Ohio Huskie Muskie Club, Inc

The 56^th Ohio Huskie Muskie Club Annual Awards Banquet was held on April 1, 2017, at McCalls Banquet Center in Canton, Ohio.  The attendance held steady relative to recent years and all those in attendance were treated to good food, friends, and laughter.  A total of 115 OHMC members and guests along with 5 vendors were in attendance.  Every person in attendance received a door prize consisting of one of three custom painted baits created by Greg Them of Xtreme Muskie Lures.

During the business meeting, members voted on the lake nominations for our 48^th  Annual Open Summer Contest in 2018.  The winner was Piedmont, with the event to be tentatively held on July 14^th and 15^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; Stephanie Neville, Secretary; John Ringenbach, Treasurer.

Before the banquet meal started there was a pause for a moment of silence for all the club members who 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 Mary Jill Brown.  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 Cake.  We all had a great time and lots of fun with the fish stories that were being told.

ODNR attendees were: Curt Wagner, Fisheries Biologist, District 3 (Akron); Rich Zweifel, Acting Inland Fisheries Program Administrator; Phil Hillman, Fish Management Supervisor, District 3 (Akron); Mike Greenlee, Fish Management Supervisor, District 4 (Athens); Debra Walters, Fish Management Supervisor, District 5 (Xenia); Ed Lewis, Fisheries Biologist, District 2 (Findlay); Kevin Page, Fisheries Biologist, Inland Fisheries Research Unit (Hebron); Rich Carter, Executive Administrator Fish Management and Research Group; and Scott Hale, Assistant Chief, Central Office.

Special thanks go 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.

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 2016 season.

Joe Blackwell “Mr Muskie” Award

Tim Smith

Woman of the Year Award

Gloria Roberts

H.E. Pooch Curry Award:

Richard Reeves – 51.50”

Piedmont

July 13, 2016

The Matthew Smith Memorial awards were as follows:

Boys “Released”

Fischer Himes – 37.25”

Girls “Released”

Ashley McCartney – 45.00”

The Royalty Awards:

King “Released”

Richard Reeves – 51.50”

King “Trophy”

Greg Bozick – 51.00”

Queen “Released”

Kathy Mitchell – 51.00”

 

Dr. Dunmire Plaque Awards:

Patrick Klingensmith (41), Greg Bozick (35), David Baio (30), Kevin LaRoche (22), Chuck Harmon (20), Richard Reeves (19), Ray Elkins (17), Kathy Mitchell (16), Will Tolerton (16), Chad Harmon (15), Dennis Mitchell (14), Bob Marshall (11), George Weber (11), Dennis Braun (8), John Thompson (8), Paul Anderson (7), Sherman Champlin (6), Charlotte Fuchs (6), Nick Smith (6), Jason Basic (5), Bill Brant (5), David Brown (5), Tom Hannen (5), Bob McCloud (5), Sam Ringenbach (5), Mike Sandridge (5), Bill Schultz, Jr. (5), Tim Smith (5), Bob Basic (4), Linda Hannen (4), Lee Himes (4), Tom Morris (4), John Ringenbach (4), John Savu (4), Jeff Heiser (3), Ray Hinchcliff, Sr. (3), Fred Lederer (3), Josh Marshall (3), Ashley McCartney (3), Jerry Rice (3), Rick Simpson (3)

10 or More Release Awards:

