The turnout for the June 10th outing was the best to date. Seventeen Milwaukee Chapter members registered and participated in our event along with five guests that are hopeful future members. We couldn’t have asked for better weather other than the east winds. Jim Dembiec was the only Chapter member to catch a qualifying fish. He caught a 37″ muskie trolling a crank bait. Greg Kilps caught a nice 35″ muskie on a Creeper and Dave Dawson caught a big northern.

The gathering at Smokey’s West at 9:00PM was very enjoyable and the food was a big hit as usual. We are getting very creative in planning different menus as opposed to having an ordinary cook out. But that is one of the reasons why we are not just an ordinary Chapter. Again, we would like to thank our hosts John and Gordy, for allowing us to continue to have our outing gatherings at Smokey’s West.

Good Luck fishing and we hope to see you at the next outing!

Over Memorial weekend, chapter members Nancy & Roy Hinkforth were contacted by Michelle, a friend of theirs. Michelle described her husband’s fight against a type of blood cancer and recent news that Russ was given two weeks to live by his physician. Michelle said Russ’ last request was to go muskie fishing with family and friends.

Nancy and Roy put out an e-mail the following Tuesday morning to the chapter board and other members asking for help to make an outing happen that Thursday, and Tom Arvoy, Larry Price, and Mike Phelps were able to assist. Nancy made lunches for everyone to take on the boat. The fleet and crew met at Smokey’s Muskie Shop for a noon outing to last between four and five hours. We departed Smokey’s to begin the hunt at 12:30PM and fished until about 5PM.

The four boats with three people per fished as a group. They worked the inside edge, over, and the outside edge of a massive weedbed. The bait was piled up on the outside edge, and many muskies were sighted by all. About 2:10PM, Roy was the first to convert a looker into a biter and passed the rod to Russ. Russ was able to fight the fish and Roy gracefully slipped the muskie into the net. The boats converged together to bear witness and share congratulations. Many pictures and even video were taken. Russ had enough strength remaining to hold the muskie for this photo opportunity.

About 3:40PM, another muskie was coerced into eating by Russ’ brother Steven. Steven had learned the art of picking backlashes out of a reel from the occasional mishap. After picking out a backlash and beginning to reel in the bucktail, a 32 inch muskie just couldn’t resist. Mike netted Steven’s muskie when the time was right. Russ, his daughter Lauren, and Roy came by for celebration and photos.

The chapter members were happy that they could help Russ with his request. His friends and family offered us money for the outing, but we refused with the exception of accepting $50 in Russ’ name to be used for our Youth programs.

** Edit 6/30/2009 **: Russ passed away June 22nd. Our condolences to his family and friends.

Dave Dawson coordinated the second chapter outing of the season. Thirteen chapter members fished in the outing and enjoyed an evening on the water. The weather was really nice with comfortable temps, sunny skies and no wind after 5:30pm. The muskies were showing themselves and almost everyone reported multiple follows. Adam had a muskie blow up and miss a TopRaider. Sue and Ron Heidenreich reported six follows! Two muskies hit for two different people on the figure 8 but both were quickly “released” within a second or two. 🙂

Gordy deserves a big Thank You for getting things setup and watching the crockpot for the get-together after fishing. We had a hungry crew after an evening of casting. Chips and guacamole, chicken wraps, Shrek salad, and cherry-rhubarb dessert seemed to agree with everyone. I agreed with Ron who said the only way the dessert could have been better is if it had just come out of the oven and it was served with a scoop of ice cream!

Everyone who attended entered their names for the end-of-season outing raffle prize. The Smokey’s gift certificate for the evening’s big fish release was not awarded. Will the muskies be a little more cooperative when Roy and Nancy host the next chapter outing on June 10? Hope to see you there! Be sure to RSVP.

The first of nine club fishing outings of the year took place on May 14th. Thirteen Milwaukee Chapter members and two Headwater Chapter members registered and participated in our event. Dan Buss and Bill Vierkandt, the Headwater Chapter members, both caught legal fish. Dan caught a 35.5″ muskie and Bill caught a 36.5″ muskie.

Steve Reigstad was the only Milwaukee Chapter member to get a fish in the boat, a 32″ muskie. Since the fishing prize must be awarded to a member of our chapter, Steve won the $20 gift certificate to Smokey’s.

The gathering at Smokey’s West at 9:00PM gave all of us the opportunity to spend some time with our fellow chapter members and visiting chapter members while we enjoyed a cookout and drinks together. It was a very enjoyable evening. Again, we would like to thank John and Gordy, for allowing us to continue to have our outing gatherings at Smokey’s West.

