with the registration is three days of muskie fishing onyour choice of 21 lakes, feeds Friday and Saturday nights, and anawards program and feed at Moondance Fairgrounds in Walker onSunday. Bill Sherck, “The Man About The Woods” from TV’sMinnesota Bound will host Sunday’s Awards Program.

Prizes will be awarded through 10th place for released muskieswith the top three juniors also receiving prizes. Fenwick rods, AbuGarcia reels, and other fishing equipment as well as trips toCanadian and US resorts are part of the prize package. A trip to RedWing Lodge on Lake of the Woods will go to the first place finisher.

The event will also feature silent auctions at the feeds as wellas a tournament-only raffle with guide trips, custom fishing equip-ment, and other great prizes.

You may register on the chapter website, www.twincities-muskiesinc.org, or in person before September 3 at Thorne Bros. inFridley, Joe’s in St. Paul, Blue Ribbon Bait & Tackle in Oakdale,Reed’s Family Outdoor Outfitters in Walker, One Stop in Longville,Froggie’s Bait & Tackle in Cass Lake, or Bluewater Bait in Bemidji.

The Twin Cities chapter hopes to see many muskie anglersfrom all over the country at this event this year. Come join us for andmake a new tradition for yourself.

The Twin Cities chapter will also be holding a one-day, metro-area tournament conceived to honor chapter member GeorgeWahl, creator and manufacturer of the Eagle Tail who passed awaylast fall from cancer. The 1st Annual George Wahl Memorial Metro-Area Muskie Tournament will be held on October 3. 100% of theproceeds raised by this event will go to improve the Twin Cities areamuskie fishery. Every person who catches a muskie will be eligiblefor the grand prize, a trip for 4 people to Whitefish Bay Camp onLake of the Woods. Prizes will be awarded through 10th place andto the three top-placing juniors. A Mary Villnow Memorial cashbonus will be awarded to the top three female anglers. The Mary

Twin Cities414 Division St. • Excelsior, MN 55331

952-380-1218www.twincitiesmuskiesinc.org

Meets 2nd Tuesday 7:00 PM, Knights of Columbus, 1114 W79th St Bloomington,MN, near the SE corner of the intersection of I-494 and I-35W.

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Thanks to Denise Olson for providing this information aboutthe two Chapter #1 fishing tournaments. Denise co-chairsthe Tournament 2009 Committee with Shawn Kellett and isthe longtime editor of the Chapter newsletter “On the Water.”

Bemidji/Cass Lake16256 Andrusia Rd NE • Cass Lake, MN 56633

218-335-8597Meets: 3rd Wed. 8:45 PM Gander Mtn., Bemidiji

46


Villnow bonus was created to encourage women muskie anglers ofall ages. The Fly Angler will also offer a bonus for the biggestmuskie caught on a fly. The awards program will be held at ThorneBros. in Fridley and will include a “feed” for all contestants.

Pomme “Pick 3” OutingSeptember 26, 2009

6:30 AM to 1 PMMeet at State Park Marina by 6:15 AM for check-in

Meet for lunch and prizes at 1 PMSome days it’s better to have just a few great muskie lures with

you than a boatload of choices. Let’s hope September 26th is oneof those days at Pomme de Terre!

The Pomme de Terre Chapter is hosting a Pick 3 Outing onSeptember 26th. Each angler is limited to just 3 lures and canonly use the 3 lures they designate before the start of fishingthat morning! If there are 2 anglers in the boat there can be amaximum of 6 lures in the boat. You can bring extra hooks, splitrings, leaders, etc. but just 3 lures. Pick wisely when you clean outyour boat.

The Pick 3 Outing is limited to Muskies, Inc. members, buteach Pomme Chapter member can bring one non-member guest ifthey desire. Hopefully by the end of the outing any guests willdecide to join our chapter.

The “entry fee” is one used muskie lure per person (luremust be in very good to excellent condition) plus $5 to coverlunch. The lures will be the prizes at the end of the fishing period.After 1 PM folks can load their massive tackle boxes back in theirboats if they need a different “secret” bait.

If you are interested in fishing this outing please notifyKevin or Wayne. More details to come. See you in September!

