MUSKIE Magazine

Transcription

MUSKIE Magazine

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MUSKIE is published monthly and is the Official
Publication of Muskies, Inc. International Office: Ron
Groeschl, International Sec., 14257 Waters Edge
Trail, New Berlin, WI 53151. Ph: 888-710-8286.
© Copyright 2007 by Muskies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Contents
MUSKIE • VOL. 41, NO. 9
Departments
Features
2 President’s Message,
David Cates
12 Mille Lacs Madness,
Jerry Sondag
3 Magazine Notes, Staff
16 A Day to Remember,
Jody Booth
4 Figure 8, Kevin Richards
5 Letters to the Editor
18 Focus: 2006 Member Photo Contest Shot,
John Karakash & Jim Roerig
7 As I See It, Juris Ozols
20 The Muskie McCracken,
Katie McKy
8 Lunge Log, Jim Bunch
14 FCIS Boat Safety
21 Your Chapter’s History,
Vincent P. Trotta
19 Photo Contest,
Gordon Campbell
22 Here’s Why I STINK!,
Mark Sewald
25 Chapter News and Views
29 Index of Advertisers
32 Muskie Tales, Bob Jennings
33 Member Photos,
Gordon Campbell
Join Muskies, Inc. ...
or give a membership
as a gift.
28 A Heart-Thumping Spring,
James W. Colgan
30 It Was a Very Good Year,
Earle Hammond
Regular Membership: ❑ 1 Year-$35.00 ❑ 2 Years-$65.00 ❑ 3 Years- $95.00
Family Membership: ❑ 1 Year-$47.50 ❑ 2 Years-$90.00 ❑ 3 Years-$132.50
Junior Membership (Under 18): ❑ $20.00
❑ For Muskie Research $________
Name _______________________________ Phone ________________
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Address____________________________________________________
Chapter Affiliation Choice Number _______________________________
City & State_____________________________ Zip_________________
Date of Birth (DOB)
Junior Member(s)
Name ___________________________________ DOB ___________
(to find the number of the Chapter you wish to join, see the Chapter News & Views section)
(to find the number of the Chapter you wish to join, see the Chapter News & Views section)
Old Address (for address change only) ___________________________
Name ___________________________________ DOB ___________
City & State ____________________________ Zip_________
Name ___________________________________ DOB ___________
My Membership # ______________ Expiration Date _______
Check One: ❑ New Member ❑ Renewal ❑ Address Change ❑ Gift
MAIL TO MUSKIES, INC. 14257 Waters Edge Trail,
New Berlin, WI, 53151
Email ________________________
Payment: ❑ Check or ❑ Credit Card:
❑ VISA
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www.muskiesinc.org
❑ Discover
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September 2007.....MUSKIE 1
International
Officers
President, David Cates
Phone: 574-457-3222
Email: president@muskiesinc.org
Vice President / Finances, Jim Shannon
Phone: 763-434-9729
Email: vp-finance@muskiesinc.org
Treasurer, Pete Barber
Phone: 847-726-7267
Email: treasurer@muskiesinc.org
I recently read an article stressing the importance of using proper terminal tackle when
fishing for the mighty Muskie. The article emphasized that an angler’s connection to the
fish was only as strong as the weakest link, and that accordingly, every link was critical.
I analogized that situation to ours at Muskies, Inc. Every member is critical to the overall functioning of our organization. Every day of the year an MI member somewhere is
working to make his or her chapter stronger, improve membership, create a better fishery,
improve our understanding of the biology of the species, working with local departments of
natural resources to improve habitat and water quality, or a myriad of other things. No
matter what your contribution, be assured that you have my thanks for making this a
better Muskies, Inc. Muskies, Inc. members are among the most dedicated in all of the fishing industry. I say that with much pride and look forward to your continued efforts on
behalf of our organization; however, to those of you who have the time and talents, there is
the opportunity to step up. At the end of the year we will see new elections for At-Large
Directors who will provide leadership to MI for the next three years. Please consider
increasing your level of participation.
Members Only Fishing Contest, Jim Bunch
Phone: 715-723-8343 • Fax: 715-723-8354
Email: lungelog@muskiesinc.org
Respect
Vice President / Research, Brad Waldera
Phone: 701-642-1952
Email: vp-research@muskiesinc.org
Vice President/Internal Affairs, Vince Weirick
Phone: 574-834-4445
Email: vp-internal-affairs@muskiesinc.org
Vice President / Membership, Dan Narsete
Phone: 720-938-4109
Email: vp-membership@muskiesinc.org
Vice President/Communications, Jack Moga
Phone: 440-886-3926
Email: vp-communications@muskiesinc.org
Web Master, Ron Groeschl
Phone: 262-271-1002
Email: secretary@muskiesinc.org
Int. Administrative Secretary, Ron Groeschl
14257 Waters Edge Trail, New Berlin, WI 53151
Phone: 888-710-8286 or 262-271-1002
Email: secretary@muskiesinc.org
At Large Directors
Term Expires
Don Jahnke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2008
David Cates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2008
Rory Potter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2008
Karl Scherer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2008
Dick McPike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2009
Dan Narsete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2009
Diana Mindar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2009
Throughout my tenure as Muskies, Inc. President, one constant has been the respect
shown by our members. That respect is for the environment, the fish, the fisheries, and our
cause. Such as a traditional view of Muskies, Inc. given the leadership role shown in “catch
and release” we may be called upon again to provide a leadership role in the area of respect.
This summer, within a one hour period at one boat ramp, I had the extreme displeasure of being subjected to repeated acts of “me first” attitudes that resulted in delays for
everyone at the ramp. A few examples includes a cruiser blocking one of the two lanes of
the ramp, so that a member of his crew could use the Port-o-John, an individual trying to
stand on the ramp to save that lane for a boating partner (which partner was at least four
vehicles back in a single file line), a boater blocking the ramp so as to prepare his boat to go
out on the water, and a boater blocking the exit lane from the ramp for no apparent
purpose. If you have spent any time at all on the water this year, I’m sure you have stories
to tell.
Please do not misunderstand my intent. I am not discussing errors made when launching (of which I am guilty of most if not all). What I am discussing, to me, appears to be
simple courtesy. However, I am willing to go even further beyond courtesy to law enforcement. As usual, I have been buzzed by pleasure boaters, harassed by skiers, and pestered by
personal watercraft users. While I would be the first one on the band wagon for mandato-
Jack Moga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2009
Brad Waldera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2009
Jim Shannon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2010
Bob Timme
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2010
Mark Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2010
Vince Weirick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2010
2 MUSKIE.....September 2007
Muskies, Inc. Past Presidents
Gil Hamm
Edward T. Peterka
Robert Hill
Robert Shoop
Frank Schneider
Peter Hadley
DuWayne Bakke
Lou Cook
Peter Hadley
Bob Schmidt
Larry Ramsell
Lou Cook
Keith Ogden
Bill Davis
Steve Statland
John Hotle
Jim Blaubach
Steve Budnik
Jim Smith
Paul Framsted
Perry Smith
Greg Wells
See you on the water.
ABOUT THE COVER
Some days are Diamond.
Some days are Stone.
MUSKIE Magazine Staff
Rod Ramsell, Editor Emeritus
Keith Ogden, Editor Emeritus
MANAGING EDITOR
Jim Smith
Phone: (623) 388-3225
Email: managingeditor@muskiesinc.org
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Juris Ozols
Phone: (952) 921-6311
Email: assistanteditor@muskiesinc.org
PHOTO EDITOR
Gordon Campbell
Phone: (973) 208-8297
Email: gordonc@optonline.net
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Jim Smith
15045 W. Double Tree Way
Surprise, AZ 85374-8568
Phone: (623) 388-3225
Email: jamestsmith@cox.net
For those of us in the Muskie racket
who specialize in “Muskie Stone” days,
the cover picture should serve as an
inspiration. It shows Jerry Sondag
releasing a 56 inch Muskie on Lake
Mille Lacs one night last June.
PUBLICATIONS TECHNICAL MANAGER
Sunray Printing Solutions, Inc. - Brenda Kirchner
25123 22nd Ave. S. • St. Cloud, MN 56301-9189
Phone: 888-253-8808, ext. 133
That in itself is enough to put sparklers
in the eyes of most of us. But Jerry
didn’t stop there. Between himself and
boat partner and fellow guide Luke
Ronnestrand they boated seven fish
that night with three over 52 inches. And oh yes, as is customary in
these situations, they lost the “Big Fish” of the evening.
FIELD EDITORS
Steve Budnik, Bob Chochola, James W. Colgan,
Elizabeth Cratty, Adam Glickman,
Robert Jennings, Mike Kanaval, Colby Simms,
Patricia Strutz, Vincent P. Trotta
By my calculations, the seven fish – 36/56/52/42/40/52/47 – totaled up
to 325 inches, or something over 27 feet of Muskies in 2 1/2 hours.
Jerry says, “The stars were aligned in my favor.” And indeed they were.
Don’t we all wish we could get a “Diamond Day” with those alignments
too? Read the story of his “Mille Lacs Madness” on page 12 of this
issue. ❖
Coming Next Month:
✒ Lake Vermillion-Paradise Anew
✒ Operation Esox
✒ Muskie Editor’s Lac Seul Trip
✒ Northwest Chapter’s First Muskie Tournament
✒ What Do Muskies Eat?
www.muskiesinc.org
MAGAZINE DESIGN
Sunray Printing Solutions, Inc. - John Windschitl
ILLUSTRATORS/CARTOONISTS
Richard Gross
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Jerry Sondag, Jody Booth, John Karakesh,
Jim Roerig, Katie McKy, Vincent P. Trotta,
Mark Sewald, James W. Colgan, Earle Hammond
MUSKIE is published exclusively for the membership of Muskies, Inc. and subscriptions
come with a paid membership. Muskies, Inc. is
a non-profit organization. Membership classes
and associated annual dues are listed on the
form at the bottom of page one. Single copies
of MUSKIE magazine are available at $3.00
each from the Muskies, Inc. International
Office.
Contributors grant rights for M.I. to publish
once in MUSKIE Magazine, both the print and
on-line versions, including archives and on the
M.I. Web site.
Submissions to
MUSKIE Magazine
Persons interested in submitting articles for
publication are directed to our website
www.muskiesinc.org. There they will find a
link to MUSKIE Magazine. From there you
will find links on the left side of the page providing information necessary for submissions
to MUSKIE Magazine. Further questions will
be answered by Jim Smith, Managing Editor.
Submissions may be sent to: 15045 W.
Double Tree Way • Surprise, AZ 85374-8568.
Phone: (623) 388-3225 or you may
Email: managingeditor@muskiesinc.org.
M AGA Z I N E N OT E S ◆ M AGA Z I N E N OT E S ◆ M AGA Z I N E N OT E S ◆ M AGA Z I N E N OT E S
ry licensing of boat drivers, I believe much could be accomplished simply by enforcement
of current boating laws. How many of you have experienced much worse issues? (The
Muskie First forum recently had multiple threads dealing with boating accidents.) I still
contend that the enforcement and support of enforcement officers would go a long way
toward making the experience more enjoyable and safer for everyone.
With that said, I would like to hear from you. Would you support increasing penalties for boating law violations where the increased fines went back to more enforcement?
Would you support MI in a leadership role in encouraging simple respect for other users
on the water and in educating other boaters about the value of common sense and safety?
I look forward to hearing from you.
8
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by Kevin Richards
esox99@sunriseguideservice.net
Get Ready!
A
s I write this column I’m busy packing for my long-anticipated 2007 Ontario adventure. I’ve had months to think
about the trip and a whole week since I retired to work on
my boat and tackle. But today is the day it all comes together!
Last month I mentioned the need to bring my “PFA” (Positive
Fishing Attitude) on every trip. With the reports I’ve been getting
from Ontario, believe me, I got the PFA! When you’re heading to
BIG MUSKIE water you need to be primed on every cast!
My old college roommate is joining me for the first week. He
hasn’t muskie fished for about 8 years, but he told me the other night
all his Suicks were packed and all his hooks have been sharpened that’s good preparation. Of course his preparation is pretty easy – he
only fishes with Suicks and he always fishes out of my boat.
My annual summer journey to Ontario always spurs me into the
maintenance mode for my tackle and my boat. If I quit going to
Ontario I wonder if I’d ever grease my trailer bearings?
I like digging out all my muskie baits. Sometimes I find new
baits I’d forgotten all about (my wife thinks I have too many of those,
but she hates it when I don’t have a specific bait when she wants to
figur e
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8
Figure 8
Ontario, Canada – Where the water is clear, the lake is endless
and uncrowded, and the Muskies await your every cast.
throw it). Other times I may find a chewed up old wooden crankbait
that will need some clear coat to keep it from getting water-logged
too quickly.
I like replacing old treble hooks (that might have one or two
points cut off from a previous release) with new trebles. Of course
all the while I’m hoping I’ll have to do some cutting on these new
trebles really soon!
It’s also a blast to get out the old lake maps and dream a little. I
still have the map I bought on my first trip to Sabaskong Bay in
1981. That old map is torn and faded, but it sure has a lot of good
muskie spots highlighted on it.
The guys I fish with on Lake of the Woods and Lac Seul love to
name islands, rocks, and reefs where they’ve caught muskies. In the
next two and a half weeks I’ll get to visit the Dentist’s Office and
Uncle Joe’s Point at Lac Seul. Then I’ll head to Lake of the Woods
to fish Pat’s Rock, Dad’s Rock, Morgan’s Hump, Figure 8, and one of
my favorites, Heart Attack Reef. In the months ahead I am going to
try to tell you more about how some of these great spots got their
names.
There are a couple of other things we each need to remember to
do as we get ready for our next muskie trip.
Are we aware of the biological conditions that might affect our
trip?
Does the lake we are coming from or going to have zebra mussels? Have the fish populations there been diagnosed with VHS? Do
we know what to do if the answer to either of these questions is yes?
I am going to list a few websites that will help us all get up to
speed on these two biological challenges. Each of us needs to take
the personal responsibility to ensure we do not spread disease or invasive species from one waterbody to another. Let’s continue to work
together to do all we can to build and maintain great muskie fisheries.
Here’s a fairly simple explanation of VHS disease and precautions from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources:
http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/fishing/VHS.html
Here a good summary of zebra mussel impacts and prevention
from the Minnesota Sea Grant website:
http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/ais/zebramussel
Please take the time to look at these pages!
