Minnow Fund Outing Results

What we thought would be a hot bite, turned into a tough bite.  We had 41 anglers attack West Branch from every angle both casting and trolling, conventional gear and fly rods, big Ranger boats and kayaks.  When the “dust” settled Corey Zelinski won the event with 2 fish, a 40″ and 39″ for a total of 27 points.  Just a touch behind also with 2 fish of 41.5″ and 37″ was Jason Chalmers for a total of 26.5 points.  Just behind Jason’s 26.5 points, was Derek Halas who also caught 2 fish of 40″ and 38″ for a total of 26 points.  Derek was one of the fisherman who catches his fish from a kayak.  Justin Knecht was able to net 3 fish of 38″, 33″ and 32.5″.  Russ Roberts caught 2 of 34″ and 40″.  Others catching fish were Mike Mindala 38″, Anna Land 30″, Greg Eischen 35.75″, Kevin LaRoche 38″ and Justin Branham 35″.

We were able to raise over $1,000 for the Minnow Fund through this event, so a big thank you to all who entered and the many who donated extra dollars for the Minnow Fund.

This event concludes our 2021 fishing events.  Our next big event will be our Banquet at the SYB Party Center on February 19, 2022.  Make you plans to be there and watch Corey and Jason accept their Minnow Fund Outing trophies.

 

Corey holding a beauty

 

9th Annual Minnow Fund Outing September 25th and 26th

The final event of 2021 is our 9th Annual Minnow Fund Outing at West Branch on Saturday September 25th and Sunday September 26th.  Given that we are in a pre-turnover period, the fish should be feeding heavy to begin bulking up for the winter.  The tournament will run from 7:00 am Saturday to 2:00 pm Sunday.  Tournament registration is online at

 

https://bit.ly/2021MinnowFund

 

You can also register in person at the West Ramp of West Branch from 6:00 am to 8:00 am on Saturday.  All fish must be turned in to the tournament director by 2:30 pm on Sunday at the West Ramp.

All entries fees will go directly into the Minnow Fund.  We will not be having any raffles, so any donations also would be very much appreciated and would go directly into the Minnow Fund.  Entry fee is $20 with a Big Fish pool of $5 if you chose to participate.  First and second place will receive trophies at our banquet in 2022.  Scoring will be based on points with each fish 30” or greater getting 4 points for the fish and additional points for every inch over 30 inches.   For example, a 42.5” fish would earn 4 points plus 12.5 points for a total of 16.5 points.  The winner will be the highest total points for the weekend.  All fish entered will be based on a honor system, no pictures are required but please take some pictures of your fish for our Instagram and Facebook pages.

Summer Contest Results

What a fun weekend for the Summer Contest at West Branch.  Saturday was a calm nice summer day with a few weekend boaters to increase the  drama.  Sunday kept them away with fairly steady rain from 9 am until closing a 2 pm.  We had 45 anglers sign up to fish the event, with a total of 28 fish caught.   Leading the way with 8 fish, and winning not only the event but the Big Fish pool was Chase Gibson.  This was Chase’s first time fishing one of Ohio’s program lakes, and he was very impressed with the quality and size of the muskie.   He hopes West Virginia DNR can take a page from the Ohio book.  Chase caught his fish casting and jigging deeper waters.  Second place was captured by Neil Butara with 4 fish.  Unlike Chase, Neil was able to find his fish shallow, fishing weed beds.  Congratulations to Chase and Neil for their success over the weekend.  Here is a list of the fish reported and some pictures:

Chase Gibson 37″, 41″, 31.75″, 40.5″, 40″, 38.75″, 36.75″, 43.25″.

Neil Butara 36″, 38″, 41′, 40″

Bob Basic  43″ and 38″

Adam Boneham  37″

Phil Ringenbach  41.75″

Chris Daniels 42″

Chad Harmon 36″

Rick Thorp 37″

Tim Smith 38″

Brian Luttmer 38″ and 32.5″

Graham Hardesty  32″ and 33″

Brad Clement  42.5″

John Ringenbach  35″

Tim Grant  31″ and 36″

 

2021 Banquet is in the Books

OHMC’s 60th Anniversary Banquet took place on June 12th at the SYB Party Center.  The date was moved to allow for COVID, but 57 people participated in the celebration.  We were fortunate to have 4 representatives from the ODNR join us for the event.

  • Curt Wagner, District Three Fish Management Supervisor
  • Kevin Page, Fisheries Biologist, Inland Fisheries Research Unit
  • Scott Hale, Executive Administrator of Fish Management & Research
  • Kevin Kayle, Fish Hatchery Program Administrator.

