Author: John Ringenbach

Wow….two tournaments in the books and two absolutely gorgeous days.  We had 41 anglers start out Saturday with 40 degree temperatures which quickly climbed to 70 degrees with calm breezes and sunny skies.  The shad were set up near the shores early in about 8 to 12 feet of water but as the shallow waters warmed up, they made a movement closer to shore.  Yet, some of the bigger fish were set up on deep structure, starting to eat but also recovering from the spawn.  So what ever pattern you wanted to work, it was probably there.  The deep water fish proved most elusive, with many follows and a couple of large ones lost.  The near shore bite proved the most productive for casters and folks trolling.

The overall event winner with the longest fish was Phil Jarvis, putting a 41 inch fish in the net.  We had two side pools for May Madness, our normal Big Fish pool with a $5 contribution which 14 anglers choose and a Total Points pool with a $35 contribution which 27 anglers selected.  The folks in the Big Fish pool only managed a 28″ muskie by Kevin Proffitt which didn’t qualify for the big fish so the $70 in the pool was donated to the Minnow Fund.

The Total Points pool anglers accounted for a total of 8 fish.  Third Place was taken by Jason Hubert with a 38.75″ caught on a top water.  (Who knew).  Second Place was claimed by Jonathan Kinney with a 40.25″ beauty. First place with two legal fish of 41″ and 39.25″ and a sub was Phil Jarvis.  The $945 pool was divided $567 to the winner, $283.50 to second and $94.50 to third.

Here are the other anglers who caught fish and some great pictures.

Donald Klauss 34″

Troy White 35″

Lon Grant 32.5″

 

 

Sixty years ago this year, the Ohio Huskie Muskie Club was founded thru the efforts of Merrill Gilfillan and John Pelton, both working with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.  The Ohio Huskie Muskie Club is one of the oldest muskie clubs in the United States.  We will celebrate our anniversary at our banquet on June 12^th at the SYB Party Center in Stow, Ohio.

To begin the celebration, in partnership with the Cleveland Fishing Company, we are offering a selection of apparel commemorating our 60 years.  Included in the offering are Performance Long Sleeve shirts, Sun shirts, Tee shirts, Hoodies and Sun Hoodies.

Cleveland Fishing Company is providing the shirts at a reduced rate with profits being donated to the Minnow Fund to help continue the strong stocking program of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

To order, just visit Cleveland Fishing Company’s site at

https://clevelandfishingco.com/

The apparel will be available to order beginning Monday, April 19^th and will available only thru Sunday April 25^th.  This is a one-time opportunity, OHMC will not be carrying the apparel in our merchandise inventory.

Now that breaking ice is behind us, time to go crazy with some May Madness.  Our next event is Saturday, May 15^th at Salt Fork Lake.  The muskies can always be muskies, but we should be putting lures in front of hungry fish fully recovered from the spawn with shad spawning on shoreline cover everywhere.  This event is a big fish event with a $15 entry fee with the winner being the angler who catches the longest fish above 30 inches.  To add some Madness, you can choose from our standard Big Fish Pool with an additional $5 fee or our Total Points Pool with an additional $35 fee.   Both pools will payout 100% of all pool entry fees.  In the case of the Big Fish Pool, winner takes all.  In the case of the Total Points Pool, 1^st place is 60%, 2^nd place is 30% and 3^rd place is 10%.  The Total Points Pool will require pictures on a bump board and of the angler holding the fish and a bunch of rules.  Please read the rules linked below as well as the Total Points Information sheet.  Everyone will launch from the Old Marina Boat launch with tournament hours from 7:30 am to 6:00 pm.  The registration for this tournament will be online only and you must be registered by 9 am, Friday, May 14^th to participate in the tournament.  Here is the link for registration:

http://bit.ly/OHMCMayMadness

All Total Points Pool anglers must use a bump board measuring device.  If you do not have one, here is a link to Muskie Bumper, they make great boards:

https://www.muskiebumper.com/

All anglers in a boat must be registered for the tournament and must be signed up for the same pool.  If you are fishing by yourself, it is much easier to take the required pictures for the Total Points Pool if you have a cell phone holder with a suction cup to attached to your boat where needed.  They can be had for less than $15 at Walmart, Target, or similar stores.

May Madness Rules

May Madness Information sheet

 

What a beautiful day.  Started out seasonably cool but under bright skies and light wind, quickly warmed to the 70 degree range.  Piedmont Lake was in all of its spring glory with great water color throughout and water temperatures in the 53 to 55 degree range.  Plus there was a full moon Saturday night.  A total of 63 anglers came out to test their skills and grab a nice photo with a spring giant.  All that being said, muskies will be muskies.  Apparently the vast majority of muskies in Piedmont were camera shy.  There were a total of 14 muskies caught with the winner of the event being Bernie Klug with a 40.25″ muskie.  Bernie also caught  39″ and 32″ muskies.  Close behind was Rick Thorp with a nice 40″ muskie.  Also catching fish were

Josh Marshall 28″, 29″

Cooper Marshall 39″

Bill Schultz 31.75″

Shane Holcomb 30″

Monty Arnold 38″ and 28″

Leo Soehnlen 30″

Camille Jones 30″

Jason Hutcheson 30″

Here are a few pictures

38″ Monty Arnold

40″ Rick Thorp

Camille Jones 30″

Leo Soehnlen 30″

Jason Hutcheson 30″

The first OHMC event of 2021 will be the Icebreaker at Piedmont on Saturday, March 27^th.    If all goes well, we will not actually have to break ice to get to open water.  This time of year is prime for giants staging for the spawn. This one-day tournament is a big fish tournament with the winner catching the longest fish of the day.

The event will begin at 7:30 am on Saturday and concludes at 5 pm.  The winning fish must be at least 30 inches or greater.  The 1^st place winner and any ties will receive trophies at our 2022 Banquet.  All fish must be turned into the Tournament Director by 5:30 pm at the Piedmont Marina parking lot.  Once registered, you can launch at the Marina or at Reynolds road.

The campground at Piedmont will be open for those who want to make a weekend of the event.  The bathroom, shower room and laundry are open year-round.  There may or may not be water directly to a campsite, we will not know until closer to the event. Here is the site to make a reservation:

https://www.camplife.com/551/reservation/step1

You can register for the event one of 3 ways:

Register online at

https://fs11.formsite.com/N2PLlu/shep87bsps/index.html

the online registration includes payment thru PayPal.

Or mail your registration to OHMC, 17712 Edgewater, Lakewood, Ohio 44107,

Or register in person Saturday morning from 7 am to 8 am in the Piedmont Marina parking lot.  We will be observing best practices for Covid 19 during registration.

We encourage registration online or by mail to respect the risks due to Covid 19.

The entry fee will be $15 and there will be a big fish pool entry of $5.   Proceeds of this tournament will help fund the club’s contribution to the Minnow Fund.

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Here are the rules for the event.

IceBreaker 2021 Rules