Good luck getting ready for that next trip! ❖
If you have a biology or a fisheries question you want me to try to
tackle, let me know. I’ve switched to satellite internet and my new
email address is: esox99@sunriseguide service.net
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ◆ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ◆ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
www.muskiesinc.org
EDITOR
LETTERS TO THE
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Hayward Lakes Chapter Muskies, Inc.
Presents the:
UA L
30th ANN
$30,000
Oct. 5-6-7, 2007
TOTAL RELEASE TOURNAMENT
in prizes
GRAND DOOR PRIZE: Boat, Motor & Trailer
Boat, motor & trailer to be awarded as the
Grand Door Prize at the Sunday Awards Ceremony.
Only tournament entrants are eligible. You MUST be present to win.
AGAIN THIS YEAR!
2007 Lund 1700 Explorer Boat with an EZ Loader
Trailer and a 2007 50hp Mercury Motor
Prizes & Trophies Awarded to First 10 Places
2007 25hp Mercury Motor, 2007 9.9hp Mercury Motor, Trolling Motors,
Depth Finders, GPS Units, Rods, Reels, Cameras, and much more!
GRAPHITE REPLICA FOR LARGEST FISH RELEASED!!
EVERYONE WHO RELEASES A FISH 34” OR LARGER
WILL RECEIVE A PLAQUE
17 Tournament Lakes
• Chippewa Flowage
• Lac Courte Oreilles
• Lost Land-Teal Lakes
• Eau Claire Chain
• Grindstone Lake
• Lake Namakagon
• Spider Chain
• Ghost Lake
• Callahan Lake
• Whitefish Lake
• Sand Lake
• Round Lakes
• Moose Lake
• Clear Lake
• Lake Hayward
• Tiger Cat Flowage
• Big Sissabagama
Saturday Night - GIANT RAFFLE
Saturday, October 6, 7 - 8:30 p.m. – hors d’oeuvres and drinks (Flat Creek Beef Sandwiches available) •
Raffle starts at 8:30 p.m. at the RAMADA INN
Sunday - Awards, Ceremony & Grand Door Prize Drawing
Sunday, October 7, 1-2 p.m. – hors d’oeuvres and drinks (Flat Creek Beef Sandwiches available) •
Awards & Drawing 2:30 p.m. at the RAMADA INN
REGISTRATION BLANK
PLEASE PRINT
NAME ______________________________________________________________________________ PHONE ________________________
STREET__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CITY____________________________________________________________________STATE________ ZIP______________
All people in boat must be paid contestants.
NO ENTRIES ACCEPTED BY MAIL POSTMARKED AFTER SEPTEMBER 17, 2007. Register in person at Hayward Bait & Tackle
or Jenk’s Bait & Tackle (or via phone & fax, call Hayward Bait at 715-634-2921) until 11pm, October 4, 2007.
WAIVER
In consideration of being permitted to participate among and on boats under the auspices of Muskies,Inc. International and Hayward Lakes Chapter, I acknowledge, appreciate, and agree that:
1. “I am aware of the inherent risk associated with fishing and boating, including but not limited to the risks of collisions with other boats and stationary objects in and around the lake, including rocks, reefs or piers or
other vehicles and trailers at landing areas. I am familiar with other risks up to and including death by drowning associated with rough water, changing weather patterns, heavy winds and lightning storms. I expressly
assume all risks associated with this tournament and hereby release Muskies, Inc. International and Hayward Lakes Chapter of Muskies, Inc., the host, sponsors, and tournament officials from all claims of negligence
resulting from injury and/or property damages incurred in connection with the tournament..”
2. I knowingly and freely assume all such risks, both known and unknown, even if arising from the negligence of those persons released from liability below, and assume full responsibility for my participation; and
3. I will comply with all rules and regulations. If I have any question, or observe any unusual or unnecessary hazard during my participation, I will immediately bring such to the attention of the nearest official;
4. I, for myself and on behalf of my heirs, assigns, personal representatives and next of kin, hereby release, indemnify and hold harmless the Muskies, Inc. International and Hayward Lakes Chapter, the owners and lessors
of premises used to conduct the tournament, their officers, officials, (“Releasees”), with respect to any and all injury, disability, death, or loss or damage to person or property, whether caused by the negligence of the
Releasees or otherwise, to the fullest extent permitted by law.
I have read this release of liability and assumption of risk agreement, fully understand its terms, understand that I have given up substantial rights by signing it, and sign it freely and voluntarily without any inducement.
X ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Date Signed: ______________________________
TOURNAMENT FEE
_____ $60 Open Entry
($70 after Sept. 17)
_____ $25 FOR AGES 16 & UNDER
(Eligible for all major prizes)
AGAIN THIS YEAR...
Boat, motor & and trailer to be
awarded as the Grand Door Prize at
the Sunday Awards Ceremony. Only
tournament entrants are eligible. You
MUST be present to win.
FOR PARTICIPANTS OF MINORITY AGE (UNDER 18 AT TIME OF REGISTRATION)
This is to certify that I, as parent/guardian of this participant, do consent and agree to his/her indemnification, release and hold harmless as provided above of all Releasees, and I, for myself and behalf of my heirs, assigns and next to kin, hereby release, indemnify and hold harmless
the Releasees from any and all claims incident to my child’s involvement in these programs even if arising out of the negligence of the Releasees, to the fullest extent permitted by law.
X (PARENT/GUARDIAN’S SIGNATURE) ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Date Signed: ______________________________
Hayward Lakes Chapter Muskies Inc. reserves the right to reject any registration.
MAIL TO: Hayward Lakes Chapter Muskies, Inc., Box 609, Hayward, WI 54843 • 715/634-2921 or 715/634-4543
by Juris Ozols
An editor has the right, and indeed the duty, to pontificate about
weighty topics. Jim Smith took last month off and left the September
magazine to me, so I get to do that. But before I do so, let me say we
have some very nice material for September. Mark Sewald’s analysis of
his fishing success patterns is fascinating. A famous archeologist once
said after a historical dig, “I speak from facts and not from theories.”;
well, Mark certainly lets his facts speak for themselves, and along the
way takes a few swipes at some well worn Muskie theories. A refreshing change compared to much of our usual Muskie literature, well
worth the read. If Katie McKy’s Muskie McCracken tale doesn’t make
you smile, then you need to re-think life. And Jerry Sondag’s Mille
Lacs story describes a “once in a lifetime” evening. Very few of us get
that experience, so enjoy it vicariously with Jerry and his fish pictures.
Then please take a look at our ad for the Phantom, the 2007
Muskies Inc. Commemorative Lure. That Phantom is an exquisite
collectible and comes in a beautiful wooden box. One of these days
I’m going to write an article on “Muskie Lure Art and Artists.” The
Phantom and its artist Todd Cleveland will be central to that story.
And there’s more. But enough of that; on to the pontification.
I have to report failure. I did try editorial preaching, two or three
versions worth. I showed them to Vince Trotta. Vince yelled at me.
He was right. To the trash. Instead of deep thoughts, something else.
I’m going to tell you what I like about Muskie fishing and Muskies,
Inc.
At the top of my list, I like Bill Gardner and his wonderful book,
Time On The Water. If you haven’t read it, you don’t know about
Muskies. I’ve interviewed Bill and written an article about him. I got
the opportunity to do that through Muskies, Inc.
I like Catch and Release. Our Muskies, Inc. founders invented
that, and it’s great. The bass and walleye guys didn’t do that. Gil
Hamm and his crowd made it happen, way ahead of their time. We
carry on their tradition to this day.
I like Muskie lures and the folks who make them. It’s a world of
color and creativity. I don’t think most people really appreciate the art
of Muskie lures (never mind how they catch fish). The lure people I’ve
met starting with Tom Bastian (Huntertails) and most recently Todd
Cleveland (Phantom) are artists of the first order. Their work is beautiful. Again, walleye and bass people don’t have that. It’s Muskie stuff.
I like our Muskies, Inc. calendar. I think it’s one of the best things
we have and I really enjoy the things I get to do for it.
Then, the people of Muskies, Inc. today, so many of them. I can’t
start naming them; way too many. The wonderful people of Muskies
Inc. are a joy to be around, to fish with, have a beer and share stories
with.
Sadly, the ones that are gone. Perry Smith, Andy Luchovik, Tony
Vold, Smokey, Frank Schneider, Mary Vilnow... In one way or another, all these people have made my life richer, and I miss them. God
bless them.
Something different: photo shoots. I’ve done dozens of photo
shoots at our Twin Cities chapter and many other Muskies Inc. events.
For a photographer, the photo shoots are heaven, with ever so many
great pictures to be taken. One of these days I swear I’m going to take
a Pulitzer Prize photo, I am!
www.muskiesinc.org
Juris
Juris Ozols, Assistant Editor
MUSKIE Magazine, The Official
Publication of Muskies, Inc.
Email: assistanteditor@muskiesinc.org
We work to improve fishing!
D O N AT I O N S
J U LY
JUNE
Gregory Pagni
Richard J. Confoey
Steve Kroll
Clarence Worley
Jon C Holman
Duane Drozdowski
Andy Henderson
Jim O'Leary
Carl Rosenstein
Mike Moschell Robert E. Fischer
Lorin Nevling
Jim Chinnock
Jim Donelson
Timothy Voeck
Tom Dolnik
Roger Van Raden
Jim Raney
On behalf of Muskies, Inc., thank you for adding a bit extra when you
renewed your membership.
– Pete Barber, Treasurer
AS I SEE IT ◆ AS I SEE IT ◆ AS I SEE IT ◆ AS I SEE IT ◆ AS I SEE IT ◆ AS I SEE IT
As I See It
Speaking of which, Chapter Challunges. Leave aside all the thousands of photos I’ve taken at our Chapter Challunge outings, leave
aside the competitive stuff. Chapter Challunges are just plain fun and
for me a big part of Muskies, Inc. Again, if your chapter hasn’t done
it, you’re missing out.
Here’s one. Our Twin Cities chapter hosts a “Vets Home Fishing
Opener” event every spring. We set up a trout pond for the residents
of the Minnesota Vets Home and then serve them “shore lunch” of the
fish they catch. An absolutely touching, heart-warming morning to
see these old warriors pulling trout out of the canvas pool. Muskies
Inc. makes it happen – one of my very favorite days of the year.
Speaking of shore lunch, that’s a classic part of fishing too. You
spend a morning beating yourself up not catching Muskies on a
remote Canadian lake. Come midday, you knock it off to bring in a
few walleyes. You pull the boat up to a pine-covered island. Wind
rustling in the trees, waves on shore, the smells of coffee and frying
onions, bubbling beans in a can over the fire, walleye fillets… Is there
anything better in life?
Well, rats. There’s much more I want to talk about, my favorite
things. People who know how to catch serious Muskies, MUSKIE
Magazine, Jim Smith and Vince Trotta and Steve Statland, row
trolling, blonds in boats, the solitude of Canadian Muskie lakes,
fundraising raffles, follows from monster fish, Midge Hamm and the
40th Anniversary banquet, the Muskie Expo. And a lot more. But Jim
left me only so much room.
Let me close with a couple of things that aren’t so much my
favorites, but which I don’t mind either. I don’t mind catching
Muskies. It doesn’t happen very often. I haven’t developed a hunger
for it. But when it does happen, I don’t mind. And I have to confess
I don’t mind International Board Meetings either. It’s a chance to take
an occasional nice photo and every once in a while I win something at
the fundraiser raffles. So the board meetings aren’t all that bad.
I’d rather catch a Muskie than attend a board meeting.
Anyway, there you have bits of my list, the things I like. How
much of that list could I get without Muskies Inc.? Well, some. Shore
lunches? But most of the list comes from Muskies Inc., and I truly
appreciate it. I’m really glad to be a part of the club.
Lu n g e L o g ◆ Lu n g e L o g ◆ Lu n g e L o g ◆ Lu n g e L o g ◆ Lu n g e L o g ◆ Lu n g e L o g ◆ Lu n g e L o g
g
nge L
u
L
e
o
h
t
by
Ji m B u n c h
2007 A Monster Building!
Today is July 28, 2007 and the Members Only
Contest is building to tremendous numbers. The lists I
have attached show the entries that I have received as of
July 28, 2007. As a reminder the leaders in the points and
the leaders in longest releases say July, 28. This does not
mean muskies caught by July 28; it means entries received
here at the Lunge Log by July 28. So you may have a late
June entry or early July entry that should be in the various
list but has not got to me yet.
We have received 5,228 entries so far which is totally
awesome. From the entries we see 101 of them are 50
inches or longer. It also shows 1503 of them from 40 inches to 50 inches, and 379 from 45 inches to 50 inches.
Housekeeping!
A vast majority of the entries coming in are being
submitted by the individual members. This is a very good
thing as it speeds up the process. However we need to
point out a few specific problems that a lot of you are having. When entering the lake when a muskie is caught in
the United States, you select the state, then the county,
then the lake from the pull down menus. Most of you are
dealing with that very well. However as a reminder, when
you catch a muskie in Canada we do not deal with counties. Simply select the province, then select province again
as if it is the county and then select your lake. We have a
lot of you entering “Lake Of The Woods” as if it is a new
lake. Believe me it has been in the data base for lakes since
the beginning of time. When searching the pull down
menus for a lake please be sensitive to specific names. For
example if you are looking for Stewart, it maybe listed as
Lake Stewart, or Stewart Lake or Upper Stewart or Lower
Stewart. What I am saying here is that most of the time
you type in a new lake or river it is already in the data base.
The computer is spelling perfect. If we have a spelling
error it will not find it. If you have a spelling error, you will
not find it. The computer does not know if a lake is spelled
wrong, it only knows what you and I have put in there.
Consequently, if you cannot find a lake, experiment a little bit and you may find it.
When entering lure names the spelling thing gets
really bizarre. I keep getting new entries under “other” for
example for Rad Dog. Some of you want to spell it
Raddog, others want to spell it Rad Dawg. I even had a
new entry for “The Dog”. I do not know if “The Dog” is really something new or if is slang for Rad Dog. When this happens I have no
idea what to do. So please if you have not found what you are looking for please back up and try a few different options. Another example is you try to enter Dinner Bell but search for Dinnerbell. The
computer does not know they are the same. So back off and search a
bit. Another example is Cow Girl Vs Cowgirl, please look around a
bit. The reason I am harping on this is that in muskies season I get
sometimes 600 to 800 hundred entries a week. When you enter
something under “other” I have to search a second level. In other
wards when you type something new in “other” for either lakes or
One Man One Day, Mille Lacs!
Over the course of time there have been members who really had
an awesome day. They may have caught several big muskies or many
total muskies. Over the years we try to share some of those events.
