photo contest – february - muskies inc. feb muski… · february 2010.....muskie 1 departments...

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

Photo #1 Matt Hill, the Release Chairmanfor Chapter 08, sent in this terrificshot he took last October. He wasfishing Twin Valley Lake inGovernor Dodge State Park inIowa County, Wisconsin. Hementioned that he did not knowthe fishermen in this photo, butthat’s just fine. There is a lot tolike about this shot, from themisty look over the water to thecolor of the trees, not to mentionthe color showing up in the reflec-tion on the water. I can’t think ofanything that could really haveimproved this photo. Great shotMatt - thanks for submitting it.

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Photo #2 Here is a really nice sunset photo sent in by Chapter 23 member Michael Nickel. Michael men-tions that he takes a yearly vacation to the Kawartha chain of lakes in southeastern Ontario. This photo was takenlooking out into Pigeon Lake, and shows great color in the sky, and much like the other photo in this month’s contest,really nice color in the reflection on the water. Hope the fishing up there was a good as the photos you got Michael.Thanks a bunch for sending this one.

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February 2010.....MUSKIE 1www.muskiesinc.org

DepartmentsIFC Photo Contest, Brad Waldera

2 President’s Message,Dan Narsete

3 About the Cover, Juris Ozols

3 Index of Advertisers

4 MUSKIE News

5 Lunge Log, Jim Bunch

9 Sport Show Locator

14 Figure 8, Kevin Richards

15 My PBR, David Cates

15 Photo Guidelines forMUSKIE Magazine

25 Chapter News and Views

34 Member Photos

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

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

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ContentsMUSKIE • VOL. 44, NO. 2

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

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

Features9 Illinois Fishing and Outdoor Expo

11 Joe Crossley’s Catch & ReleasePhoto Timeline, Juris Ozols

12 Hooks, Line,and Sinker – Part 2: Line,Patricia Strutz

16 Muskie Profile: A self-portrait of Richard Gross,Artist and Cartoonist, Richard Gross

18 A Few Good Friends, Ace Sommerfeld

22 Fishing Schools, Lee Bartolini & Geoff Crandall

NEW

InternationalOfficers

President, Dan NarseteEmail: [email protected]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Regional Directors Term Expires

Region 1

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

Carl Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2012

Ron Teschner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2012

Region 2

Bob Timme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2010

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

Robert Benson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012

Region 3

Joel Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2010

Doug Dible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2011

Chad Theesfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012

Region 4

Rich Gallagher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2010

Kimberly Cates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2011

Earle Hammond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012

The President’s MessageThe President’s Messageby Dan Narsete

Muskies, Inc. International PresidentEmail: [email protected]

2 MUSKIE.....February 2010

Green energy will be the next big thing for the US economy in my humble opin-ion. With our growing conflicts in the Middle East and environmental concernswith crude oil large conglomerates are already looking for energy alternatives. I

also happen to believe that Muskies, Inc. fits into the “Green” category. One of the pur-poses of our organization is the abatement of water pollution, and is a stance we havetaken since our inception in the 1960’s. No, it is not a solar panel, wind turbine, or a com-pany bent on fluorescent bulbs (even though I only use them), rather we have been on theforefront of ecological campaigns for the better part of four plus decades- we are about toincrease that number into the fifth. Within the broader subject of water pollution areitems like acid rain, exotic species introduction(s), climate change and ultimately fishpopulations. Without clean, temperate water, micro-organisms, plants and our belovedmuskie cannot and will not survive.

Given the theme of this article I would like to ask and urge everyone in the organi-zation to consider how you can affect climate change and water pollution. This is not aploy to join Al Gore and his political party, rather the continuation of reason to jointogether as a cohesive group. So what basic things can we do as individuals without cost-ing a pile of dough? If you are reading this far I guess you would like to know…there area number of simple things you can do. When towing your boat make sure your tire pres-sure is good. With low tire pressure you end up using more gas, creating more pollution.Another simple thing you can do is turn off your lights and machines that are plugged intothe wall- did you know up to 25% of your electricity usage can be attributed to your TV,microwave, computer, etc. when they are off? Crazy. Let’s consider one other item. As yourlight bulbs burn out consider replacing them with fluorescent bulbs. They are a little moreexpensive, but they use 30-60% less energy…considering most of our electricity comesfrom coal burning think about how that pollutes the waters we fish. It is already unsafe toconsume a number of fish including walleye, pike, and of course muskie (who would eata muskie, right?).It is the little things that we do that can make a huge difference for all ofus- consider it.

Before coming to the coda of this song I’d like to point out a re-occuring theme inthese messages…fish continue to get BIGGER. What you are doing and the contributionsthat you as a member make are working!

Until we meet again…Tight lines, Dan v

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MUSKIE Magazine StaffEDITORKevin Richards7618 Sunrise Ridge RoadHenley, MO 65040Phone: (573) 280-2300Email: [email protected] EDITORJuris OzolsPhone: (612) 747-0178Email: [email protected] CONTEST EDITORBrad WalderaPhone: (701) 642-1952Email: [email protected]

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

ADVERTISING SALES TEAMKevin Richards, Editor / Ad ManagerPhone: (573) 280-2300Email: [email protected] Beaupre, Advertising Sales RepresentativePhone: (920) 323-0721Email: [email protected] Fierstine, Advertising Sales RepresentativePhone: (218) 252-0947Email: [email protected]

PRINTING ACCOUNT MANAGERSunray Printing Solutions, Inc. - Stacey Thielen

MAGAZINE DESIGNSunray Printing Solutions, Inc. - John Windschitl

ILLUSTRATORS/CARTOONISTSRichard Gross, Charles Weiss

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

EMERITUS EDITORSRod Ramsell, Keith Ogden, Jim Smith

MUSKIE is published exclusively for the member-ship of Muskies, Inc. and subscriptions come witha paid membership. Muskies, Inc. is a non-profitorganization. Membership classes and associatedannual dues are listed on the form at the bottomof page one. Copies of MUSKIE magazine areavailable at $3.00 each from the Muskies, Inc.International Office.

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

Submissions toMUSKIE Magazine

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


INDEX OF ADVERTISERSANGLE OUTPOST RESORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

CABIN FEVER CHALLUNGE (CHAPTER 45) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

GEORGE’S MINNESOTA MUSKIE EXPO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

GREEN RIVER LAKE, KY/TAYLOR COUNTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

ILLINOIS FISHING EXPO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

MADISON FISHING EXPO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

MOREHEAD TOURISM COMMISSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

MUSKIES, INC. CALENDAR FUNDRAISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

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

ABOUT THE COVERIf you see the boat featured on this month’s

cover on Lac Seul or Lake of the Woods in theFall, the two jokers shown in the middle photowill normally be in it. They are M.I. Members JoeCrossley (right) and Kevin Richards (left). Kevinalso happens to be our editor so I surprised hima bit by including him in this collage.

However, you will note that Joe was alonewhen the 11 outside shots were taken. His netman (Kevin) was a half-mile away on our house-boat, cooking dinner.

Joe caught this muskie at 6:30 P.M. onFriday, October 10. It was the last hour of thelast day of our 2008 houseboat trip to Lac Seul.As it happened, I was fishing with Jerry Bucholzand came upon the scene, camera in hand, just as it unfolded. The cover showsyou a sequence of photos of Joe landing and releasing the muskie, starting with thepicture in top center and going clockwise.

Check out my short story about this photo sequence on page 11. – Juris v

Past-president Steve Statland HonoredEmmett A. Brown, Jr., Executive Director of the Fresh Water

Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wisconsin announced that SteveStatland was recently elected as into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall ofFame as Legendary Angler. Steve becomes the third Muskies, Inc.president to receive this honor. The others were Gil Hamm andLarry Ramsell.

The induction ceremony was held on January 9, 2010 at theChicago Muskie Show. This was a fitting location as Steve is one ofthe founders of Tri-Esox Productions, which produces the showeach year.

Steve was one of the driving forces behind Project Illini, theoriginal muskie stocking program in the state of Illinois. He servedas its president and vice president from its inception in 1975 until1980. Steve also was a member of the Citizens Fish HatcheryCommittee to the Illinois Department of Conservation. This com-mittee was vital in obtaining the monies needed to construct the JakeWolf Fish Hatchery.

For over 30 years Steve has educated thousands of anglersregarding muskie fishing and its lore. Steve has many other signifi-cant accomplishments, including:

• Director of Chicagoland Muskie Hunters• Past President of Chicagoland Muskie Hunters• Board member of Muskies, Inc. International• Past President of Muskies, Inc. International

• Member of Muskies, Inc. International Hall of Fame• Originator of the Muskies, Inc. International Chapter

Challunge• Original Chairman of the Muskies, Inc. Know the Difference

Poster CommitteeCongratulations Steve from all your Muskies, Inc. brothers and sisters!

Pelican Lake, WI (Oneida County)After much discussion during 2005 a proposal to raise the min-

imum length limit for muskellunge to 50 inches was brought to theannual spring hearings (which are held in every county inWisconsin) in April 2006.

The proposal was approved in 52 counties and rejected in 15counties. In Oneida County it passed by a nearly 3:1 margin (83“yes” and 29 “no” votes).

The 50-inch minimum length limit took effect at the start of the2007 muskie season.

In July 2007 officials from the Town of Enterprise started aneffort to repeal the new regulation, just 4 months after it was initiat-ed. In April 2009 a resolution to repeal the 50-inch minimumlength limit from Pelican Lake was presented at the spring OneidaCounty Fish and Wildlife hearing, and it passed with 33 “yes” and15 “no” votes.

The Conservation Congress Warmwater Study Committee wasgiven this resolution for their fall 2009 meeting, along with the WIDNR position that there was already a statewide public hearing onthis rule in 2006 and the DNR did not support further action on theresolution. One option for the Warm Water Study Committee is toadvance an advisory question to the spring 2010 hearings.

MUSKIE Magazine contacted WI DNR Fisheries BiologistJohn Kubisiak. John replied as follows.

“My counsel is that there are strong opinions for and against50-inch minimum length limits for muskellunge. The Pelican “50”is not unique in this (regard). In the case of Pelican Lake, the 50-inch minimum should be given an adequate opportunity to per-form before calling it a failure.”

That sounds like wise advice! If you have an interest in how thisstory will end you should attend the April 2010 hearings and let yourvoice be heard.

For further information you could contact WI DNR FisheriesBiologist John Kubisiak in Rhinelander at: 715-365-8919.

Joe ArendsJoe Arends, one of the legendary anglers of Muskies, Inc., died

in Fargo, North Dakota, on January 8th after a long illness. Joe wasan early member of the Fargo-Moorhead Chapter and an enormous-ly accomplished angler on Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontariowaters. After his early years of fishing on the Chippewa Flowage, Joeconcentrated on Leech Lake and helped many anglers catch their firstor largest muskie. When asked about the best place to fish on LeechLake, legendary muskie angler "Doc" Cotton replied, "The back ofJoe's boat." Joe caught countless big muskies, releasing virtually allof them, but never making any special claims about his success or thesize of fish he caught. Joe was interviewed for the M.I. Oral HistoryProject in September 2009. A DVD of that interview is availablefrom the history committee. The December 2009 issue of MUSKIEfeatured Joe on the cover along with excerpts from the Septemberinterview. Joe was a modest, quiet man and a credit to our sport. v


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M.I. Past Presidents Steve Statland and Larry Ramsell at the inductionceremony for Steve.

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Late Entries for the Lunge Log!As promised, here we are in February 2010 and yes

you may enter your late ones this month. The Lunge Logis very neat in that it is a neat and orderly list of yourmuskie fishing history. None of these late ones will counttowards the 2009 International Contest as I will haveclosed the results of that several weeks into January. Now ifyou have muskie catches in past years that is okay. We willaccept them. We ask though, please do not enter muskiescaught prior to you joining Muskies, Inc. You may enterlate ones “on line” or you may send them directly to me(Jim Bunch, 4338 County Hwy P, Chippewa Falls, WI54729). Yes, you may also turn them in to your chaptercontest chairperson and they can enter them.

Now that we will allow you to do this please be rea-sonable. If you report a 63 incher caught back in 1993,you are going to get a phone call from me. If you report amuskie with a 29 inch girth, you are going to get a phonecall from me. Please keep your imagination in check.

One of the neat features of the Lunge Log is thatsomebody looks at each entry submitted. Now of coursethat somebody is me. If an entry does not seem realistic wethen resort to Rule 6 on back of the entry form. With thatbeing said, we have no idea how many will come forth. Itshould be an interesting month.

Hegdahl / Fredrick / Bemidji /Dangerous!!

When Cindy Hegdahl let her 51 pounder go in lateNovember, Mark Fredrick told her, “You are going to geta call from DaBunchman.” When I got ahold of them, Iof course asked for a picture. When somebody claims a 50pounder I naturally hold my excitement until I see a pic-ture that matches the size. However I knew that if it iscoming in from Mark and Cindy that it would be awe-some. When I got the picture I just about dropped myteeth and I don’t even have false teeth.

As you read this I know you have past issues ofMUSKIE Magazine right there at your desk. So reach overand grab the February 2008 issue of “Muskie”. In theLunge Log that month read the notes under the headline“Cindy Hegdahl, Bemidji, Dangerous”. These notes, nowtwo years later, are just an update of this couple’s awesomemuskie fishing ability. These two are not numbers people;they are looking for mass, length and weight. Their efforts

during the summer are fine but not intense. When it gets cold, theintensity rises. They know what is out there; it is just a matter of fol-lowing the bait fish and finding what is hanging underneath them.Cindy broke 45 pounds two years ago, and now has passed over 50pounds right to 51.05 lbs. I know many of you will go immediatelyto Cindy and Mark’s fish lists on the web site.

Let me sum those fish lists up for you. Cindy Hegdahl has 220entries (not a numbers person). Of those, 12 are fifty inchers. Thatis 5.5%. Of those, 24 are four footers. That is 11%. Of those, 112are 40 inchers. That is 51%. Of those two are 45 pounds and onewas 51 pounds. The big ones are coming from Plantagenet, Bemidji,

the Lunge Log

by Jim Bunch


(Continued on page 6)

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Leech, and Lake of the Woods. Mark’s fish list sounds like a dupli-cate. He has 236 entries (not a numbers person). Of those 10 are fiftyinchers. That is 4.3%. Of those 21 are four footers. That is 9%. Ofthose 123 are 40 inchers. That is 52%. His big muskies come fromPlantagenet, Bemidji, Leech, and Lake of the Woods.

