Author: Ben Sieren

2017 Pewaukee Classic Results

On By Ben SierenIn 2017, Fundraising, Pewaukee Classic, Tourneys, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Our Fundraising event, The Pewaukee Muskie Classic, celebrated its 33rd anniversary this season. The money raised is used for our many club programs including our Muskie rearing and stocking effort for Lac LaBelle, Okauchee and Pewaukee Lakes, youth outings, our veterans’ memorial outings, monthly membership meetings with guest speakers and much more. Over one hundred anglers participated, with beautiful weather conditions. 25 new entrants fished the tourney, and 75% of anglers were returning fisherman from previous years. Some of the winners of the event included:

Tackle / bait box winner – Wayne Jelinski
Rod / reel combo winner – Daelyn Petzke
Minnkota winner – Robert Petzke
Big fish winners – Robert Liebel 38.5″, Geoff Verges 38″, and Jim Dembiec 35.5″
Canadian trip – silent auction went to Gene and Mike Pokora

Thanks to Bryan Blanke for coordinating the Pewaukee Classic! It is a pivotal event for helping finance much of the Chapter’s stocking efforts, and this year was definitely a success. Because of all of Bryan’s hard work over the years running the Pewaukee Classic, and because of his dedication to the club, he was named to the Gil Hamm Award. Congratulations Bryan!

Thanks to all other people who also volunteered their time. Thanks to all of our sponsors, including Minn Kota, St. Croix, Plano, Carhartt, Sussex Bowl, Team Rhino Outdoors, Bondy Baits, Smokey’s Muskie Shop and Frabill for their assistance and very generous donations.

MCMI Annual Election – 2017

On By Ben SierenIn General, Info, MeetingsLeave a comment

TUESDAY – NOVEMBER 15th
Machine Shed – 7:00pm
N14 W24145 Tower Place (I-94 & WIS 164 Exit 294), Pewaukee, WI 53072.

As if we haven’t had enough of elections, the Milwaukee Chapter of Muskies Inc will have our 2017 elections at our normal meeting location next week Tuesday 11/15 at 7pm. All members are welcome, and encouraged, to come vote.

Positions:
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
Regional Vice President

We hope to see you there.

THANKS!!!

Fall Championship Open 2016

On By Ben SierenIn Championship Open, TourneysLeave a comment

Milwaukee Chapter’s annual Fall Championship Open took place Saturday, September 24th, on Pewaukee Lake. Of the 11 teams that participated, 2 caught fish: Brian and Dave Mirek took 1st place, catching three Musky (38”, 41.5”, and 39.5”). Geoff Verges took 2nd, with one fish (39”). This is a payout fundraising tournament, with the purpose of attracting new members and raising funds for club programs (such as stocking). Thank you to all who fished this event in support of the Chapter!

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Stocking 2016

On By Ben SierenIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

On Friday, September 23rd, The Milwaukee Chapter of Muskies Inc. once-again teamed up with The Muskellunge Club of Wisconsin to stock 150 fish each in both Pewaukee Lake and Lac LaBelle. In addition, MCMI also stocked 175 muskies in the Fox River in Racine County (Bridge Road), and 142 muskies in the Fox River in Kenosha County (CTH JB). The Racine and Kenosha stockings were funded via matching CCA (County Conservation Aid) Grants. A special thanks goes out to Dave Dawson for doing all the legwork when it came to applying for these grants.

Luke Roffler, fisheries biologist for Racine County, dumps muskies into Fox River (off of Bridge Drive).
Luke Roffler, fisheries biologist for Racine County, dumps muskies into Fox River (off of Bridge Drive).

2016 Veteran’s Outing

On By Ben SierenIn Outings, VeteransLeave a comment

On August 27th the Milwaukee Chapter of Muskies Inc. had the honor of taking 14 Veterans out musky fishing on Pewaukee Lake. The weather broke just for the event; we had a little rain to deal with, but it turned out to be a perfect day. Some fish were lost, a few “non muskies” were caught, but we ended up with 5 muskies for the group:

Ken Guild/Roy Hinkforth 32”
Mike Burns, Jack Michel/Chad Larson 33”
Del Halverson, Bob Yust/Joel Walczak 34”
Nick Thompson/Geoff Vergas 37, 38”

Special gifts were awarded for the top 3 fish. We had an awesome lunch, and no one went hungry (you can be assured of that). Good conversations and recap of the mornings events occurred, and then we gave each of our Vets a nice gift bag. Jo-Anne and her crew even had gourmet popcorn for the attendees, as an additional “Thank you for your Service.”

It is great to be able to do what we do. A Big thank you to all our sponsors and the Captain’s that provided a great time on the water.

Donations/support:
Koshere Realty – Dennis and Susan Koshere
Jean Koshere Ponfil and Scott Ponfil
Jo-Anne Koshere – the queen of coordinating the event
John, Karin Bagley and Jim – cooks
Master Lock
Sport Clips
Smokey’s Musky Shop
Chaos Tackle
Musky Armor

Thank you all!