This month we come across Jerry Sondag of Pelican Rapids, MN a
member of the Fargo Moorhead Chapter and one of his visits to the
massive water of Mille Lacs, MN. I say massive because right in the
middle of Minnesota is this lake that you cannot see across. I think it
is 18 miles wide, I have been there twice but do not know it well.
With a lake that big you have a wind problem. Of course with the
muskie, any wind is better than no wind for them to have the feed
bag on. So this lake is a challenge. If the wind is blowing, you have a
chance; if the wind is blowing
do not go there in your 14
foot boat. They have walleye
charters there that go from 30
feet to 50 feet. This lake is no
longer a secret, it is totally
awesome.
On June 27th this year
Jerry Sondag had a very special day. He was hot, the lure
he was using was hot, and it
was a Double Cowgirl. This
lure is very new and has been
catching a lot of muskies and
big ones lately. On this day he
managed to release a 42, a 45,
a 36, a 56, a 47, a 52 and
another 52. This was so awesome that Juris Ozols put him
on the front cover. In this
kind of competive sport,
every dog has his day and
Jerry Sondag certainly had his
day on June 27. The picture
we share is so great in that it
appears it took two people to
hold it. Well not really but I
think Jerry wanted to share
his day with his friend Luke,
that they took the picture
together.
Jerry Sondag, (left) Chapter 2, 56 inches, 6/27/07, Mille Lacs, MN
Double Cowgirl, Fish I.D. 239537. On right is friend Luke.
Flatlanders!
Got word here today by
rumor about the Flatlanders
Chapter from Rockford,
Illinois. Word is they had a
group go to Lake Of The
Woods at Bay Store. It seems
the bite was on as they
released 109 muskies. This
included 11 over 50 inches,
the longest being 54 inches.
(Continud on page 10)
www.muskiesinc.org
lures, you send me off into the lake or lure data base to make an addition. It takes a lot of time. So please help me out here.
Edie Buss, Chapter 16, 55.5 inches, 6/25/07, Lake St. Clair, ON
Leo Shayla Shad, Fish I.D. 240293.
Mark Wells,
Chapter 57 (New Chapter)
Welcome aboard,
NW Tiger Pac,
Kent, Washington.
45X21 Hybrid, 6/23/07
Lake Tapps, Washington
Bucktail
Fish I.D. 239770
LUNGE LOG
(Continued from page 9)
The tally also had 60 of them
over 40 inches. Apparently
this info showed up on their
website someplace and then
got pulled off. Don’t know
why but Da Bunchman heard
about it so I pass it on to you.
Photo Album!
We have started to show
pictures of large muskies on
our web site, with a picture of
your awesome catch. Just log
onto our web site and you will
see it. We are just kind of getting started so please bear
with us. As the season progresses we are looking for the
really big stuff. If you are really proud of your 45 inch
which is the biggest of your
life, I am sorry, that is not
what we are looking for. We
want to high-lite the biggest
of the big. This is what I think
you want to see. So if your
efforts come up with a real
dandy please get it to me by
email at jbunch@charter.net.
We will rotate them through
and try to be time sensitive.
Keep a tight line,
Jim Bunch
s
ie
7,000 Musk
d
Release
Dan Stefczak, Junior Member age 16, Chapter 21, 49 inches,
6/18/07, Mille Lacs, MN, Terminator Spinnerbait, Fish I.D.
238860.Brother Tim (Right)
Purposes of Muskies, Inc.
• To promote a high quality muskellunge sport fishery;
• To support selected conservation practices based on scientific
merit and carried out by authorized federal and state agencies;
• To promote muskellunge research;
• To establish hatcheries and rearing ponds and introduce the
species into suitable waters;
• To support the abatement of water pollution;
• To maintain records of habits, growth, and range of species;
• To disseminate muskellunge information;
• To promote good fellowship and sportsmanship among men,
women and children.
www.muskiesinc.org
On Sabaskong Bay
Six-time Muskies, Inc.,
Chapter Challunge Headquarters
1983, 1986, 1993, 1997, 2003, 2004
• Ultra-modern one, two, three, or four bedroom cabins
• American plan, 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) 488-5601
Red Wing Lodge, Box 1008, Baudette, MN 56623
www.redwinglodge.net • www.redwinglodge.on.ca
Family owned and operated for 40 years
Over
Jerry Sondag with one of the two 52inch Muskies from Lake Mille Lacs.
he phone rang as I was out on my home lake casting around. knew it was big.
After removing the bait from the jaws I reached down the side
My buddy and fellow guide Luke Ronnestrand was on his
of
the
fishes head. No lie - it was the size of a mailbox. I said to
way from Green bay back to Minnesota. Did I want to
Luke,
”I
don’t know how long this fish is but it’s enormous!” As I
come down to Mille Lacs and jump in his boat for a couple days,
pulled
her
from the net Luke spouted an exclamation! I knew then
because his client had cancelled their outing?
if
he
was
stunned
it had to be a monster.
As it happened, my client had also cancelled that day as well.
We
snapped
a
photo, then laid her on the bunk board. She
However, my fiancée was going in for minor surgery the next morntopped
out at 56 inches on the button. Now that we
ing. Even though she wanted me there and I felt conwhat
we had we returned her to the net. Our
knew
flicted, she urged me to go down and fish.
We snapped a
friend
who
was
casting nearby came over and jumped
Luke and I met up and headed out onto the “Big
in
our
boat
because
he had a scale and we wanted to get
photo,
then
Pond”. We worked some emergent weeds for the
a
photo
of
Luke
and
me holding this immense creature.
remainder of the daylight moving only one 40-inch
laid
her
on
the
had
a
24.25’
girth and which weighs out at 43
She
class fish that followed lazily. Anxiously awaiting
pounds.
We
took
the
team photo and put her in the
nightfall we called up another friend who was out in
bunk board.
water.
Not
wanting
to
say goodbye so quickly I held
the area and he told us we better get moving because he
She
topped
out
her
up
for
one
last
release
shot.
and his client had already boated a couple of nice fish.
We
then
made
a
bunch
of phone calls, which as it
We pulled the boat and headed to our next locaat 56 inches on
turned
out
should
have
waited
until the end of the
tion. Just after dark we were throwing Double
the
button.
evening.
Cowgirls and slow rolling topwaters. After about an
Soon after the phones were low on batteries, I
hour we laughingly released our first fish of the evening
reshaped
my
bait,
and proceeded to blanket the area again. After
- a nice 36-incher, which hammered my big bucktail at the start of
about
ten
casts
I
set
the hook into the third fish of the night, a nice
the retrieve. We were commenting how we had just caught one of
healthy
47-incher
which
treaded water in the net. After her release
the smallest fish in the lake, and that would probably be the only fish
Luke
hooked
a
real
big
fish
boatside on the figure eight. This fish was
of the trip.
no
rookie;
she
turned
with
the
hookset and pulled free from the 7/0.
After reshaping my lure I gave it a toss, then another, and…
Only
minutes
later
I
was
hooked
up again on another good fish.
Wham! I shouted to Luke to get the net - this was a good fish! Luke
A
nice
fat
52
was
quickly
ready
for
release.
As I was letting this one
was at the beginning of a retrieve so he burnt it in and put the net on
go
I
was
speechless.
This
has
to
be
the
greatest
night of musky fisha big fish. At that point “How big?” was still a mystery to us, we just
T
ing I have ever had.
Well, I spoke too soon. Fifteen minutes later I was releasing a
healthy 42-incher. And very shortly Luke was sending off a 40-incher.
I finally had to find another Double Cowgirl in my box because
we had to cut hooks. Not to mention, we didn’t have any shrink tube
and I honestly didn’t want to waste the time of putting this tattered
bait back together.
Luckily, I had a very similar Cowgirl, put her on, and got back
to work. After about a half an hour, I was holding my sixth fish, and
the third one over 50 inches for the night. Another great 52 inch
Mille Lacs beauty was released to fight another day.
It was an unbelievable night. The stars were aligned in my favor.
Other boats were landing fish, but nothing like we were. Between
the two of us we caught and released seven beautiful fish and lost a
hog. This all happened in a 300 yd stretch of real estate in approximately 2 1/2 hours. It was remarkable to say the least.
A lot of so-called experts out there claim that Mille Lacs has
peaked and is on the decline. You know what? They’re right. They
better go find another body of water to fish because there’s no Esox
Masquinongy left in the Big Pond! ❖
Jerry Sondag holding the Lake Mille Lacs 56 incher, one of three
fish over 50 inches he caught that night.
FORTY YEARS OF MUSKIE TOURNAMENT FISHING!
Join us for the TWIN CITIES CHAPTER
40th Annual Frank Schneider, Jr. Memorial
MUSKIE TOURNAMENT
SEPTEMBER 7•8•9
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ADULT: $70 PRE-PURCHASE ($75 THURSDAY) • JUNIOR: $30
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ORDER TICKETS ON-LINE AT: www.twincitiesmuskiesinc.org
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MEMORIAL AWARD
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RED WING LODGE • WHITEFISH BAY CAMP • TRAILS END LODGE • SAH-KAH-TAY RESORT • HUDDLE’S RESORT
VERMILION DAM LODGE • SPIRIT OF THE NORTH RESORT • SUNSET COVE RESORT • PINE BEACH RESORT
TOURNAMENT RAFFLE: FISHING TRIPS • MINN KOTA TROLLING MOTOR • MARCUM ELECTRONICS
GUIDE TRIPS • CUSTOM MUSKIE RODS & BAITS • WILDLIFE ART • AND MUCH MORE!!!!
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: 651-699-9817 OR 612-239-9511 OR EMAIL: miintltournament@comcast.net
www.muskiesinc.org
F C I S B OAT SA F E T Y ◆ F C I S B OAT SA F E T Y ◆ F C I S B OAT SA F E T Y ◆ F C I S B OAT SA F E T Y
Boat Safety Program
Produced by
Farm and City Insurance Services
The Angler’s Choice Insurance
Most boat trailers are equipped with Goodyear Marathon
special purpose trailer tires designed specifically for use on travel trailers, 5th wheels, and boat trailers. You should only use the
ST tire on trailers, and likewise, never use them on passenger
vehicles.
Goodyear states the Marathon Radial features a rounded profile to enhance ride quality, and a symmetric tread design with a
solid center rib to provide constant rubber-to-road contact that
delivers dependable highway stability, traction and long lasting
wear. Internally, the Marathon Radial features twin steel belts
(with selected sizes reinforced with nylon cap plies) that stabilize
the tread to increase traction and durability.
According to the Goodyear Product Service Bulletin, there are
several points that ST tire owner’s should be familiar with:
• Industry standards dictate that tires with the ST designation are speed restricted to 65 MPH under normal inflation
and load conditions unless a different speed restriction is
indicated on the sidewall of the tire.
• Based on industry standards, if tires with the ST designation are used at speeds between 66 and 75 mph, it is necessary to increase the cold inflation pressures by 10 psi above
the recommended pressure for the load.
• Do not exceed the maximum pressure for the wheel.
• If the maximum pressure for the wheel prohibits the
increase of air pressure, then the maximum speed must be
restricted to 65 mph.
• The cold inflation pressure must not exceed 10 psi beyond
the inflation specified for the maximum load of the tire.
More information is available on the Goodyear Marathon tire
at: www.goodyear.com/rv
www.fcisanglerschoice.com
This article is provided as a public service to our membership.
Not intended as an advertisement.
Muskies in the “Big V” come in sizes XL to XXXL.
(They get better workouts
in this gigantic lake!)
Exciting Fall Muskie Action on Lake Vermilion —
Minnesota’s Premier Canadian Shield Muskie Lake
They’re here, and they’re hungry — the summer visitors have gone home,
leaving only a few to offer the muskies a lure. Lake Vermilion in Northern
Minnesota. 365 islands. 1200 miles of shoreline. (We have plenty of walleye,
northern pike, and bass when you get tired of hauling in muskies!)
BONUS: Spectacular Fall Color, Warm Days, Cool Nights
www.fishbigV.com
1-800-648-5897
Photo at right courtesy of
Minnesota Muskie Tournaments
www.muskiesinc.org
I
can’t believe how fast a year can go by. Well, it has, and here is our
2nd annual “Day To Remember Veterans Outing” by Between
The Lakes Chapter coming up.
We had our first one a year ago on September 24th. Back then I
was on 2nd shift at my workplace making it harder to go to our
monthly meetings. So that meant lots of phone calls playing phone
tag with our club members and lots of phone calls to our local newspapers running ads to have veterans call me or Ted Scharl to signup
for a morning of muskie fishing. Everything was starting to go
together. We were on our way to our 2nd annual outing.
And then I received a phone call telling me we had a sponsor for
the event, Jamie Martin of Martin Pontiac, a local auto dealer here in
Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I called Jamie and he said he would indeed
like to be a sponsor for the event. Jamie said he would pay for all the
bratwurst and hambugers buns and all the fixings that go with it, and
soda. I said “Wow that’s great.” Jamie arranged to have the food come
from Miesfelds Meat Market, a family store which has been a around
a long time.
With Sept 24th just right around the corner we had 17 club
members signed up to host the veterans. We were going to fish
Random Lake, in which our club stocks
muskies. The other club members and I
showed up around 6 am to launch our boat
and get ready for veterans to show up. By 6:30
the vets started arriving at the Random Lake
park. They were greeted with hot coffee and all
types of bakery. The vets were given a Muskie
Inc. hat and also muskie lures by Muskie
Getters - bucktails, 8’’ grubs tails, and 7’’
shiner minnows. (Muskie Getters is my own
lure company, a small part time business that
is getting bigger every year.)
Overcast skies and temperatures in the
low 50’s didn’t dampen the enthusiasm. You
could hear the Fall Voices in the air as the
geese were flying overhead, which added a nice
touch. The vets were teamed up with club
members and the boats were off hitting the
water and heading to their favorite spots.. My
vet fishing partner was Jim Baumgart and we
were joined by my son Tyler. Jim served in the
U.S. Army and is a former State Senator who
writes a column for the Shoreline Chronicle
on club events and outdoors information
throughout the year.
All the boats had radios in them. Around 7:25 a call came on the
radio, breaking the silence. A 30” muskie had been caught and released
by member Ted Scharl. At 7:35 I had a very nice 38-40” muskie follow
my bait to the boat but after figure 8-ing the fish was gone.
Then 15 minutes later another follow came in just out from the
boat, not sure how big that one was. At 9:20 still another very big fish
followed my bait to the boat. Letting Jim and Tyler know, we all got
to see that fish, a nice muskie about 45.” Radio calls came throughout the morning reporting 7 fish caught and released as the sun came
up and gave us a show of the outstanding Fall colors on the trees.
