Minnow Fund event Saturday September 12th at West Branch

Join us on West Branch, Saturday Sept 12th, for our 14th Annual Minnow Fund Outing! This event is open to EVERYONE, and ALL proceeds from this major fundraiser go to the Minnow Fund to aid in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ efforts to raise and stock muskies in Ohio. This is a single day points tournament with your two longest muskies being counted for your score, with trophies and a brand new Six2noon Lures bait being awarded to the top three points earners. There is also an optional Big Fish pool with all cash being paid to the angler(s) who scores the longest muskie! After a fun day on the water, join us at 5:30 PM at the West Ramp of West Branch for our final check-in where we will announce our winners and award them their trophies and the Big Fish cash pot, as well as hand out some free brand new muskie baits.

The costs of feeding our future huskie muskies continue to rise, and we need your support more than ever! We hope you’ll join us for this fun day of muskie fishing on West Branch while supporting the future of our fishery. Tournament entry fees from this event help fund the OHMC’s contribution to the Minnow Fund and any extra donations are welcomed! If you are unable to fish with us, but still would like to give to the Minnow Fund, you may make a donation below. The statewide Minnow Fund is an integral part of the overall success of Ohio’s Muskie program, so please give what you can to keep Ohio’s muskie populations thriving!

* Legal Fishing Time: 7AM-5PM No fish caught outside of Legal Fishing Time will be accepted.

* All fish must be photographed on a bump board with handwritten/printed identifier clearly visible in picture. **Identifier code and Tournament Director text number will be shared Friday evening.

 

Here is the site for event registration

 

Minnow Fund registration

 

Points tournament Rules 2026

May Madness Results

Well, that was some weekend.  We had 31 anglers try their skills on lakes with high water, some with normal pools, sometimes muddy, sometimes clear and sometimes windy, sometimes not.  We had 18 of the 31 anglers catch fish over the weekend.  Our winner with his top three fish of 50″, 46.25″ and 40″ was Scott Donohew totaling 58.25 points.     Pretty neat catching a 50″ during an event, but that is not Scott’s first 50″, so he knows how it is done.  Second place was Tommy McCane with three fish of 45″, 41.5″ and 35″ totaling 44 points plus he landed a fourth fish of 33.25″.  Third place, and last year’s Angler of the Year was Derek Halas with three fish of 43″, 39″ and 33.25″ totaling 37.25 points.  Congrats to the following anglers who also caught fish during the event:

David Noel. 38.5″, 33.75″ and 32″

Donald Gutshall 41.25″ and 40″

Matt Davies 40.25″, 33.25″ and 30″

Hunter Miller 43.75″

John Bollinger. 31.25″

Andrew George 42.25″ and 40″

Eric Morris 31.25″

Mike Ayers 38.75″ and 36.25″

Chris Young 32.25″

Tom Garrity 35″ and 34.75″

Zack Eales 37″

Shelley Shaw 30″

Phil Cummings 40″

Paul Adkins 44.5″

Dave White 42″

 

Thanks to all for supporting May Madness.   Hopefully fun for all while supporting the club’s efforts for the Minnow Fund.

 

 

Scott Donohew

Tommy McCane

Derek Halas

Matt Davies

Mike Ayers

Tom Garrity

Andrew George

David Noel

Eric Morris

David White

Main Event Salt Fork June 13th and 14th

Wow…..all that Madness in May is officially over.  Now it’s time for our MAIN EVENT!  This is our last event before our summer break and the event is open to ALL.   Our first Main Event, then called the Summer Contest, was held at Clearfork in 1971 in mid August.  A total of 242 anglers participated with no fish reported.  The peak Main Event in terms of attendance was the event in 1980 when 1,056 anglers attended and 14 fish were caught at Pymatuning.  This will be our 56th Main Event and will be held at Salt Fork on Saturday and Sunday June 13th and 14th.
Our Tournament entry fee is $25 per person and just $15 for juniors aged 17 or younger, with portions of the proceeds donated to the Minnow Fund in support of muskie stocking efforts in Ohio.  There is also an optional $10 Big Fish Pool with all money being awarded to the angler(s) catching the longest muskie in the tournament.  In this two day points tournament, your best three fish, (30 inches or longer), will be scored, and trophies will be awarded to the top three points earners at our final check-in.

Legal fishing time is open only to daylight hours beginning at 6 AM both days, and ending at 9 PM Saturday, and 3 PM Sunday.  No fish caught outside of legal fishing time will be accepted!  All catch entries must be photographed on a bump board with the assigned identifier code visible and turned in to the Tournament Director (TD) by 3:30 PM Sunday, at the final check-in, or via the TD cell phone number(s) that will be provided.  See full event rules here: Event Rules & RegulationsOn Saturday June 13th at 6 PM we will be drawing the winner of our Main Event Raffle with a prize value of over $2,500 at the Cabin Bay launch ramp.