Kevin Richards Wayne HumphreyTel: 573-280-2300 Home: 314-878-7732 or

[email protected] cell: [email protected]

Calendar of events:Sept 18-20, 2009 -Tournament, multiple waters in Chippewa and

Rusk Oct 5, 2009 The Lunge Log on the Web Site, Jim Bunch, Fill Inn Oct 17, 2009 Fall Meltdown Fishing on Lake Holcombe.Oct 19, 2009 Chapter Board Meeting, Fill Inn StationNov. 2, 2009 General Meeting, Joe Kurz, WI DNR

The big Fall Annual Tournament that our chapter sponsors willbe September 18-20, 2009. Tourn. Hours Fri and Sat are 6AM toNoon and 1PM to 8 PM, Sun 6AM to 10 AM. Awards are Sun 1PMat East Bay Resort on Lake Holcombe. Entry fee is $50 Husbandand Wife $65, Junior $20. Send to First WI Muskies, Inc. P.O. Box122, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729

Tournament waters are: Rice Lake, Lake Eau Claire, Amacoy,Upper Chippewa River, Cornell Flowage, Flambeau River, Fireside,Island Lake Chain, Holcombe, Lower Long, Old Abe, Potato, Sand,Wissota, Lower Chippewa River, Dells Pond, Round and Big FallsFlowage. 34 inch and longer muskies can be counted on all tourna-ment waters, This a release only tournament. You are required tophone in your releases daily to the registration hotline at 888-726-

6733 before 10 PM. You must then bring your release forms to tour-nament headquarters by noon Sunday Sept 20. There will be three$500 cash drawings from tournament entries. You do not have tocatch a muskie to be eligible for the cash drawings. Everyone whocatches a muskie will receive a prize at the awards ceremony.

The Kleeba State Chapter Challenge was held in June, JoeHeil and Tom Smetana attended and scored points. Next yearsKleeba will be sponsored by the God’s Country Chapter and mostlikely held on Lake Holcombe right in our back yard. We raised$1183 on the Alliance boat raffle at the Northern Wisconsin StateFair. Our chapter has voted to continue the Leech Lake strain stock-ing of Lake Wissota at the level of $14000 as in the past. We havecommitted to this $4500 from the Hugh Becker grant and $3200from the Wissota Rod and Gun Club.

General Meetings are the first Monday of each month exceptSeptember and January. October through April they are held at theFill Inn Station at 104 W. Columbia Street in Chippewa Falls, WI.

May through August meet-ings are held on LakeWissota at the Rod andGun Club.

Thanks, Jim Bunch

Chapter 06 memberKen Imm49 inch on ChippewaFlowage 6/6/09Ken is a Men’s Master

MemberFighting Cancer and

Muskies!

Due to our summer hiatus, there was no meeting during themonth of July, but this does not mean that nothing has been hap-pening. Preparations for our annual fundraiser on Sunday,November 29th, are well underway. Letters are going out to resorts,bait and tackle stores, and manufacturers seeking donations for ourgiant raffle. Possible speakers have been contacted and talksregarding costs and availability are ongoing.

Fishing reports have generally been on the good side withreports from Bob Jeffries and Tony Dyrkacz of some monster wall-eye coming out of the Pelee Island area of Lake Erie, and also fromDoc Strnad of some large ones caught on Lake of the Woods byhugging the shoreline at night. There have also been reports fromJohn Daley of plenty of jumbo perch being caught from the shore ofBurnham Harbor in Lake Michigan.

In other chapter news, during the past month, the South SideMuskie Hawks again donated a check for $500 to the Illinois MuskieAlliance (IMA) to be used according to their discretion. In addition, adonation of $200 was made to Joe Gloudie, a representative of theChicago Fire Department. The money is earmarked for the purchaseof raffle prizes for a golf outing/benefit for the Misericordia Home.Misericordia helps developmentally-disabled people without regardto age, race, religion or national origin. The golf outing is to be heldat Meadows Golf Club in Blue Island on August 29th. Our normalmeeting schedule resumes on Wednesday, August 19th at 7PM. Thespeaker for the evening will be Jim Kopjo, “The Crappie Professor”,who will be speaking on “Fall Patterns for Crappie”. Jim has oftenbeen a guest speaker at our chapter and is always well-received, sowe are looking forward to any new information he has for us.


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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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.

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

Jason Smith - 715-726-99121-888-726-6733

firstwi.muskiesinc.orgMeetings 1st Monday, 5:30 PM, Rod and Gun Club, Lake Wissota.

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The South Side Muskie Hawks meet in the banquet room ofMama Luigi’s Restaurant, which is located at 7500 S. Harlem Ave.in Bridgeview. We are a multi-species club and welcome men,women and children to our meetings. Our meetings are held at 7PMon the third Wednesday of every month except July (summer hiatuswhen everyone is fishing) and December (Christmas party). We area friendly club and would love to have you come out for a meetingto give us a try. You may find that you like us enough to stay!

Respectfully submitted, Lynn Polyak, RVP

Club activities slow down during the summer months, but clubmembers are excited about this coming fall. As reported last month,CCMI will host a panel of expert anglers from the ranks of the clubmembers to speak at our September 14th membership meeting.The topic will be, “Fall Fishing on the Madison Chain.” We are look-ing forward to a great fall fishing season.