Member Mike Scholler caught a 35.5” muskie, and vet Rick Wood
fishing with him landed a nice 30”er. Father and son vets Glen and
Todd Babcock caught muskies 25”, 32” and 35.” Vet Glen Walcott
fishing with member Jim Richter boated a 32” fish, and brothers
Chuck and Rich Kammers brought in a 32” muskie.
Shore Lunch by the Between the Lakes club members and the
veterans they took Muskie fishing.
www.muskiesinc.org
The day started out cloudy and overcast, but the sun came out to give
the vets and club members a gorgeous fall day for Muskie fishing.
All too soon it was time to head back to the park for shore lunch.
Cooks Kevin and his son Jake Rortvedt had all the brats and hamburgers waiting for the hungry fishermen. Ted Scharl said a prayer
about the fellowship that we shared that morning and the safety of all
our troops keeping us safe and free. Ted blessed the food we were
about to eat, and then asked for a moment of silence for the passing
of one of our club member, Bob Cheney Jr. We all said “Amen.”
As we were eating we found out that one of the vets was a celebrity. Army veteran Jim Lee is a professional clown and a world yo-yo
champion. Jim entertained us by showing some of the tricks that
made him a world champ. Follwing lunch a group picture and pictures of the vets were taken. After the pictures came the good-byes
from our club members to the vets. They thanked us for a great day!
I watched the vets leave with smiles on their faces. It was a “Day
to Remember.”
I’d like to take this opportunity to say “Thank You” to all of our
club members and volunteers who helped out. God Bless You All. ❖
Focus: 2006 Member Photo
Contest Shot
by John Karakash and Jim Roerig
“W
e’ll turn around and go home at that buoy about a
hundred yards from here”. The fact that the buoy wasn’t any closer set Jim Roerig up for the catch of a lifetime and John Karakash up for a winning photo. After a long effort
trolling amongst schools of spawning Tulabees near John’s Retreat
Resort up on Vermillion, they were ready to call it a day when Jim’s
rod bucked and his clicker screamed.
“We knew it was a
biggie right away but when
it rolled we were in awe of
the girth” reflected Jim.
John made a simultaneous
grab for the net and his
camera and all they could
do was hope
the hooks
would hold.
They did. John is an avid photographer and began to
take a sequence of photos right away. “ I really wanted a
good shot for Jim and made sure he had a good hold and
that I centered it well. It was late in the day so I used
the flash too”. The story has been told but to those
unfamiliar they took a quick length, girth measurement
and with the fish resting in the net, in the water, called
home to run it through the formula. The result: they
were within a pound of the Minnesota State Record!
Jim couldn’t find any reason to take the fish and knew a
great picture would be worth 10,000 words and John
came through.
“I pay attention to a few details in particular. I use
a digital set on high resolution, I make sure my batteries
are charged, I use a tripod whenever possible (especially
when fishing alone) and I use my flash at all times of the
day to even out the light.” Following those very principles is a step toward excellent photos.
With nearly seven hundred fifty releases between
them including over a dozen Muskies exceeding 50
inches, John and Jim combined for a spectacular catch
and photo. ❖
Here is another of John’s shots – a beautiful selftimed photo of himself and a brilliantly marked
Vermillion Muskie.
John runs Retreat Lodge and welcomes fellow MI
members and Muskie enthusiasts to his “backyard”.
He can be contacted at 800-682-6296 or via
www.retreatlodge.com.
Photo Contest – September Winners
by Gordon Campbell
Photo Tip of the Month
ACTION!
Adding a few action shots to your collection of photos will liven it up. The key to good shots is a simple
combination of abundant light, anticipation and focus.
In fishing, some of the best action shots will be leaping fish and sequences of people fighting and netting fish.
If there's plenty of light to facilitate a fast shutter speed,
the trick is to anticipate what's about to happen and
shoot a quick series of shots- hopefully 1 or 2 will be
right. To capture leaping fish try to focus on where the
line meets the water and if you see it begin to rise, get
ready to fire away.
With today's cameras that feature auto focus and
burst modes, these shots are very attainable.
Quick Note- we had a great bunch of photos this
month and picking the winners was tough- that's a good
sign!
Gordon Campbell,
Photo Editor
Pictures@muskiesinc.org
▲ Winner #1: Unbelieveable would describe this
outing for Jerry Sondag up on Mille Lacs. His evening
excursion included a 35, 42, 47 two 52s and this
whopping 56" fish of a lifetime. It's a huge Muskie by
anyone's standards and since it's clear, well framed
and accentuated by nighttime, it's a winner.
▲ Winner #2: Jason Shillinger of Ch 26 has been having a great
season up on Vermillion. Here he's releasing a hefty 50.5" beauty.
It's a winner because as release shots go, it's perfect- the fish is
facing the camera , it's well framed & focused and it's bulk is clearly evident. Photo by Bill Schultz of Wisconsin Rapids.
www.muskiesinc.org
The Muskie McCracken
by Katie McKy
Author’s Note: In the summer of ’05, I fished
with Patricia Strutz, “the Blond and her
Boat,” on Lake of the Woods. The Blond
raised a muskie that made her hands tremble.
Although I saw only the whisk of its tail, I saw
enough to realize that it was worthy of a nickname and more than that, a tale. That night,
by campfire light, I stretched that tail into a
tale worthy of a Lake of the Woods behemoth.
Here it is.
T
he Blond figure-eighted her Jake and whispered, in a suddenly, surprisingly, husky brogue, “The Muskie McCracken.”
Her voice was steady, but her hands shook, which put an
added twitch into her lure. That twitch gave her lure extra allure—
enough to suspend a seeming submarine with fins a foot from her lure.
“Look,” she whispered.
I did, but nearly too late. I only saw the swish.
“Did you see?” she asked.
“Whale tail,” I answered.
“Aye,” the Blond said, spitting. “That it be.”
She rested her rod on the gunwale, squinted one eye, and reached
up to stroke her beard, as any whaler would when musing on their
Moby Dick. Having no beard, she made do with her famous blond
ponytail, which she swung under her chin and stroked.
“How do you know it was McCracken?” I asked.
“I hooked it once,” she said, losing the brogue and talking fast. “I
hooked and boated it. Sixty inches and seventy pounds.”
“Then, then, you’re the world-record holder! How did I not
know this?”
“Ah, what you don’t know is that I only hooked and boated a single scale of McCracken. That’s what reached 60 inches and weighed
70 pounds. And that single scale broke my own scale in the weighing.
So, McCracken’s missing a scale and I am too.”
“But if a single scale weighs 70 pounds, we can’t begin to boat the
beast.”
“Well, you’ve got a bit of a brain,” said the Blond. “You’re right
that we can’t best the beast with a rod and reel. But we have a chance
with this.”
The Blond opened her longest storage compartment and removed
a harpoon.
“McCracken’s as big as a whale,” I said, “but that doesn’t mean it’s
going to pop up to the surface for a fresh breath.”
“Oh, it’ll surface,” she said. “The beastie has to come up.”
“Uh, no,” I said, “not wanting to disagree with a guide who catches more muskies every year than I’ve caught in all my years.
“McCracken’s a fish. It doesn’t need air.”
“You’re half right. It’s half fish and half whale. Its father was a
muskie and its mother was a whale. It gets its size and lungs from its
mother’s side and its teeth and temperament from its father.”
A rope ran from the end of the harpoon. She hooked the end of
the rope to the bow of her boat.
“You might want to buckle up,” she said.
I noticed then that her pedestal seats had seatbelts. I did as I was
told.
Just then, McCracken surfaced. It had a blowhole and flukes flaring off its whale tail. It was as white as Moby Dick and tipped with
teeth the size of swords. I thought I saw bits of boats in-between those
teeth.
“Are those…?” I asked.
“Aye, the Blond answered. “All that remains of bass boats, owned
by accountants from Chicago, who were foolish enough to cast to
McCracken. Foolish accountants with wives and children.”
“What, what happened to them?”
“I’ll just say this. Those wives and children? Well, now they’re
widows and orphans. But I’ll avenge them.”
With that vow, the Blond threw the harpoon and threw true. It
struck the one soft spot on McCracken, which was the missing scale.
McCracken dove, the rope played out, and the Blond’s boat lurched
forward. I wish I could say that the rope held, but the Muskie
McCracken was the whale that ate the whale that ate Jonah. We were
towed through narrows and skittered over bays. Along the way, the
rope rubbed against too many rocks as we were whipped around
islands. It broke.
What also broke was the Blond’s will to live. She produced a
monstrous treble hook and tied it into her ponytail.
“It’ll work like a big bucktail,” she said.
She hung her head over the gunwale and figure-eighted it in the
water.
I had to hit her with a paddle. I’m not proud of that, but the
Muskie McCracken would have taken the bait and taken her head.
Of course, I had to lie back at the dock, “McCracken came back
and popped your blond ponytail-bucktail. Of course, it knocked you
out. Luckily, I netted you with your net.”
“Good old Frabill,” she said.
The Blond limped back to the campsite, looking a little in the
dark like she had a peg leg. Back at the campfire, she puffed on a pipe
and I told the tale. This very tale. As I told it, I remembered that fish
tales are like taffy: the more they’re stretched, the more one has to
chew. ❖
Your Chapter’s
History
by Vincent P. Trotta
One of our prize pieces of historical material –
Gil Hamm’s MI members card, “Life Member # 1.”
R
If your chapter has not already done so, it should establish a sysecently, I was copied on an inquiry from Joel Vance, North
tem
to assure that historical preservation of chapter documents and
American Fisherman Magazine Columnist, regarding the corartifacts takes place and to provide a usable colrect spelling of “muskie.” Before the
lection to promote research, the chapter,
inquiry got to me, Joel had been informed that
Muskies, Inc., and the fishing community, in
it is “muskie.” I recalled that I read somewhere
general.
that the Muskies, Inc. Board voted to make,
Our stored paper records are important.
“muskie,” the official short version of “muskelHowever, chapters must set standards to select
lunge.” I thought it would be good to document
which records to preserve or the important
the Board decree. I skimmed the undoubted
records will be buried and trivialize by the volsource of my information four times to no avail.
umes of less important ones. As resources perI feel confident that the Board action was recordmit, the most important records should be digied in Kermit Benson’s [1992 MI Hall of Fame
tized and saved at multiple sites. The chapter
(HOF)] History of Muskies, Inc. Perhaps it is
website should be used to make the information
somewhere else. I will find it.
available to members and the interested public.
I notified Joel of my undocumented recall
Also, historical artifacts are a part of the
and am now using this example to demonstrate
preservation.
Here is a recent experience in the
the importance of searchable historical records.
Twin
Cities
Chapter.
George Selcke (1991 MI
The records held by the MI History and
HOF) found what might be MI’s oldest existing
Archives Committee are searchable in the simtrophy in the late Hugh Becker’s (1991 MI
plest sense: Juris Ozols or I do what I did in this
HOF) estate collection. The trophy is a 1969
case, guess the physical location, read or skim,
Membership Recruiting Award earned by Hugh
and report back. Our deepest gratitude goes to
over 38 years ago. If there is an older MI trophy
those who recorded and preserved MI’s records.
Now it is our responsibility to take it to the next Oldest Trophy – Hugh Becker’s 1969 out there, please let me know.
contest winner trophy. Does anybody
level.
(Continued on page 31)
It is a challenge to address a diverse group have an earlier trophy or award?
such as the chapters regarding technology. Some
chapters have websites that are technically sophisticated and others have less-sophisticated ones,
while some chapters have yet to create a website.
This article tries to bridge those differences.
Lots and lots of MI history here. But boxes piled
in a garage don’t give this historical material the
respect it deserves. Do any of you have facilities
where we could setup shop for our MI treasure
trove?
www.muskiesinc.org
Here’s Why I STINK!
Hard Data and Dead Reckonings from
the Log Book of a Muskie Geek
by Mark Sewald
“So how many muskies did you catch this morning?” my bride
of twenty years asked me as I burst in from the garage.
“I had a four fish morning”, I replied, “But how’d you know.”
“There’s a bounce in your step and a self contented smirk on
your face that can be seen from across the street. And now that
you’re right here in the room with me, you stink like one of those
muskies you like so much.”
Hey, she’s pretty good. I wish I could read the fish that well.
For you see, all too often I merely stink from the foul, but all too
familiar, stench of failure at the end of a fishing day. Funny thing is
that sometimes I feel so confident about the likelihood of muskie
fishing success; it is as though a muskie could be called up from the
parking ramp at the boat launch! Other times, often only weeks
later, I honestly wonder if I’ll ever land another fish.
I’ve been doing my best to record the data regarding the muskies
I’ve been lucky enough to catch over the past twelve seasons in log
books of various forms. The real question is how this information
from these 273 muskies best can be applied to help predict which
way I’m going to stink on any given day. As a scientist by trade, the
idea of applying some sort of statistical model to fishing has always
held some intrigue. Could a predictive model of some sort help me
understand my manic swings in fishing success?
In a discussion of this very topic with Juris Ozols, he mentioned
that a tool called a Poisson distribution may have a useful application. For you non-egg heads, this is a statistical tool applied to
understand the likelihood of an infrequent occurrence. A common
text book example is a driver having an accident, (but they could use
Juris or me catching a muskie!). The output of this measurement is
typically expressed as a mean frequency. For example assume we
know that Bill has had 10 auto accidents over the past 20 years, and
Sue has been involved in 4. With this information alone, we may
conclude that Bill has had a lot of accidents, and is more likely to
have an accident than Sue. But if we also learn that Bill drives 780
hours a year and Sue drives 260 hours a year, we could calculate that
they both have the same mean frequency of accidents per hour of
0.000641 or 1560 hours per accident.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve done my best to compile my logbook data into an Excel workbook that will give me a mean frequency of me catching a muskie given a set of variables I’ve selected. We’ll
express this mean frequency in the familiar terms of hours required
to boat a muskie. Many anglers discuss this measure, and I’ve
tracked it myself for years. But the information we can glean from
this value is limited unless we frame it in a useful context. For example the four muskie morning mentioned earlier may have brought
my monthly mean frequency of muskie catches to 6 hours per
muskie for 24 hours of angling effort. But consider that all four of
those fish came in a single two hour window and not spread out as
a fish every 6 hours as the measure suggests. The real value of this
measure is attempting to isolate what made these particular two
hours so special.
So let’s apply this log book database to a series of casual observations I’ve made regarding my muskie fishing success or failure.