Now I asked Mark to send me some notes about Cindy’s big fishand their fall. He kind of sent me a diary of this fall. I hope I don’tmess it up. Last month Juris talked about the state record inMinnesota. Mark and Cindy cannot be ignored, they are dangerous.Mark says:

Last year Cindy was stuck on #199. Number 200 came on 8/21/09at 43.5”. A customer who’s grandson muskie fishes gave us a double cow-girl. We used it several times with no success. Then on 8-23-09 at thePlantagenet Cindy scored big, 53.5” x 26” (45 lbs.) This fish was drag-ging the boat all over. 1 hour later we went back and Cindy caught a49”. Same double cowgirl. On 9-4-09 I caught a 52” at the Plant.October, Lake of the Woods we got 28 muskies up to 45” I got 5 muskiesone day. Oct\Nov we fished a lot of cold days and nights. Itkept getting colder. We were chasing the baitfish. Some daysthey were shallow, mostly they were suspended over deepwater. We just kept moving and changing baits. Then onNov. 6 Cindy caught her first muskie of the year on Bemidji,a 40”. Then the next day she got a 33”. She was on a roll,but she had her pounds and inches mixed up. (Stayed onBemidji). On 11-18-09 I got a 50X26 (42 lbs). Then Cindygot hot. On 11-19-09 Cindy 51.75”, it was still a littlegreen; it kept slapping her in the back with its tail. On 11-20-09 Cindy a 51”. On 11-22-09 Cindy a 49”. On 11-24-09 Cindy had big mamma come for a visit. It was 54”X27.5” (51.05 lbs). Cindy was a little hesitant to grab thisfish. I said what’s the matter? This is the kind you like withthe BIG GILL FLAP. Cindy says “Oh yeah! That’s right.” Wehave a system. Cindy grabs the head and I help boost the tailup. Then we get a quick photo or two. We have pictures of allthe fish. All the Nov fish were caught on crank baits suspend-ed over deep water. When it is freezing cold, you are saying“what the hell are we doing out here”? All of a sudden yourclicker goes off. It’s a BIG PIG!!! It’s all worth it. Because youknow, you will be getting a call from DaBunchman!!!

Ruth Anderson!The Comeback Kid!

The longer I do this Lunge Log thing the more inter-esting stories I come up with. I noticed Ruth Anderson ofAlexandria, Minnesota and the Fargo Moorhead Chapterwon the Women’s Division back in 2005 with 90 releas-es. She had a number of trips to Ontario (Fluke) in thisquest. So I did a search and found she did have 24 releas-es in 2006. That in itself would embarrass many in theMen’s division. Then in 2007 and 2008 she basicallydropped off the map in the number of releases, only 2 in2007 and only 7 in 2008. In looking at the standings herein 2009 we see she is back on top in the Women’s Masters.I was curious about what happened there. I received a CDfrom her husband Bud recently of all the pictures of the28 releases she had this year in October and November.They all were over 40 inches, they all were from Lobsterin Douglas County, Minnesota and they all were caught

on suckers. In the process her average muskie was 45 inches. She hadblasted her way from zero to hero this fall in the Women’s Masters. Ihad to get on the phone. Ruth answered the phone as Bud was out

Cindy Hegdahl’s 51 Pounder.


LUNGE LOG (continued from page 5)

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ice fishing, image that.In 2007 Ruth and Bud found themselves in a family situation of

raising their grandchildren. Consequently, no trips to Ontario andvery little fishing time in Minnesota. Thus very few muskie entries.That is understandable. So here we go to 2009, some of the grand-children issues solved themselves so maybe its time to get back tomuskie fishing. Oops in the summer of 2009 Ruth had some major

issues with her back. It seemed to be vertebra and disc problems. Sonow she needs back surgery. In the summer this year she wanted tofish muskies, they went out a couple of times trolling, but she had tolie in the bottom of the boat because of the back thing. So this sum-mer she had surgery. It is hard to keep a good lady off her feet andaway from the lake. She recovers, gets better, can’t really cast yet, buthang onto your boots, she can hang onto a sucker pole. Oh by the

way she has some good muskie fish-ing blood lines, she is also a cousin toJoe and Will Hardy.

In a short period of time inOctober and November Ruth lands28 muskies all caught in Lobster closeto home, all on suckers. The averagelength is 45 inches. I am sure hus-band Bud had a lot to do with thesenumbers and he is to be commendedfor that. I have a CD with a picture ofevery one of them. The CD includeda picture or the two of them kissing inthe boat on the last day of their fallfishing. That was very moving! We nolonger have an International Awardsbanquet so I will miss shaking herhand as I did back for the 2005 sea-son. Ruth and Bud have experiencedsome major obstacles, but theyremain upbeat and had an awesomefall. From all of this she is herebyanointed the 2009 “Comeback”angler of the year.

Keep a tight line,Jim BunchThe Lunge [email protected] 226-0295

Ruth Anderson, Chapter 2, 1 of 28 Oct/Nov 2009.Average of 45 Inches. The Comeback Kid

Ruth and Bud Anderson, Fargo Moorhead ChapterEnd of 2009 Muskie Season. We are alive!!

(More Lunge Log on page 8)


The rules andregulations forsubmitting to theLunge Log are onthe Muskies, Inc.website. The same ones havebeen there since 2005.Log in to our website.In the left column clickLunge Log, then in theright column under HotLinks click ReleaseForms, then clickLunge Log Regis-tration Page 2. Scrolldown to the bottom ofthe page and therethey are.

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Muskies, Inc. PastPresidents

Gil HammEdward T. Peterka

Robert HillRobert Shoop

Frank SchneiderPeter Hadley

DuWayne BakkeLou Cook

Peter HadleyBob Schmidt

Larry RamsellLou Cook

Keith OgdenBill Davis

Steve StatlandJohn Hotle

Jim BlaubachSteve Budnik

Jim SmithPaul Framsted

Perry SmithGreg Wells

David Cates

Illinois Fishing &Outdoor Expopacks the Indoor Sports Centerwith Fishing and Family Fun onMarch 5, 6, & 7

Northern Illinois explodes with fishingexcitement, March 5-7, as the Fishing andOutdoor Expo opens at the Indoor SportsCenter/Expo Complex, located off the I-90/39 Tollway (Riverside Blvd. Exit).Fishermen from Chicago and SouthernWisconsin will find access to the Fishing Expoabout as easy as it gets. Show hours are Fridayfrom 4pm-8pm; Saturday from 10am to 6pm;and Sunday 11am to 5pm.

Acclaimed by visitors and exhibitors –“the hottest new fishing show in of 2009” iseven hotter in 2010!

The Expo features FISHING - how, whatand where, along with lure demos in theHawg Trough, fishing personalities on theclinic stage, and lots of tackle with all the hotnew musky lures to check out.

You’ll also find a gigantic display of fish-ing boats at rock bottom end of show seasonprices. Plus you can book your next trip withfishing and hunting camps, resorts, guides,fishing charters and more.

The Fishing Expo will be packed withFREE SEMINARS by some of the best prosin the business, with many presenting topicswhich are exclusive to this show. Clinic speak-ers include fishing hall of famer Spence Petros,musky guru Pete Maina, John Gillespie ofWaters and Woods TV, and more.

ADMISSION: ADULTS $7.00 or 3 DayWeekend Pass for $10.00

CHILDREN UNDER 12 YEARS OF AGEARE FREE.

For more information visit:www.showtimeproduction.net

or call 815-877-8043


SPORT SHOW LOCATOR – Calendar of upcoming events in 2010DATES EVENT NAME/WEBSITE LOCATION CITY STATE PHONEFeb. 12-14 Milwaukee Muskie Expo Wisconsin State Fair Park West Allis WI 608/445-4645

www.muskieexpo.comFeb. 26-28 Madison Fishing Show Exhibition Hall at the Madison WI 608/245-1040

www.madfishexpo.com Alliant CenterFeb. 26-28 Ohio Muskie Show Buckeye Hall of Fame Café Columbus OH 513/600-3457

www.ohiomuskieshow.comMar. 5-7 Illinois Fishing & Outdoor Expo Indoor Sports Center Rockford IL 815/877-8043

www.showtimeproduction.netApril 9-11 Minnesota Muskie Expo Concordia University St. Paul MN 763/786-6031

www.minnesotamuskieexpo.com

How did that cover photo sequencecome about, and what did it take to getthose pictures? As it happens, I’d been

hoping to get a “photo-op” like that for a longtime, and we arrived on the scene just as Joehooked the muskie. Jerry Bucholz drove andpositioned his boat while I snapped away.

Total time for the picture sequence is 8 min-utes 5 seconds; but the muskie was out of thewater for the “standard” photos for about 50 sec-onds. During this time I took 83 photos, ofwhich 13 are described here; 11 of these appearon the cover. The conditions for photographywere not the best, so many of the 83 photos didnot turn out, but some did – you need to take alot.

All times are Central Daylight Time fromthe “EXIF” data file on each image, which alsorecords a variety of camera settings.Photo 1 – 6:28:48 (top photo on cover) - At this pointJoe has had the fish on the line for a few minutes, butmisses netting the fish on the first pass. Our boat isperhaps a hundred feet away, heading toward him,photo taken with 85mm zoom.Photo 2 – 6:29:06 – Joe nets the muskie with a bigstretch. This photo is the MI calendar cover shot for2009. Still at 85 mm zoom.Photo 3 – 6:30:19 (not on cover) – Joe now has thefish at boatside in the net. Here’s where a boat part-ner would help, but because he has his release toolsand gloves handy he can handle the job by himself.We’re up close, 28mm moderate wide angle shot,with the flash.Photo 4 – 6:31:44 – Joe is untangling the lure fromthe net to get his Believer unhooked. We’ve driftedcloser and also zoom in a bit to 35mm and flash.Photo 5 – 6:32:08 – Cutting hooks speeds up therelease process. Let’s get a close-up – zoom to70mm. Photo 6 – 6:32:40 (not on cover) – Lure is free andJoe is letting the fish recover in the water. Wide angleat 17mm with flash, picture a bit “soft.”Photo 7 – 6:34:01 – Water measurement of the fish,the right way to do it. A fat 44-incher. You can seeparts of the other two boats of our party. Everyonewas heading in for dinner but Joe put a stop to thoseplans! Full wide angle at 17mm, up close.Photo 8 – 6:34:48 – Joe is getting ready to lift it upfor a couple of those “standard” fish photos. Zoomin to 41mm to get a nice tight close-up.Photo 9 – 6:35:23 – Joe cradles the fish, supportingit fully. Nice “fill-in” flash to show details, 17mm.Photo 10 – 6:35:40 – Okay, that’s enough, put herback. I’ve now taken 11 photos starting with #8 dur-

ing a 52-second period. 35mm.Photo 11 – 6:35:45 – Fish in the water, right side up.38mm.Photo 12 – 6:35:46 – And one second later, off shegoes! The flash didn’t have time to recharge, so along exposure, and both Joe and the fish are blurred.38mm.Photo 13 – 6:36:53 – A minute later. Fish is gone,and Joe is straightening up the boat. What a grandway to end fishing for the trip! We’ve drifted away,so 61mm zoom.

Five key points to getting photos like this:#1 – Find someone like Joe Crossley to catch a

muskie right in front of you when you are inanother boat. Enormously difficult. In 10 yearsof MUSKIE photography, this is the first timeI’ve done it, despite numerous attempts to set upthe situation. Our editor is taking credit for thewhole scenario – he said if it hadn’t been hisnight to cook, Joe would not have been fishing soclose to the houseboat at an ideal location andtime for me to show up with my camera!

#2 – Manage the scenario. My boat partner,Jerry Bucholz, made a wonderful recommenda-tion that we move the boat to get the sunset inthe background. That was what made the photo(#2 above) used for the calendar cover so special.Jerry also kept us in position for me to take thoseclose-ups of Joe working the fish. Absolutely key.

#3 – Take lots of photos. I averaged one photoevery 9 or 10 seconds during this opportunityand was fortunate that about 20% of them werepretty nice shots.

#4 – Equipment. My camera at the time wasa Canon EOS 40D DSLR with an EFS 17-85mm f4-5.6 zoom lens. I used all of that zoomrange during the sequence. The lens also has“image stabilization,” enormously useful duringlow light situations like this. I had on a CanonSpeedlite 430EX flash, and without that the pic-tures would not have come out either. Let’s beblunt – this is not a cheap setup. However, pic-tures from a $200 point-and-shoot wouldn’thave begun to match these.

#5 – Finally, and most important. You need tohave passion for photography, which is some-thing even many folks with cameras don’t seemto have. If given the choice between catching anice muskie and taking the photos of it, I wouldgive up the rod and grab the camera without hes-itation. Our editor chimed in here too, remind-ing me that I did just that on a muskie which Ihooked earlier in the week!

- Juris Ozols

Joe Crossley’s C&R Photo TimelineThe Story Behind this Month’s

Cover Photo Sequenceby Juris Ozols


Years ago, most musky anglers were using monofilament line.For certain applications, some of us still use it. But, mono hasits limitations. It has a lot of stretch.

Higher pound tests are thick and make it difficult to tie a knot.It is not abrasion resistant. Rocks, timber, andtoothy muskies take a toll on monofilament.

Enter the era of braided line. First therewas Dacron. Made from polyester fiber, it pro-vided better abrasion resistance and much lessstretch than mono. But, it had a thick diameter- so thick, we rarely used anything heavier thanabout 30 pound test. It possessed poor knotstrength. And, it also absorbed water. Cast it fora while and your whole body was soaked.

In the early 1990s the revolution in fishingline began . . . the era of the super lines. Gelspun and heat resistant synthetic fibers such asSpectra and Dyneema created this new fishingline category. Anglers who originally experi-mented with this brand new technologybecame frustrated by backlashes, busted rods,and nicked rod guides . . . but, they’ve come along way in a short time. Advances in the rawmaterials and the process that converts theminto line, coupled with modifications of fishinggear (such as longer, more forgiving rods)allows us now to cast these superlines with greatefficiency and ease. In this article, we’ll take alook at current trends in microfilament lines.

Braided Line GeneralizationsBraided line is basically produced by weav-

ing fibers of man-made material together into astrand. These fibers are very strong; most market themselves as “10times stronger than steel.” The thin diameters have an incrediblestrength-to-size ratio. On average, 80 pound test braided line is thesame diameter as around 17 to 20 pound test monofilament.

This strong, ultrathin line is also abrasion resistant. Bass fisher-men that ply timber and musky trollers that bang reefs swear by itsresilience. This feature, partnered with UV- resistance and low mois-ture absorption, provide a very long lifespan. This scribbler can testi-fy to that: in years when I was guiding five days a week I would reversethe line on my clients’ reels around mid-season. I would easily achievean entire season of use from the line. Casual anglers could certainlyexpect many seasons usage. This helps allay the initial sticker shock assuperlines cost substantially more than many other lines.

Even though braided line is extremely strong, manufacturers stillrecommend cutting off a section and re-tying the line when it startsto look frayed. This will ensure that the line will perform at its ratedstrength.

Recent generation superbraids are much slicker and therefore lessless abrasive on equipment. Add in minimal stretch (most are less than4% elasticity) and they are ideal for casting far distances. Anglerswishing to sight fish or cast a topwater over an expansive reef appre-

ciate the added distance. Low stretch equates to increased sensitivity. A strike is transmit-

ted instantly to the rod tip and setting the hook is equally fast. If yourhook setting ability is suspect (I resemble this remark) you’ll appreci-

ate that the low stretch creates super hooksetting power.

Unlike mono, braided line possesses noreel memory so the angler won’t strugglewith uncoiling line. What you may strugglewith, however, is cutting it. It is so strongthat nail clippers won’t do the job. Use sharpscissors, such as Fiskars, or an all-purposetool such as a Leatherman.

An important word of caution: micro-filament line is so strong you should neverwrap it around your fingers or hands. I haveseen anglers try to get a lure unsnagged bywinding line up around their hands until theline is severely cutting into skin. To avoidinjury, wrap the line around a solid object(i.e. gunwale cleat).