Some very big fish were caught earlier this summer. After clubmember and guide Jeff Hanson caught a couple of fish over 50” onLake Monona, club members are especially pumped up. That is notto say that muskie fishing has been especially slow. Matt Hill, theCCMI Release Chair, reports that 153 muskies were caught andreleased by club members just before the end of June. Jeff Hansonhad already caught 31 muskies. Congratulations, again, Jeff.

Geoff Crandall provided a report on the CCMI annual LakeWinter outing. The following is an edited summary. “The 26thAnnual Lake Winter Outing was held on Saturday June 27th. Theweather was touch and go with temps in the lower 70’s and a mod-erate Northwest wind, rain heavy at times and occasional thunderand lightning. The dinner and awards ceremony was held at theTuscobia Inn. After dinner Steve Reinstra served as the Master ofCeremonies for the program. He recognized Matt Hill of the ‘Hill-Reinstra’ team as well as Shane Nesheim of the “Nesheim-Norin”team as the co-winning teams for 2009. They tied for top honorsthis year each with a 39.5” true muskie. Late morning ShaneNesheim caught a 39.5” on a Walleye flavored Depthraider withassistance from his net man Denny Norin. Matt Hill later tied intohis fish near the grassy island using a phantom softail. Earlier in theday the “Crandall/Kopf” team caught a 35” to earn the second placespot. Duffy Kopf caught as 35” fish on a green and ChartreuseRizzo Wiz in the rain and Geoff caught a 31 1/2” on a small bucktail.Linda Swenson won the category of the “Most Total Inches ofMuskies Caught” award with a 36” and a 30”er using a Rizzo wizlure. Jim Buswell maintained the dubious distinction of being thewinner of the Horses Ass award again in 2009 (since no muskiessmaller than 30” were caught Saturday). A 27” walleye and a loadof large mouth bass were also caught on Lake Winter that day.”

Condolences to Steve Reinstra who received word (on thewater) that his ailing father had passed away a few hours earlier inBlack River Falls. Steve left the lake to be with the family.

Thanks to Geoff Crandall for the above report.

As reported last month, the fall line-up of guest speakers iscomplete. In addition to the panel of experts scheduled forSeptember, Scot Stewart, Regional Program Manager for theWisconsin Department of Natural Resources and longtime CCMImember, will be the featured speaker on October 12th. Scot willprovide an update on muskies in the South Central Region (SCR)and more generally statewide. On November 9th, southeastWisconsin fishing guide, Joel Michel, will be the featured speaker atthe general membership meeting. Joel has been published in

Muskie magazine and the Wisconsin Outdoor Guide. MuskyHunter Magazine Field Editor, Tom Gelb, will be the featured speak-er on December 14th. His presentation, called “Musky HuntingStrategy: The Big Fish Zone,” will provide details about the “What,How, Where and When” of suspended musky hunting.

Lee Bartolini, VP

Greetings Musky Hunters,Headwaters Chapter 12 of Muskies, Inc. had a great regular

business meeting on July 1st.2009.Our normal business activitytook place. Our membership stands strong at over 400 membersand fish Logged thru June was 150.

One new item that all members and Musky fisherman shouldbe aware of Headwaters will Sponsor along with the Threelakes Chamber of Commerce a new Fall Classic MuskyTournament called the 2009 FALL CLASSIC OF CHAMPIONS.This tournament will be held On October 2nd, 3rd and 4th. 2009 onthe Three lakes Chain in Three lakes Wisconsin . Any one interest-ed in this great event can find information on how to register for thistournament on our web site www.headwatersmuskies.comPlease mark your calendars for this fun fall outing. This tournamentis open to the public.

On July 11th Headwaters Chapter held our annual July outing.This outing was open to all . club members. This is a fish any lakeday and the members met at the Eagle River Inn for Burgers andgreat fish stories. Thanks To Coach Kip Cramer, Jim Rechlitz andRoger Sabota of our outings committee for putting on a greatevent. We had 39 members present. .Congratulations to the follow-ing members for there success on the water.; Big was caught byJoe Koschnik 36 1/2, John Hustens 33 1/2, Coach Crammer 301/2,and Doc Stupp 30 ?.

Glenn Matula, Secretary

The Hayward Lakes Chapter did not have a meeting in July butwe have had several fishing outings, one was on “ The Chip” andthe other was on “ Big Siss “. No Muskies have been caught but it’sbeen fun. We meet afterwards at a nearby bar for drinks andlaughs.

The next scheduled meeting is Tuesday September 1st. We willhave a business meeting at 6:30 to plan for our upcoming tourna-ment and the general meeting will start at 7:30 . Our guest speak-er was scheduled to be DNR researcher Martin Jennings but due toa scheduling conflict Tim Simonson also with the DNR, will speak inhis place. The subject is Muskie genetics.