These will be analogous to the “Bill has had a lot of accidents” comment. Then let’s look at the actually data I’ve compiled as a tool to
analyze the quality of the observation. Since my data is fair from
perfect, I’ll attempt to provide some interpretation with some “dead
reckoning” based on the water observations and log book comments.
In way of background, most of my muskie trips basically consist of
2 to 6 hours session on the Minneapolis metro lakes with two annual trips to Lake of the Woods. I was going to separate the data, but
actually found little difference based on location in most of the questions I posed. Also, the fish boated per hour is calculated the same
regardless of how many people are in the boat. So one hour fishing
is one hour of fishing regardless if there is one, two, or three of us
with baits in the water.
CASUAL OBSERVATION: June is my favorite month to fish
the Minneapolis area “Metro” Lakes.
HARD DATA: June is only slightly more productive than my
10.13 hours per muskie average.
DEAD RECKONING: June is a fun time to be on these lakes,
as the water is clear and you see a lot of following muskies. It’s also
a great time to catch these muskies on surface baits. When these
lakes generally bloom in earlier July, and the water becomes murky
and fishing becomes tougher in that you’ll get fewer follows and you
may have to slow roll safety pin style bucktails through milfoil beds
to get a bite. The fishing seems slower than it is simply because you
don’t have as much visible action from following muskies. Late summer fishing and early fall fishing is generally best for me in terms of
landing muskies. (Most of my LOW trips are confounded with the
August data as well.) October is tough due to the turnover, plus I’m
often more focused on River Smallmouth Bass this month. The second fall peak occurs after the water clears after turnover, generally in
early November.
CASUAL OBSERVATION: I catch a lot of muskies on my
favorite glider jerk bait.
HARD DATA: My favorite lure is actually nothing special
when productivity is expressed with the mean frequency measurement. Both bucktails and minnow style crankbaits have a much
higher mean frequency than my “favorite” lure.
DEAD RECKONING: My observation has been that prefrontal conditions are super for encountering numbers of active fish,
but the first morning after a cold front is a great time to get big fish
to bite. You may not see many fish, but those you do see will likely
have your lure in their jaws. The key seems to be getting on the water
early, as virtually all my post front fish have come before 8 am. One
of the fun memories of the 2005 season was having excited fishing
partner calling his wife at 6:45am in the morning (and she’s not a
morning person) to report that we already had caught three muskies
under “terrible” cold front conditions.
CASUAL OBSERVATION: If I’d just put on a bucktail and go
fishing in August and September, the day before and after cold
fronts, my muskie catch rate would improve.
HARD DATA and DEAD RECKONING!: Maybe. But after
playing with all the variables in my logbook, nothing really explained
why I could go from muskie hero to zero within the course of weeks
until an observation was made regarding my catches during low hour
per muskie periods. This observation also has helped me understand
why it is likely close to impossible to completely crack nature’s code
with a computer model. Just consider how well (not) the weathermen do predicting with computer models!
DEAD RECKONING: There have been times this lure has
worked like magic. I have several good fishing partners who love to
borrow this bait, and will fish it almost exclusively. However much
of the action we get fishing this lure is following fish. Many hookups also result from a following fish nipping at the bait, catching a
single hook, and then almost immediately throwing the lure.
Exciting yes, but it doesn’t tally as a landed fish. In contrast, I fish
buck tails much less often, but reach for these when the fish are clearly very active. The bucktail may not have the finesse to bring up as
many fish as the glider bait, but the fish that do go after this lure are
more active and more likely to eat. As a capper, three of my ten 50”
plus fish have come on bucktails, six have come on minnow baits
(Grandma, Jakes, Rapalas, SS Shad), and one on a Suick. My pet
bait has produced none. The bottom line for me on this is that all
these lures are great tools for catching muskies. However the glider
lure is over fished because it produces followers that aren’t really
ready to eat a lure yet. Next year I hope to speed more time putting
a bucktail and minnow bait in front of active fish and less time trying to finesse neutral fish into following.
CASUAL OBSERVATION: Muskie fishing is great just before
the arrival of a cold front.
HARD DATA: My muskie catch rate is improved just before
and immediately after the arrival of a front.
www.muskiesinc.org
As I went through my database, I noticed that when my hours
per muskie were very low, the fish were coming from relatively few
spots on given lake and also being caught on just a couple of different lures. Actually many of the fish were coming on the exact same
cast on a specific spot! Whimsically, I’ve started referring to these as
magic cast spots. This same general trend held for both huge Lake
of the Woods and 800 acre Lake Independence near Minneapolis.
Based on these observations, I made a somewhat arbitrary judgment
as to whether or not I was hunting for fish OR dialed into a pattern
at the time a given muskie was landed. The results explained the
manic nature of my muskie fishing. These seem to be key factors
lead to good catch rates.
A good muskie spot becomes a great one as it super charged with
bait fish activity. This may be due to a seasonal pattern or a weather condition such as wind concentrating bait fish activity.
I’ve been lucky enough to find a lure and a cast angle that is generating bites and hooked fish instead of merely blow-ups and follows.
The specific spot is not being pounding with a ton of other
anglers or at least we’re fishing the spot with a different lure or presentation angle than most of the pressure.
Looking back at my unproductive times, my biggest mistake is
trying to treat muskie fishing as strictly on odds game or i.e. put
enough time casting to good spots from a marked contour map and
(Continued on Page 24)
HERE’S WHY I STINK! (Continued from page 23)
you’ll hook-up sooner or later. Frankly, “time on the water” getting
dialed into a specific pattern on specific spot on the spot is a wonderful thing. Time on the water mechanically casting to some generally known muskie point, reef, or weed bed may be taking us down the
old fish of 10,000 casts path.
Another mistake is approaching these potential
“magic cast spots” with the idea of an active muskie
is a big dumb fish and will move 10 feet out of a
thick clump of weeds to smack a lure. A 50.5” fish
boated this fall illustrated this point by ignoring
bucktails thrown well outside a milfoil bed by the
boat that worked the spot before me, and only
responded to my twitched minnow bait when it was
work parallel to the thickest milfoil edge. This same
identical cast produced good muskies on subsequent
trips for me for the entire month of September.
Another mistake I need to avoid is to continue
to pound these magic cast areas long after the party
is clearly over, hoping for a sequel. My success rate
with this approach is basically zero. Next year I
intend to do a better job of letting go of spent hot
spots.
So after hours of typing in data and bending
numbers around what’s my big conclusion? Being
on a hot muskie spot and making the right cast with
the right lure has more impact than any other variable we can type into a computer model. Not exactly ground breaking stuff. Realistically; we’re dealing
with a complex biological system. I made my best
attempt to express the impact of measurable
variables such as time of year, weather, water color,
water temperature, moon phase, and lure choice have on muskie success. As it turned out there were critical variables that would be
tricky to measure, let alone plug into a model, that apparently overwhelm all the other variables I was hoping to get a responses from.
Moon phase is an example of a variable I was thinking would have
an impact, but had no measurable impact on my muskie catch rate.
The real question
is how this
information
I guess all of this is just as well. For most of us,
the objective of muskie fishing is to have a relaxing
day on the water sans the rigor of rocket launch a
rocket to Mars. And figuring out these little riddles
out on the lake instead of on a Dell is truly the fun
of muskie fishing, and its own reward. But hey what
can I say. As a muskie geek, I’m going to keep looking for new magic casts to make both on the lake
and in cyberspace! ❖
from these 273
muskies best can
be applied to
help predict
which way I’m
going to stink on
any given day.
Here’s a scary picture of me and a 48.5”
that was caught the evening before a
cold front. This fish was soon topped
by a 52” fish that was caught the first
morning after the front had passed! My
fishing partner slept in the morning the
52” fish was caught due to the “poor”
weather conditions for fishing.
46
24
15 33
38
37
12
13
21
1
54
26
6
4
30
20
35
8
29
53
47
10
14
39
11 17 3 7
32
55
31
23
49
22
19
27
41
44
42
16
50
18 51
9
45
52
5
28
October 27, 28
7th Annual Fall Brawl – Kinkaid Lake,
Murphysboro, IL. Host: Shawnee Muskie
Hunters Chapter #28.
Chapter News and Views
Phone #
www.muskiesinc.org
April 3, 4, 5
2008 Spring board meeting, Hosted by
Titletown Muskies, Inc., Chapter #4
Radisson Hotel & Conference Center,
2040 Airport Drive, Green Bay, WI
Telephone: 800-333-3333
Contact Jay Zahn
jzahn000@centurytel.net
Special events listings are provided at
no charge to Muskies, Inc chapters.
To list your chapter's event, email to:
managingeditor@muskiesinc.org
or by ground mail: Jim Smith,
15045 W. Double Tree Way,
Surprise, AZ 85374-8568.
Please send announcements
at least 2 months in advance.
CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS
01.....Twin Cities, 414 Division St., Excelsior, MN 55331..........................................952-380-1218
02.....Fargo-Moorhead, Box 2021, Fargo ND, 58107................................................701-298-9032
03.....Chicagoland Muskie Hunters, 7600 Kilbourn Ave, Skokie, IL 60076 ...............847-677-0017
04.....Titletown Muskies, Inc., 3097 Inverness Lane, New Franken, WI 54229 .......920-866-9705
05.....Pomme De Terre, PO Box 5, Hermitage, MO 65668 .......................................417-745-2381
06.....First Wisconsin, PO Box 122, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 ...............................715-726-8896
07.....South Side Muskie Hawks, 5211 S. Narragansett Ave., Chicago, IL 60638......773-581-8650
08.....Capital City, PO Box 8862, Madison, WI 53708...............................................608-669-5046
09.....West Virginia, 1270 Federal Road, Little Hocking, OH 45742 .........................740-667-3571
10.....Heartland, 239 8th St SE, Mason City IA 50401 ..............................................641-424-0827
11 .....Mississippi Valley, 5301 11th Ave “C”, Moline, IL 61265 ..................................309-797-1803
12.....Headwaters, PO Box 652, Eagle River, WI 54521...........................................715-477-2913
13.....Hayward Lakes, PO Box 609, Hayward, WI 54843 .........................................715-634-4543
14.....South of the Border, 28926 W. Big Hollow Rd, McHenry, IL 60050.................815-385-9026
15.....Star of the North, 29957 La Plant Rd., Grand Rapids, MN 55744...................218-326-4958
16.....Three Rivers, 119 Bus Lane, Renfrew, PA15136 .............................................724-789-7866
17.....Quad County, PO Box 185, Plano, IL 60545....................................................815-695-1494
18.....Hopedale, 15 Township Rd 125, Dillonvale, OH 43917 ...................................740-769-7269
19.....Akron-Canton Muskie Maniacs, 10957 Northwood Ave NE, Bolivar OH 44612.330-874-2773
20.....Between the Lakes, PO Box 61, Sheboygan, WI 53085-0061 ........................920-564-3226
21.....North Metro, PO Box 41216, Plymouth, MN 55441 .........................................952-469-2155
22.....New Jersey, http://www.mi22.com/ ..................................................................................TBD
23.....Cleveland, 5611 Alber, Parma, OH 44129........................................................440-221-5760
24.....Brainerd Lakes, 9143 Lone Pine Road, Brainerd, MN 56401..........................218-821-3669
26.....Central Wisconsin, PO Box 263, Medford, WI 54451 ......................................715-748-2630
27.....Central Illinois, 1191 Sandra Lane, Monticello, IL 61856 .................................309-264-3730
28.....Shawnee Muskie Hunters, PO Box 602, DeKalb, IL 60115 .............................815-756-3231
29.....Upper Great Plains, 1788 Hwy 4, Estherville, IA 51334...................................712-362-2501
30.....God’s Country, PO Box 1461, LaCrosse, WI 54601 ........................................608-786-4062
31.....Penn-Ohio, 309 Spring St, Jamestown, PA 16134...........................................724-932-5815
32.....Flatlanders, 5776 Vesper Drive, South Beloit, IL 61080 ..................................815-389-4622
33.....Lake Superior, 2031 Hwy. 33 S., Cloquet, MN 55720......................................218-879-2712
35.....Milwaukee, PO Box 28842, Greenfield, WI 53220...........................................262-442-6260
37.....St. Cloud, 312 18th Avenue N., Sartell, MN 56377 ..........................................320-656-1160
38.....Vikingland, 2909 Wicken Lane NW, Alexandria, MN 56308.............................320-846-7975
39.....Fox River Valley, 1253 Cobblers Crossing, Elgin, IL 60123.............................847-741-9771
41.....Central Ohio, 603 Bennettwoods Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45320 ...........................513-231-1961
42.....Hoosier Muskie Hunters, PO Box 501371, Indianapolis, IN 46250 .................317-577-8050
44.....Colorado, 3739 Sawgrass Trail, Castle Rock, CO 80109 ................................303-668-4089
45.....Kentucky, 212 Linden Ave., Southgate, KY 41071...........................................859-441-1666
46.....Bemidji/Cass Lake, 11551 Misty Meadows Rd, Bemidji, MN 56601................218-759-0098
47.....Michigan Muskie Alliance, PO Box 512, Caledonia, MI 49316 ........................616-447-1688
48.....Arrowhead, PO Box 82, Virginia, MN 55792....................................................218-482-5217
49.....Webster Lake Musky Club, PO Box 670, No. Webster, IN 46555 ...................574-834-1669
50.....Penn-Jersey, 372 Kingwood Rd., King of Prussia, PA 19406 ..........................610-962-0632
52.....Daniel Boone, 813 US 62, Maysville, KY 41056 ..............................................606-759-7610
53.....Huskerland Muskie Hunters, PO Box 394, Valentine, NE 69201.....................402-376-2743
54.....Southern Crossroads, 1524 Country Club Rd, Albert Lea MN 56007 .............507-373-1818
55.....Mid Iowa Muskies, 2940 SW Meadow Ridge, Ankeny IA 50023 .....................515-289-1583
57.....NW TigerPac, 10517 SE 214th Place, Kent, WA 98031 ..................................253-850-5889
2008
CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS ◆
No. Chapter, Address
September 21 (Friday)
M.I. International Fall Board Meeting
LOTW in the Morson, Ontario area.
Headquarters: Red Wing Lodge
Hosted by the International.
Contact Paul Framsted
framsted.paul@den.sysco.com
NOTE: Sept 21st is the correct date.
(The 2007 MI Calendar incorrectly
shows Sept. 14th).
CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS ◆
Special Events
2007
48
2
CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS ◆ CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS ◆ CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS
First Wisconsin
P.O. Box 122, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729
715-726-8896
muskybob@charter.net
firstwi@muskiesinc.org
Meetings 1st Monday, 5:30 PM, Rod and Gun Club,
Lake Wissota.