Lures dive deeper and faster when con-nected to superlines. Trollers wishing toplace their baits at a certain depth would dowell to invest in a trolling bible, such asMusky Mike’s Trolling Secrets. For example,the book shows that if you wish to troll a 10-inch jointed Believer 20 feet down you’llneed to let out 96 feet of of 80 poundPowerPro. If using 100 pound PowerPro,meter out another four feet of line. A starkcomparison lies in 30# mono . . . you’d need139 feet of line out to achieve the same 20-

foot lure depth.The most popular colors of line for musky anglers seem to be

mossy greens or browns, followed by a white/black combination. Thelatest trend of red line is based on the fact that red line turns to shadesof gray under water. Gray blends in very well to its surroundings. Thecolor red completely fades out at a depth of approximately 14-feet.One would surmise that it would be a good choice when trollingdeep diving crankbaits or pounding jigsoff the bottom.

Cortland Line(www.cortlandline.com)

With almost 100 years of braidingexperience, Cortland Line believes itsAmerican made braids are the best.They highlight their process: “Rawfibers are loaded onto bobbins and theninstalled on our precision braiders. Ourbraiders run slowly in order to lay downand lock in the fibers. This processtakes longer and is more costly but it


Hooks, Line, & SinkerPart 2: LINEby Patricia Strutz

Patricia’s Spooling Tips3 Have a sport shop spool your line

onto your reel. They buy in bulk sothere is no waste (how many times doyou end up throwing out the last 30feet of line left in your package?)

3 Ask them to start with a monofilamentbacking of equivalent diameter to thebraid. Slippery braided line will notcling to the barrel and can cause slip-page. Mono anchors nicely and cutsdown the cost.

3 Use a uni to uni knot to connect themono to the braided line.

3 Do not overfill the reels. Overspoolingcan create loose strands after a castand cause backlashes.

3 After spooling on fresh line, I like to“re-pack it” myself. I slowly motor outon the lake and let out line --sans lure-- all the way down to a few feet of thetaped on monofilament. Then, I windit back up. This tightens and straight-ens out the line. It seems to cast alotsmoother after doing this.

3 If you prefer to spool line yourself,PowerPro’s EZ Spool packaging is agreat feature.

Masterbraid BronzeMasterbraid Green

February 2010.....MUSKIE 13

creates a braid that is more uniform, stronger, rounder, and tighter.” Cortland Line relays that the proper material, number of strands,

correct tension, and the number of picks per inch (where one fibercrosses another in the braiding process) must be calculated to makethe ideal braid.

Their representative Norm Hartmann adds, “What truly sets ourbraid apart from the competition isour proprietary FIBER TECH pro-tection treatment. Developed toensure consistent performance, colorfast, line stiffness and durability; itactually penetrates the entire braid.This seals in the color and gives bodyto the line. Other lines offer surfacetreatments. They can not keep thecolor or braids together like FIBERTECH does. It prevents fraying,

color bleeding, keeps the braid round and improves knot strength.”“Our most popular braid for musky fishermen continues to be

MasterBraid in the bronze or green color. Others like the Black SpotSpectron. I’ve heard many musky hunters talk about how these linesdon’t bleed color and, with their hydrophobic coating, keep theirhands drier than other lines on the market. The latter is especiallyimportant when fishing in cold weather.”

TUF-LINE by Western Filament(www.tuf-line.com)

Rex Nelson, of Western Filament, notes that all braided lines arecreated pretty much equal. “The spectra or gel spun polyethylenefibers are naturally hydrophobic. That is, they repel water. Most other

manufacturers use water basedcoatings. They lay the coatingon the surface of the braid; itdoesn’t permeate the line. Thiscoating wears off quickly.”

“This is how our line dif-fers. We use a bio-solvent basedcoating. It is environmentallyfriendly, made from tropicaloils. It wicks directly into thebraid. That way, the color does-n’t bleed. The color stays. Yourline starts green and stays green

for its life because the coating has permeated the braid.”Nelson explains that the coating also helps maintain knot

strength and abrasion resistance, “Our company also has an aerospacedivision. We create high tech products for the military. We fall backon that technology and engineering and filter it into our fishing side,so, you’re always getting unique, cutting edge products.”

TUF-LINE XP is the most popular choice for musky fishermen.As is the case with all superline, XP is less visible to muskies thanthicker-diameter monofilament, but the fact is they can still see it. Tocut down on line visibility consider tying on a fluorocarbon leader.

PowerPro(www.powerpro.com)

PowerPro line touts excellent knotstrength but explains that not all knotscan be used effectively on braided line.They recommend Palomar knots to tieterminal tackle, Uni-to-Uni to tiePowerPro to mono of the same diame-ter, and an Albright knot to tie thebraid to mono/fluoro of a larger diame-ter. Other knot recommendations (“usea pliers and moisten your knot whentightening”) and illustrations are dia-gramed on their website.

PowerPro also recommends re-packing spools when using light lures;“if your line starts to feel soft ormushy—or you are getting backlash-es—you’ll need to re-pack your reel. Letline out behind the boat and then reel itin while holding the line taut. This willimprove casting performance and keepthe line from ‘digging in.’” *(please seesidebar: author’s note on line size)

To properly set your drag, PowerPro remarks, “You may be tempt-ed to set your drag higher than normal, but, remember your rod or reelmay not be designed to handle the same unbelievable loads as your line.Set your drag to match the weakest component in your tackle system.”

To compensate for no stretch line, some musky pros feel dragsshould, indeed, be left at slightly lower drag settings. I’ve seen this par-ticularly with motor trollers who don’t want to snag a hook on rockscausing a rod to break. Some casters also set slightly lower drags,claiming they have straightened or ripped hooks out of bony mouths.Personally, when I’m casting, I set my drag rock solid. Immediatelyfollowing hook set I loosen the star drag up as needed.

Lastly, a recent innovation is thermally fused line. It is made byfusing through heat rather than braiding the fibers. Companiesemploying this particular process failed to respond to our inquiries.The process produces what looks like a single-strand line that is verysensitive and less expensive. However, most are slightly larger in diam-eter and offer less strength than original braids.

One thing is for certain, modern technology continues toupgrade our fishing equipment. Yet, we are chasing the same craftypredator that hasn’t changed one bit. He still continues to outwit us!

Patricia Strutz is a fishing guide, outdoor writer, and Field Editor forMUSKIE Magazine. For information, visit her website atwww.ablondandherboat.com v

TUF-LINE’s family of XP products.

Patricia’s Tips on Line SizeMany times I see anglers using 100# test while throwing small

lures. The line is too heavy for the lure. The lure won’t perform well andyou’ll struggle with backlashes. Folks mistakenly think there is a prob-lem with their reel. Re-packing may be a temporary fix, but a bettersolution is having a lighter line set up for your lightweight lures.

Conversely, if you are throwing heavy lures with toolightweight/small diameter line, you’ll encounter other problems suchas backlashes that cause busted lines and lost lures. There is no setguideline; however, I’ve done well with 50# line for extremely smallspinners, 65# for “average” sized musky lures, and 80# and up forheavy jerkbaits and oversized soft plastics.

Using too heavy of linewhile throwing small luresis a recipe for backlashes.Re-packing your line maybe a temporary fix, but abetter solution is usinglighter line for your light-weight lures.

www.muskiesinc.org

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Show Time! Expo Time!As I finish this issue of MUSKIE Magazine I am also packing my

bags for the Chicago Muskie Show. Of course by the time you readthis the Chicago Show will be history and many members will bepreparing to travel to the shows (a.k.a. Expos) in Milwaukee,Madison, Rockford, St. Paul, and other locations.

The shows are one of the best winter substitutes for muskie fish-ing. This year I have even saved up a little extra cash to help pay forsome of the cool stuff I know I’ll find at the shows.

The shows are also great places to tell folks more about MUSKIEMagazine and Muskies, Inc. Hopefully we will pick up some newmembers and advertisers at the shows. The shows provide great oppor-tunities to visit with old friends and to say thanks to all the camps,tackle manufacturers, and others who support the M.I. mission.

Feedback . . .I can normally predict if an article or statement in MUSKIE

Magazine is going to generate some feedback, be it positive or nega-tive. In fact you may recall that when I started my Figure 8 columnin 2007 I said that I hoped to generate “a few strikes” now and then.

As your MUSKIE editor I use a 30-day “season” as my commentperiod. Thirty days gives folks plenty of time to comment before Imention a topic a second time. I do this because sometimes when youmention a topic that second time folks start thinking that maybe theycan sway opinion by flooding the editor with letters, email, or phonecalls expressing their point of view. So let me make it clear – I use a30-day comment period. Once our members start getting their newMUSKIE magazines in the mail I close my books on the previousissue. Honestly I must do this. Every issue requires about 30 days toedit, design, proof, and print. This “boat” never stops moving, so ourstaff must either stay on board or jump out of the MUSKIE boat andfish alone. Are you wondering where the heck I’m going with this?OK, I’ll get to the point.

In the December issue I authored a story about World RecordMuskies. In that article I stated that, “MUSKIE Magazine andMuskies, Inc. are not sanctioning bodies and we have no desire tojudge the legitimacy of any of the currently sanctioned records; that isthe role of the existing sanctioning bodies and of the states andprovinces.”

Actually my article generated no real controversy and very fewcomments. A couple of the folks who did comment agreed with thestatement quoted above.

However, my article included a companion article about“Photogrammetry” by Larry Ramsell which used the newly releasedWRMA “Johnson Summary Report” as an example. That compan-ion article did generate a small handful of responses, three of whichwere quite passionate. Two readers asked that I print an opposingview to the Ramsell story and one of them, John Dettloff, offered towrite such a story.

I gave John’s idea a lot of consideration because he indicated hewould like to share a newly found photo of Mr. Johnson’s IGFA-sanc-tioned world record muskie which was caught in 1949. However, Ifound out that a story disputing the accuracy of the new WRMAreport, along with that photo, had already been published in theSawyer County Record on 12-16-09. John Dettloff was quotednumerous times in that story. Here’s a link to it: http://www.haywardwi.com/articles/2009/12/16/news/doc4b2963814dfa7818738825.txt

In early January John Dettloff initiated a new website which alsoincludes his perspective on this controversy: www.caljohnson.net

In addition, Larry Ramsell has already published a rebuttal tothe above article. Larry’s story can be found on theMuskie.OutdoorsFIRST.com website; here’s a long link to that one:http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/articles/01.05.2010/2733/Cal.Johnsons.1947.world.record.musky.creates.a.new.splash…A.Rebuttal.from.Muskie.Historian.Larry.Ramsell/index.htm

If this stuff interests you I encourage you to check out the linksabove. I’m not going to run additional coverage on this one inMUSKIE as it would be old news by the time we had space for it, andquite frankly, I get the feeling that our readers want us to move on.One indication is that through the first 5 days of January, I receivedmore comments (all positive, thankfully) about our January storyabout the Northern Lights than I received in 30-plus days on the tworecord stories combined.

As for me, the next time I write about old records I will be talk-ing about Elvis and the Beatles!

– Kevin v

8 8Figure 8by Kevin Richards

[email protected]


Editor’s note: On the facing page (Page 15) is the first install-ment of a new column to highlight significant catches which were alsosuccessful releases by our members. No matter the size, most folks willlong remember the details and excitement of catching their biggestmuskie. However to keep from getting overloaded with stories I’m set-ting a minimum size limit of 45 inches for this column.

There will be just a few other rules, you must . . .

be a current member of Muskies, Inc.

have successfully released the muskie within theprevious 2 years

submit 1 or 2 clear digital photos (include a waterrelease shot if possible)

submit a 100 to 500 word narrative about yourcatch

follow all MUSKIE Magazine Photo Guidelines

Send photo(s) and narrative via email to: [email protected] which are not selected for this column will be consideredfor the Members Photos section of MUSKIE Magazine.

David Cates – 52 inchesSeptember 2009

Spending on silent auctions, raffle tickets, and “refreshments” hadalready blown my budget by the time the live auction started at the2009 Michigan Muskie Alliance Annual Banquet. Nevertheless,

when an Andy Myers Lodge trip came up for sale, I could not resistbidding. With my wonderful wife encouraging me to make one last bid, Iwas successful.

Fast forward seven months. I arrived at camp with a fishing buddy whohad introduced me to Eagle Lake roughly twenty years ago. We moved onebig girl the first night, but could not get her to go.

The next morning dawned warm and clear. Steve Herbeck, owner ofAML, had paired us with Mike Mireault, one of his top notch guides.Because of the conditions, Mike elected to make a long run east; despitehitting some of my favorite spots on the way, action had been limited.Warm weather, clear blue skies, and little wind conspired against us.Despite the limited success, Mike was insistent that we would boat at leasttwo muskies with at least one over 50 inches. Little did I know howprophetic his statements were.

By mid day, Mike had worked us to the Windigo Island area. I firedyet another cast and began the retrieve of my double ten. No sooner hadI begun my retrieve when I felt a bump but did not hook up. Three morecranks generated a solid hit and hook set. She rolled with my hook set butI was unable to see her length. The next few minutes are something of ablur; Mike was shouting that we had hooked a 50 and was busy readyingthe net. The fish was fighting long and deep and repeatedly took lineagainst my drag. I was concentrating on trying to keep a bend in the rodand tension on the fish.

Mike was perfect with the net. Leaning over the side of the boat I gotmy first real look at the fish. Being curled upside down in the net, with herhuge gut facing me, distorted her length in my mind. By the time I haddropped my rod, Mike had already unhooked her and was beginning to lifther from the net. Only then did her length become apparent to me. AsMike lifted her over the side of the boat, she kept coming and coming andcoming. We snapped some quick photos, and I eased her back in the water.After a moment’s recuperation, she swam strongly away, all 52 inches of her!Two hours later, we boated another “smaller” muskie fulfilling Mike’s pre-diction. I can’t wait for the 2010 Michigan Muskie Alliance Banquet! v


Photo Guidelines for MUSKIE MagazineMuskies, Inc. promotes the philosophy of catch-and-release.

Muskies Inc. reserves the right to use submitted photos in MUSKIEMagazine, the calendar, and/or the M.I. website. Muskies, Inc.reserves the right to refuse to publish any photo (or artwork) whichdoes not support the mission and best interest of our organization.These guidelines are not all encompassing. The editorial staff ofMUSKIE Magazine will make the final decision regarding the publi-cation of photos.

Photos for MUSKIE Magazine should be of high quality andresolution. Photos for the Photo Contest and Member Photos sec-tions of MUSKIE must be submitted in digital format and sent viaemail to the Photo Contest Editor at: [email protected]

Guidelines:1. Photos must have been taken by, or of, a member of Muskies, Inc.2. In photos featuring released muskies, the fish must be in the water or

properly supported with two hands in a non-vertical position (the closer tofull horizontal the better; see illustration).

3. Members are encouraged to minimize the amount of time fish are out ofthe water for photographs. Photos of released muskies which appearoverly stressed in the judgment of the editorial staff will not be published.

4. Photo submissions must include the following:• Name of the photographer and names of other key individuals in the

photo. In the case of chapter or group photos please identify the group.If the photographer is not the person submitting the photo you mustprovide the name, address, and telephone number of the photographer.

• A brief description of the photo.• If the photo features a muskie, the length of the fish and the date of the

catch are required. The name body of water and the name of the lureare requested, but not mandatory. In most cases the photo should fea-ture the angler who caught the muskie, although another person mayhold the muskie in the case of children or members unable to hold themuskie by themselves.

• Please include any other special information, such as: first muskiecaught, personal best, event winner, or special circumstances.