Our 32nd Annual Fall Tournament is October 2nd 3rd, and4th

this year. We have our usual great prize array again, including aLund1725 Pro Guide with a 50hp Mercury on a Shorelander Trailerplus a 25hp and a15hp Mercury motor for a total of $30,000 inprizes. The boat, motor, trailer package is awarded as a door prizeat our Sunday awards ceremony by drawing from the names ofeveryone in the tournament. Everyone in the tournament has achance of winning! The top ten fish catchers win the motors andother merchandise prizes along with trophies. The person with thelargest release gets a “Ron Lax Replica” Everyone who enters afish receives a plaque.

In addition to the Sunday Awards Ceremony there are otherevents. On the Thursday night before the tournament we have our

CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS (Continued from page 27)

Hayward LakesP.O. Box 609

Hayward, WI 54843715-634-4543

13

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

715-477-2913 – Paul Hansenwww.headwatersmuskies.comMeets 1st Wednesday 7:00 PM

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

www.capitalcitymuskiesinc.orgMeets second Monday at the Coliseum Bar, 232 E. Olin Ave, Madison, WI

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“Ask A Guide Night” with area guides to suggest strategy andanswer questions. This will be at “The Old Hayward Brew Pub” onhighway B. The club supplies FREE BEER at this event!! OnSaturday night we have a huge raffle with 150 prizes at the FlatCreek Inn and Suites. (formerly the Ramada) There is a full page adin this magazine which provides an entry blank and more informa-tion or call Hayward Bait and Tackle at 715-634-2921.

We want to thank Hayward Power Sports for helping us obtainour major prizes. Stop and see them for boat, motors, ATVs andsnowmobiles. They are on highway 77 nine miles east of Hayward. 715-462-3674

The following entries have been received in our members con-test. Women: Tera Niebauer 1 fish-9pts. Sandy Hackbarth 1 fish-5pts. Women’s Masters: Sarah Muntz 8 fish-87pts. Men: EmmettBrown 4 fish-28pts. Kris Gottwald 2 fish-33pts., includes a 45” fromthe Eau Claire Chain, J.B. Ellis 2 fish-21pts. Tom Kersten 1 fish-12pts. Kim Hackbarth 1 fish-4pts. Men’s Masters: Tom Muntz 41fish-261pts., includes a 41” from the Indian Chain in Ontario . TedMuntz 19 fish-229pts., includes a 46” from the Indian Chain, AdamGlickman 6 fish-88pts., includes a 46” from Sugar Lake in MN. MikePersson 2 fish-15pts. .

To register your fish please do it on line at the Muskies Inc.website. This saves a lot of work. If you need help call Mike at 717-634-4543. We will however, accept the paper forms, mail them tothe club’s post office box #609 , Hayward WI , 54843 .

Good Fishing, Mike Persson

Hello Three Rivers members, September is finally upon us andsummer is just about over. We hope you had a productive warmwater season; the fall bite will be here soon. At our July membermeeting we were fortunate to have Mike Sperry, of ChautauquaReel Outdoors Guide and Tackle give us an informative seminar onfishing Chautauqua Lake muskies. The responses were overwhelming from our members in attendance, and we would like toextend our thanks to Mike for coming down to share his experiencewith us. The following weekend we held our annual ChautauquaLake team tournament. A total of fifty angler’s registered, an awe-some turn out considering the wet weather conditions. Fifty releaseforms were turned in at the close on Sunday afternoon, althoughmore fish were caught during the two-day event. Joe and ToniFerraro took first place with a total of 7 fish and 103.5 points, andwere awarded $591 in cash. Paul and Dave Fec came in second,with a total of 6 fish and 98.5 points, and took home $295. Adamand Bill Andresky came in third, with a total of 6 fish, and 89.5 pointsto win $99 in cash. Congratulations to all of our winners, and thankyou to all who participated. We look forward to seeing you inOctober for the Lake Arthur Charity Challunge.

This month we will have a very special guest with us at our reg-ular member meeting on Monday evening September 14th. BrianBoyer, maker of Legend Lures, will be with us to discuss his timetested techniques for consistently scoring on big muskies. Brian willpresent video’s featuring some of his catches, which will prove to beentertaining, and informative. Brian fish’s around our area andabroad, and has a reputation of producing some of the best lures inthe business for catching giant muskies. You WILL NOT want tomiss this one. In addition to Brian’s seminar, we will hold a cookoutstarting at around 6:30 p.m., weather permitting. All members plan-ning on attending are encouraged to bring a cover dish of somesort. Hot-dogs, burgers, and beverages will be provided, with theexception of beer.