06
The First Wisconsin Chapter will be holding
their 31st annual fall fishing tournament on
September 14, 15, 16, 2007 on multiple waters
of Chippewa and Rusk counties in Wisconsin.
For details please contact our chapter’s website
at http://firstwi.muskiesinc.org. This site includes
complete details, entry form, contacts, etc.
In September there is no general membership
meeting as all our efforts are focused on the fall
tournament. However there will be a board meeting at the Rod @ Gun Club on September 10th
which will concentrate on details for our fall tournament of September 14-16.
October 1st will be the general membership
meeting for our chapter. We are going to have a
really neat speaker that month, but can’t say who
yet as he is off fishing and have not nailed him
down yet. You will enjoy it, he is one of us and
knowing him he will not be able to say no.
October 6th will be our Annual Fall Meltdown
Tournament on Lake Holcombe. This is a really
neat deal as we just get together as a chapter
and go fishing. There is no entry fee and we
gather at the boat landing at the County Park at
Lake Holcombe for a cookout at noon and tell
really neat lies. You can fish from sun up to sun
down or any time you want to. It is really laid
back and pretty neat deal. On October 15th will
be our Chapter’s Board meeting at the Gander
Mountain Lodge in Eau Claire. This is for the
board members of our chapter to conduct chapter business, but any member may attend.
In November our General Membership
Meeting and Board Meeting will be the same
night at the Fill In Station in Chippewa Falls on
November 5th. They fall on the same night as
we seem to get really involved in deer season
here.
Chapter fishing contest is going well. We have
109 entries over 34 inches since received entries
by July 23rd. Jon Olstadt has the longest with a
53 inch on Mille Lacs. Word lately is that Bob
Benson and Dustin Carlson of our chapter won
the big tournament on Vermillion in northern
Minnesota. Let’s see, we won our third
International Chapter Challenge this year, won a
big money tournament on Vermillion, and it is not
even into to fall yet. Holly Molly.
Reporter - Jim Bunch
Headwaters
12
P.O. Box 652
Eagle River, WI 54521
715-477-2913 – Paul Hansen
www.headwatersmuskies.com
Meets 1st Wednesday 7:00 PM
Headwaters Chapter 12 of Muskies Inc. is
extremely busy this simmer. On July 7th we held
our open lake fishing contest co-chaired by Jim
Rechiltz and Roger Sabota. Our club had a
tremendous turnout with 47 members attending.
Fishing was extremely tough and only 3 fish
were boated. Congratulations to John Schmidt
with a 40” on the Three Lakes Chain, president
Bill Jacobs boated a 34” (that a way Bill) and
Peter Blecharz boated a 30.” This event was
held at Sweetwaters - you did a heck of a job taking care of our club attendees.
Mark your calendars for the following club outings: August 15th @ Twelve Pines in Eagle
River 6 PM; Sept 5-7 Canada fish outing; and
October 27th our famous Enduro at Eagle River
Inn 6 PM. Good luck to all Headwaters members
and be sure to register your 30” or larger
muskies as we are looking to break our all-time
record. This will allow you an automatic entry in
our end of year drawing for a quality rod and
reel. Musky enthusiasts looking to join a premier
club please visit our website at http://www.headwatersmuskies.com/.
Respectfully
Glenn Matula
Secretary
13
Hayward Lakes
P.O. Box 609
Hayward, WI 54843
715-634-4543
Thursday, June 14th the Hayward chapter cohosted, with Walleyes for Northwest Wisconsin,
a presentation by Mike Staggs, head of fisheries
for Wisconsin DNR. The meeting was held in
Hayward at the Vet Center and was attended by
members of the two clubs and also other interested fishingpeople. Mike talked about a variety
of subjects including, genetics and the research
going on in that area, invasive species, and fish
stocking and the threat of VHS. We thank him for
taking the time to visit with us.
In the August issue of “Muskie” there was a
full page ad for our 30TH Annual Fall
Tournament, along with a entry form. We will
also be sending out, during August, our six page
“Tournament Flyer” with complete information
about the event. If you are not on our mailing list
and would like a flyer call Hayward Bait at 715634-2921.
The 2007 Tournament will have the same
prize array as last year. A Lund 17’ Explorer with
a Mercury 50 on a Shorelander Trailer is the top
prize, awarded as a door prize at our Sunday
awards banquet, by drawing a name from the list
of everyone in the event and you must be present to win. The top fish catcher wins a 25HP
Mecury Motor, and second place is a 9.9
Mercury. Trophies and prizes are awarded for
the top ten places. The person with the largest
release gets a trophy and a “Ron Lax’ replica.
Everyone who registers a fish gets a plaque.
Hayward Power Sports has been our major
sponsor for several years and they play an
important part in obtaining our prizes. Please
support them by visiting them if you are looking
for boats, motors, ATV’s or snowmobiles. They
are on highway 77, eleven miles east of
Hayward.
Thursday night before the tournament the club
hosts “Ask a Guide Night” at the “Dick-Sy
Roadhouse”(formerly the Beer Hunters). This is
a fun gathering of people who are pumped and
ready to fish the tournament! Saturday night we
have a raffle with 150 prize bags, which is at the
Ramada Inn this year. It’s a fun weekend and all
the money goes back into Muskies and fishing.
Three people have registered fish in our members contest:
Dick Minnick, 5 fish, 53 pts.
J.B. Ellis, 2 fish, 11.5 pts.
Terry Blankenship, 2 fish, 12 pts.
Send your entries to Bob Timme, 12677 N
Neumaier Road, Hayward WI, 54843.
Our next club meeting is Tuesday, September
4th. There will be a business meeting at 6:30,
and all interested members are welcome. At
7:30 the general meeting will feature guest
speaker, Dave Neuswanger, DNR area fisheries
manager. The meeting will be held at “The DickSy Road House” 12 miles east of Hayward on 77
east.
Good Fishing,
Mike Persson
19
Akron-Canton
10957 Northwood Ave. NE
Bolivar, OH 44612
Gordon Selden - 330-874-2773
http://muskie_guy@tripod.com
Meets 3rd Monday 7:00 PM, Belgrade Gardens,
3476 Massillon Road, Akron, OH.
Well the dog days of summer are upon us with
the lake water temperature in the mid to upper
70 degrees and due to the hot weather and lack
of rain, the lakes are low. However, club members are still catching fish. So far our club has
caught 117 muskies with 15 being huskies.
We had our third tournament of the season on
July 21st and 22nd with our friends from the
Cleveland Chapter 23. We had a combined
total of 30 muskie hunters fishing the event with
the opportunity to either fish West Branch or
Lake Milton. There were 16 muskies caught
between the two clubs with each club catching 8
fish. Mike Mordas from our club caught the winning fish, a 41-incher. Way to go Mike! We all
had a great time of fellowship and concluded the
event by having lure raffles.
Our next tournament will be our Leesville Lake
Night Bite Tournament on August 11th.
The
tournament will start at 12pm and go until 12 am.
We will have to get our hat lights and flash lights
ready for some after dark action. Some of our
club members prefer to fish after dark and have
done pretty good. I will let you know how our
Night Bite Event went in our next article.
Our last event of the season will be our
Memorial Outing at West Branch Sept. 22nd. We
usually have a cookout and take time to
acknowledge the club members that have
passed away with a moment of silence. We normally have a good turn out for this event and
hope the weather will cooperate.
Kevin Proffitt
22
New Jersey
http://www.mi22.com/
The Jim Smith Memorial Tournament was held
6-23-07 under cold front conditions. Over two
dozen members turned out to fish Greenwood
Lake and Monksville Reservoir yet only two fish
were boated. Zane Brylinski put a low 30’s fish in
the net while the winner was caught by Jeff
Young - a four footer. As usual Jed Chingery did
a great job as organizer. Thanks also to Carl
Graf & John Craig who handled the cooking.
We’d like to thank and recommend our sponsors
Central Wisconsin
26
P.O. Box 263
Medford, WI 54451
715-748-2630 – Jim Jacobs
muskyjt@hotmail.com
Meets 1st Thursday, 7:00 PM, Happy Joe’s,
Medford, WI
We placed fourth at the Gil Hamm which isn't
bad considering we only had a 3 member team.
Who knows what would have happened if we
had a 6 member team.
One fish was caught at the Rib Lake outing in
July and zero fish at the Alexander outing in
August. We raised about $1000 in gross Muskys
Alliance Boat raffle ticket sales which means we
should get $750 back from the Alliance. The
money will be put towards stocking if we get a
permit pending the VHS scare. I would like to
propose an early season outing next spring on
the Wisconsin river. I have been getting positive
feed back from the Wisconsin Rapids members
but I am open for suggestions.
Don't forget to check out the website for catch
and release :
info.students.uwsp.edu/jjaco985/index.html
Gerald Bucholtz
Shawnee
28
P.O. Box 602
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-756-3231 – Gary Dew
(815) 529-1159
Meets: varies-call for schedule.
The Shawnee Muskie Hunters Chapter of MI
has been nominated by the ILDNR Volunteer
Network as the Volunteer Group of the Year
for 2007.
As a Chapter it’s rewarding to be recognized
for doing the things we should be doing. Some
of the projects included:
– Helped in the purchase of the 60 hp Etec
motor for the Kinkaid Lake Biologist
– Helped in the purchase of the ILDNR Youth
Fishing Trailer
– Organized the Lake Clean up Event in April
on Kinkaid Lake
– Put on a Kid’s Fishing Day Event on
Murphysboro Lake for 90 kids
– Implemented a rod/reel loaner program in
Murphysboro that allows kids to keep the
rod/reels
– Major contributor for the purchase of Tiger
Muskies that will be stocked in Eagle Lake
in November 2007
These events promote our Chapter, but more
importantly provide a much needed public service to the community. Without leadership and
www.muskiesinc.org
commitment from our Chapter members and
leaders, these jobs would go undone. Thanks
to those that gave their time and dedication to
support the community.
Chad Cain & Steph: Congratulations on the
birth of your new daughter, Riley Grace Cain!
(Chad was our first president of the Chapter.)
Chapter challenge: Members Jerry Dingus,
Steve Burian, Ron Brooter and Walt Krause
attended. They caught 17 muskies for the week,
with 11 during the 2 1/2 day tournament. They
turned in the most fish of any team. Fifteen
teams participated. Most had 6 per team. During
the week Ron caught 2 muskies, Jerry 3, Steve
5, and Walt 7. Congrats for taking 4th.
Coming
8-12-07
9-14 to
9-16
up dates:
Board meeting 7 p.m.
Prairie Lake outing, meeting, & camping contact Jim Beaty #618-971-7806
Baby Beaty-Dingus Due!
(Little Muskie Gal #2)
Guide for a day & meeting – contact Manuel
Santa Cruz
Guide for a day continues – #618-610-5003
10-27 to 7th Annual Fall Brawl Tournament
10-28
Kinkaid (IMTT)
www.shawneemuskiehunter.org
Muskie Gal!
Shannon Beaty-Dingus
Shannonbeaty1031@hotmail.com
Fox River Valley
39
1253 Cobblers Crossing, Elgin, IL 601230
847-741-9771 – Rich Gallagher
www.frvmuskie.com
Meets: 2nd Wed (Exc June/July) Poplar Creek Country
Club, 1400 Poplar Creek Drive, Hoffman Estates, IL.
Here we are in September! We have many
activities still to come in this fishing season. To
start, we resume our regular monthly club meeting at the Poplar Creek Country Club. To kick off
things after our Summer “Lay Off” we will have
Todd Forcier with his seminar on the Wisconsin
Petenwell Flowage.
At the September Meeting you have one last
chance to pick up your tickets for our Electronics
“Mega-Raffle.” This is the “Last Call” for a crack
at taking home a 30 GB iPod (Third Place), a
Nintendo Wii (Second Place) or the Grand Prize
of a Daewood 42” Plasma T.V. Bring an extra
twenty spot with you for a book of five tickets.
The winners will be drawn and they will be wearing a great big smile as they take home some
awesome electronics!
We would like to call your attention to a special event we have scheduled for Saturday
February 16th. 2008. The Fox River Valley
Chapter will be putting on a Fund-raising
Banquet. We would really enjoy seeing you,
your family and your friends join us for a great
evening of food, friends and outstanding prizes.
Time: February 16th, 6 to 10 p.m.
Location: The Polar Creek Country Club in
Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Emcee: Steve Sarley, Host of the Outdoors
Experience Radio Program in Chicago and
Writer for the NW Daily Herald Newspaper.
Menu: Peppercorn Crusted Sirloin of Beef,
Chicken Capriasi, Vegetables, Fruit, Dessert and
Cash Bar.
Cost: $35.00 Per Person
Purpose: To raise funds in promotion of the
FRV Chapter’s mission of “Back To Our Youth”
Fund-raising and ongoing water clean-up and
fish stocking programs.
Evening Activities: Raffles, Auctions, Ticket
Games for great prizes and merchandise for
home, office, outdoor recreation and family pursuits.
We would really like to see your participation
in this night. As a club this is what we are here
for: To promote a healthy environment for our
fishing pursuits; To continue to fulfill our mission
to stock Muskies in area Lakes; and most importantly to have our Children involved in the sport
of fishing. They will be the architects that shape
the future of our fishing environment.
Watch here and the website for updates and
reservations.
Get your entry forms filled out and turned in
for our “Fall Challunge on the Chain” Tournament
which will take place on Saturday October 27th.
Great food raffles and Cash Payouts to tenth
place. Hope to see you there.
Our regular club meeting dates are the second Wednesday of the month at the Poplar
Creek Country Club. They offer a buffet style dinner starting at six p.m. before the 7:30 p.m.
meeting. The week before the meeting the web
site will have the buffet menu and cost.
Until Later,
Return ‘em to the water Healthy and
Remember Our Troops.
JT
Penn Jersey
50
Matt Lysek, President
215-822-2472
Website: www.mi50.com
Meets at 7pm on 1st Wed. at Casey’s Bar on Corner of
Cherry and California Rds, Quakerstown, PA.
Delaware
River
size
increase:
Pennsylvania and Muskies Inc chapters continue
to work together to bring about a better muskie
fishery. Pennsylvania has approved reg 398,
which calls for a muskellunge minimum size of
40 inches and limit of one per day while on the
Delaware River. Bordering states, New Jersey
and New York, have worked together on the 40
inch size increase for the river. This will take
effect in 2008 and will match the new 2007 regulation changes for the rest of PA.