5. The majority of muskie photos which are published within MUSKIEMagazine should serve to reinforce the catch-and-release philosophy ofMuskies, Inc. However, MUSKIE Magazine will consider occasional pub-lication of photos of large muskies which were legally harvested byMuskies, Inc. members and which were submitted to the Lunge Log, orare of historic significance.

6. Photos which include fish will only be considered for the cover of MUSKIEMagazine if they show muskies which have been successfully releasedand are good examples of current catch-and-release handling practices.

MUSKIE Magazine will not publish artwork which displaysmuskies in conditions or positions which are not compatible withthese photo guidelines or which depict scenes that may present adetrimental public image of muskies or of Muskies, Inc.

(Adopted 1/09)

MUSKIE Magazine is fortunate to have Richard Gross as an artist andcontributor. We asked Rich to tell us a little about himself. Besides hisfrequent “Grossie” cartoons, Rich generously provides illustrations whenneeded. For this story he allowed us to print his latest watercolor,Muskies Borealis. Special thanks to Rich for his many contributions!

As a young boy growing up in the Milwaukee area, my artis-tic abilities showed early in my grade school education.Listening to “Let’s Draw,” a radio station from Madison,

Wisconsin, my work was submitted to thestation for review along with other youngarea artists. I received numerous honorablementions and in eighth grade was invited toattend a workshop with other artists. It wasa great and humbling experience. Sittingalongside these artists was my first intro-duction to artistic competition. Highschool was a real joy - while other boys tookup shop, drafting, woodworking or sports, Itook back-to-back art classes as I learned towork in various mediums.

During the era of the Korean War Iturned 19 and received greetings fromUncle Sam saying, “I want you.” I joinedthe Navy to see the world. I was with theSeventh Fleet in the South Pacific and sawduty during the Korean Campaign. Fouryears of service was a great way for a youngman to grow up. Now discharged, the GIBill provided me with four years of school-

ing and I entered the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee. Majoringin Illustration and Advertising Design, upon graduation I took aposition with a major retail company in Green Bay.

Growing up fishing and hunting with my father, Green Bay wasa perfect fit for a young man who loved the outdoors; it had so muchto offer. It was here that a fellow employee introduced me to troutfishing, a totally new fishing experience. Within 50-75 miles therewere numerous remote trout streams to fish. The wilderness andsolitude trout fishing had to offer was beautiful. However, my trout

fishing days were soon to be interruptedby a new underwater predator.

My youngest daughter, Leslie, wasattending the University of Wisconsin.One weekend she brought home a youngman named Dan Peters. Dan grew up inGlenview, Illinois, but as a young boy heand his parents would travel to Haywardeach year for a week of fishing – muskiefishing! Dan caught his first muskie atthe young age of 8.

Soon I had a new son-in-law. Thenit was just a matter of time before I wasin Dan’s boat holding a muskie rod. Therest is history. May is my month to troutfish; after that it’s muskie time!

I soon became a member ofMuskies, Inc. and Jim Smith was the edi-tor of MUSKIE Magazine. Jim sent outa call looking for an artist to do illustra-tions and cartoons for the magazine. I


Rich with a nice mess of Green Bay whitefish.

answered Jim’s call and am now on the MUSKIE Magazine staff hav-ing fun.

In 2008 my granddaughter Olivia took up muskie fishing at age10 and caught a couple of nice muskies up on Crow Lake, Ontariowith her dad. In 2009 she returned to Crow Lake and caught 5muskies, including three in one day. Her two biggest were a 46 anda 48-incher caught about an hour apart!

I have a cottage just north of Crivitz, Wisconsin, near thePestigo Flowage. If you have ever fished High Falls or Cauldron, it’slike being in Canada with wilderness shorelines and picturesque sun-

sets. Wisconsin Public Service owns the majority of the land sur-rounding the flowage with numerous landings and very, very fewlocal dwellings.

Of course Green Bay has become a tremendous muskie fishery.The Titletown Chapter is doing a great job promoting Muskies, Inc.and the fishery of Green Bay. Muskie fishing has come a long wayand I’m proud to be a member of Muskies, Inc. and I enjoy the greatsport of muskie fishing. v


Rich at work

The third generation muskie angler of the family, granddaughter Olivia,with a fine 46-inch Canadian muskie – the first of three caught this day!

Olivia with a dandy 48-incher, caught just an hour after the 46-incher.

Freshwater fishing in North America offers many excitingopportunities. We are blessed with a tremendous variety of fishto pursue. Most of us eventually settle on one or two species

and spend the rest of our lives trying to get better, set goals, maybeeven earn a buck, and make a name for ourselves. Bass, walleye, trout,and panfish anglers numberin the millions. You’d haveto scratch off a couple ofzeros when it comes tomuskie anglers, but thatdoesn’t stop us from doingwhatever it takes to maintainand spread the number ofmuskies across NorthAmerica.

Muskies and the folkswho pursue them havealways been looked at as adifferent breed of cat. A bigpart of the novelty is basedon the degree of difficultythat goes into catching amuskie. Historically, a smallfraternity of anglers concen-trated on them even thoughthere were plenty of reasonsto fish everything else.Muskies are normally low in

numbers, can require complicated angling strategies, and don’t com-pare to walleye or crappie in the taste department. The anglers whogot the bug often neglected every other fish available to them andconcentrated on a single quest.

From what I’ve read about my home state, Wisconsin, muskiefishing exploits and big fishwere making national news inthe 1930s and 40s.Reservoirs that were built inthe 1920s transformed thou-sands of acres woods andswamp into prime muskiehabitat that was reaching itspeak. At the same time,muskie experts were learningwhere to concentrate on thebig lakes that always had afew monsters, but many smallmuskies were taken out of thelakes for every big one whichwas caught. Whether theyrealized it or not, muskieanglers sort of turned intoexterminators of their ownsport.

As equipment improved,travel became more practical,and muskies got a little easier


Paul Gottwald, Chapter 6 board member, reliable volunteer, and mentor,deserves an occasional beauty like this late November muskie.

Muskies always need…

A Few Good Friendsby Ace Sommerfeld

to find, a following slowly increased. The 1960s became a turning pointin muskie history as independent anglers began to join ranks for a com-mon cause. In 1966 Gil Hamm founded Muskies, Inc. Small chaptersbegan to pop up wherever muskies existed. Off-shoot clubs caught on.Their internal philosophies may differ from other groups, but all of theseorganizations strive to improve the future of muskie angling from coast tocoast.

The goals of the pioneering members cen-tered on better management of the muskieresource in the lakes and rivers in their region.They saw the need to partner with, and lobbystate fishery departments in many areas con-cerning muskies. The first step in approachinga biologist with a proposal was educating them-selves. It was no longer enough to be a goodstick. They had to learn what biologists alreadyknew. In order to make headway anglers had totalk the talk.

“Science wins wars,” said muskie expert,Dick Pearson. “Using studies is the most likelyway to convince individuals and state DNRswhen it comes to supporting a proposed action.”

Then there were the politics. Understandinghow things get done on the local and state gov-ernment levels was vital when it came to gettinglaws passed. The wheels that turn our govern-ment move slowly. Fortunately, muskie huntersunderstand patience and faith. Laws from legalsize limits to water quality were initiated bymuskie anglers who figured out how to approachmuskie management from many angles.

The going wasn’t always smooth for newly-developed chapters when it came to dealing withgovernment bureaucracy. West VirginiaChapter 09 of Muskies, Inc. President, JimMoore, says that when he took office over 20years ago, he walked into a hornet’s nest of bit-ter feelings between some of the chapter mem-bers and the DNR. Both sides were frustratedand full of mistrust.

“I wanted that to change,” said Jim. By taking small steps, and getting both

sides together in small groups, the situation hasdone a 180-degree turn, and the bad old daysare in the past. Muskies and the people whopursue them in West Virginia are reaping thebenefits of cooperation.

The growing network of chapters and clubsacross North America shared ideas. Experts inevery field concerning muskie managementcropped up in various chapters. Fund raising,for instance, needed to be addressed. Many


The 1960s became a turning point inmuskie history as independent anglersbegan to join ranks for a common cause.In 1966 Gil Hamm founded Muskies, Inc.


West Virginia M.I. members at work at a rearing pond.

states said they had no problem if we wanted to put a few fish in alake, but they didn’t have the finances to support such a risky andarcane venture. Many chapters decided to take matters into their ownhands, and put enough money together to purchase fingerlings. Itseems easy enough . . . print up a bunch of tickets, butcher a pig, andbuy some fish. There’s more to it than that. It often takes a collectiveeffort to pull off a successful raffle or other means of acquiring donat-ed funds. It’s just one example of learning by the seat of your pants.

An important development in muskie management occurredwhen biologists took a page from nature’s book of missed signals.They combined the eggs and milt of northern pike and muskies. Theconcoction produces a beautiful hybrid that has a shorter life thantrue muskies. The name tiger muskie caught on, but I understand“Norski” had a strong following in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It did-n’t take long before tigers were put into service as a means of fish man-agement. Most of the muskies living east of the Mississippi River arenatural populations, but anglers in the western states discovered anexciting angling opportunity in areas where muskies were unheard of.

My personal experience with tigers first occurred in Montana inthe mid-1990s. I was living in Helena. The Billings Gazette had apicture of a big tiger that was caught in Lebo Lake, a prairie reservoirjust west of nowhere. It made the hair on the back of my neck standup. I hunted in the area, and drove along the shores of Lebo Lake ahundred times without a clue about its contents. It’s hard to blamemyself - it’s the most unlikely looking muskie lake I’ve ever seen. Thenearest tree is two miles away. The lake is on private land, and youhave to get permission from a grouchy rancher. I picked up a fewEppingers and the next week end my son Nick and I slipped the canoeonto the lake and released a couple of mid-30 inch tigers. We con-

vinced several trout anglers to fight the “lonely cowboys” in Lebo, andhad many great days on the lake.

Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks stocked asubstantial number of tigers in the lake years before in the hope thatthe fish would grow up and eradicate the rising number of carp thatthreatened the rainbow and brown trout in Lebo. Since tigers are ster-ile, fish managers gambled that the carp situation would be undercontrol about the time the tigers would start dying of old age, and thetrout fishery would be restored. Tiger muskies have been put intoservice in several other Montana lakes, and anglers are taking advan-tage of the big fish.

Perhaps the greatest success story of “tigers in the mountains”comes out of Washington. Washington Departmentof Fish & Wildlife stocked a select number of lakesin the western region of the state that were overrunwith pikeminnows - an undesirable species with theability to ruin a lake. The tiger muskie programexisted for nearly 20 years before it received a shredof public attention. The long lapse may have beencaused in part by the state not realizing the anglingpotential of muskies. The fish were introduced as aneradication mechanism, unable to proliferate, anddoomed to be a short-lived fringe fishery.

When a few big fish were caught, and the pub-lic got wind of what was lurking in places likeMerwin Reservoir and Lake Mayfield, a handful ofhardy souls began an aggressive effort to enhancewhat they saw as a golden opportunity to pursue oneof North America’s premier game fish. The resultwas the formation of Muskies, Inc. Chapter 57which has hit the ground running and has developeda strong relationship with WDFW.

“We wanted the Washington fishery to be a mir-ror image of muskies across their traditional range,”said Perry Peterson, of Chapter 57, “So we pushedthe “Catch and Release” concept. A 50” limit wentinto effect with little resistance thanks to the openminds at WDFW and the help of retired judge,Chapter 57 member, and devout “Musketeer”, Mr.Don Wittenberger.”

“The chapter spends a great deal of time educat-


A FEW GOOD FRIENDS(Continued from page 19)

Nick Sommerfeld with a "Lonely Cowboy" from Lebo Lake, Montana

ing the public on muskie matters,” said Perry’s wife, Jani. “Our mes-sage is getting out, and the chapter is growing.”

Jani and Perry tip their hats to Mr. Jack Tipping, known in localmuskie circles as the “Godfather of Washington Muskies”. Theyencourage you to go to YouTube and watch the video they put togeth-er in his honor. I found it by typing in “Jack Tipping”. It’s very welldone, and could inspire other chapters to honor some of their specialmembers.

Perhaps the most profound change in muskie fishing strategydeveloped slowly way back when, but really took off in the 1980swhen anglers put perfectly good fish back in the water after they weremeasured and photographed. Catch and Release suddenly became athing of pride for many muskie anglers. Onlookers seemed to takedifferent sides on the matter . . . some thought it was a noble gestureand others considered it a curse.

We must convince the rest of theangling world that muskies are justanother fish. They have needs, butnot privileges. Converting the skep-tics starts with convincing them thatall anglers must stick together in orderto achieve common goals.

“History tells the tale,” said Pearson. “Use it to make your point.Nobody can argue that muskies have been living in certain lakesalongside healthy populations of many other species of fish for thou-sands of years.”

When a muskie organization puts time and money into improv-ing the water quality of a lake it benefits all of its inhabitants. Fishcribs are another good example - sure, a hungry muskie may show upnow and then, but in the mean time, countless smaller fish takeadvantage of the man-made cover.

In my relatively short time pursuing muskies, I’ve had enoughboat landing discussions with anglers to realize picking fights withthem isn’t going to get us anywhere. Instead of scorning someone forkeeping a small but legal muskie lobby your DNR to raise the sizelimit so that those fish must be released. We want to protect muskieslike a Little League parent, but it’s important to pick your battles wise-ly. It is essential to be regarded as good stewards on and off the water.Dick Pearson states, “Education and facts prevail - confrontationdoesn’t in my view.”

I also know you don’t have to be Don Wittenberger to make apositive contribution to the muskie cause. I can’t butcher a hog, butmy writing ability allows me to spread a supportive message. Anyonewho handles a muskie stick has something to offer. Just staying activein your organization goes a long way.

Education and involve-ment are the resounding mes-sages I hear from organizationsall across muskie territory. M.I.Pomme de Terre Chapter mem-ber Earle Hammond told me hischapter has several annualevents which are multi-species

oriented to attract members and non-members in Missouri.“Our goal is public awareness, education, and acceptance of

muskies. Gaining a few members along the way is a bonus,”Hammond said.

Muskie anglers are enjoying the best of times. Our goals ofoptimum habitat and improved management across their vast rangeare being met. Thanks to a few determined muskie experts, anglersof all abilities will experience the thrill of releasing muskies for along time. v

www.muskiesinc.org February 2010.....MUSKIE 21

“Education and facts prevail -confrontation doesn’t in my view.”

– Dick Pearson


It is no secret that when it comes to fishing, knowledge about thefish you want to catch will increase your chances of being a suc-cessful angler. Knowing the seasonal movements of fish, their

desired habitat, the popular methods, presentations, and tactics usedto catch them, as well as the appropriate or recommended tackle andequipment for catching them, will increase your odds for putting fishin the net. The nature and habits of each species of fish differ, and themore you know about the behavior of the fish you pursue, the morelikely you will be successful. This is especially true when it comes tomuskies, given their low density relative to other species of fish inmost waters.

There are a number of ways we try to learn about more effectivefishing methods. We attend boating and fishing shows during thewinter or closed fishing seasons. We attend seminars presented atthose shows, talk to guides and tackle manufacturers, buy and watchvideos, and consequently, often get a chance to talk directly with greatanglers. These are all very important sources of information. They

are part of the angling experience and provide valuable opportunities.We should not miss these chances to become better anglers.

