Have you ever heard that the first time is the charm in musky fishing? Well that is just what it was for the two brothers of Ben Michlig from Minoqua, WI and his brother Matt Michlig from Milwaukee WI when they went to compete in the PMTT tournament, Musky Hunter Magazine’s Fall Meltdown on September 17 & 18 on the Madison Chain of Lakes. The Michlig’s had never been on these waters but felt confident in their musky fishing capabilities, having won some other big money musky tournaments in other areas.
They started the tournament fishing on Lake Monona on Saturday near a few current areas where creeks came into the lake and they found a few active muskies and ended up catching their first musky of the tournament. On Sunday the Michligs fished the same spot for 2 hours and did not move a musky. They noticed the area had changed and there was not much current and it was void of muskies. They decided to try Waubesa Lake since it had a little darker stained water they thought that it would be better because of the high blue skies and no wind. They went to a large weedy area and concentrated on ripping jerk baits through the weeds. Their move proved to be a smart as the two anglers caught two more muskies in a 40 minute period to seal the win in exciting fashion. Their muskies of 36.75”, 40.50” and Big Fish for the day Sunday of 47.25”
Won them the 1st place trophies and a prize package worth $13,620 plus $500 for big fish Sunday.
In second place Matt Raley of Minoqua, WI and Nate Osfer of Marathon City, WI who gave the Michligs a run for the money the whole tournament. These two are some of the best and determined fishermen to come along in a long time. The two anglers used jerk baits ripping them through milfoil weed beds. Their muskies were 40, 40.75 and 43.50 inches and all caught in the same general area on Monona Lake. In third place were Jesse Dobush of Washington, IL and Rick McCellan of Manotowish Waters, WI who caught two muskies that were 47 and 44 inches. These two anglers caught their muskies in shallow milfoil weed beds on purple and black buck
tails.
In fourth place were Michael LeGrande and Gary Franz from the Madison, WI area. They were the day one leaders with a 48 and 40.25 inch muskies. On day two they had one on that would have put them on top but they did not get it in the net. The two angler’s 48 inch musky was also the big fish of the day for Saturday. Rounding out the top five places was Jason Walls and Wyan Chockbengboune with a 41.50 and 40 inch muskies. Jason was fishing alone and was reeling his buck tails as fast as he could reel them to trigger his muskies to bite. He was fishing a deep weed edges with copper and gold flake colored blades.
There were 27 muskies caught on Saturday and 21 muskies caught on Sunday for a total of 48 with plenty of large muskies over 40 inches caught. Tournament director Tim Widlacki thanked all of the PMTT’s fantastic sponsors especially Musky Hunter Magazine for sponsoring the Madison Chain event. Also Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce, Morehead Tourism, Keyes Outdoors, Chaos Tackle, Musky Mayhem Tackle, Vita-Minerals and all of the associate and contributing sponsors. Please let these fine people know that you appreciate their promotional efforts in support of fresh waters most challenging fish and those extreme anglers who chase her on the first, best and only truly national professional musky tournament circuit, the PMTT.
Please stay tuned for the conclusion of our tournament schedule as next month we go to Miltona Lake near Miltona, Minnesota for the Professional MuskyTournament Trail Ranger Boats World Championship, October 22 and 23. The top 35 teams get to compete for the 1st place prize package of a brand new 2017 Ranger 619 Fishermen, Ranger Trailer powered by a Mercury Marine Outboard worth over $40,000.
To obtain more information, please visit them www.promusky.com or call PMTT office @: 815-478-4092
By: Duane Landmeir, PR Mgr