Fund Raising: Ebay donations are desperately needed. Just about any item, not just fishing related, can be put on ebay. Please get items
to Eric “esoxpress” Ravikio at the monthly meeting. Cabela’s is willing to let us do seminars at
the end of September. We can have a booth
there, with raffle tickets sold outside. We can
also sell Muskie Schools for October. “Bushkill
Tom” Long is heading this up.
Float-Stocking: Fall float-stocking will be
here shortly. Volunteers are asked to have a suitable barrel with plenty of aeration. A 12V
portable tire inflator connected to a long air
stone, mounted at the bottom of a plastic 55gal
barrel, seem to work well. Air stone, tubing, and
net can be purchased at a Pet Store. Portable
tire inflator can be picked up at an auto parts
store.
50 inch club: Congratulations to Eric Ravikio
and Dan McCann for their impressive catches
and releases!
Please visit www.mi50.com for more information.
Reporting: Archie Roche
CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS ◆ CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS ◆ CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS
including Hawgseeker Tackle, Shumway Tackle,
Fishtek.com, Fig Rig Rods, Lakewood, &
Jonathan Paul Eyewear.
Regular meetings resume in September and
are the last Tuesday of the month (SeptemberNovember) 8 pm at the Lake Arrowhead
Clubhouse in Denville. The Fall Tournament is
in October, date to be announced. Watch
mi22.com for details.
Submitted by
Gordon CampbellVP Ch 22.
A Heart-Thumping Spring
by James W. Colgan
smoky gray mist covering lead colored water greeted me which lure I intended to use and I replied, “Why, of course, I always
when I pulled into the parking lot at Kinkaid Marina. Dark, start off with a top-water.”
“You gotta be kiddin’,” Chad said doubtfully, grinning and
rain-laden clouds threatened as I looked around the area
shaking
his head in a negative motion, “we haven’t seen any surface
observing a nearly empty parking lot and I began to have doubts.
action
for
some time and the muskies seem to be located just under
With only a few empty boat trailers left on the lot, I began to wonthe
pods
of
shad.”
der if I was being foolish, or was, in fact, very lucky.
While
I
was busy changing lures every thirty of forty casts,
This year has been a study in contrast here in the mid-west with
Chad’s
in
the
back
of the boat throwing into used water. He’s casting
temperatures ranging in the extreme at both ends of the thermome1/2 oz. spinner bait with a red #8 magnum blade and
a
huge
7inch,
2
ter. During late winter the weather became very warm and temperatures set records in the 80s and 90s causing trees and flowers to bud moving fish. Chad had three follows by noon before I humbly asked
if I could borrow one of his latest creations.
and bloom. This, of course, set up a danHe pointed to three lying on the compartgerous scenario for apple and peach
ment hatch and I grabbed a “Firetiger”
orchards which hoped for the best, but
Thrashing and splashing some
color for starters.
would soon face the worst. A prolonged
minutes
before
it
settled
down,
We started off our fishing foray by
cold spell followed with temperatures
working
the shallows in the backs of coves
Chad
gingerly
worked
the
lure
plunging into the teens and low twenties
and
saw
no action. The lake was up high
which decimated the peach crop and damfrom its jaw and took its
and
slightly
stained from run-off and the
aged over half the apple trees, while at the
measurements.
“Forty
two
inches
surface
temperature
held in the low
same time shutting down fishing and chill70s.There
had
been
a
muskie
tournament
ing the water.
and a fat, healthy muskie.” Chad
the
previous
weekend
and
this
may have
Finally, the cold spell broke with all
called
out,
“Now,
let’s
get
some
made
the
muskies
a
bit
skittish.
Who
the damaged done and the weather
knows?
After
an
hour
or
so
of
casting
to
the
pictures
before
we
release
her.”
warmed back to normal bringing with it a
shallows,
Chad
decided
to
move
slowly
warming trend to the water. Like many
away from the shoreline and we began to
other anglers, I consult charts and diawork
the
intermediate
depths.
I was still tossing a surface lure hopgrams to determine moon phases and plan every vacation on phases
ing
to
get
some
top
water
action,
but the muskies showed absolutely
of the moon. In particular, I look for the full moon phase and the
no
interest
in
anything
on
the
top
of the water.
new moon phase. Three days before and following each moon phase
Each
cove
we
visited
was
full
of
flooded timber and in addition
gives me about seven days to work with on each phase and about two
to
the
cloudy,
off
color
water,
there
was long, green, clumps of
weeks each month which I consider to be the best period for active
stringy
aquatic
vegetation
clinging
to
the branches and trunks of
fish.
every
tree
below
the
water
line.
This
would
eventually present probMay first and second of this year was the full moon phase and
lems
later
when
we
learned
we
had
to
present
our lures into the thick
held the best interest for me. The predictable part of my vacation fell
to
get
action.
Following every casts
in
order
of
the
submerged
trees
into place without a hitch, but the weather is always a guess at best.
we
would
have
to
swing
our
lure
in
to
pull
off
that stringy, slimy
As luck would have it, a huge front had swept south through Texas
weed.
and Louisiana and was headed north working its way up the
Chad had previous follows and on his third follow, he excitedly
Mississippi valley whipping its way through Oklahoma, Arkansas,
shouted,
“Fish,. . . fish and it’s hot,” as he stooped down to thrust the
Kansas, Missouri and into southern Illinois where I planned to fish.
rod
tip
into
the water, “and it looks like he’s going for my figure 8.”
This weather front was a blessing in disguise, because few fishermen
The
fish
stayed with Chad’s lure for four complete figure 8s and
venture forth when foul weather is in the forecast. Since only local
off
into deeper water. I had seen the whole scenario and
then
swerved
crappie fishermen were on the lake, few if any muskie fishermen were
was
now
convinced
casting top water lures was not the answer for
present leaving ninety miles of shoreline and structure wide open to
luring
fish.
me.
I clamped one of Chad’s magnum spinner baits onto my twelve
Tuesday and Wednesday could not have been better because it
inch
steel leader and began casting. I selected a “Firetiger” color for
was cloudy, overcast, and rainy with just enough wind to chop the
several
reasons: first, the water was stained and I thought bright colwater nicely. I explained to Chad, my long time friend and guide,
ors
would
show up more in the dingy water, and I also suspected that
that this is the kind of weather I look for, the kind I hope for and
most
other
anglers had been throwing white lures most of the time
perfect weather for moving big fish. Chad was more than enthusiasand
I
would
be using a color less often seen by the muskies.
tic in agreement and he made promising forecasts for our possibiliBut
who
can figure a muskie? Chad had been throwing a bright
ties as we left the launching area and motored towards the first cove
color
and
I had selected a firetiger color and we were both getred
we planned to explore.
ting
follows.
I’d
like to think that other elements built into these
Predicting conditions, lures and locations of fish is hazardous at
magnum
spinner
baits were more important than the color alone;
best and even serious anglers look silly when they try to solve problike,
for
instance
its
2 1/2 ounce weight taking the lure deeper in the
lems beyond their capability. So it was with me when Chad asked me
A
water, or more importantly, that magnum #8 spinner blade which
gives off strong vibrations. Only the muskies know for sure what it is
that triggers a reaction and they’re not talking.
Chad explained, “We know the muskies aren’t in the shallows
because we’ve been in the back of the coves for over an hour casting
different lures at them. I started getting follows when I began fishing
the opening of the coves near the main body of the lake. The muskies
seem to be lying under the pods of shad suspended at ten feet.
Further, I believe that big blade on the spinner bait is attracting their
attention and triggering a reaction.”
While I’m working my firetiger, Chad called out, “Boots, slow
down a bit, kind-of slow roll your lure letting it sink to about that
ten or twelve feet level and reel it just fast enough to feel the thumping of the blade.”
After about twenty or thirty casts I began to get the feel for
working this heavy, oversized spinner bait. The vibrations of that
magnum blade were strong and distinct from all the other spinner
baits I had fished with and the weight of the lure would take it down
quickly to the desired depth of ten to twelve feet.
As I gained confidence casting this heavy lure, I found myself
casting farther across the opening of coves to as much as a hundred
feet or more with ease and working all the water in between. From
habit, I varied my retrieve by erratically quickening the reel speed or
by pumping the rod while letting the lure work its magic at that critical depth. It wasn’t long before I saw a flash behind my lure and had
my first follow.
While some muskie anglers would consider day one on the
water a failure, Chad and I considered it an outstanding success in
many ways. For one, we had the whole lake to ourselves and could
fish any structure or cove we chose. But, more importantly, we
wound up with a total of fifteen follows by the end of the day and
several of the follows were “hot.” Of course, the down-side was there
were no hits, no snapping at the lure and no serious effort by the
muskies to eat what we threw at them.
Day two on the water was even better; cloudy, overcast, rain,
wind and a big front moving into the area from the southwest. Most
of our problems had been solved and we’d know soon enough if the
muskies were still located in the mouths of the coves suspended
beneath the pods of shad. And they were!
Rain dimpled the dun gray surface of the water, chopped by a
southwest wind. The rain was warm and not heavy enough to
obscure vision. I always think that rain and chop on the water helps
to hide the noise of an approaching boat and makes the muskies less
wary. I had a good feeling about day two.
Again, Chad had the first three follows on his bright red spinner
bait. We were both making long casts across the openings of coves
and working the submerged trees but the muskies were tight lipped
as they chased Chad’s lure. Finally, one made a mistake and hit my
lure.
Like the strings of my heart being plucked, the syncopated
thumping from my magnum spinner bait fell into sync with the
rhythm of my retrieve and the instant my lure hit a tree branch and
was jerked free, a reaction strike jerked my rod hard and almost
ripped it from my hands. In an instant a long green form leaped into
the air and the fight was on. Chad had the net in the water and as I
led the fish boat side, it made one last effort, thrashing and twisting
to throw the lure, and swim away to freedom.
“It had to be 38 to 40 inches, and thick.” Chad exclaimed excitedly, “too bad we couldn’t get a picture of it and measure it just to be
sure. Maybe next time.”
www.muskiesinc.org
Chad switched to a white, green scale Believer while I continued
with the firetiger spinner. In less than ten minutes Chad shook the
boat setting the hook and yelled, “Fish on.”
I grabbed the net and stood at ready as Chad played the fish to
boat side and I scooped it up. Thrashing and splashing some minutes
before it settled down, Chad gingerly worked the lure from its jaw
and took its measurements. “Forty two inches and a fat, healthy
muskie.” Chad called out, “Now, let’s get some pictures before we
release her.”
Within minutes, I made another cast across the opening of the
same cove and my lure was stopped dead as I maneuvered it between
two standing trees. BAM! Came the hit and I staggered from the
force. Cranking hard, the muskie ran towards the boat, then under
it, around it, and was finally brought next to the boat. We had a frenzied few minutes of sport before working the thrashing muskie into
the waiting net.
Measurements taken, Chad grabbed my hand with a hardy
hand-shake and smiled saying, “Thirty seven inches and another
fatty. In less than fifteen minutes we’ve had three fish on.” Shaking
his head in wonderment, Chad added, “I‘d sure like to know what
turned these muskies on and made them hit our lures now.”
Day two ended with sixteen sightings and three fish on. All in
all, not a bad muskie trip by some standards; and, what I would consider to be an excellent fishing trip with a total of thirty one sightings
and three fish hooked. I’ll take that any day.
As we motored toward the marina, we watched a pair of eagles
as they flew high and low, hopping from one tree to another screeching at one another, and for a fleeting moment I imagined this could
very easily be similar to experiences up north in Minnesota or
Canada. But here I was, in the southern Illinois Ozarks, enjoying
superb muskie fishing on isolated home water and all due to an
unpredictable weather phenomenon. Then I thought as we trailered
the boat to leave, life doesn’t get any better than this. ❖
INDEX OF ADVERTISERS
FITTANTE REPLICAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
HAYWARD LAKES CHAPTER
30TH ANNUAL MUSKIE TOURNAMENT . . . . . . . . .
6
LAKE VERMILION RESORT ASSOCIATION . . . . . . . . 15
LAX REPRODUCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
LEECH LAKE BOARD OF TOURISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
MUSKIES, INC. - INFORMATIONAL BROCHURES . . . 15
PASTIKAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
PHANTOM LURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
RED WING LODGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
ROLLIE & HELEN’S MUSKY SHOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
ST. CROIX RODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
TAYLOR COUNTY TOURIST COMMISSION . . . . . . . . 24
TUFFY BOATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
TWIN CITIES 40TH ANNUAL
“SCHNEIDER MEMORIAL” TOURNAMENT . . . . . . . 13
YOUNG'S WILDERNESS CAMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
It Was a Very Good Year
by Earle Hammond
L
loyd Colbert could add another verse to that old favorite best
sung by “Ol’ Blue Eyes”. For Lloyd “It was a very good year”
for muskie fishing! As a matter of fact we have given Lloyd
the nickname “Lloyd, We Have Created A Monster, Colbert.”
Lloyd’s success is impressive enough for anywhere muskies are
found and should show that, yes indeed, there is great opportunity
for muskie fishing in the Show-Me State. Lloyd says that spring fever
finally took hold enough to get him out on the water on March 25
for the first time this past year. He says he doesn’t do cold very well.
(“I can go fishing on nice, sunny bluebird days and get skunked.
Why would I want to freeze my butt off for the same results?”)
He goes on to say that most of the muskies he had caught the
previous year were caught trolling, and that he wanted to catch a bigger muskie casting. So most of his time on the water in early spring
was spent casting.
“Wore out my arms and my finger turned black and blue from
trauma with the rod trigger. It’s true!”
By the end of May he had over one hundred hours on the water
with no fish. “Lots of follows but no fish!” I was thinking they should
change the name of this lake from Fellows to Follows. (Welcome to
muskie fishing Lloyd!)
June 1 - First fish in the boat. Only 35 inches but who cares? It’s a
muskie! Also one encounter (hooked-lost). “Damn, damn,
damn! I hate it when I lose ‘em.”
June 2 - Six hours on the water, no fish.
June 4 - Rainy, overcast, “muskie weather.” On the water with David
Price, David a 37.5 and a 45-incher! Me a 42.5-incher. Things
are looking up!
June 6 - Caught four muskies plus partner Larry McCorkle caught
one. Five fish in the boat! Largest 46”, smallest 37.” Reward
time! Sleep the good sleep tonight!
June 8 - Put two more muskies in the boat. The biggest was 46” long
with a 22” girth. That put her over 27 pounds. Fellows Lake
record fish?
June turned out to be a golden month for Lloyd. Eighty hours
on the water put 27 muskies in the boat. Those fish averaged 40
inches in length and got him listed in the “Lunge Log.”
