Author: John Ringenbach

We had 22 anglers come out for this year’s Main Event on West Branch and Milton.  The bite was not nearly as hot as the blazing sun this weekend, but six competitors managed to put a muskie on the board.  Alex Turner filled his three fish limit,  (44.75″, 43.5″ and 38.75″) and won first place with a score of 49 points!  Coming in second, with 19 points, and winning the $160 Big Fish Pot with his 45″ Huskie was Justin Lude!  Rick Thorp Jr. claimed his third trophy of the season with his 43.5″ Huskie worth 17.5 points and good for third place.  In addition to their trophies, the top three finishers also received brand new @six2noon bucktails.   Also submitting fish this weekend were:

Jake Miller 42″ 16 points

Jonathon Baer 39″. 13 points

John Proch. 30.75″ 4.75 points.

At our final check in we shared pizza and cold drinks before presenting trophies to our winners.  We held out 50/50 raffle and every tournament entrant who attended the check in took home a new muskie bait in our door prize raffle.  We wrapped things up with  drawing the winner of our Main Event Raffle and Devin Kopp was selected to receive our HUGE Prize package!!!  Congratulations Devin, and to our tournament winners, and all who put fish on the board.  With the Summer heat setting in, we will be taking a break from anymore muskie tournament until September, when we hope you’ll fish with us on September 20th for our Minnow Fund Event at Piedmont.

Now it’s time for our Main Event!  This event is open to ALL, and anglers may choose to compete on West Branch Reservoir or Lake Milton, or even hop between the two neighboring lakes.  Tornament 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.

Final check-in will be held at the West Ramp Pavillion on West Branch with festivities beginning at 3:30 PM, Sunday. Join us for pizza, a free lure raffle featuring muskie baits from Six2Noon Lures and more, and  trophy presentations to our winners!  We will also draw the winner of our Main Event raffle with a huge prize package valued at over $2,000!  Don’t miss out on what’s sure to be a great weekend at our MAIN EVENT on West Branch/ Milton.

Main Event Registration

Main Event Raffle tickets

In our first online muskie tournament of the year, the May Madness, we had 28 anglers competing all across Ohio.  The real madness for most of this weekend was battling fierce winds across much of the state and some highly unstable weather systems.  The challenging weather made for extremely tough fishing this weekend and many tournament entrants were blanked.

We did however have 5 anglers  that were able to put a combined total of nine muskies on the board!  Much respect to all who competed through a tough weekend, and a big congrats to those who put a fish on the board!  The champion from our first ever online tournament, Kyle, got on the board again with a 35 inch, 9 point fish to earn 5th place, and Joe placed 4th with his 37 inch, 11 point catch.  Now, to reveal our top three winners who will each be receiving their trophy and new muskie bait.  Taking third place and landing the biggest fish of the tournament is Randy with a 44 inch Huskie Muskie worth 18 points.  In second place with a 43 and 38.25 inch fish scoring 29.25 points is Rick.  Finally, our champion of the May Madness statewide online muskie tournament is , Derek with four fish measuring in at a combined150.5 inches and scoring 46.5 points!  Derek battled the wind and muskies all weekend from his kayak!   MADNESS indeed!  A big congratulations to the May Madness Champion, Derek, our other trophy winners and all wo were able to get fish on the board during a tough weekend!  Thank you to all who participated in this event where a portion of proceeds will benefit the Minnow Fund.

Our first two online events have seen anglers win trophies fishing by boat, on shore, and now in a kayak!  Truly all can compete in these statewide online muskie tournaments, and we hope you will all join in the fun for our next online event, the BATTLE FOR OHIO, being held Oct. 10 – 12!  Save the date now!  We also can’t wait to see everyone again in person at our MAIN EVENT on West Branch and Milton, June 21 – 22!  We will have more details on that shortly.

It was quite the cold and windy day, but that didn’t stop 28 hardy souls from entering our IceBreaker tournament at Leesville.  The bite may have been just as cold as the wind for most, but a handful of anglers were able to put some muskies in the net!  A total of 10 muskies were submitted, and Dave White won the first place trophy for his two muskies worth a total of 33 points!  Dave’s 45″ muskie was the biggest catch of the day and earned him the $240 Big Fish Pot!  Dave very generously donated $100 of his winnings back to the Minnow Fund.  Congratulations Dave, and thank you for your donation to the Minnow Fund.  Rick Thorp won the second place trophy for his 39.5″ fish worth 13.5 points.  Last year’s event winner, Colton Harmon, kept his IceBreaker trophy streak alive by winning third place with a 38.75″ muskie worth 12.75 points.  Congrats to all of our winners, and all those who caught fish on this challenging day!

After suffering the cold wind all day, it sure was great to warm up in the cozy Prop & Paddle Tavern inside the South Fork Marina and share a hot meal!  We also gave away some beautiful bucktails from Six2noon and other muskie baits to some lucky winners!  Thank you, Six2Noon Lures for your continued contributions to the club and thank you to Leesville Lake Marinas for once again being such awesome hosts to us!  New time you’re on Leesville Lake, be sure to stop in the South Fork Marina for all the drinks, snacks, lures, and boating supplies needed to have a great day on the water, or take a break from fishing and have a delicious meal and a brew in the Port & Paddle Tavern.

It was great to get back out on the water with those who came out, and we can’t wait to do it again, when it will hopefully be a much nicer day!  Our next event is the May Madness Online Event May 16-18.  We will fill your in on all those details soon.