On Saturday and Sunday September 26th and 27th, the annualJohn Spinda Memorial outing will be held at Kinzua Reservoir. Thisis not a tournament, and no entry fee will be charged. There are no

set fishing times, and everyone can come and go as they please. Allare welcome to come up and remember John by fishing his favoritelake for the weekend. John was a founding member of this chapterand lure maker. And he was active in the club until his passing someyears ago. We will meet on Saturday morning at the Elijah Runlaunch. Lunch is generally informal, and everyone gets togetherafterwards for fish stories and to grill some food.

Remember that our annual 50/50 Christmas raffle will bestarting soon and you will be receiving tickets in the mail thismonth. Please purchase or sell as many as you can and pleaseconsider an additional donation in any amount. The drawing willbe at our Christmas party on Monday evening December 14th.For more information about our club, or how to contact the offi-cers and the board of directors contact: Dave Huemmrich,President at: [email protected] or log on to:www.threeriversmuskiesinc.org

Dave Huemmrich, President

The Muskie Maniacs held their 3rd tournament of the seasonand combined our tournament with the Cleveland Chapter 23’s tour-nament on July 11th and 12th. We had a total of 36 anglers that hada choice to fish either West Branch or Lake Milton. We had a greattime and despite some storms on Saturday, Sunday was perfect.There were 22 legal fish caught and believe it or not each chaptercaught 11 legal size fish. Jason Basic from Chapter 23 was the win-ner of the tournament with the most points by catching 4 fish of41”,38.5”, and (2) 35” fish. Congratulations Jason! Jason won a$75 gift certificate from Gander Mountain. The big fish pool of$155.00 went to Sherm Champlin from Chapter 23 with his 44” fish.Way to go Sherm! We had a great time and look forward to havingthis tournament again next year!

Our next tournament will be our Leesville Nite Bite tournamenton August 8th. We get to fish from 12 noon till midnight. We had agood turnout for this last year and hope we have good weather. Iwill have the highlights of this tournament in our next issue.

On September 5th, we are going to have our Memorial Outingat West Branch. We usually have a cookout and take time out toremember the club members that are no longer with us. We arealso having our drawing for our Rod and Reel Raffle.

Kevin Proffitt

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!

We have had a very hot summer. The water temperature onLake Kinkaid was 77 on June 16th and by June 24th; the water tem-perature hit 93 degrees. The cold front that came through June 29th

was a big relief to the fish. Water temperature dropped to 81 on July2nd. Hopefully we will not see 93 degrees the rest of the summer butthat is a lot to hope for. Fishing was very good from June 1st to the17th. A lot of big fish were caught and the numbers of muskie thatwere caught in this time frame was unbelievable. I am really lookingto the fall bite. Last September and October were very good monthsto fish for muskies on the lake. We had 49 muskies reported in our


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

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

www.shawneemuskiehunters.org

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Fall Brawl Tournament.Our officers of chapter 28 have come up with an exciting

schedule of events for 2009. I want all of you to come out and meetother members that have the same passion as you. You may evenlearn some tricks on catching the mighty muskie.

Upcoming 2009 Events:August 23rd to 30th Gil Hamm Chapter Challenge, Leach Lake September 13th Shawnee Muskie Hunters board meetingOctober 9th Evening meeting at the farm house October 10th Guide for the Day event 7:00 am Paul Ice boat

ramp on Kinkaid LakeOctober 24th & 25th Fall Brawl Tournament on Kinkaid Lake

Remember I’m in the other Lund, Walt Krause

Hello everyone,Summer is in full swing and fishing around the state of Iowa

has been good. Thankfully, it’s that time of year once again to gettogether with your fellow chapter members for our annual fall tour-naments and hopefully our new IA Musky Tournament Team Trail onthe Iowa Great Lakes. Hopefully everyone got the tournament flyerin the mail. If you did not receive any information in the mail pleasego to our website or give me a call so we can get you signed up. Allthe information you need to know about the tournament registrationprocess and rules can be found on our chapter website atwww.muskieclub.com under the events page. The 29th Annual FallMuskie Tournament is scheduled for September 18, 19, and 20.The chapter board has made a few changes this year for the 3 dayfall tournament. We have shortened tournament hours slightly.Fishing hours on Friday and Saturday will be from 7 am to 5 pm andSunday 7 am to 11 am. In addition we have added a second optionfor verifying fish measurements prior to a successful release of thefish. Option 1 is the presence of one witness from another boat whois entered in the tournament to witness your fish. This is the sameoption we have used in this tournament in the past. The witnessmust sign a release form with the time of the catch; the form is sup-plied at the tournament headquarters. Participants are responsiblefor arranging to have their own witness. Option 2 is a measurementthat can be solely recorded by the boat that caught the musky andis a method designed to eliminate the time it takes to gather a wit-ness from another boat. The measurement is recorded using a dig-ital camera and a tournament issued measuring board. The fishmust be positioned on a tournament issued bump board with itsnose at the head of the bump board and its belly facing out with theparticipant kneeling behind the fish. The tournament day decal aswell as the entire board must be in clear view. Measuring boardsmay be purchased or rented from 6 pm till 7 pm at the tournamentheadquarters on Sept. 17, 18, and 19 and you can pick up the dailydecal that you must have on the board at the headquarters as well.The anglers catch is then verified at the tournament headquartersby bringing their camera and corresponding USB cable or mediacard. We have a few example pictures on the website that showwhat we are looking for in the option 2 photos.