Other ways to learn more about fishing, and the specific fish wehunt, include reading books and watching fishing shows on TV. Eachof these sources of information, however, is indirect in the sense thatyou, as the reader or watcher, can not interact directly with theauthors or TV show personalities. This is also somewhat true aboutvarious websites that have discussion groups, where anglers ask ques-tions, get answers, and share information.

Short of joining a fishing club, which is considered by many tobe the most valuable and worthy avenue for increasing your fishingknowledge, one of the best ways to add directly and immediately toyour fishing knowledge is to attend a fishing school. Fishing schoolsoffer current information, focus specifically on how to catch fish,cover the crucial aspects of fishing approaches and presentations,provide an opportunity to talk directly with knowledgeable andexperienced anglers, and allow you to ask the specific questions youwant answered.

Fishing schools are offered all over the country for every kind offishing experience. They are often regional or local events. For the

most part, unless they are offered on a distant lakeor at a particular lodge on a lake and offer on-the-water experience, they are inexpensive. However,even those schools which include several days on alake or at a lodge are often great values. Fishingschools offer one of the best opportunities for con-centrated and focused instruction. They provide agreat “shortcut” to help you learn a lot in a shorttime period.

Fishing schools vary significantly in content,purpose, and cost. Find one that’s tailored to yourlevel of experience and expertise. They range fromclassroom settings to on-the-water schools thatcombine a fishing trip with fishing instruction, sem-inars, classroom experiences, and demonstrations.

Our editor informed us that Angle OutpostResort on Lake of the Woods has added a week-longMuskie Bash and Clinic for August 7-14, 2010.Check out their ad in this issue of MUSKIE. If yougive them a call make sure you thank them for sup-porting Muskies, Inc. with their advertising(www.angleoutpost.com).

Fishing SchoolsIncrease Your Fishing

Knowledgeby Lee Bartolini and Geoff Crandall

Capital City Chapter of Muskies, Inc.

Fishing schools are an excellent source fornew ideas which will help you catch moreand bigger fish.

Learning tomake muskiecrankbaits,topwaters,jerkbaits,bucktails, andspinnerbaits.

MUSKIE Magazine Field EditorPatricia Strutz offers A Blond and Her BoatGroup Fishing Trips, which are advertised ason-the-water educational adventures(www.ablondandherboat.com). One recentparticipant who has attended several ofStrutz’s Women on the Water classes notesthat, “She has a lot of seminars, instruction,and hands-on demos. I’ve been to it threetimes and learned a TON!”

The University of Esox, sponsored byMusky Hunter Magazine, is a well knownschool. According to the Musky Hunterwebsite, “University of Esox Musky Schoolscombine peak musky fishing times withgreat musky locations.” Their schoolsinvolve classroom instruction and fishing,and are held at resorts in the Midwest andin Canada (www.muskyhunter.com/uofesox.shtml).

There are also “Ranger” Rick’s Guide’sChoice Pro Shop Fishing Schools. Thewebsite for these schools (www.guideschoicefishingschools.com) notes that they include power point presenta-tions, how-to and where-to seminars, and daily discussions anddemonstrations.

Schools which offer classroom instruction without an on-the-water experience are considerably less expensive and can be offered inthe winter and early spring to help you get ready for the upcomingseason.

Musky Road Rules puts on their Cabin Fever Clinics throughoutthe Midwest. They are multi-media seminars that include new prod-

uct showcases and opportunities for ques-tions and answers. The 2010 Musky RoadRules schools include a full day of seminarsin January, February and March. Check-outtheir ad in the January issue of MUSKIEMagazine (www.musky roadrules.com).

Spence Petros, well-known muskie fish-erman and National Fresh Water FishingHall of Fame Angler, has been offering off-season schools for many years in theChicago area (www.spencepetros.com).They meet once a week for five weeks.

Local fishing schools offered by chap-ters of Muskies, Inc. are often tailored tolocal angler needs. Chapter 50, the Penn-Jersey club, offers two schools each year,one in June and one in September. Theschools combine structured lessons withon-the-water experience. What is uniqueabout these schools is that instruction isone-on-one. Instructors ask each partici-pant what it is they want to learn and thendesign lessons focusing on each participant’s

needs (www.mi50.com).The following account is a description of one fishing school most

familiar to the authors. It is described in detail to show how fishingschools can provide a real variety and depth of instruction, meet theneeds of many, prepare us for the upcoming season, and at the sametime provide excitement, motivation, and fun.

The Capital City Chapter of Muskies, Inc., in Madison,Wisconsin, has offered a muskie school for intermediate and



Guide Lee Tauchen demonstratingthe art of retrieving lures.

advanced muskie anglers for nearly a decade. On March 20, 2010the Ninth Intermediate and Advanced Muskie School will be conduct-ed at Waunakee High School in Waunakee, Wisconsin on the northedge of Madison. It is a full day event beginning at 7:30AM and run-ning until 4PM. The day begins with a panel discussion on “HotTopics for Muskie Anglers.” Participants will then be able to attendthree different 11/2 hour classes scheduled throughout the day whichthey have selected from over 20 being offered. One session isdesigned for beginners called “Muskie Fishing Basics for Youth andAdults.”

The day also includes raffles and door prizes. Muskie anglers ofevery age and level of experience will find class topics and discussionsof interest and value at this muskie school, even though it’s designedspecifically for the experienced muskie angler.

Class offerings change year to year and are based, in part, on par-ticipant evaluations from the preceding years. Participants are givenan opportunity to suggest new or different classes for the followingyear. Instruction, therefore, is tailored to the wishes and needs of theparticipants. There are many hands-on sessions. In addition to thesession for beginners, this year’s school will offer sessions on:Spring Muskie Fishing TechniquesPatterning Big Muskies – Sacrificing Quantity for QualityMuskie Fishing on the Mighty Chippewa RiverSonar, Fish Finders, and Marine ElectronicsMuskie Fishing on the Wisconsin RiverFishing Oneida and Vilas CountiesBoat and Motor maintenanceGPS Systems – Class and Field ExerciseBuild Your Own Custom Muskie Rod (participants actually build a

rod)Fishing Ontario’s Long Legged & Stork LakeMake Your Own Wooden Row Trolling BoatSucker Fishing & Quick-Set RigsFishing Southeastern WisconsinFishing Sawyer County & Northwest WisconsinTrolling (Row & Motor) for Muskies with impressive resultsMake Your Own Leaders (Fluorocarbon and Steel)Make Your Own Lures – Bucktails and Spinnerbaits

Make Your Own WoodenLures

Muskie Reel Repair A – ZElectric Trolling Motors

Care and RepairMadison Chain MuskiesCanadian Muskie FishingBoat Control

In addition, pool-side lure demonstrationswill be held throughoutthe day. Mini-sessions areheld during the “workinglunch” on topics such asfly fishing for muskies,trolling motor and reelrepair, making fluorocar-bon leaders, making spin-nerbaits/skirts, andmuskie fishing on LakeSt. Clair. Finally, a muskie lure casting accuracy contest will be heldoutside the high school, weather permitting.

This school is offered in memory of Gil Hamm, the founder ofMuskies, Inc. It is a youth and family oriented event open to anyone,not just members of Muskies, Inc. or the Capital City Chapter. Theschool attempts to promote environmental stewardship, conservation,improvement of fisheries, the stocking of muskies, camaraderie, andgood sportsmanship. Participants of the school will have an opportu-nity to rub elbows with experts all day long to help them get ready forthe upcoming season. In 2009, the school instructors had over 900years of fishing experience and over 415 years of muskie fishingexpertise collectively.

This particular school is not a fundraising event, and it is keptvery affordable. The registration fee is $29 per adult and just $5 forpersons 18 years of age or younger. The fee includes coffee anddonuts in the morning plus a hot lunch. The Capital City Chapterstrives to offer an affordable, high quality program with the hope ofjust breaking even. There is no grant money or educational fund sup-port used for this event; it is offered as a “give back” and thank you tothe muskie community.

If you want more information about this muskie school go to theCapital City Chapter of Muskies, Inc. website at www.capitalcity-muskiesinc.org or contact Geoff Crandall at [email protected] or608-831-6020.

Attending one of these many and varied schools and classes getsyou thinking about the coming season and helps you to prepare earlyin the year for muskie fishing. Your participation increases yourknowledge of new techniques and provides insights for finding fish-holding cover or structure. Fishing schools are an excellent source fornew ideas which will help you catch more and bigger fish. In fact,your 2010 on-the-water experience will be different and more mean-ingful as you begin to apply what you have learned during your on-land instruction.

Check out these learning opportunities in your region and attenda fishing school. They are fun, informative and most importantly,they will make you a better angler. Have fun on the water! v


FISHING SCHOOL(Continued from page 23)

Fishing schools offer one of the best opportunitiesfor concentrated and focused instruction.

Two instructors discuss learning effectivemuskie fishing techniques in new waters.

Guide Mike Koepp’s class on Southeastern Wisconsin muskies.

Special Events

2010Aug. 25-27, 2010

2010 Gil Hamm Chapter Challungeat Lake Vermilion, MN. Contact: Jeff Young:

[email protected] or 218-821-3669

No. Chapter, Address Phone #01.....Twin Cities, 6311 Steller Circle, Excelsior, MN 55331......................................952-474-596702.....Fargo-Moorhead, Box 2021, Fargo ND, 58107................................................701-298-903203.....Chicagoland Muskie Hunters, 7600 Kilbourn Ave, Skokie, IL 60076 ...............847-677-001704.....Titletown Muskies, Inc., 3097 Inverness Lane, New Franken, WI 54229 .......920-866-970505.....Pomme De Terre, PO Box 5, Hermitage, MO 65668 .......................................417-993-003506.....First Wisconsin, PO Box 122, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 ...............................715-864-226907.....South Side Muskie Hawks, 5211 S. Narragansett Ave., Chicago, IL 60638......773-581-865008.....Capital City, PO Box 8862, Madison, WI 53708...............................................608-669-504609.....West Virginia, 1270 Federal Road, Little Hocking, OH 45742 .........................740-667-357110.....Heartland, 239 8th St SE, Mason City IA 50401..............................................641-424-082711 .....Mississippi Valley, 5301 11th Ave “C”, Moline, IL 61265 ..................................309-797-180312.....Headwaters, PO Box 652, Eagle River, WI 54521...........................................715-891-557413.....Hayward Lakes, PO Box 609, Hayward, WI 54843 .........................................715-634-454314.....South of the Border, 28926 W. Big Hollow Rd, McHenry, IL 60050.................815-385-902615.....Star of the North, 16774 West Bay Drive, Pengilly, MN 55775........................218-885-167716.....Three Rivers, 119 Bus Lane, Renfrew, PA15136.............................................724-789-786617.....Quad County, PO Box 185, Plano, IL 60545....................................................815-695-149418.....Hopedale, 15 Township Rd 125, Dillonvale, OH 43917 ...................................740-769-726919.....Akron-Canton Muskie Maniacs, 10957 Northwood Ave NE, Bolivar OH 44612.330-874-277320.....Between the Lakes, PO Box 61, Sheboygan Falls, WI 53085-0061 ...............920-564-322621.....North Metro, PO Box 41216, Plymouth, MN 55441 .........................................952-469-215522.....New Jersey, http://www.mi22.com/ ..................................................................................TBD23.....Cleveland, 5608 Brave Chief Lane, Ravenna, OH 44266 ...............................330-296-239824.....Brainerd Lakes, 18031 Heritage Road, Brainerd, MN 56401 ..........................218-838-550926.....Central Wisconsin, PO Box 263, Medford, WI 54451 ......................................715-748-487428.....Shawnee Muskie Hunters, 61 W. Jennings, Wood River, IL 62095.................618-610-500329.....Upper Great Plains, 1788 Hwy 4, Estherville, IA 51334...................................712-362-250130.....God’s Country, PO Box 1461, LaCrosse, WI 54601 ........................................608-786-406231.....Penn-Ohio, 309 Spring St, Jamestown, PA 16134...........................................724-932-581532.....Flatlanders, 5776 Vesper Drive, South Beloit, IL 61080 ..................................815-389-462233.....Lake Superior, 2031 Hwy. 33 S., Cloquet, MN 55720......................................218-879-271235.....Milwaukee, PO Box 28842, Greenfield, WI 53228...........................................262-442-626037.....St. Cloud, 312 18th Avenue N., Sartell, MN 56377 ..........................................320-656-116038.....Vikingland, 2909 Wicken Lane NW, Alexandria, MN 56308.............................320-846-797539.....Fox River Valley, 1253 Cobblers Crossing, Elgin, IL 60123.............................847-741-977141.....Central Ohio, 870 County Road 9, Fremont OH 43420...................................419-992-450442.....Hoosier Muskie Hunters, PO Box 501371, Indianapolis, IN 46250 .................317-577-805045.....Kentucky, 212 Linden Ave., Southgate, KY 41071...........................................859-441-166646.....Bemidji/Cass Lake, 16256 Andrusia Rd NE, Cass Lake, MN 56633...............218-335-859747.....Michigan Muskie Alliance, PO Box 512, Caledonia, MI 49316 ........................616-447-168849.....Webster Lake Musky Club, PO Box 670, No. Webster, IN 46555 ...................574-834-166950.....Penn-Jersey, 510 Bryton Ave., Pottstown PA 19465.........................................484-459-594052.....Daniel Boone, 813 US 62, Maysville, KY 41056..............................................606-759-761053.....Huskerland Muskie Hunters, 15706 Hamilton St, Omaha, NE 68118...............402-498-895954.....Southern Crossroads, 1524 Country Club Rd, Albert Lea MN 56007 .............507-373-181856.....SW Ohio Muskie Assoc., 524 Sterling Meadows Place, Brookville, OH 45309..937-833-183357.....NW TigerPac, P.O. Box 5515, Kent, WA 98064 ...............................................253-850-588958.....Lake St. Clair Muskies, Inc., P.O. Box 805915, St. Clair Shores, MI 48080....586-873-578159.....New Mexico Muskies, Inc., P.O. Box 65575 Albuquerque, NM 87193.............505-363-4624

Special events listings areprovided at no charge toMuskies, Inc chapters.

To list your chapter's event,

email to: [email protected]

or by ground mail:Kevin Richards,

7618 Sunrise Ridge Road,Henley, MO 65040

Please send announcementsat least 2 months

in advance.

ATTENTIONCHAPTER

CONTACTS:Please make sure

your chapter addressand phone number

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

Whenever you updatechapter information on

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

keep this page current. Thanks!

Chapter News and Views


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Our annual fundraiser and seminar was held on November29th, with muskie guide Gregg Thomas being the speaker. Whileattendance was down slightly, due to our faltering economy, thosewho attended got double-barreled bang for their buck. They got agreat seminar put on by Gregg with a question and answer sessionfollowing, plus a “how-to” lesson by Gregg. Following this, therewas strong competition for winning a prize in the huge main raffle,the smaller side raffles, and the split-the-pot raffles. All together, itwas a win-win situation for the attendees, and some of them wonbig prizes. However, the largest prize, a boat, motor, and trailercombination donated by Basa’s Marine and Lund Boats, was wonby Saban Dzabiri of Orland Park. There were also quite a few guid-ed fishing days, trips, and rods and reels that happy winners tookhome.