June Member’s Outing

On By Ben SierenIn Members, OutingsLeave a comment

The Chapter’s June Member’s Outing was hosted out on Okauchee Lake (June 21st). The weather may have not been the most conducive for catching muskies (fish were seen, not boated), but it was just gorgeous enough for those involved to meet up afterwards for food and drink at Foolery’s–a bar & grill on the Okauchee channel. I’m positive that everyone there can testify when I say that it was a fantastic time. In moments like these, seeing everybody enjoy themselves hanging out and talking with all of their fishing buddies is priceless; it is a reminder of why we have clubs such as are own. That’s why Brian Mirek deserves huge props for putting on these events this year. He knows the importance of having these outings, and he took it upon himself to ensure that our Chapter would once again have them. Make sure that you attend these events if you can! They are such a blast, and a they are great way to become acquainted with others in the club.

2016 Big Brothers Big Sisters Outing

On By Ben SierenIn Outings, YouthLeave a comment

All in all, 26 Bigs and Littles were loaded onto 5 separate pontoon boats rented from Good Time Rentals on Pewaukee Lake. The boats were paid for by a generous donation from the Hays Companies.

Our host for the day was Smokey’s Musky Shop and man were they ever nice. It was a very busy day for them, and they allowed us all the space we needed to run this fishing outing. In fact, one of the workers even found a little time to show a youngster how to cast and fish off of the piers. Rumor has it that a bass was hanging around……and was properly exercised.

A very special thank you goes out to all of the volunteers from Big Brothers and Big Sisters who showed up to assist with the event. Another very special thank you goes to all the volunteers from Muskies Inc. Some of these people include, Jennifer Verges (and her ice cream sundae booth donation), Roy and Nancy Hinkforth, Bryan and Sue Blanke, Bob and Daelyn Petzke, Mark Miller, Jeff Spraggon, Greg Sieren, Mike Phelps, Craig Ader, Jo-Anne Kashere and Lynne Dembiec. Apologies to anyone that I may have missed.

I don’t know if the pontoons found more smiles or fish on their outings, but we did hear that most pontoons caught 50 fish or so while on the water. We heard from many of the fishermen that these were the first fish they have even caught, and some of them even got to kiss their first fish.

To wrap up our outing, after lunch, two grand prizes were awarded to two lucky kids those being a razer scooter and a huge (55 inch) kite.

Larry Kleeba Challunge

On By Ben SierenIn Larry Kleeba Challunge, OutingsLeave a comment

Milwaukee Chapter had the honor of hosting the 2016 Larry Kleeba Challunge on May 21st & 22nd. Waukesha County musky lakes were those available to fish, including Pewaukee, Okauchee, Oconomowoc, and Lac LaBelle. The two day event ended up with 8 fish being caught in total, on 3 different lakes. The Milwaukee Chapter was lucky enough to win the traveling trophy this year. However, the Northwoods Chapter provided tough competition. Mike Sasse of Northwoods was the only angler in the event to boat two muskies on an individual level (32” and 38” muskies respectively). The largest fish boated during the Challunge was a 40.75 incher by Jim Dembiec of the Milwaukee Chapter. Thank you to Bob Petzke for chairing the event, as well as to Diana Petzke, Nicole Muskaluk, and Daelyn Petzke for all the help with the food.

May Member’s Outing

On By Ben SierenIn Members, OutingsLeave a comment

The first Member Outing for our chapter took place on Pewaukee Lake on Tuesday, May 17th. Fishing from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the evening, 21 people attended. Two fish were caught (Brian Mirek with a 35.5” and Bob Petzke with a 37”) during the outing. Those who were able to stick around met up at Curly’s Waterfront Bar & Grill to talk fishing. Everybody had a great time, and if you have been unable to attend any of the other Member Outings thus far, you should really make an effort to do so! These outings take place every month (dates listed below), and are a great way to become acquainted with other people in the Chapter.

2016 Pewaukee Classic Recap

On By Ben SierenIn Pewaukee Classic, Tourneys1 Comment

The 32nd annual Pewaukee Classic was held on Saturday, May 14th. We had over 95 anglers fishing in extremely tough cold-front conditions. Multiple times throughout the day, the anglers in this tourney got to fish while it was sleeting. Nonetheless, a total of 5 fish were registered from 30 – 39 inches with over 65 fish seen (follows). 1st place was Rich Vono with a 39 incher, 2nd place was Steve Berg with a 36-1/2 incher and 3rd place went to Mark Hartwig with a 35-1/2 incher. Raffle tables were as follows: musky rod was won by Mike Czaplewski, Just Encase box with baits was won by Scott Schuit and our grand prize winner Michael Gapiepy won the Minn Kota Terrova trolling motor. Thanks goes out to our many donors and sponsors for the wonderful gifts and another successful tournament. The sponsor list this year includes: Minn Kota, Pheasants Forever – Dale Burhardt, Cabela’s, Smokey’s Musky shop, Just-EnCase, Threadsetters, Sussex Bowl, Craig Ader, Eric Croatt (Baits), Jim Dembiec (Baits), Marty Forman (musky rod), George Kasch (Baits), Sig Kaminski (wood fish carvings), Geoff Verges (signed Packer football), and Rob Rehbein (musky baits and books). A special thanks also goes out to Bryan Blanke (chair of the event), as well as everybody else who helped out or participated. This event serves as a major fundraiser for our chapter, and was a great success this year–having one of its most successful results as of recent.