Fall was definitely in the air at the Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Association @ Treelands Resort Fall Meltdown on September 26th & 27th. The cool temperatures, cloudy skies, beautiful fall colors and some great musky fishing were in order for the field of 83 boats on the Chippewa Flowage this past weekend. Many of the anglers had never fished the Flowage before so it was a treat to finally get to fish these legendary waters. There is so much musky fishing history of this famed water and the anglers really enjoyed seeing what the Chippewa Flowage was all about. The Chip did not disappoint the anglers as they caught a total of 38 muskies and a lot of the them reported having some musky action from the fabled waters.
The father and son team of Mike Raczynski of Fox Lake, WI and Dan Raczynski of Grafton, WI. had never been to the Chip before. On day one they fished a lot of different spots and finally found a shallow bar with some muskies on it. The Raczynski were casting Medussa’s in and around thick shallow weeds and caught three muskies up to 44.50”, which was also big fish for the tournament. The father and son team took home the 1st place hardware and $12,000 cash for their efforts. In second place was local guide Ty Sennett of Hayward, WI and his brother Tait Sennett from Princeville, IL. The Sennett brothers fished many spots running and gunning, fishing spots to see if they could make contact with as many muskies and areas as they could. They succeeded by catching four muskies up to 40” on bucktails, crankbaits and rubber in dark or perch colors.
In third place was Charlie and Matt Ridgway of Des Moines, Iowa. The Ridgways were forced to fish areas not too far from the take off point because of boat problems. Their misfortune paid off as they caught a musky in a weed bed that they drifted into and kept fishing the area. They were casting Medussa and Bulldawg lures in the thick weedpatch and caught three muskies up 39.75’. In fourth place was the husband and wife team of Rick and Sarah Hoover of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Hoovers used walk the dog topwater lures near shallow weed beds to entice 40.25” and 43.25” muskies into biting. The 43.25” musky was also the big fish for Saturday. Rounding out the top five was Mark Rue of Glenview, Illinois and Ladd Wildeson of Eagle River, Wisconsin. These two anglers used topwaters and bucktails in shallow weeds on one shoreline that they concentrated on the whole time and caught three muskies up to 35”.
Tournament Director Tim Widlacki thanked all the PMTT`s fantastic sponsors, especially the Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Association and Treelands Resort for host the tournament. Also, Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, Chaos Tackle, Musky Hunter Magazine, Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce, Okoboji Tourism, Keyes Outdoors, MotorGuide, Vitaminerals, Feldstrein Jeweler’s, Morehead Tourism and all the associate and contributing sponsors. Please let these fine folks know that you appreciate their promotional efforts in support of freshwater’s most challenging fish and those extreme anglers who chase her on the first, best and only truly national Professional Musky Tournament Trail circuit, the PMTT.
By: Duane Landmeir, PR Mgr