Major winners of trips included Bob Dickens (Temple BayResort, located on Eagle Lake), Tom Becvar (Young’s WildernessCamp, located on Lake of the Woods), Michele Zupancic(Mountain Musky Lodge, located on Cave Run Lake), MichaelCallas (Sunrise Lodge, located on Lac Vieux Desert), JohnMcNicholas (Mountain Musky Lodge, located on Cave Run Lake),and Phil Roede (Angler’s Kingdom, located on Nungesser Lake).Winners of guided fishing days included Tom Pavlowski (GreggThomas), Mark A. Rue (Jim Kopjo, The Crappie Professor), MattCozzi (Spencer Berman), Brian Wagner (Berm’s Guiding), JohnMcNicholas (Art Andersen), Luke Thompson (Frank Hyla), SeanO’Callaghan (Tom Ustaszewski), Ed Jantz (Duane Landmeier),and Tim Ehlers (Tony Grant). One of the door prizes, a turkey fryer,was won by one of the children who attended. Of course, heryounger sister had to accompany her up to the front to claim herprize, and even stayed with her to pose for a picture. It was anoth-er great fundraiser, and everyone appeared to have a good time.

In lieu of a regular December meeting, we always have ourChristmas party, and this year was no exception. Hot hors d’oeu-vres, provided by Mama Luigi’s, greeted everyone as they walkedin the door. A plate of sweet decorated treats also was graciouslyprovided by one of the attendees, Icy Sowards. By the time every-one got their drinks and greeted their friends, it was time for thefood to be served. We all enjoyed a delicious meal of soup, salad,rolls, roast beef, chicken, mostaccioli, Italian sausage, mashedpotatoes with gravy, and green beans. After the main course,everyone received a dish of ice cream for dessert.

Once the dishes were cleared away, a few announcementswere made about upcoming events including the Chicago MuskieShow. Since we co-sponsor it, a sign-up sheet for workers for theshow was passed around to all of the tables. Twenty-three peoplesigned up to work the show, and that was sufficient for the show.

Following the circulation of the sign-up sheet, election ofboard members and officers was held, with the current officersbeing re-elected for another term.

The next thing was a special raffle for a rod and reel whichwas won by Jamie Roberts. A split-the-pot raffle was next, withDon Sobczak and Saban Dzabiri splitting the winnings. At thispoint, Saban Dzabiri announced that he was donating a bottle of

Asti Spumante for each table to help spread the holiday cheer. Thewaitress brought glasses for everyone, and the bottles wereopened and poured, each person receiving about half a glass as atoast to good wishes and a happy, healthy, safe, and prosperous2010.

However, now that the toast was taken care of, the waitresspassed out sealed envelopes from the restaurant to each person.The envelope was not to be opened until you came to the restau-rant for a meal. At that time, the waitperson would open it andreveal what was inside, which might be a free appetizer or dessert,or possibly a certain amount taken off the price of your meal. It isthe restaurant’s habit to do this at every holiday party, and it is anice gesture on their part.

Now though, it was time to turn the attention to the table thatwas groaning under the weight of the prizes it held. Harold “Binky”Sharp had his eye on the furry binky (blanket) on the table, as hehoped to win it, but ultimately didn’t. Saban Dzabiri wanted to winone of the hawk pictures, but it was won by someone else. In fact,one table was particularly lucky as far as winning was concerned,so lucky that one of the kids started calling it the “lucky table” everytime that someone at that table won a prize. Personally, I think itwas “the luck o’ the Irish”, as the table had quite a few people withIrish names sitting there, and one of them, Duke O’Malley, had hisshillelagh leaning against the wall next to him.

Once the main raffle was over, everyone was wished a happyholiday season, and reminded of the upcoming Chicago MuskieShow, before the happy winners and friends departed.

Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of every month(except February and July) in the banquet room at Mama Luigi’s,and start at 7 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Lynn Polyak, RVP

Greetings Thrillseekers,Chicagoland Muskie Hunters had a great December, 2009

meeting topped off with a standing ovation and applause for mem-ber U.S. Marine Corporal Michael J. Governale who justreturned from his third and final deployment. We thank you foryour service to our Country.

Guest speaker Duane Landmier discussed Illinois muskiestocked lakes. Amazing how many opportunities there are righthere in Illinois. Can you say “staycation” for those of us who maybe on a tighter budget in 2010? More details in the report below.

It is good to see that Chicagoland Muskie Hunters finishedthe year in the black again. While the members give back everyyear to the community and to the State of Illinois Fisheries wealways seem to have enough for excellent guest speakers andNonna Silvia’s delicious pizzas at every meeting. Frank Loye, ourProgram Director has been lining up great speakers for 2010which will include Chad Cain (January), Kevin Moore (February),Mike Hulbert (March), Len Szulc (May) and a special presenter forour April Awards meeting. July and August will be “on the water”meetings as in previous years.

Membership has grown to 196 members and there is always

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Chicagoland Muskie Hunters7600 Kilbourn Ave. • Skokie, IL 60076

847-677-0017 – Dean [email protected]

Meets 1st Tuesday 7:30 PM, Park Ridge VFW 10 West Higgins Ave., ParkRidge, IL.

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

773-581-8650

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

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room for more. Also interesting to note is that in 2009 there wereover 300 muskies over 30” caught and all were released by theclub. In 2009, Chicagoland Muskie Hunters members caughtmuskies in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan,Ontario, Canada and New Mexico (Karl Scherer landed one on afly rod!). This should serve as a reminder that if you are interest-ed in learning more about a lake, attend a meeting and I guaran-tee you will find someone who knows the lake and will openlyshare his/her knowledge with you.

By the time this report has hit the stands, the best muskieshow in the Country will have finished for another year. TheChicago Muskie Show which is held at Harper College in eachJanuary with all the vendors, seminars, pro speakers, drawingsand exhibitors is the three day event not to be missed.

The Indoor Fishing Fleamarket is Saturday, March 13, 2010 atRolling Meadows High School. There you will find all types of fish-ing gear, a seminar, raffles, refreshments and free parking. It runsfrom 8:00am till 1:00pm with the seminar scheduled for 10:30am.

Duane Landmier (mainlymusky.com) was the guest speakerfor our December, 2009 meeting. The focus was on the great fish-ing here is Illinois. Duane is a professional fishing guide and suc-cessful muskie tournament participant out of Hinckley, Illinois whoreally knows his lakes. He discussed more than ten lakes includ-ing Make McMaster, Pierce Lake, Lake Sule, Lake George, LakeCarlton, Shabbona Lake, Evergreen Lake and Spring Lake. Alsocovered were productive lures for casting and trolling.

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

Take care, Kevin M. Lynch

Despite the crazy weather many made it to our Decembermeeting including our guest speaker Muskie Matt. Snowstorm andall he made it down from Eagle River and gave a great presenta-tion on fishing the Eagle River Chain and a few other Vilas CountyTreasures. Check out Matt’s online ‘radio show’ for everythingmusky and lots of laughs: www.muskiematt.com - Regular Fishin’for Regular Guys Outdoor Radio. Also consider Matt for all yourEagle River Guiding needs. Rumor has it that Matt made the twohour trip home to Eagle River in roughly three hours. When all wassaid in done the next day the Green Bay area had received 16inches of snow!

Our new officers are: Mike Wichmann, President; Ron Myslik,VP; Rania Baxter, Treasurer; and Kevin Pischke Secretary.

At our January meeting we finalized the location and details ofour banquet. We also covered the Regional Vice President posi-tion. Matt McCumber Vilas County Guide and creator of theRubber Dubber Bait was our guest speaker. Matt Guides out of theArbor Vitae campground locate on Big Arbor Vitae. Matt is also anaccomplished tournament angler. Check out Matt at: www.arborvi-taecampground.com

Our February meeting will be on the second Tuesday of themonth. Starting in March we will be meeting the secondWednesday of the month; we will continue to meet at the GreenBay Yacht Club. Here is to a great 2010!

Kevin R. Pischke, Secretary

It is going to be a busy year for the Pomme Chapter. Ourschedule at this point (early December) looks like this:

January 7-10, Kansas City Sports ShowJanuary 8-10, Columbia Sports ShowFebruary 10-14, St. Louis Sports ShowMarch 20, Chapter Challenge with the Shawnee Muskie Hunters

on Kinkaid Lake. There will be a Pomme chapter dinner on Fridaynight to plan the proper strategy to return the traveling plaque to thePomme chapter and a banquet with both chapters on Saturdaynight. The event should be interesting. Kinkaid in the spring can bemuddy or clear and the fishing great or poor. Throw in the weatherfactor and you don’t know what you will have. I will promise onething. A good time will be had by all.

April 17, Members Outing. Don’t have a boat? This outing isspecifically for you. The goal is to get as many members out on thewater as possible. If you have a boat, volunteer to take anothermember fishing. If you don’t have a boat, let us know you want tofish. We will draw for partners at the dock.

May 15, Muskie Mayhem. This is our annual outing to get newmembers signed up during the sports shows out on the water.

June 12, Prime Time Outing. Fish early, take a break in the mid-dle of the day for lunch, and fish late. The goal is to be on the waterduring “prime time”.

July 17, Pomme de Tour. Spend the day on a pontoon with twolake guides learning how they fish one arm of the lake. Swap sto-ries and fishing tips. This outing will make you a better fisherman!

July 24, Kid’s Day. Bring the kids, grandkids, or neighbor’s kidsand come on out for fishing, fun and food.

August 14, Pomme de Tour. Same as July except the other armof the lake will be explored.

SEPTEMBER 10,11,12, FALL TOURNAMENT. Note the signif-icant change in the timing of the annual fall tournament. Thereis going to be work performed on the dam in the fall of 2010 andthere is a major drawdown of the lake scheduled for late Septemberearly October and the lake could be 5 feet below normal pool dur-ing October. For safety reasons we are going to move the tourna-ment to an earlier date. September fishing has been great the pasttwo years and we are looking forward to a big catch at this time ofthe year.

October 2, Pick 3 outing. Lat year’s event was a big success andwe are going to try it again. What three lures will you choose to takein the boat with you?

November 6, Fishing Outing. White bass? Muskie? Crappie?What do you want to fish for?

December 4, Planning Meeting.Check the monthly newsletter for more details on these events

and who to contact regarding them. We have chairmen for theseevents and they would welcome some help. Call them and askwhat you can do to help. Sharing the work load makes it a moreevent for all involved.

Wayne Humphrey

2010 Calendar of events:Feb. 1 - Monthly Meeting, Fill Inn Station, Chippewa Falls, Speaker

– Jerry SondagFeb. 15 - 6:30 PM Chapter Board Meeting, VFW, Starr Ave, Eau

Claire


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

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

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

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Titletown3097 Inverness Lane

New Franken, WI 54229920-866-9705

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

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

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March 1 - Monthly Meeting, Fill Inn Station, Chippewa Falls,Speaker – Rich Reinert.

March 15 - 6:30 PM Chapter Board Meeting, VFW, Starr Ave, EauClaire.

April 5 - Monthly Meeting, Fill Inn Station, Chippewa Falls. Speaker-Marquardt Skeeter Boat Center on “Side Imaging”.

Jerry Sondag will make a presentation at the Feb. 1, 2010 gen-eral meeting of the First Wisconsin Chapter of Muskies, Inc. It willbe at the Fill Inn Station at 104 W. Columbia, Chippewa Falls, WI.At 7:00 PM. Jerry is a good example of a multi-species angler, whosomewhere between panfish and billfish found his passion as amusky guide in West-Central Minnesota where he resides. Hisguide service follows and promotes a strict catch and release poli-cy which has helped him maintain a 42”+ average catch and manyfish over 50”. Jerry is also an ownership partner and the Director ofMarketing for The Next Bite - Esox Angler Magazine.

The chapter fishing contest awards for the 2009 contest werepresented at the Annual Banquet on Jan. 23rd. We give awards forall Juniors, one each for Men’s and Women’s Masters. Five forMen’s, one for Women’s and one each for Lunker of the Monthincluding ties. Here’s a summary:

Juniors - Cortland Spletter 4 releases. 52 points, Max Gibson3 releases 40 points. Kyle Priest 1 release 21 points. Austin Smith1 release 6 points.

Men’s Masters - Jason Smith 36 releases. 499 points.Women’s Masters - Mickey Penley 8 release 114 points.Men’s - Jim Coffin 27 releases. 359 points. Mitch Gibson 20

releases 279 points. James Tomczak 24 releases 270 points. DanKlein 19 releases 262 points. Greg Hassman 17 releases 232points.

Lunker of the Month awards – May - Mark Hintz 47.5 inches;June - Kenneth Imm and Paul Gottwald 49 inches; July - ChuckSpletter 49 inches; August - Arlan Carter and Vern Weeks 50 inch-es; September - Chuck Spletter 51 inches; October - Jeffrey Bunch50.5 inches; November - Tyler Scott 49 inches.

Thanks, Jim Bunch

After a week or so of relatively mild weather at the beginningof December, winter cold, snow and winds covered the southernhalf of Wisconsin thoroughly and consistently during the middleand last part of the month. Those of us who wanted to spend a lotmore time on the water to take advantage of the extended muskieseason were, in most cases, unable to do so because of hardwater. A few members tried catching muskies through the ice withquick-strike rigs. But now we attend fishing shows, watch TV fish-ing programs and attend fishing schools as we look forward to thecoming season.

Tom Gelb, of Musky Hunter magazine provided us with muchto think about as a result of his excellent presentation on the “BigFish Zone” at our December meeting. You can bet that many of uswill be using water thermometers a lot more this coming season.Likewise, Luke Ronnestrand, muskie guide and tournament anglerfrom Elk River, Minnesota, provided us with more insights on howto go about increasing the number of muskies in our nets this com-ing season during his presentation in January. Thanks to bothspeakers for jobs well done.

Club officers and board members were elected in Novemberand December. All current officers were re-elected and one newboard member was elected. Jim Olson is President; Lee Bartoliniis Vice-President; Dam Reim is Treasurer; Dawn Enger isSecretary; and Rick Hefner is Regional VP. Our new board mem-ber is Shane Nesheim. Congratulations to the officers and to

Shane. We are looking forward to an exciting 2010.Bill Wood, one of the founders of the Capital City Chapter of

Muskies, Inc. when the club was formed in 1983, turned 80 onDecember 14th. A number of close friends from the chapter helda luncheon birthday party for Bill on that date at the ImperialGardens Restaurant in Middleton. Happy Birthday Bill! We wishyou well.

The Capital City Chapter of Muskies, Inc. has a full range ofupcoming events this spring. As mentioned last month, the annu-al Awards Banquet, when members in the club are recognized foroutstanding angler achievements, is scheduled for February 8,2010 and will be held at the East Side Club in Madison. The CCMIannual Intermediate and Advanced Muskie School is scheduled forMarch 20, 2010 at Waunakee High School in Waunakee,Wisconsin. See the related article about fishing schools in thisissue of MUSKIE Magazine. Russ Warye, professional muskieand smallmouth bass guide, educator, and writer, will be the fea-tured speaker on March 8th at the monthly membership meeting.

Gregg Thomas, owner of Battle the Beast Guide Service, willbe the featured speaker at the CCMI Annual Fundraiser FishingSeminar on April 15, 2010. The fundraiser will be held atDoubledays in Cottage Grove this year. Check the CCMI websiteat www.capitalcitymuskiesinc.org for more details.

Finally, Wally Banfi, fishing guide and National ProfessionalAnglers Association member, will be the featured speaker at theMay 10, 2010 meeting. Banfi will be the last speaker before thesummer break.