The 21st Annual IDSO Muskie Fest is Saturday, October 3rd.The following day, Oct. 4th, we will be hosting the final leg of IowaMusky Team Trail. The results, current team point standings, andphotos from the first three team tournaments can be found on ourchapter website as well under the events page. Just because ateam hasn’t participated in the first three legs of the tournament traildoesn’t mean you can’t participate in the final one. However, we dohave a limit of 50 teams for the tournament on Oct. 4th, so be sure

to get your registration forms in ASAP. All of our tournaments areopen to any one (non Muskies Inc. members as well as MuskiesInc. members from other chapters). We look forward to seeingeveryone there!

Pete Hildreth, President, 712-363-0755

In July, we made contact with our Waukesha County FisheriesBiologist from the WDNR and received great news. The new rear-ing pond could be ready this fall, and they’re considering a few hun-dred fish from the WDNR quotas for the pond. This would enablecollection of larger muskies in spring. Stocking funds for 2009 mayneed to be adjusted depending on an August meeting about theAmron pond. We’ll be sending communications to chapter membersfor assistance to help the WDNR prepare and maintain the facility.Efforts to convert the old rearing pond into an urban fishery mustfirst be taken to the spring hearings, and this item has been submit-ted for 2010. Two more member outings were held in July on the10th and 28th.

The Daniel Boone Conservation League (www.dbcl.org) picnicwas August 1st . Our chapter hosted youth fishing at their facility aspromised. The kids enjoyed catching bluegill, perch, bullheads, andthe occasional turtle. We even had a few brave souls learn muskiebaitcasting combos with hook-less Crane Baits and Suicks. We’dlike to thank the volunteers: Gordy Merz for supplying over half thefishing combos and Smokey’s Muskie & Bait Shop for donating thebait. Our chapter assists the Pewaukee Police Department with thePewaukee Cops & Bobbers Youth Program; it ended August 25th.

The last chapter outing is scheduled for September 10th. Ourgeneral meetings resume September 22nd at 7:30PM. The boardmeeting begins at 6PM and participation is encouraged. CraigNiermann has lined up Tom Rozek to present “Fishing NewWaters.” Tom is a local guide, is on the board of directors of theIronman Muskie Tournament Trail, and fishes professional muskietournaments. More information about Tom can be found athttp://www.river-hunter.com/.

Mike Phelps

CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS (Continued from page 29)

MilwaukeeP.O. Box 28842 • Greenfield, WI 53228

262-542-9997www.milwaukeemuskiesinc.com • [email protected]

Meets 4th Tuesday ex. June/July or Dec. Meets 3rd Tuesday in November only: 6:00PM Board,7:30 PM General, Waukesha Elks Lodge #400, 2301 Springdale Rd, Waukesha, WI 53186.

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Upper Great Plains1788 Hwy 4

Estherville, IA 51334712-362-2501

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

29


Hello everybody, hope your season is going well. We neverreally had a hot water time this year - thank mother nature for that.The fish count in the club’s Members Only Fish Contest is reallyclimbing for a lot of members thus far. You can check it out on theclub’s website.

Don’t forget the next cash tournament is on September 12-13on Webster Lake and the Barbee Chain. The cost is $200.00 perboat and we will be having a dinner on Saturday night. For moreinfo call Gary Enos at 574-834-2428 or check out our website at:www.websterlakemuskyclub.net You can also call me for more info.Thank you and see ya on the water.

Bill Bennett <*))))))))))))><219-201-6123 or 574-457-3879

Wow, summer has been flying by we’ve had some great get-togethers this year and caught some nice muskies. Norm Dillionscaught a 48 incher at Merwin and 2 at our picnic. We had a littlederby on Lake Tapps and Mike Floyd caught 3 muskies. We arenow headed into our open tournament on Lake Tapps. This lake hasit all, weed beds, timber, docks and lots of under water points; itshould be a lot of fun.

I want to take a minute to thank two of our members who arenot only excellent muskie fishermen, but are also outstandingsoldiers are leaving us to go to Iraq. We are very proud of themand want them to know they will be greatly missed, but at least themuskies at Merwin will get a break. We hope for a quick and safereturn for them both.

