Author: Trustee

The 54th Ohio Huskie Muskie Clubs Annual Awards Banquet was held on March 28, 2015 at McCalls Banquet Center in Canton, Ohio.  The attendance remained steady compared with the last two years and all those in attendance were treated to good food, friends and laughter.  A total of 90 OHMC members and 6 vendors were in attendance.  Every person in attendance received a complimentary ‘Fish Ohio’ boat towel provided by the ODNR and a fishing bait as a door prize.  We had a trivia contest as extra entertainment again this year.

During the business meeting, members voted on the lake nominations for our 46^th Annual Open Summer Contest in 2016.  The winner was West Branch Reservoir, with the event to be tentatively held on July 9^th and 10^th pending park approval.  Elections for officer positions were held during the business meeting.  The OHMC officers for 2015 are as follows; Paul Anderson, President; Jeff Ferjutz, 1^st Vice-President; Rick Simpson, 2^nd Vice-President; Tim Smith, Secretary; John Ringenbach, Treasurer.  There are currently several vacancies on the board of trustees, so if you are interested, we could sure use the help.  Please see any trustee or officer.

Before the banquet meal started there was a pause for a moment of silence for all the club members whom had passed last year and for those individuals that are in the military and may be away from their families.  Next, we took a moment for a blessing of the meal by club member Dennis Mitchell.  The food was very good with a buffet that included Baked Chicken, Sausage and Peppers, McCalls Signature Potatoes, Green Beans, Rigatoni, a Garden Salad, Rolls, and Sherbet.  We all had a great time and lots of fun with the fish stories that were being told.

ODNR attendees were Mr. Scott Hale, Inland Fisheries Program Administrator; Mr. Curt Wagner, Fish Management Biologist District Three; Mr. Phil Hillman, Fish Management Supervisor, District Three; Ms. Deb Walters, Fish Management Supervisor District Five; Mike Greenlee, Fish Management Supervisor District Four; Kevin Page, Inland Fisheries Research Unit Research Biologist.  Phil spoke about his personal observations from attending OHMC banquets over so many years.  Also, Scott presented information about the development of fisheries in Ohio, and highlighted the most recent addition to the list of program lakes; East Fork.  The presentation showed a comparative analysis of historical fishery development in Ohio and was very insightful.  Also, the importance of participation in the Muskie Angler Log (MAL) was prominently highlighted.

A special thanks goes out to all the vendors that set up a booth at the banquet this year, and also all of the Ohio Huskie Muskie Club supporters who donated to the club.  Please patronize these companies as they make our events a success.  The following were supportive of raffle and door prizes.  Xtreme Muskie Lures,  Marshall Custom Tackle, Musky Fisherman Specialties, Jerry Rice, Jimmy’s Bucktails, and Tuff Shad.

AWARD RESULTS FOR OHIO LAKES, MUSKIES CAUGHT

Ohio Huskie Muskie Club Inc. Annual Banquet Awards Winners, for club member’s recognition of outstanding catches and achievements in the 2014 season.

H.E. Pooch Curry Award   (Largest musky by length only) was presented to Tom Johnson with a 51.00” musky caught at Salt Fork Lake.

The Matthew Smith Memorial awards for juniors were as follows:

Boys Release—Charles Neville with a 45.50” fish.

Girl’s Release—Ashley McCartney with a 45.00”  fish.

 The Royalty Awards

King Trophy Division, a kept muskie, length plus weight by point system. (None)

Queen Trophy Division, a kept muskie, length plus weight by point system. (None)

King Release — Tom Johnson with a 51.00” muskie caught at Salt Fork.

Queen Release –Kathy Mitchell with a 47.00” caught at Piedmont.

Mr. Muskie Award – Guy Bechter

Woman of the Year Award – Charlotte Fuchs

Overall Tournament Champion – Charles Neville

 

First Ever 50-Inch Award

Tom Johnson with a 51.00” from Salt Fork.

David Baio with a 50.50” from Leesville.

 

Dr. Dunmire Plaque Awards

There were (23) Dr. L. G. Dunmire Plaque Awards recognized by the club for those anglers whom caught at least three Huskie muskies measuring 42.00-inches in length or longer. Patrick Klingensmith (37), Greg Bozick (29), David Baio (25), John Ringenbach (10), George Weber (10), David Brown (9), Bob Marshall (9), Chuck Harmon (8), Dennis Mitchell (8), Sam Reichenbach (7), Bill Schultz, Jr. (7), Ray Hinchcliff, Sr. (6), Ray Elkins (5), Nick Smith (5), Chuck Land, Sr. (4), Kathy Mitchell (4), Dennis Braun (3), Sherman Champlin (3), Chad Harmon (3), Joe McManes (3), Charles Neville (3), Philip Ringenbach (3), Tim Smith (3)

10 Or More Release Awards 

There were (37) Plaques Awards recognized by the club for those anglers whom caught 10 or more muskies 30-inches in length or longer and released all of them.  Pat  Klingensmith (211), David Baio (123), Bob Marshall      (110), Greg Bozick (96), Bill Schultz, Jr. (87), Ray Elkins (53), Sam Reichenbach (46), Robert Basic (38), Chuck Harmon (38), George Weber (38), David Brown (37), Tim Ritter (37), John Ringenbach (34), Nick Smith (33), Ray Hinchcliff, Sr. (31), Chad Harmon (27), Josh Marshall (27), Jason Basic (26), Dennis Braun (23), Kathy Mitchell (23), Bill Brant (22), Charles Neville (21), Dennis Mitchell (20), Sherman Champlin (18), Beau Chumley (17), Linda Hannen (17), Jack Worline (16), Tom Morris (16), Chuck Land, Sr.  (15), Tim Smith (15), Tom Johnson (14), Tom Hannen (13), Tony Crisp (12), Jeffery Ulanich (12), Ashley McCartney (11), Paul Anderson (11), Dave Nabb (10),

Raffles:

The Business Meeting 50/50 was won by Greg Eischen.  The Banquet 50/50 was won by Barb Dickson.  The Lure board was won by Mike Reed.  The Rod and Reel was won by Chuck Land, Sr.  The Trivia contest was won by Rick Simpson.