Almost three more months before opening day! It is time toclean reels, change line, sharpen hooks, and organize tackle. Andplan to attend the CCMI annual Intermediate and AdvancedMuskie School on March 20, 2010. See you there.

Lee Bartolini, VP

On December2nd, 2009 Headwaters Chapter 12 held ourmonthly meeting. This was an important business meeting with theelection of officers and Directors, as follows:

President………….….. Bill JacobsVice President….……..Paul HansenSecretary……………... Glenn MatulaTreasurer……………... Rick Janick

The following Directors were voted in for a two year term: RickJanick, Scott Samuels, Harvey Sadler, Dale Peterson, PaulHansen, Art Anderson, Carol Heffner, Louis Dreger, Jim Reiclitz,Joe Koschnik, Jay Holnagel, Roger Sabota, Kip Cramer, Jeff Miller,and Glenn Matula.

Congratulations to all of these folks for working and support-ing our Headwaters Chapter.

The following is a brief update from our Vice President PaulHansen.

Hi to all you muskie anglers! Well another year is in the booksfor our Northern Wisconsin fishing. Green Bay, Lake Xs inNorthern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Canada provided some bigfish excitement right up to our November 30th closing. The late iceup, provided some of the greatest big fish fishing I have ever expe-rienced. It’s December 6th and I’m looking out over an ice coveredlake. Last week at this time we were on the water, catching bigfish. The Chain produced some memorable fish, as did many ofour smaller, deeper lakes.

Headwaters ran two major tournaments this year. Our normalSpring Classic held on the Eagle River end of the Chain, and theFall Classic that was held on the Three Lakes end of the Chain.We will be sending $2,500 to both the Vilas & Oneida CountyForestry Departments yet this year for dock & landing improve-ment. Director Joe Koschnik, will be running our annual awardsbanquet again this year; it’s our biggest fund raiser. Director Dale

CHAPTER NEWS & VIEWS (Continued from page 27)

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

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

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

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

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

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Peterson is our fishing contest chairman (plus anything else he canhelp with). Secretary Glenn Matula keeps International informed,and does a great job with our minutes. Bill & I are just a couple ofold work horses that just can’t say no when things are brought up.We have a group of directors that just will not quit. It seems thatour members come to our open meetings, and all want to pitch in.New for 2010 will be a revival of Headwaters Sport Show & Swapmeet that will be held this spring. Dale Peterson will be headingthis up with a staff of 4 or 5 volunteers. Will include tables for ven-dors, member swap tables, pool side demos, seminars on fishing -rod building - bait making, and whatever.

We have pushed for Headwaters Muskies, Inc. awarenessthese past couple of years, on what we do for Northern Wisconsin.Most people thought Headwaters was just a Muskie club. Our$90,000+ annual budget has allowed us to help many areas thatwould be neglected. Headwaters has a 12 page newsletter that ispublished every month, that includes; member outings, events,Secretary reports, Presidents report, community thank you andacknowledgements, fish reports & pictures, and 20 or so advertis-ers. Left over newsletters are left at local sport shops. The listgoes on and on. Hope to see you on the water. Wishing all of youa successful and rewarding 2010. Paul Hansen, V.P.

Paul, thanks for the great update on some of the involvementand accomplishments of our organization.

Glenn Matula, Secretary

The Hayward chapter’s most recent event was our annualChristmas party on December 6th. We want to thank Al andBarbara Hoeft for again hosting the party. A good time was had byall so if you missed it make a note for next year, we try to have itthe first Sunday in December.

The following entries have been received in our members con-test. Please note that these are not the final standings and are notthe “official” standings which are kept by Jim Bunch. Women:Brenda Dettloff 13 fish-180pts. includes 2-45” fish from “ The Chip.”Tera Niebauer 8 fish-110pts includes a 47.5” from Leach and a51.5” !!! from Bemidji. Sandy Hackbarth 1 fish-5pts. Women’sMasters: Sarah Muntz 8 fish-87pts. Men: John Dettloff 17 fish-243pts. includes a 45” and a 47” from “The Chip.” John Ryan, 10fish-178pts. includes a 47”48”50”50”& 54.5”!!! from the St.Lawrence. Emmett Brown 17 fish-159pts. includes a 45” fromLower Clam and a 45” from LOTW. Wayne Balsavich 7 fish-64pts.includes a 53” !!! from the Crowley Flowage. Steve Truver 2 fish-45pts. includes a 45” and a 52”!!! from Vermillion. J.B. Allen Hoeft3 fish-48pts. Ellis, 4 fish-42pts., Kris Gottwald 4 fish-28pts.includes a 45” from the Eau Claire chain, Tom Kersten 1 fish-12pts.Marc Laustrup 1 fish-7pts. Kim Hackbarth 1 fish-4pts. Men’sMasters: Tom Muntz, 79 fish-600pts !!! includes a 46” from DeerLake. Adam Glickman 33 fish–502 pts. includes 2-50’ and a 48”from Independence. Ted Muntz 20 fish-234pts., includes a 46” fromthe Indian Chain, Mike Persson 11 fish-122pts., includes 2-46”from LOTW. Tanner Wildes 1 fish-18pts. .

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

At this time there is no meeting planned for February but dur-ing that month our 2010 calendar will be sent out. Our annualawards banquet will again be the first Saturday of March which isthe 6th this year. We have not chosen a site yet but will soon.

Don’t forget we now have our own website, www.muskiesinc-hayward.org.

Good Fishing, Mike Persson

Hello Three Rivers members, we hope the New Year is beingkind to all of you, and to know that spring will be here before youknow it; gets all of us through the off season a little easier. Back inDecember we held our annual Christmas party. Special thanks toour President elect Jim Burr, and the Fair Ground Market for pro-viding an excellent catered dinner, and to all of our members whobrought side dishes and deserts. Around sixty of our members andtheir families were in attendance, and it proved to be a very luckynight for some. Congratulations to Joe Shimkus, for winning the“Big Cash” raffle, and to Kevin Whipkey, for winning the “MuskieMadness” table raffle. All in all, a festive time was had by everyone,and made for a memorable night. We also want to thank all of ourmembers who chose to give additional donations with your 50/50raffle donation last year. In these uncertain times, it truly is comfort-ing to know that you all care enough about this club, to help it con-tinue in the right direction by digging a little deeper, and for that, wetruly are thankful for you, our awesome membership.

On Monday evening February 8th we will hold our annual“Swap Meet” at our regular membership meeting. Please bring anylures, tackle, rods and reels, boating equipment, and anythingsporting related, with the exception of firearms, to sell or trade.Great deals are always available the night of the swap meet; youjust never know what you might find. As they say, “One mans junkis another’s treasure”, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to finda great deal!! Remember, this will be the last regular membershipmeeting to purchase your banquet reservations and strip ticketshowever, you can still make your reservations through the mail upuntil Monday February 15th. Don’t forget about the Butler FishingShow coming up on Saturday and Sunday February 13th and 14th

at Butler High School. It really is a nice show, and you can find allotof hard to find tackle; that you won’t find anywhere else in oneplace. Don’t forget to stop by the Three Rivers booth, and say helloto Merchandise Director Fred Kahrer as well.

Due to a scheduling conflict, the banquet date has beenchanged; sorry for any inconvenience. The Three Rivers Chapter15th Annual Awards Banquet and Fund Raiser will be held onFebruary 20th at the Four Points Sheraton in Cranberry Twp. Thecost is $40 for Adults and $30 for kids 17 and under. Strip ticketpackages are on sale for $100. You get 150 tickets with your pack-age, versus paying $1 for the same tickets at the banquet. The cutoff date for banquet reservations and strip tickets is MondayFebruary 22nd. You are automatically entered for grand Prize draw-ing with your banquet ticket purchase. A one-week stay for up tofive people and one boat slip at Green Acres Resort, Pigeon LakeOntario; compliments of the proprietors, John and Jackie McBride.You may purchase banquet and strip ticket reservations at ourmonthly meetings or, send a check made payable to: ThreeRivers Chapter of Muskies Inc. to: Treasurer, Gregory Peters,136 Garner Rd. Edinburg, PA 16116. Please specify the numberof adult and child tickets needed, as well as any strip ticketpackages you require, along with appropriate remittance. Yourbanquet tickets and strip tickets will be waiting for you at the doorthe night of the banquet. We will open the doors around 5 p.m.,please see an attendant at the door of the banquet room beforeentering to receive your tickets. Dinner, awards, and raffle draw-ings will all follow after 6 p.m. The banquet is always a great time,and the merchandise and raffles are second to none, so pleaseplan on attending our biggest event of the year. For more informa-tion about the banquet, please contact Dave Huemmrich,at:[email protected], for information regarding Three RiversChapter, go to: www.threeriversmuskiesinc.org

Dave Huemmrich


Hayward LakesP.O. Box 609

Hayward, WI 54843715-634-4543

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

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

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The Muskie Maniacs are getting ready for their 2010 season.At our December meeting, we elected our officers for 2010. Wewant to thank those who have stepped forward to fill all of thesepositions! Our tournament schedule is pretty well set but we haveto wait till after the first of January before we can get confirmationon the last couple of lakes. Our first event of the season will be ourAnnual Awards Banquet on March 6th. We are looking to have agreat banquet and have a lot of great prizes and awards to begiven to all of the winners. In our next newsletter, I will give you anupdate in the planning of our banquet. Until then, some of our clubmembers are going to attend some sport shows and go to otherclubs banquets to make it through the tough days of winter.

Kevin Proffitt

The regular December meeting featured Alan Bakke, an avidcollector of old fishing tackle and wooden duck decoys. With a col-lection approaching 8,000 lures, Alan shared some of his treasureswith us and stayed around after the meeting giving appraisals onlures members brought in.

Todd Cleveland from Phantom Lures was the featured luremanufacturer at the meeting. In addition to Todd making somegreat lures, he also makes our MOC awards. A lot of memberspicked up some early Christmas presents from Todd. HopefullyPhantoms were on their wife’s Christmas wish list.

December election of officers turned out to be a re-election ofexisting officers but we did elect two new board members. We wel-come Mark Knabe and Chris Dolan to the board.

Our annual banquet is fast approaching. Based on the plans,it will be a great evening with Jim Saric as our speaker. Beyondthe speaker, this evening has proven to be a great family eventwith door prizes, raffles, silent auction items, game and a greatfish fry.

Dave Parks is organizing another rod building class with GaryWicks. This year we can build a selection of rods in the event youdon’t need another muskie rod, however Gary will have new 9’blanks. The date hasn’t been set. Check our web site for the lat-est.

The 2010 Red Wing outing will be August 14-21, 2010. Detailswill be posted on our web site as they become available.

Vermillion will be the site of the 2010 Chapter ChallungeAugust 26-28. After finishing third this year, a number of membersare looking forward to going after that trophy.

Check out our web site to purchase some of the new NorthMetro merchandise including sweatshirts, tee-shirts and caps.

Chapter members who are not receiving the electronic month-ly newsletter please contact Bob Anderson at [email protected] call him at 763-441-3108.

North Metro MI meets the 3rd Tuesday of every month(September – May), 7:00 PM, North Air Banquet Hall (formerly theKC Hall), 6831 Hwy 65 NE in Fridley.

Ross Fischer

Marty’s Octapod/Octastar plans were reviewed by Jeff Schiererand some changes maybe made. Actually the DNR would preferfallen trees in shallow water over man made structure but it may bedifficult to get permission from the land owners to drop their trees sowe are back to the Octapod/Octastar.

The old aerator lines have been pulled from the Big Eau Pleineand bigger (2 instead of 1.5 inch) lines are set to be placed whenthere is about 14 inches of ice. Hopefully this will help reduce theextent of fish kills.

Fish report leaders are: Masters - Don Kempen; Men’s - ScottEstland; Women’s - Monica Schillinger. Largest Release leadersare: Masters - Don Kempen (53”); Men’s - Troy Adler (47”);Women’s - Monica Schillinger (45.5”).

The Awards Banquet is set for Sat. April 24 at the FlorenaSupper Club (same place as last year) on HWY 13 just north ofMedford with 6PM drinks and 7PM dinner. Call Jerry Bucholtz at715-457-2192 if interested in a Lac Seul houseboat trip from July16-23.

Jerry Bucholtz

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

Wow! This is how to best describe the 2010 Shawnee MuskieHunters calendar of events. At the December meeting, we finalizedour calendar and every month has something for everyone. Wehave four tournaments, a kids fishing day, a kids muskie tourna-ment, awards dinner, a few fishing outings/picnics, two guide for theday events, a veterans day outing and a couple of fishing showbooths just to name a few. Our board tried to offer events for thefamily and social events that every one will enjoy. I will be addingtwo months worth of events in ever newsletter sent to our membersand to keep this column updated.Upcoming events for February and March:

February 20th we will be meeting at the Cabela’s store in StLouis, Mo.

March starts out with an IMTT tournament that will be held onKinkaid Lake. The date of this tournament is March 13th and 14th.For those of you up north that want to get an early start on your fish-ing season, you might want to consider this tournament. Informationon this tournament will be available at the Chicago Muskie Showand on the Illinois Muskie Tournament Trail web sight. You can alsocontact me Walt Krause by e-mail at [email protected]. I will behandling all the entry forms for this tournament.

March 20th will be the “Border Wars Tournament” on KinkaidLake with the Pomme de Terre Chapter. There will also be a picnicand meeting in the evening.

Remember I’m in the other Lund, Walt Krause

I know I’m a month behind in saying this but Merry Christmasand Happy New Year to everyone. I apologize for not keeping up


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

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

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

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North MetroP.O. Box 41216

Plymouth, MN 55441763-537-0781 • www.nmmuskies.com

Meets 3rd Tuesday, North Air Banquet Hall, Fridley (6831 NE Hwy 65)

21Shawnee Muskie Hunters61 W. Jennings • Wood River, IL 62095

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

www.shawneemuskiehunters.org

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

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

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

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Upper Great Plains1788 Hwy 4

Estherville, IA 51334712-362-2501

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

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with our chapter news article for the last year. So I will try and makeit my New Years resolution too keep everyone informed monthlywith all the great things going on with our chapter.

On November 19th our board held its annual officers electionfor 2010. Everyone was very pleased with their role last year andwe re-elected the same officers. I (Pete Hildreth) will continue to bethe chapter president for my third term. Scott Larson will be ourchapter vice president for his second term. Mark Mitchell(Treasurer), Skip Frakes (Secretary), and Leo Kofoot (Regional VP)will continue their roles that they have generously and successfullyserved for several years. I will say this; even though the nameshave stayed the same do not think that our officers will sit back witheverything status quo. We vow to work extremely hard and be cre-ative to provide our chapter members with exciting and fun eventsfor the muskie fishing community and continue to work hard to pre-serve this extremely valuable resource we love so much.

February 27th is our first event for the 2010 season. We willhold our annual chapter awards banquet this year at the Prime Ribrestaurant in Spencer, IA. Social hour begins at 5 pm, dinner at 6pm, and the awards will follow dinner. I absolutely love this restau-rant and I look forward to seeing everyone there. If you are toreceive an award that evening, Leo Kofoot our chapter releasechairman will be sending you an invitation in the mail for the event.Remember, just because you don’t receive an invitation doesn’tmean you are not invited. All chapter members are invited andencouraged to attend this event to honor their fellow chapter mem-bers. Next month I will post the division winners, 50 inch releases,and Angler of the Year honors.

