On June 28th, the Northwoods Chapter of Muskies Inc. completed its inaugural “Northwoods Muskie Open” muskie tournament sponsored by The Musky Shop. We would like to send out a special thank you to all who participated, sponsored, and helped organize the area’s newest muskie fishing tournament.
The event was headquartered at Island City Lanes in Minocqua. Participants selected one area lake group from six options on which they could fish from 6am-4pm on Saturday June 28th. A total of 54 anglers of all ages hit the waters with eight muskies being caught and released during the event; which was pretty impressive when taking into account the nasty weather that moved thru the area the evening before the event.
Chad Popp of Wausau, WI caught the largest muskie at 46.25″ from the Clear, Carrol, Sweeney, Gilmore and Madeline Lake Group.
Second Place went to Randy Roepke, catching a 41″ muskie from the Big Arbor Vitae / Little Arbor Vitae Lake Group.
Third Place went to our web and media director, Andrew Ragas of www.ragasmedia.com, from Westchester, IL, catching a 40.75″ muskie from the Squirrel, Gunlock and Shishebogama Lake group.
Gift cards from The Musky Shop were presented to each of the top three finishers. Chad Popp also received a certificate for a replica mount from Fittante Taxidermy for catching the biggest fish of the Tournament.
This tournament was focused on getting family participation, with reduced entry fees as compared to other tournaments in the area. A special Youth Award of a custom Muskie Rod was made available thru Chuck Brod of Sportsmans Repair out of Mosinee. Comments from participants were very positive and with feedback like that, the boys from Northwoods Muskies plan to make this an annual event. Next year’s tournament will be slated for June 27, 2015.
Northwoods Muskies is focused on providing fun and informative events for its members, which include on the water events, guest speakers, tournaments, and banquets. The chapter is mainly interested in helping improve the fisheries of Northern Wisconsin and getting more young people involved with catching and releasing more muskies. Additional information about the Northwoods Muskies Chapter can be found online at www.northwoodsmuskies.com or on Facebook, keyword “Northwoods Muskies”.
2014 Northwoods Musky Open – Official Results
- Chadd Popp – 46.75″
- Randy Roepke – 41″
- Andrew Ragas – 40.75″
- Mike Sasse – 36.5″
- Steve Peterson – 36″
- Tim Lobner – 34″
- Gary Williams – 32″
- Jordan Judnic – 31.75″