Pat Klingensmith (275), Greg Bozick (150), David Baio (99), Kevin LaRoche (86), Bob Basic (73), Bob Marshall (71), Will Tolerton (66), Chad Harmon (62), Bill Shultz, Jr (61), Chuck Harmon (58), Jason Basic (52), Richard Reeves (52), Ray Elkins (51), Sam Reichenbach (46), George Weber (43), Dennis Mitchell (39), Kathy Mitchell (38), Tim Ritter (34),Beau Chumley (29), Charlotte Fuchs (27), Tom Morris (27), Chuck McKnight (25), Josh Marshall (24), Sherman Champlin (23), John Thompson (23), Dennis Braun (22), Lee Himes (19), Tom Johnson (19), Nick Smith (19), Paul Anderson (18), Jim Cook (18), Tom Hannen (17), John Ringenbach (17), Mike Sandridge (17), Tim Smith (17), Bill Brant (16), Linda Hannen (15), Ray Hinchcliff, Sr. (15), Philip Jarvis (14), Fred Lederer (14), David Brown (13), Tony Crisp (13), Chuck Land, Sr. (13), Elmer Heyob (12), Ashley McCartney (12), Jeff Heiser (11), Bob McCloud (11), John Savu (10), Rick Simpson (10)

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 a great success.

 

Ohio Muskie Show: January 20-22, Makoy Center, Hilliard OH

Muskie Max: March 4-5, Doubletree Hotel, Cranberry PA

OHMC Annual Awards Banquet: April 1, McCalls Banquet Center, Canton OH

OHMC & ODNR Division Day: May 5, Clearfork Reservoir, Mansfield OH

Minnow Fund Muskie Outing: May 6-7, Clearfork Reservoir, Mansfield OH

OHMC Summer Contest: July 15-16, Salt Fork Lake, Cambridge OH

OHMC & MI Chapter 19 PM Bite: August 19-20, Leesville Lake, Leesville OH

OHMC Fall Outing: September 30 & October 1, Caesars Creek Lake, Waynesville OH

Hawg Hunt Hoedown: November 11, West Branch Lake, Ravenna Oh

The 2016 OHMC Fall Outing was held at Piedmont Lake on Saturday, September 24^th and Sunday September 25^th, 2016.  Most of the anglers showed up Friday evening for registration being conducted by Treasurer John Ringenbach.  The full complement of the board of trustees was on hand to greet our guests and answer any questions.  Soon the daylight faded and the cold beverages began to flow.  Nobody got carried away though as we were all focused on the opportunity at hand.  Piedmont has been very kind to our group over the last six years.  We all felt that there would be lots of fish caught during this event.

Early Saturday morning, the boats slipped off their trailers and disappeared into the mist of a cool autumn morning.  Within the first hour of fishing, while some of us were still drinking coffee and registering anglers, there were reports of fish being caught.  Yes, this was surely going to be an event with lots of fish caught.  Most of us remembered our boat keys and were on the water early in the day.

We had father-son teams, husband wife teams, brothers, friends, and lone-wolf anglers all searching for their own version of a successful weekend.  As for myself, I had a very successful weekend, saw my friends, ate good food, and enjoyed a fantastic two day boat ride.  Going 0 for 5 on fish really doesn’t bother me in hindsight, sure I’d like to have caught fish, but I never measure an outing’s success by the number of fish in my net.

By Saturday evening, it was apparent that the fish were not cooperating.  Piedmont was being greedy for the first time in many years.  We assembled for some brontosaurus-burger sized ribeye’s cooked to perfection by Jerry Rice and Fred Lederer.  We had the corn-on-the-cob that has become a staple of our events thanks to Tim Smith.  Members showed up with so much great food that it even exceeded my high expectations.  Thanks to everyone that brought side dishes.  Next, we drew our raffle prizes.  Our general raffle featured lots of great baits and other miscellaneous goodies, from which the membership selected.  I was fortunate to win the rod-n-reel combination, Bob McCloud won the lure board, and Phil Cummings won the 50/50 which he promptly donated back to the Minnow Fund (THANK YOU!).

A handful of us headed into the darkness for some night fishing hoping that the lockjaw of the daytime had turned into and evening feeding frenzy.  But, alas, all we did was wash baits and enjoy the amazing view of the nighttime sky without any light pollution.