Also are newly elected slate of officers and trustees were recognized:

  • OHMC Officers
  • President – Jeff Ferjutz
  • 1st Vice President – Chad Harmon
  • 2nd Vice President – Rich Daniels
  • Secretary – Ken Proffitt
  • Treasurer – John Ringenbach

 

 

  • Trustees
  • Paul Anderson Past President
  • Fred Lederer Past President
  • Phillip Jarvis
  • Kyle Jones
  • Mike Reed
  • Phil Ringenbach
  • Tim Smith
  • David White

 

  • Social Media
  • Maggie Butara

We also presented and honored the winners of our Awards for 2020

 

 

 

Joe Blackwell “Mr. Muskie” Award 2020

Jerry Rice

June 12th, 2021

 

Woman of the Year Award 2020

Maggie Butara

June 12th, 2021

 

Matthew Smith Memorial Award for Juniors

Boys

Noah Visger

49”

Piedmont Lake, June 17th, 2020

 

Girls

Lucy Marshall

37”

Leesville Lake, June 16th, 2020

 

 

 

Fifty Inch Award

Sharon Potvin

50”

Piedmont Lake, May 27th, 2020

 

 

  1. E. “Pooch” Curry Award 2020

Chuck Harmon

52.5”

West Branch, Dec. 23rd, 2020

Patrick Klingensmith

52.5”

Milton Lake, August 6th, 2020

 

 

Queen Release 2020

Sharon Potvin

50”

Piedmont Lake, May 27th, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

Ten or More Release Award 2020

Patrick Klingensmith 375
Mike McKenzie 213
David White 127
Will Tolerton 124
Bill Schultz Jr. 122
Bob Marshall 118
Maurice Potvin Jr. 113
Scott Donohew 102
Robert Basic 93
John Thompson 78
Kyle Jones 71
Thomas Morris 60
Sam Reichenbach 60
Tim Ritter 60
George Weber 60
Phillip Jarvis 54
Mike Wile 54
Michael Adamski 53
Ray Elkins 51
Jim Cook 44
Chuck McKnight 40
Ivan Beachy 32
Jim Mayberry 29
John Ringenbach 29
Josh Marshall 27
David Baio 25
Elmer Heyob 24
Patrick Andino 22
Jason

Derek

Basic

Halas

22

22

Cooper Marshall 22
Paul Shepherd 22
Rick

John

Simpson

Proch

22

20

Tony Crisp 18
Jeff Heiser 18
Dennis Mitchell 18
David

Chad

Simmons

Harmon

18

17

Sharon Potvin 17
Brock Bohley 15
Sherman Champlin 15
Kathy Mitchell 15
Timothy Smith 14
Neil Butara 12
Chuck Land Sr. 12
Jerry Rice 12
Scott Hale 11
Jim Petrozzi 11
William Lambert 10

 

Dr. L.G. Dunmire Muskie Award 2020

Patrick Klingensmith 79
Kyle Jones 30
Mike McKenzie 30
Will Tolerton 26
David White 24
John Thompson 23
Bob Marshall 21
Scott Donohew 17
Bill Schultz Jr. 16
Maurice Potvin Jr. 13
David Baio 12
Ray Elkins 12
Phillip Jarvis 11
George Weber 11
Mike Wile 11
Michael Adamski 9
Robert Basic 9
John Ringenbach 8
Jason Basic 7
Ivan Beachy 7
Jim Cook 7
Rick Simpson 7
Dave Flood 6
Chad Harmon 6
Dennis Mitchell 6
Tony Crisp 5
Chuck Harmon 5
Elmer Heyob 5
Josh Marshall 5
Chuck McKnight 5
Kathy Mitchell 5
Paul Shepherd 5
Chuck Land Sr. 4
Brock Bohley 3
Jeff Heiser 3
Thomas Morris 3
Jim Petrozzi 3
Sharon Potvin 3
John Proch 3
Tim Ritter 3
Timothy Smith 3

 

 

 

 

2020 Event Awards

Lungefest

June 13th, 2020

Leesville Lake

1st Place – Rick Simpson

46” Muskie

 

50th Annual Summer Contest

July 11th & 12th, 2020

Piedmont Lake

1st Place – Scott Donohew

12 Muskies

111 Points

2nd Place – Rick Simpson

4 Muskies

44.5 Points

 

8th Annual Minnow Fund Outing

September 26th & 27th, 2020

West Branch

1st Place – Jeff Belcher

3 Muskies

29.75 Points

2nd Place – John Proch

2 Muskies

21.0 Points

 

 

Muskie Munch

October 24th, 2020

Piedmont Lake

1st Place – David Cross

37.5” Muskie

 

2020 Overall Tournament Champion

Scott Donohew

12 Muskies

Finally, here are some pictures of the award winners:

 

 

 

 

 

OHMC Summer Contest at West Branch July 10th and 11th

Our Summer Contest will be at West Branch Saturday July 10th and Sunday , July 11th.   The tournament begins at 7:00 am Saturday and you can fish all the way to Sunday at 2:00 pm.  All fish must be reported by 2:30 pm Sunday at the West launch ramp parking lot.  First and second place will receive trophies at our banquet in 2022.  Scoring will be based on points with each fish 30” or greater getting 4 points for the fish and additional points for every inch over 30 inches.   For example, a 42.5” fish would earn 4 points plus 12.5 points for a total of 16.5 points.  The winner will be the highest total points for the weekend.  Entry fee is $20 with a Big Fish pool of $5.  All fish entered will be based on a honor system, no pictures are required but please take some pictures of your fish for our Instagram and Facebook pages.
You can register on lines at
Also you can register in person at the West launch ramp from 6:00 to 7:00 am on Saturday.
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