The banquet is now history and it is now time to start some actual muskie fishing, Thank you to everyone that attended and to all of those people that helped make the event such a great success.

How often do we get the opportunity to try out a new Ohio muskie lake? We had members from across the state come to the Cincinnati area to test this newest program lake.  Members drove from Toledo, Cleveland, Lima, Akron, Steubenville, Columbus, Dayton, Rogers, and other areas.  We also had some local anglers register and we even gained some new OHMC members over the weekend.  The weather was picture perfect from Thursday through Sunday with temperatures ranging from 50 to 80 degrees.  The water temperatures were warmer than some may have expected with those numbers being 72 to 76 degrees.

The campground came to life starting on Thursday as some of us decided to make a long weekend out of the event.   By Friday the area filled in nicely and soon we were enjoying campfires, great food, beautiful clear starlight skies, and the laughter of friends getting together.   We had registration on Friday evening and Saturday morning and were pleasantly surprised to have 30 anglers for the event.

As the fishing got underway it was apparent that these muskies are not hurting for food. I have never seen balls of shad like those at East Fork.  There was what seemed like billions of shad in the lake.  We also saw several majestic bald eagles, a couple of otters, successful hawks catching fish, oh and did I mention…we saw shad.  The lake has quite a bit of deep water and loads of standing timber.

There were a few catfish caught, one bluegill that I know of, and even a row boat that got caught, but the muskies did not show up in any of our nets. It was not for a lack of effort as there were a wide variety of techniques that the participants attempted to coax a fish to strike.

As we gathered on Sunday afternoon for the event closing, I think most of us were shocked that no fish were caught. We conducted a 50/50 raffle which was won by Jerry Rice.  That was a fitting reward for someone that had generously donated baits to our raffle and had once again done a fantastic job of cooking our steaks for the weekend.  We also had a door prize drawing for every person that was at the closing as a small token of appreciation for coming out.  Thank you to Mr. Ray McMaster who also showed up to fish and donated baits for use in our raffle.

Ohio Division of Wildlife Inland Fisheries Program Administrator, Mr. Scott Hale made the drive down East Fork for the closing on Sunday and had many very kind remarks for the group. He reminded us that some lakes take longer than others to develop as viable fisheries and pointed to the early years of Alum Creek and Caesars Creek as prime examples where patience in the program has paid great dividends.

 I have to thank our board of trustees for showing up such a long distance from home to participate in the event.  Most importantly, Thank You to the anglers that came out in support of both the club and the stocking program.

The OHMC and Muskies Inc. Chapter 19 held our 2014 Annual PM Bite joint event on August 23^rd at Petersburg Marina of Leesville Lake.  The event started off with registration beginning at 10:00 and the shore lunch beginning at 11:00.  We had a bait raffle and a 50/50 raffle.  There were some very nice prizes on the table, including a walleye charter for Lake Erie donated by Petersburg Marina.  The 50/50 paid out $73 to our winner Mark Porter.  We had some fantastic grilled goodies served up by our host Mr. Elmer McClure.  There were lots of good side dishes and some nice cold refreshments to wash them down with.  It was a new way to kick off the event and seemed to be well received by all those in attendance.  Thanks to everyone that brought all the great food!

We had 40 anglers register and head out to tame the beast.  The weather was ideal with mostly sunny conditions that made for a great day on the lake.  The fish were not impressed with the weather and for many anglers we were left without any slime to show for our efforts.  Not all entrants struggled though, as they were able to crack the code and catch some fish.  We also had some really nice salad bowls caught along with the ever present tree and rock snags and even a volleyball caught by a UFO boat.

When the event concluded at midnight, we met back up at the ramp to tally the results.  Our big fish for the event was witnessed and photographed by myself.  As it turns out, I have witnessed the big fish caught for every OHMC event this year.  I may not be any good at catching fish, but my timing for trolling near the eventual big fish winner is impeccable.

Russ Roberts caught a 40.00” fish worth 14.00 points and unfortunately lost a second fish out of the net which therefore did not count since it was not measured.  Sorry for the bad luck buddy, but at least you got to catch the fish.

George Kourkounakis landed a 42.25” huskie worth 16.25 points and a Third Place finish.

David Baio got two subs along with three more at 41.00”, 38.00”, and 31.00” for a total of 32.00 points which earned him a Second Place finish.

OHMC Secretary Tim Smith landed a third huskie for the season that secured his first Dunmire Award.  He had a 44.50” fish and a 40.00” fish to go with it for a total of 32.50 points and a First Place finish.  He also won the big fish side pot of $190 for his trolling efforts.  As with our Spring and Fall outings, we will award our First and Second place trophies at next years’ banquet.  Congratulations to all those that caught fish!

Thanks to everyone that came out to support the clubs and enjoy the good times that are always present when we get together.  The talk of “dreams”, meeting new friends, stories by Grandpa and many others, taking time to enjoy a sandwich on the lake, poking fun at each other, and of course the sound of the clicker; these are the things that make these events really fun and I look forward to the next one.