Sunday, the bite finally picked up with several anglers reported fish hitting the grandmas and jakes.  The casters carried this event though as those of us who primarily troll took it on the chin this time.  At 3:45 we assembled for the tally of results which read as follows:  43 anglers registered and 17 fish 30 inches or larger reported as being caught.  The Big-Fish side pot of $195 went to Chuck Harmon with a beautiful 47” beast.  First place went to Dave White, second place went to Chuck Harmon, and Third place went to Jeff Ferjutz.  Congratulations to all our winners who will receive their trophies at our annual awards banquet in March.  Thank you to our entire board of trustees for all your hard work and to all our members that showed up to make this another successful event.

All fish reported as being caught:  Dave White (33.00”, 41.50”, 43.50”; 40.00 points): Chuck Harmon (37.00”, 47.00”; 32.00 points): Jeff Ferjutz (38.00”, 39.00”; 25.00 points): Chad Harmon (34.00”, 35.5”; 17.50”): Matt Clark (41.25”; 15.25 points): Jason Chalmers (40.00”; 14.00 points): Fred Lederer (38.00”; 12.00 points): Jeff Clark (35.00”; 9.00 points): Gloria Roberts (34.00”; 8.00 points): Greg Starkey (32.00”; 6.00 points): Greg Hastings (31.75”; 5.75 points): Chuck Land (30.00”; 4.00 points).

 

The 2016 OHMC and MI Chapter 19 Joint PM Bite was held Saturday August 20^th at Leesville Lake.  We had 36 anglers register and 5 fish caught.  Participants began showing up around 10 AM at the host site of South Fork Marina.  Keith Ott, the owner of the marina had a Big-top tent set up for the day’s activities.  Elmer McClure and Rick Simpson worked the grill cooking up some great burgers and dogs.  Tim Smith worked the raffles while Phil Jarvis and Fred Lederer jumped in and helped fill in gaps.  Meanwhile, John Ringenbach and Jason Chalmers conducted registration.  We took our fill of lunch and then Tim started drawing winning tickets.  Jason Chalmers won the trip to Chataqua, Dan Braun won the 50/50, and every participant won a raffle prize.

Soon, we all hit the water to take in a day of pleasant breezes and sunshine.  The fish just would not cooperate.  They were there for all to see, holding tight to the thermocline around 20 feet down.  Mike Sandridge used his clinefinder to let me know that while we were seeing water temperatures as high as 85 degrees at the surface, the warmth extended all the way down to a reading of 77 degrees at 20 feet.  The drop was nearly instant after that with a reading of 66 degrees at 21 feet.  So, with the fish so tight to the cline, some anglers chose to cut their spools loose and send-em way back.  Lengths of 120 and more were being employed and finally late in the evening a small bite window opened.  The frontal system had arrived as evidenced by the dark clouds near sunset.  The window was short, but for a few lucky anglers it proved to be enough before the rain showed up at the closing bell.

When we assembled at the tent a little after midnight, the tally board showed that Paul Shepard had landed a 38.50” (12.50 Point) fish that swam off strong.  I witnessed the catch and was really impressed with the speed and care which was taken to get a good release by both Paul and his uncle Jim.  Coming in third place with a 39.75” (13.75 Point) fish was OHMC past-president Fred Lederer.  Finishing in second place with a 41.75” (15.75 Point) fish was MI Chapter 19 past-president Mike Sandridge.  Meanwhile the winner of the lucky-dog big fish and first place was OHMC President Paul Anderson who caught two fish measuring 34.00” and 43.00” (25.00 points).  Our winners will be presented their trophies at the annual banquet this coming March.

I’d like to offer my most sincere thanks to all those who so generously volunteered their time and effort to organize and coordinate this event.  I was not coming to fish and had to lean on my support network due to work commitments.  When a last minute itinerary change allowed me to be home for a day, I took full advantage and scrambled to get my better half, my lucky dog and my boat out to the lake.  I was not surprised a bit when I showed up to find a well-oiled machine humming along.  We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful dedicated group of trustees.  Many thanks to all the members of both clubs that came out to support our groups.  I hope you all made some memories and I sure hope to see you again next month at Piedmont for our Fall Outing.