At the time of writing this article I do not have all the details onthe event but I wanted to let everyone know that one of our longtime members and huge chapter supporter, Clayton Will, has volun-teered to sit and run a booth at the Fort Dodge Sport ShowFebruary 27th and 28th. Clayton will promote our chapter of MuskiesInc. as well as educate folks about muskies and how we can helpimprove the sport through things like the practice of catch andrelease. In addition to helping Clayton man the booth, I volunteeredto give a seminar on muskie fishing in the state of Iowa. I really lookforward to this opportunity and if you would like to get more informa-tion about the event and what day and time the seminar is pleasefeel free to contact me anytime. Well I think that is enough for now.Next month I will update you on the outcome of the awards banquetand announce the 2010 tournament dates, including the 2010 IowaMuskie Team Trail schedule, the first event is only a few monthsaway. What a big year it should be! For additional informationplease visit our website at www.muskieclub.com or give me a call.

Sincerely Pete Hildreth (712-363-0755)

We need assistance with the Milwaukee Muskie Expo for set-ting up and taking down the booth as well as manning the boothduring show hours. The show hours are Friday February 12th noon- 9PM, Saturday 9AM - 6PM, and Sunday 9AM - 4PM. Please let usknow if you can help.

December’s board meeting was held at Thunder Bay Grille.Thunder Bay Grille is one of our chapter’s sponsors, and we’d liketo remind our members to utilize our sponsors’ goods and serviceswherever feasible because they help us fund our efforts. Fundingwas a big discussion topic because we still don’t have a banquetchairman. Please contact Tom Arvoy if you have any interest. Thisputs greater pressure on the Pewaukee Classic tournament andfundraiser the second Saturday in May.

Projects still on the radar for 2010 include talks for the DelafieldPond conversion and Amron Pond muskie rearing. Our secondannual Ralph Anderson Veterans’ Outing has been scheduled forSeptember 18th, 2010. Youth outings will change a bit for 2010. BigBrothers Big Sisters was mentioned as a possible organization to

contact and requires further investigation. The City of PewaukeePolice Department has been replaced by Waukesha County lawenforcement. As a result, the Pewaukee Cops & Bobbers programthat our chapter has assisted with in both funding and volunteerswill likely cease to exist.

The 2009 MOFC entries as of December 29th reflect 331 regis-trations for the Mens Division, 235 for Mens Masters, 8 for Womens,and 47 for Womens Masters. To date, there hasn’t been JuniorDivision releases entered.

February 23rd is the next general meeting and upcoming speak-ers for the general meetings haven’t been confirmed. March’smeeting will be the Awards Banquet for the 2009 Members OnlyFishing Contest. Please follow the chapter website for the latestmeeting information.

Mike Phelps

NOTICE OUR MEETING LOCATION HAS PERMANENTLYCHANGED – Please be aware that moving forward, ALL Fox RiverValley Chapter monthly meetings and banquets will be held at:Chandlers Chop House at the Schaumburg Golf Club located at401 N. Roselle Rd. Schaumburg, IL 60194 – (847) 885-9009www.chandlerschophouse.com/directions.php Dinner will be avail-able starting at 6PM!!!! Cost will be $12.00/adults and $7/kidsunder 12!!

Please join us on Wednesday, February 10th for one of ourfavorite guest speakers, Tony Grant! Tony spends nearly 275 dayson the water and gives dozens of enlightening seminars each year.Tony is a 9-time PMTT Ranger Boats Championship qualifier; hehas numerous top ten finishes and championships to his credit. Hehas also written several educational articles published in Mid WestOutdoors, Outdoor Notebook, the Southern Sporting Journal and isa contributing writer for Musky Hunter Magazine.

ALSO in FEBRUARY!: The Annual FRV Banquet & Fundraiseris on Saturday evening, February 20 at Chandlers Chop House.This is one of FRV’s biggest events of the year. Great food, greatraffle prizes and auctions. Come support Chapter 39 on this greatnight!

Please join us on Wednesday, March 10th for FRV’s “IllinoisDepartment of Natural Resources Night”. Steve Krueger will be ourspecial guest this evening. Steve was our host when club membersvisited the Jake Wolfe Hatchery in central Illinois this past spring.His presentation was so informative, important, that we thought weshould dedicate at least one night to our general membership togive everyone a chance to hear what the IL DNR is doing to ensurethe future of musky fishing in the state of Illinois.

For additional information on our events and club outingsplease visit our website at www.frvmuskie.com. Our meetings areheld on the second Wednesday of every month at Chandlers ChopHouse in the Schaumburg Golf Club/Schaumburg, IL. Dinner isavailable to everyone beginning at 6:00PM and the meetings startpromptly at 7:00PM in room “D”.

Mark Lamont, Newsletter Director

It seems like only yesterday that I was sitting down to write upour chapter’s 2008 year end activity report. Thousands of casts, afew even successful, have since transpired and the lakes here inMichigan are freezing over.

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MilwaukeeP.O. Box 28842 • Greenfield, WI 53228

262-442-6260www.milwaukeemuskiesinc.com

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

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39Fox River Valley

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

www.frvmuskie.com

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


Michigan Muskie AllianceP.O. Box 512, Caledonia, MI 49316

616-447-1688 – Will Schultzwww.michiganmiskiealliance.org

Meets: 1st Thurs. 7:30 PM, Lansing Gander Mountain

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Chapter 47 members now are turning their attention to winterfishing shows, lure making and painting, repairing and upgradingfishing equipment, ice fishing perhaps, and looking forward toChapter 47’s winter banquet. The banquet will be held on the cam-pus of Michigan State University (Kellogg center) in East Lansing,Saturday, March 6th. This is our main fundraiser for the year andsupports most of our activities including assisting the Michigan DNRin its state-wide muskie stocking program. We will again have bothsilent and live auctions, along with talks scheduled by members ofthe Michigan DNR and other activities. We of course encourage andwelcome other MInc members to attend.

In addition to last year’s annual banquet held in March, otheractivities in 2009 included:

– assisted U. of Michigan with fieldwork for the Elk Chain muskiestudy (spotlighting)

– assisted the Michigan-DNR with fieldwork at Lake Ovid(muskie relocation)

– provided a stipend for the U. of Michigan graduate studentworking on the Elk Chain muskie tracking program

– provided a stipend for an intern at the Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery– purchased 100 fishing licenses for No Kid Left Inside day at

Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery– conducted a muskie school on Lake St Clair at Anglers Point

Marina

– actively participated in Fish Fest at Wolf Lake Hatchery– hosted the Bruce Memorial Charity Tournament

Of particular interest and potential significance to others in M.I.is the Michigan DNR - U. of Michigan radio tracking study of land-locked great-lakes muskie in the Elk Lake chain in northernMichigan. The largest muskie ever tracked ( over 50 lbs!) was partof this study along with several other large fish.

MMA members are now monitoring and maintaining as neededthe KTD signs posted last year at the launch ramps on Michiganmuskie lakes as part of a grant from the Hugh C. Becker

Foundation. Also as in past years, several MMA volunteersagain manned a booth at the annual Fish Fest held in July at theWolf Lake hatchery, where MMA continues to provide other support(see above).

New for 2009 was introduction of a highly successful muskieschool held on Lake St. Clair. Several MMA members providedexpert instruction on both casting and trolling the Lake, along withproper muskie handling and release techniques. The wide-spreadadoption of catch and release on Lake St. Clair, including the manymuskie tournaments held there, together with other factors has pro-duced a phenomenal muskie fishery, with 50+ inch fish now notuncommon.

We have another full slate of activities planned for 2010 (seeour web site http://www.michiganmuskiealliance.org). Also, thechapter plans in participating in the Webster Lake Muskie Club’s IceOut event the end of March. We hope to see other MInc membersat that event, or perhaps at some of our chapter’s events. And toall MInc members, all the best for 2010 from Chapter 47.

Fred Becchetti, Secretary

As I write this it’s 3 days to Christmas. One would think I’d befocusing on that, but Musky’s are never far from our minds, arethey?! All of us in Chapter 50 hope you had a great Christmas anda safe and Happy New Year. We are preparing for our annual holi-day party on 2 Jan 2010. Member Jeremy Kern and his wife havegraciously opened their home to us again. I know a lot of good food,spirits and times will be had. Nor have we forgotten being responsi-ble after the festivities! There is plenty of room for those who needto spend the night! We want everyone back for next season’s Muskyhunt! Let’s take this spot to remind everybody of “cold water safe-ty!” Remember to go out there prepared for the conditions and

never go alone! A timely reminder tosome of our own members who havean end of year outing to catch thatlast fish of 2009. They are going 31Dec 2009 and results will be postedat a later date!

Chapter 50 had an online fundraiser. Anyone could go to the clubwebsite and bid on lures that weredonated by members. The auctionraised $1468.50! This will all beplaced toward the enhancement offishing waters in Eastern PA andSouthern NJ. The club, in conjunc-tion with our fisheries personnel, isgoing to raise fingerlings to a largersize before stocking. This will helpensure a higher survivability rate inour waters. Stockings that havealready been done over the last fewyears are bearing this out! Ourbabies are growing nicely! 20Musky’s were registered with the


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Participants in the November 2009 Bruce Memorial outing held on Thornapple Lake

A nice 50+ inch great lakes muskie caught by MMA member JimTenHaaf during the Chapter’s June 2009 Lake St. Clair outing.

Penn JerseySebastian Musumeci, President

510 Bryton Ave., Pottstown, PA 19465484-459-5940 • Website: www.mi50.com

Meets at 7pm on 1st Wed. at Casey’s Bar on Corner ofCherry and California Rds, Quakerstown, PA.

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club in November from local waters. We’ve also had 3 Musky’s reg-istered in December. To date fish were caught as listed: 2 Dec 09 –32.5”; 8 Dec 09 – 42.5” X 21”; and 17 Dec 09 – 40”. We’ll see whatthe last 2 weeks produce!

Our monthly chapter meeting for December was attended by atotal of 16 members and guests. Highlights include Art Knute beingelected as our Regional Vice President. He filled a slot left vacantby Chad Theesfeld being selected to the MI Regional Director,Region 3 position. Congratulations to both of them. We know theywill represent us well. An update was given on the 3 sporting showswe will be represented at. For dates and times, please refer to ourwebsite, www.mi50.com Preparations for the 3 shows are com-ing along nicely. If you are in the area, stop by and say “Hello.”There will be plenty of information about muskies available. Therewill also be raffles, for which some very nice prizes have beendonated. I’d like to remind any interested people that our monthlymeetings are held the first Wednesday of every month at Casey’s inQuakertown, PA. See our website for time, address and directions.

Until next time, remember, Hooksets are free!!!“Musky Ed” Myshak

Hello Muskie Inc. members from around the country. The holi-days are over and elections for our chapter are complete for theupcoming 2010 season. Here is a list of our officers.

President, Scott ShamptonVice President, Rick MayTreasurer, Jarrod ShellSecretary, Aaron MaloneRegional Vice President, Chris CreechMerchandise Director, Trip BreenYouth Director, David Wood (Woody)Membership Director, Joel JohnsonNational Release Chair, Roger HayesContest Release Chair, George WeberPublic Relations, Don KnightResearch Director, Chris Creech

Here is a list of the planned activities for 2010January 8th, 9th, 10th, Dayton Hunting and Fishing Show.February 13th, 1st annual Southern Ohio Muskie Lure Trade Show

(sell and swap). More info available at 513-324-9452.February 26th, 27th, 28th, Ohio Muskie ShowMarch 20th, SOMA 56 will have Tony Grant speaking with poolside

lure demonstrations from members on presentations and tech-niques of many lures. 12-5 pm at Wilmington College Pool.

We will be having a fish fry and raffles and who knows whatelse we come up with. We will have more information on thisevent as details are worked out. Check back in the Marchissue.

Open Fishing Outings ScheduleJanuary 1st,,,,2nd annual Ice Bowl at Caesars Creek, Tom

Welter, chapter 45, last years winner.April 17th, Caesars CreekMay 15th, Clear ForkMay 29th, Caesars CreekJune 26th, Caesars CreekSeptember 25th, Caesars CreekOctober 9th, Caesars Creek

Stop in at our website www.soma56.com and check out every-thing we have going on in Southwest Ohio.

Don Knight

Hello Everyone,We hope all the other chapters are as eager to get back out on

the water chasing muskies as we are! It’s been a long time sinceany of our members have even seen a muskie. Bluewater Lake hasbeen closed since November and Quemado iced over in midDecember.

Over the winter our chapter has been aiding NMDGF on a fewprojects. Our lakes are experiencing a major surprise of 35-39” fish.A 1 fish per day 40” minimum harvest has been opened for bothlakes. Game and fish has asked our chapter to provide signage dis-playing 40” at those lakes. Member Joel Baca is carving out actu-al 40” muskies to show them in detail, instead of just having a 40”measured out on a piece of wood. This should help people bettercalculate what a 40” fish looks like. They also invited us to help withthe 2010 spring and fall surveys!

We have also been working together on a plan to provide RockLake State Hatchery with fathead minnows. This will help us raisehealthier, smarter muskies with a higher survival rate. Hopefully itwill also help NMDGF in reaching their goal of raising fall fingerlingsto stock in September. Right now we are getting ready for the BobGerding Hunting & Fishing Expo. This should be a lot of fun and isa great chance for us to promote our fisheries and Chapter 59”shard work.

Thanks to all the members for renewing membership with ourchapter. We can’t reach our goals without your support and lookforward to a great 2010 Season for NM Muskies, Inc.

Matt Pelletier, newmexicomuskiesinc.org

SW Ohio Muskie Assoc.524 Sterling Meadows Place • Brookville, OH 45309

(937) 833-1833 • Email: [email protected] are the second Tuesday of each month, Marion’sPizza Wagner Ford Rd. 7:00 pm.

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

(505) 363-4624www.newmexicomuskiesinc.org

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MUSKIES, INC.1509 Stahl RoadSheboygan, WI 53081

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Chapter 57 member Matt Svarz caught this 43x22inch Tiger muskie on 9/9/2009 while fishing aroundsundown on Merwin Reservoir. Very nice fish Matt.

Jason Malone of the First Wisconsin Chapter showstrue dedication fishing in these conditions. It paid offwith a fat 42 inch muskie, which will take the weather

off your mind for a little while.

Here is a beauty caught by Chapter 19 memberJohn Dennis. It was a 52.5 inch fish caught from

Lake St. Clair.

Star of the North Chapter member Mike Lundberg wassurprised to wake up and find his boat covered in snowwhile on a trip to LOTW last October. Many of you may

recognize this dock; it is at Red Wing Lodge.

Nancy Hardy of Chapter 02 caught this 43 inchfish on a sucker quick-set rig last November from

Minnesota’s Lobster Lake. Nice fish Nancy.

Chapter 19 member Kevin LaRoche caught this nicemuskie last Septermber from Chautauqua Lake.

First Wisconsin Chapter member Jason Smithcaught this huge 47.5 inch fish on a sucker in

October of last year. Great fish Jason.

Chapter 21 member Melissa Klein caught this 39.5inch fall fish while fishing Deer Lake in Wisconsin inOctober of last year. Looks like it was a beautiful fall

day for fishing.

Brian Lesetmoe of Chapter 46 caught thisnice 44 inch fish while fishing in August last

year. Nice fish Brian.

photo contest – february - muskies inc. feb muski… · february 2010.....muskie 1 departments...

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