Remember time on the water is key!! Brett Olson

Hello Everybody,The weather is HOT and the fishing has slowed a bit

here at Chapter 59. One of two of our lakes is undergoinga “lake turnover” that has made the water pretty nasty forfishing, but we still like to get out there and catch what wecan! We are still a bit in the process of getting back onour feet, but have come a long way in the last few monthsand are excited about the future of this club! There are acouple camping trips scheduled for our chapter which canbe found on the main websites calendar. We have hadseveral chapter fishing trips and clinics to help support ourorganization, as well as spending a couple hours oneSaturday at Bluewater Lake picking up trash in efforts togive back to the community. We are in the process of con-ducting a clinic for a local fly fishing club, and will be excit-ed to recruit new members in the process! LosPescadores Fly Fishing Club is excited to become activemembers, and have been more than willing to help whenand where they can…a huge thanks to them!

A website has begun for our chapter, www.newmexi-comuskiesinc.org, although still under construction…we

are working hard to get the site up and running so we are able toshare our pictures, videos, fishing reports, and stories with all ofyou! Our chapter owes a great deal of appreciation to PerryPeterson and Janice Kuper for all their help and support in gettingour chapter on stable ground and on the road to success! We arelooking forward to what we can accomplish and the difference wewill be able to make in this fishery! Tight lines and the best of luckon the water!!

Regards, Jared Blaschke, President

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Webster LakeP.O. Box 670

No. Webster, IN 46555574-834-1669

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NW TigerPacP.O. Box 5515, Kent, WA 98064

www.nwtigermuskies.orgemail: [email protected]

Hot line: (253) 850-5889 • Perry Peterson, President

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

(505) 363-4624www.newmexicomuskiesinc.org

59

www.redwinglodge.netFamily owned and operated for 40 years

Over

9,000 MuskiesReleased

• Ultra-modern one, two, three, or four bedroom cabins• Housekeeping or camping• Floating docks, electricity for charging batteries, Lund Boats with swivel

seats and depth finders, Honda motors with electric start• Dining room with food and liquor available for registered guests only

Call or write for data on musky catches:

1 (888) 488-5601 or (807) 488-5601Red Wing Lodge, Box 1008, Baudette, MN 56623

The convenience of a drive-in camp with the privacy you would expect on an island.

On Sabaskong BaySix-time Muskies, Inc.,

Chapter Challunge Headquarters1983, 1986, 1993, 1997, 2003, 2004

Chapter 59 Board Members spent a couple hours picking up trash beforehitting the water on a weekend fishing trip for Tigers!


the spout with your hands, so, it stays clean even if your hands arefull of musky slime or insect repellent. This company offers belt andwaist packs for those who want the bottle accessible at all times—evena woman specific waist pack that contours to fit the female form. Myonly gripe with this bottle is that it isn’t insulated so water didn’t stayice cold. (800) 426-7229; www.ultimatedirection.com

Pure-bot - This company remarks that BPA and phthalates arejust two of several hundred chemicals that have estrogenic activity(EA) and are used to manufacture plastics. Pure-bot is the first, andonly bottle (at this time) that is completely free of all estrogenic chem-icals. It’s is easy to hold and has a wide mouth opening (as do almostall of the models that I recommend.) This is important because youcan not fit ice cubes into smaller openings. This bottle is not insulat-ed, but, if you are really concerned with the health effects related toEA, it is a great choice. www.pure-bot.com

Platypus - Collapsible andvery versatile. If you want topack light (and have access topotable water) this is the answer.Compared to a hard bottle ofequal volume, the Platy bottleweighs 80% less and takes uponly one-fifth of the space whenempty. So, you could stash thesein your car, boat, purse—wher-ever—and fill them up at thenearby drinking fountain. I didfind these bottles a bit difficultto wash and dry, but, if you areusing them solely for water thatshouldn’t be much of an issue.The company also offers insulat-ed carriers. (206) 505-9500;www.platypushydration.com

Camelbak - Playtpus (read above) is soft and collapsible. On theother end of the spectrum is Camelbak’s “hard plastic” design. Madefrom BPA-free Tritan, their Better Bottle will appeal to those of youwho want a more rugged bottle. No tilting is required as there is along straw that goes from the bite valve to the bottom of the bottle.

This is a mixed blessing because the valve and straw needs to be handwashed. They do provide a cleaning kit (brushes and tablets) which ishandy if you drink juice or sports drinks. It is not insulated, however,they do offer an insulated bottle sleeve. Note: Old Camelbaks are notBPA-free. They have not been recalled because the company feelsthere is no consensus on the issues surrounding BPA yet. Look for theBPA-free logo or sticker on the side of the bottle to be sure. (800)767-8725; www.camelbak.com

I have only covered plastic water bottles. There are numerousstainless steel and aluminum bottles available, too. Personally, I findthese bottles not as “user-friendly” for a number of reasons. You can’tsqueeze the bottle to dictate the water flow. They are not as ergonom-ic; smaller hands, like mine, can have difficulty holding on to them.They can roll around and ding things up (ie boat paint/metal). Mostare un-insulated and have a tendency of sweating (producing conden-sation). Depending on their contents, they can be very cold or hot to

the touch. Aluminum, non-thermos containers particularlyconduct heat.