Final check-in will be held at the Salt Fork Marina boat ramp with festivities beginning at 3:30 PM, Sunday.
You can register for the tournament here:

2026 May Madness

The MAY MADNESS online muskie tournament takes place Friday, May 29th through Sunday, May 31st, and is open to EVERYONE!  ALL WATER in OHIO is eligible! From the tiniest feeder creeks, to the largest reservoirs, and everything in between.  If it’s Ohio water, it’s eligible for this event!
So how does this statewide online tournament work exactly?  Beginning at 6 am on Friday May 29th, through 6 PM on Sunday, May 31st, (during assigned legal daylight fishing times), you may choose ANY one, or multiple bodies of water in OHIO to fish from.  In this three day points tournament, your TOP THREE muskies submitted, (30″ or longer), will earn you points.  You may submit every muskie you catch, 30″ or better, and we will apply your best THREE to your final score.  Fish must be photographed on a bump board with identifier code clearly visible, and then submitted to tournament director (TD) via text no later than 6:30 PM on Sunday.  The identifier code, and TD text number will be released on Thursday evening before the start of legal fishing on Friday.  Winners will be announced the following Monday morning after all fish submissions are reviewed and scored by our judges.  All top three anglers with the most points at the end of legal fishing time will be awarded trophies and brand new muskie baits at our awards banquet.
LEGAL FISHING TIMES:
Fri 5/29  6AM – 9PM
Sat 5/17 6AM – 9PM
Sun 5/18 6AM – 6PM
No fish caught outside of the listed legal fishing times will be accepted.So join in the MADNESS to see how you fare against the other muskie anglers all across OHIO! Portions of the proceeds donated to the Minnow Fund to help support the cost of stocking muskies in Ohio.
We are less than a month away from our Main Event on July 13th and 14th at Salt Fork lake.   Our Main Event raffle is our primary fund raiser for the club, so please consider purchasing one or more  raffle tickets between now and the drawing on June 13th.  This year is our largest grand prize in recent memory including a free entry to the Bondy Bait Musky Slam on Lake St. Clair.  Here is the total prize list:
This year’s raffle prize package, valued at over $2,500, includes:
– One week stay at Leesville’s North Fork Marina Studio Cabin
– 1 day guided trip with Chuck Harmon from Harmon’s Ohio Guide Service
– Custom built R & C Tuff Rods muskie rod
– Penn Fathom Low Profile casting reel
– Reck-N-Rack muskie bump board
– Reck-N-Rack tackle box loaded with muskie baits
– Free entry to the 2026 Bondy Bait Musky Slam
You can purchase tickets here:
We will complete the tickets purchased for you and include them in the drawing on June 13th.

2026 Banquet

What a beautiful day to have a banquet at a great setting.  Firefly Woods hosted the banquet overlooking a calm but flooded Leesville Lake on a day full of sunshine.  We thank Kortney and Chad for providing a great venue and setup for our banquet.  We also thank David White for handling check in, Phil Ringenbach for managing our Main Event ticket sales and Kevin Proffitt for helping with parking.  This was our 65th annual Awards Banquet.  From some quick internet research, we appear to be the second oldest muskie club in the United States being founded in 1961.  Only the Muskellunge Club of Wisconsin is older being founded in 1953.  We had 75 members and guests join the celebration and were treated to a fine dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs, with sides  through the support of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District and cookies and brownies brought by the members.   Thanks go out to Cash and Chad for their cooking chops.  Our guests included John Navarro, Curt Wagner and Kyle Leachman from the ODNR and Craig Butler from the MWCD.  John Navarro gave insights into upcoming changes in the MAL as well as an exciting project to introduce muskies into the most recently named scenic river in Ohio, the Raccoon tributary of the Ohio river.  Fry will be introduced over a number of years and monitored to see if the population can become a naturally sustained fishery.  Kyle Leachman provided fascinating insights on the complex process of raising muskies in a hatchery and the ODNR’s drive to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their hatchery operations.  Craig Butler provided a historical insight into the watershed as well as thoughts on the future development especially around the recreational use of the watershed lakes.

We thanked Keith Stayer for becoming our most recent Life member.

Derek Halas then presented our awards for 2025.

Kevin Proffitt received the Joe Blackwell Mr. Muskie award.

Shelly Leglise the Woman of the Year award.

Charles Clendenin the H. E. Pooch Curry award.

Erika Bonebrake the Queen Royalty award.

Addison Davies the Matthew Smith Memorial Award for Junior girls.

Cooper Marshall the Matthew Smith Memorial Award for Junior boys.

The Fifty Inch Award recipients were Charles Clendenin, David Noel and John Welch.

Derek Halas was presented the Award for 2025 Overall Tournament Winner.

The 10 or more Release awards and Dunmire awards were presented as well.

 

Dan Welch accepted the Fifty Inch award for his father John Welch.  On behalf of the club we mourn the loss of John but know how happy he was to catch his first 50″ muskie.

The final picture is of Derek with his Angler of the Year award.  He accomplished this feat while fishing out of a kayak in our events.  Derek is obviously a quality fisherman.

 

We thank all for attending and look forward to our next event, May Madness.  Until then tight lines.

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