We stopped fishing for muskies in late June because of high
water temperature, but not before Lloyd caught a 47.5 incher.
By late August the water temperature was low enough to assure
successful releases and Lloyd started the fall season with a 47”
muskie. During September he put six fish in the boat. He also had a
real heart breaker - hooked, and lost, a monster of a fish. He says that
when the fish came out of the water his impression was, “My net isn’t
big enough for that fish!” He said he cried for a week. (What’s a fish
story without a “fish story” thrown in?)
In the meantime he hadn’t forgotten his desire to catch a bigger
muskie by casting, and continued that endeavor. “Troll till you’re
bored stiff, cast till your arms fall off, then back to trolling.” On
September 18, Lloyd cast his lure to the back of a small cove and
started reeling in. Out of the weed bed came a 46-incher and
smacked his Super Shad Rap. The fish hit twenty feet from the boat.
“I swear that fish came six feet out of the water! Is this muskie fishin’
fun or what?” Mission accomplished!
October is considered by many to be the premier month of the
year for muskie fishing. Lloyd, who by this time had started to consider himself a muskie fisher, put seventy hours on the water and
caught two fish. (Go figure!) “Where do they go when they disappear?” The up side of the month though was that those 981,714 figure eights that he executed finally paid off. A 36” muskie that hits
right at the tip of your rod is the proverbial “tiger by the tail!” It
seemed like it took me forever just to get control of the situation!
Keep doing those figure eights. The pay-off is dynamite! If you
haven’t experienced it, keep trying. Muskie fishing at its finest.”
The day after Thanksgiving Lloyd cast his lure to a submerged
tree. He had worked this tree hundreds of times before with not so
much as a follow. The tree is located in a vast weed bed and has the
look of classic muskie cover. When his white T-55 Flatfish was ten
feet away and running a foot deep in clear water, a forty inch muskie
came from behind like a torpedo, opened her basketball-sized mouth
and grabbed the lure. “What a thrill to witness the predator grabbing
the prey!”
WHOA, this is not something to eat! Guess I’ll leap out of the
water, do a tail walk and make a couple of trips around the boat to
see if I can get this guy’s heart to pumping a little. It worked! My
heart was pounding.
The month of December is not generally known as prime time
for muskie fishing. Up North, in “Muskie Country,” the lakes are
usually frozen over early. But here in the Ozarks, they almost never
freeze and we can pursue our passion to the limits of our personal
endurance. Lloyd is retired and his main focus at this point in his life
is muskie fishing. (Poor guy!) He says he monitors the weather and
picks and chooses which days to fish. (Poor guy!)
Very favorable weather was being forecast for the 15th and 16th.
Being new at this sport I didn’t have enough experience to know
where muskies should be located at this time of year. (Actually, as we
all know they are elusive at all times of year.) So I made an arbitrary
decision to cast all day one day and troll the next.
Thursday - As planned, I spent the day casting in relatively shallow water with proven lures. Nada, zip, squat, zero! Where are they?”
Friday - What a relief, I got to troll. At least I figured I’d be able
to rest my arms. I decided to run three nine inch firetiger Grandmas
at about 10’, 15’ and 20’ depths. (May as well optimize my chances.)
I slowed my trolling speed to 2 mph to allow for the muskie’s lower
metabolism in the colder water. Someone once said, “trolling is boring.” That’s true, but if catching a muskie is the goal, trolling increases the odds tremendously. The thing that keeps me going, hour after
hour, is confidence in what I’m doing. I’ve used these lures and this
technique before and caught fish. All I have to do is wiggle this lure
in front of her nose and if she’s in the mood, she’ll smack it. If not,
on to the next!
About 3:45 PM, I was pretty discouraged and running out of
time. I had seen fish on my fish finder along rocky shorelines, down
20 to 30 feet, but I’m guessing they were species other than the target. I decided to go back to a technique that has caught a lot of fish
for me: two Grandmas running 20’ deep at 3.5 mph. I headed in the
general direction of the boat ramp since sundown was little more
than an hour away, and all boats must be off the water at that time
of day. I was paralleling the shoreline when I came to another boat
that was dead in the water. I changed course toward the middle of the
lake to stay out of the crappie fishers’ space. Just as the lures were
even with their boat, the muskie hit and headed for the surface for a
spectacular leap. (I sure do love the scream of a reel when a fish hits!)
Those guys had a front row seat to the acrobatics.
A couple more leaps and a few strong runs and Ms. Muskie was
in the net which she didn’t like at all, twisting and rolling like an alligator. To expedite the release, I even cut the net some to free it from
the fish and lure. Looking at the fish in the net I thought she might
go 50”. She measured 47.5” but her girth was 24 inches. A muskie
with that girth fools the eye. She was heavy when I picked her up for
a couple of quick pictures then back into the water.
The accepted formula for estimating muskie weight put the fish
at 34.2 pounds. Frankly, I was amazed and a little skeptical that she
was that heavy. In any case she was certainly a solid 30 pounds and
probably the largest muskie ever caught from Fellows Lake.
So, for the year Lloyd caught 42 muskies. One fish was only 28”
so it won’t be counted. The average size of those fish was 40 inches
and with well over 500 release points, he should make the year-end
Men’s Release Points standings.”
Lloyd keeps detailed records of his time on the water and participates in the Missouri Conservation Department’s “Show-Me
Muskie Project.” That project’s objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of the state’s muskie management program. The project’s coordinator is Mark Boone who, appropriately enough, is also an avid
muskie angler.
Pomme de Terre Chapter Members recorded 243 muskies
caught this past year with most of those fish caught in Missouri
waters. Muskies were first planted in Pomme de Terre Lake more
than forty years ago. Fellows Lake was first planted with muskies in
1996. There are three other lakes in the state that have muskie populations, and the Missouri Conservation Department has an aggressive restocking program. ❖
Missouri Muskie fishing –
Don’t miss it!
YOUR CHAPTER’S HISTORY
tion about events or time periods than individual interviews.
Preservation of interviews is important to the organization and will
(Continued from page 21)
have more value as time passes.
Kermit Benson’s book, History of Muskies, Inc. is an invaluable
Chapters need to check with their memberships for documents
and artifacts. There is no better time to do this than the present. We source of information. Unfortunately his work concluded with the
1992 year. With the guidance and
have found that good-intending
participation of the MI History
members, often chapter officers, take
and Archives Committee, a pledge
items home for safekeeping. Once
has been made to continue to comthe items are safely stored, there is
pile information for the follow-up
some probability they may be forgotto Benson’s book. In reality, we are
ten. Too often, families of anglers
doing so as we collect information,
have dwindling interest in Muskie
artifacts, and photographs that
fishing. As a result, when such fampertain to the history of the last 15
ilies are disposing of the estate items
years.
of anglers, the importance of the
Important to the chapters is
documents and artifacts may not be
the
fact
that Kermit used about
evident to them.
In those
half of his book (74 of 163 page)
circumstances, the items will be lost
for chapter histories. Writing the
to the chapter and MI, forever.
Even these kinds of things have their place in our archives–
full history of Muskies, Inc. is
Oral and video histories are valu- Gil Hamm’s business card, very nicely done.
going to be a collaborative effort.
Chapter
able and important.
We are encouraged knowing that most chapfounders and early members have
ters are prepared to contribute and hope that
memories of events that should be
this advanced notice is a help to others.
stored. Early on in the 2005-06
By the way, be certain that your chapter
search for those who attended the
historian has a better memory than Vince.
1966 first meeting of Muskies, Inc.,
Grumble, grumble, where did I read that the
it was decided that it was important
MI Board took official action to mandate
to record interviews and take
the use of the word, “muskie?”
photographs of the MI Founding
Go get ‘em! MI CHAPTER HISTOMembers. Relatively inexpensive,
RY SEASON IS OPEN! ❖
powerful, pocket-sized digital
recorders are available. Juris and I
Contact Vince: vptrotta@msn.com
plan to do group video interviews
with some of MI’s earliest members. We’ve run this picture before, but it’s a fascinating
We have found that group exchanges example of our fishing history – in this case how
of information elicit more informa- things were before Muskies Inc. came along.
www.muskiesinc.org
SOME MUSKIE MEMORIES
I Muskie Hunted some lakes in the Hayward area last year.
A few times on Callahan when I rented a boat from Jan of
Callahan Lake Resort and Campground I caught a few small
ones. I remember one of these times. I looked over Jan’s collection of Muskie lures which is beholding to the eyes. I was having a Pepsi and telling Jan about some of the Muskie Tales I have
written. I casually mentioned Lonesome Lodge when an elderly dignified gentleman at the end of the bar perked up and said
rather loudly, “Where the hell is Lonesome Lodge? I’ve been
everywhere and don’t remember ever seeing a Lonesome Lodge!”
“It’s quite a ways north of here.” I said.
“Oh,” he said and went back to his refreshment.
I then mentioned to Jan that I had seen a sight I’m not sure
I saw. I told her I was motoring in and passing the entrance to
Mud Lake when I saw a gentleman in a boat sitting in a
Captains Chair. He had a driving cap on and waved as I passed.
I briefly looked ahead to see that I was heading in the right
direction, then turned and brought my hand up to return the
wave when... he was gone!”
“I know, I know, he makes an appearance now and then.
This was his favorite lake.”
“Then it was him!”
“Yep!”
The elderly distinguished gentleman at the end of the bar
set his glass down, stood up and said, “I’ll be back later, when
he’s gone!” He pointed at me as he left.
*****
“Hey Mister, you gotta dime?” This is the fix I had to use
to keep an old outboard going while fishing the Chip, Callahan
and Moose Lakes last summer.
I had bought a pristine condition 1958 Evinrude Fleetwin
7 1/2 H.P. in March before leaving for Northern Wisconsin.
The gentleman I bought it from had put a new water pump in
it and tuned it up, so it was ready to go. I used it about four
times and it ran excellent. Then when my friend joined me a
couple weeks into this trip, the motor started acting strange. It
would run at about half throttle and ran rough, as if hitting on
only one cylinder.
I worked on it and got it to run for a while and then it
would start the rough running and again at half throttle. After
cleaning the sediment bowl and checking the plugs, I found that
when I did get it to run fast and smooth, I noticed the highspeed adjustment dial would vibrate and move to close and this
is when the motor started it’s running rough and slow down.
After some more fiddling I removed the dial and found there
was a slit in the dial pin. That’s where the “Hey Mister, you
gotta dime?” comes in. My friend provided a dime and I put it
in the slit and placed it in a vertical position. The motor ran just
like it should. The only thing, I had to watch the dime and
sometimes hold it in position to keep the motor running
smooth.
This fix kept us with a motor and able to get to and from
the Muskie Beds...ah...Muskie Holes...ah...well, anyway, we
didn’t catch any that day out, but had a swell time talking, joking, working on the motor, finding a way to fix it (temporarily),
and just enjoyed the day as two comrades do Muskie Hunting.
Upon my return, I took the complete high-speed shaft and
locking nut to a nearby Evinrude dealer. They informed me
that there are two washers on the shaft and they are all I need to
get the control working again. They had these washers in stock.
I bought them and reassembled this control with the new washers. It tightened up firmly.
I tested out the motor and it ran beautifully. This just goes
to shows you that the smallest things can and will foul up a good
running motor.
*****
My wife and I camped in Kentucky this past April and I
Muskie Hunted a few days. I tried many lures, cast and trolled,
even rigged up a fly rod and tried my luck. I found that I need
a lot more practice casting those Muskie Flies!
I met a campground neighbor who was working on a local
pipe line. He also was a Bass Tournament Fisherman. He had
a nice boat (a decked out Nitro) and was planning on some bass
fishing. I told him that I am strictly a Muskie Hunter and all
other fish are just bait. He found this rather amusing. I offered
to take him out for Muskie but he started working long hours
and seven day weeks.
I was talking with him one evening and he said he had
stopped at a local sport shop to get his license and a lake map.
He further said they offered to take him out ‘cause the fish were
really hitting. They’ve been catching Muskie every day. They
moved two the other morning, then went back to the same spot
in the afternoon and had two follows and these are big fish, the
same fish they moved in the morning - they’re going back today
and catch them both!
My campground neighbor then asked me, “I know fisherman sometimes lie - at times - and bass fishermen stretch the
truth at times. Ah… I’m not questioning your profession as a
Muskie Hunter... but... do... I mean... well... do Muskie
Hunters...”
“Well, you gotta remember this,” I said, “MUSKIES GET A
LOT BIGGER THAN BASS!!” ❖
"Great Angle"- Linda Rice of Moosehorn
Lodge fame submitted this portrait by Greg
Marino. Shots like this definitely add to
one's photo collection.
"Another First"- Nathan winger pictured with
his first Muskie caught at Salt Fork in Ohio.
Parents Jay & Michele submitted the shot of
their son & his 31".
"Personal Best"- son Pat took this photo of
Vince Mastandrea with a LOTW 50" caught
7-3-07 along a rocky point while casting a
black & gold Ghostail. Congrats.
"5o's"- Edie Buss with a 55.5" St. Clair fish, her 2nd over 50" caught within a day of husband Jim's 52.5" trophy. Great
catches! ][ "Other Half"- And here's Jim with that 52.5" St. Clair muskie. He & wife Edie make quite a fishing team!
"Milestone"- sent by Don Slagle of hoosierhandmademuskybaits.com it depicts Ch 49
President Chae Dolson with a 51" St. Clair fish
caught casting - the first over 50" on one of
Don's Lures. Chae runs the Webster Lake
Musky Guide Service in Indiana.
"Small gets another Big One"- Norm Small of Ch 22 is a perennial
big fish leader. Here he braved a busy weekend on the lake to boat
this 49x24 caught casting. As usual he had the kids on board and
John, Allison & Lauren assisted with the photo & release.
"Got it Right"- Jaime Friedman from
New York City should have been featured in the shot published in the July
issue, but a mistake occurred. He
enjoyed a 2005 Chapter Challunge trip
to Green River in KY where he caught
this 41.5" fish along with Dad Lou &
Tony Grant. Thanks, Jaime!
"Good Start" Mia Hinshaw with her 1st Muskie a 34" specimen proudly submitted by her father Thad.
"Persistence"- Andy Rathje age 22 perservered for 14 hours
with Thad Hinshaw before getting this fish, also a first on a
figure 8! Congrats on that effort.
☞
Proper Muskie
Holding Techniques
for MUSKIE Magazine Photos including Covers, Article Support, Photo
Contest Entries
& Member Photos
www.muskiesinc.org

MUSKIE Magazine

Transcription

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