On the other hand, I haveseveral friends who swear theycan not get rid of the “plastictaste” in plastic water bottles.For them, BPA-free metal (stain-less-steel, lined aluminum, etc.)water bottles are a viable option.For those folks I recommend:

Primus - Stainless steel, it isnon-reactive to food and bever-ages and will not leach chemi-cals. It has a powder coated fin-ish so it is non-slip and easier togrip. It is extremely durable,lightweight, and comes with acouple different drinking nozzle

options (attached by a carabiner.) 0.6 L-1.0L retails $15-$19. It is un-insulated and has a small mouth opening. www.primuscamping.com

MUSKIE Field Editor/Author Patricia Strutz is always interested ininterviewing Muskies, Inc. members who wish to share their techniquesspecialties. She can be contacted at: [email protected]

I don’t think there are any “special” baits for fishing muskies onoff-shore structure. I usually use a lure that can be fished fast, and onethat doesn’t sink so fast that I get hung up on the rocks. Since I pre-fer to fish off off-shore structure when the wind is blowing I thinkthat a blade-type bait like a bucktail or spinner bait is a very goodchoice. Also, if you’ve read any of my previous articles, then you’dknow that I always have a 6” Grandma or Lundberg Stalker ready togo. These are confidence baits for me and have helped me land manymuskies over the years on off-shore structure. After you land a muskieon this type of structure, be sure to watch your boat and don’t blowacross the area. Many times even a small piece of structure will holdseveral muskies so be careful to stay off the area so that other fish don’tget bumped. When I release a muskie from off-shore structure, I

always ease back to the same area to help the fish find the structure.Many of these spots are close to boat travel lanes, so I don’t want areleased muskie to get hit by a boat. Also, when I’m fishing an areafor several days, I’ve been able to catch the same fish off the same rocka couple days later.

For many anglers leaving the bank behind can be difficult. Theycatch muskies near the bank and in the backs of bays early in the year,and they connect with just enough fish throughout the season to keepthem on the banks. Some folks will try off-shore structure fishing butlack the confidence to stick with it when they don’t find immediatesuccess. The next time you go to your favorite muskie lake observewhat the majority of the other muskie fishermen are doing. If yourlake is like mine, most will be pounding the bank. Now think aboutall those un-pressured muskies that are sitting on off-shore structure,and how few baits they must see each week. Maybe it’s worth a littletime and effort to locate this type of structure on your lake. It’s real-ly paid off for me! v

OFF-SHORE STRUCTURE FISHING(Continued from page 15)

WATER BOTTLES (Continued from page 24)

Erik Chrissis of Chapter 21 caught this 47 inch muskiefrom White Bear Lake, MN. He landed the fish by him-self and says a family boating nearby was nice enough

to take the photo for him. Nice job Erik.

MUSKIES, INC.1509 Stahl RoadSheboygan, WI 53081

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Chapter 02 member Joe Hardy caught this 42 inch Tigerfrom New Mexico’s Lake Quemado. It was one of 42 fishhe caught on a trip there earlier in 2009. His wife Vonnie

took this great photo. Nice fish Joe.

A newer member to Chapter 49, George Marks, tookthis nice sunset shot while trolling Indiana’s Lake

Webster in July. Nice shot George, hope the fishingwas just as good.

Here is Justin Ledman of Chapter 21 with a verynice Lake Vermilion, Minnesota muskie. It meas-

ured 43 inches. Nice fish Justin.

Three Rivers Chapter member Tom Simon caughtthis 44 inch fish while fishing Chautauqua Lake inNew York and even took the picture himself. Nice

fish Tom.

Ron Teschner of Chapter 02 caught this very nice49 inch muskie while fishing in 2008. Looks like a

very healthy fish Ron, good job.

Chapter 38 member Jeff Anderson caught this muskie whilefishing Lake of the Woods in July. St. Cloud Chapter member

Brent Hilbert took the photo. Nice fish Jeff.

Here is Chapter 41 member Josh Jackson with a verynice 34 inch pike. It was one of many he caught &

released during a week on Shoal Lake in Canada whilefishing with his father Todd. Nice fish Josh, great job.

Chapter 16 member Delaney Dominiakcaught a nice 38 inch fish for her very

first muskie. Her mother Brooke tells methat in all the excitement of the first-

muskie-catch, her husband was so con-cerned with getting all of the fish in theshot that he accidentally cut off the top

of Delaney’s head in this photo.

photo contest – september · 2011-09-26 · photo contest – september by brad waldera, photo...

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