Saturday, June 15th 2013 at Mayfield Lake: Chapter #57 Tiger Muskie Tournament:
As this was a "Members Only" Tournament, 12 Chapter anglers met up at the boat launch about an hour past sun-up. Nice summer morning to be on the water. The day turned warm; 70 degrees, partly sunny. Tigers were seen, but they were easily spooked. Not many weeds yet in the beds.
Team Brett Olsen and Pete Bergman managed to put a thrashing 36 incher in the net to win the tourney with one tiger. Brett says it almost took his finger when he went to get her out of the net, lol. Netman Pete managed to get a great video of the action.
Another VERY important fish was landed by Chapter Member Jesse French who put his very FIRST muskie in the net. She was a respectable 28 incher; not big enough to count in the tourney, but as every esox angler knows; a first muskie is a memory keeper. This one represents many, many hours of dedication & at least 10k casts by Jesse. Congratulations! See photo below.
The water levels had risen up about 4 feet in the last 2 weeks, which naturally brought out a pool full of deadheads. Always good to be careful with that much debris in the water. Water temps ranged from 47 degrees at one of the inlets to about 60 degrees average elsewhere.
Tournament Director Dan Fuller says “Fishing was slow, but camping out with everyone was fun."