Good Luck fishing!

Fourteen Milwaukee Chapter members registered and participated in the outing on September 18th. Jim Dembiec was this month’s gift certificate winner. He caught the biggest fish of all four outings, a beautiful 47-1/2″ Pewaukee Lake muskie. Mike Phelps caught the only other muskie of the outing, a 35 1/2″ fish.

The gathering at Smokey’s West at 9:00PM gave all of us the opportunity to spend some time with our fellow members and enjoy some hot turkey sandwiches and drinks together. Thanks again to everyone that brought side dishes and to Pat Kilps for supplying us with ample door prizes for everyone attending the gathering. One last thank you goes out to John Laimon who has been most gracious in providing us with the location to host our gathering and for keeping the shop open for us. Please remember to continue giving John your business in the future to show your appreciation for all that he does for our club.

We have received very positive feedback on the outings and would like to continue them next year. Our goal is to create more opportunities for our club members to interact and spend time together. Please try to make it a point to participate next year. Let’s have some fun together as a club of people that all enjoy the same thing…muskie fishing.

See you on the water next year.

Nine Milwaukee Chapter members and one from the Headwaters Chapter registered and participated in the outing on August 21st.The fish were more active for this outing with four fish being caught (all trolling) during the outing hours of 4:30PM to 9:00 PM. Nancy Hinkforth doubled up catching 37.5 and 37 inch muskies. Roy Hinkforth boated a 35 incher followed up by Pat Guarnaccio who caught a 30.5 inch fish.

The gathering at Smokey’s West at 9:00PM gave all of us the opportunity to spend some time with our fellow members and enjoy some Mexican food and drinks together. Thanks again to Gail Kilps for bringing the rice and beans and also to Craig Niermann for manning the Nesco of taco meat while we were out fishing. Everyone attending the gathering received a door prize, thanks to Pat Kilps/Quest Technologies. Another thank you goes out to John Laimon who has been most gracious in providing us with the location to host our gathering and to Gordy for keeping the shop open for us. Please remember to continue giving John your business in the future to show your appreciation for all that he does for our club.

Please mark your calendars for the final outing which takes place on Thursday, September 18th. Try to make it a point to participate. Our goal is to make this the best outing of the year. The casting bite should be on and hopefully the bigger fish will become more active. Let’s have some fun together as a club of people that all enjoy the same thing…muskie fishing and the camaraderie that follows each event.

See you on the water.

After canceling the June outing on Pewaukee Lake due to severe flood conditions both on the lake and at Smokey’s West, we were back on track with the July outing on the 17th. Eleven Milwaukee Chapter members registered and participated in the outing. Only two fish were caught during the outings hours of 4:30PM to 9:00PM. Pat Guarnaccio doubled up and caught both of the fish, 33″ and 34″, to win the event. Congratulations Pat!

The gathering at Smokey’s West at 9:00PM gave all of us the opportunity to spend some time with our fellow members and enjoy some food and drink together. Thanks again to Gail Kilps and Sue Heidenreich for the awesome salads that accompanied the Italian Sloppy Joes. Everyone attending the gathering received a door prize, thanks again to Pat Kilps/Quest Technologies. John Laimon has been most gracious in providing us with the location to host our gathering. As we saw first hand last month, these outings wouldn’t be feasible without his continued support for our club, and we really appreciate that. Remember to give him your business to show your appreciation for all that he does for our chapter.

Please mark your calendars for the next outing on Thursday August 21st and make it a point to participate. We will enjoy tacos and other Mexican favorites at the gathering at 9:00PM. We would really like to see the participation in the outings increase. We had a lower attendance in July since many people were on vacation, but we have received all positive feedback from members that have attended. So come on, let’s have some fun together as a club of people that all enjoy the same thing….muskie fishing and the camaraderie that follows each event.

See you on the water!

Mother Nature threw the chapter outing a curve with record amounts of rain and as a result, awful flooding. The City of Pewaukee put emergency restrictions in place, and many surrounding cities and waters did too. Smokey’s Muskie Shop where we base our outings out of had many inches of “water” in their lower level. Other buildings that John Laimon and his wife own were impacted as well as the area as a whole.

Water was flowing down Main Street through downtown Pewaukee, carp were scooped up and taken away in the buckets of front end loaders, and we can only imagine how many muskies were lost from the lake.

We wish those affected by this rare occurrence a speedy recovery.

Downtown view

Pier347 view

Koepp’s Cottage view