Category: Misc

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

Here is a note from Scott Hale:

Ohio Muskie Anglers,

This week the ODNR Division of Wildlife completed muskie stockings for 2020.  The current program stocking goal of 19,890 was exceeded and fish averaged 10.8 inches. This was made possible through the generosity of our neighbors at the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission who provided us with 3-4 inch fingerlings earlier in the year, the continued support of Ohio’s muskie clubs through the Minnow Fund, and the hard work and dedication of our hatchery staff that grew these fish out to stocking size and transported them safely to our reservoirs. Although stocking happened a little later than usual this year, the fish likely benefited from being handled, transported, and stocked in cooler water and weather. The table below provides the details.

Thanks to everyone that made this possible during a particularly challenging year.

All the best,

Scott

RESERVOIR	ACRES	NUMBER STOCKED
ALUM CREEK LAKE	3,331	3,760
C.J. BROWN RESERVOIR	1,964	2,032
CAESAR CREEK LAKE	2,806	3,006
CLEARFORK RESERVOIR	1,033	1,204
LAKE MILTON	1,694	1,828
LEESVILLE LAKE	1,011	1,049
PIEDMONT LAKE	2,370	2,375
SALT FORK LAKE	3,060	3,660
WEST BRANCH RESERVOIR	2,621	2,730
TOTAL		21,644

Well…..after a 30 degree drop in temperatures, and all night rain….only the brave ventured forth to take on the Muskie Munch at Piedmont.  A total of nine hearty anglers signed up to test their skills against Mother Nature and the Muskies.  Only Jerry Rice with a 34′ muskie and our winner, David Cross with a 37.5″ muskie were able to fill the net.

We would like to thank all the anglers who supported our events this year.  Hopefully next year will be a return to a more normal fishing experience.

Our Banquet is scheduled for Saturday, March 20th at the SYB Party Center.  Last year, this proved to be a great venue.  What ever is happening with Covid, we should have plenty of room for social distancing.  See you then.