Carlisle and Genson Win PMTT Musky Hunter Magazine Event
Category: Tournament
Aug 13th, 2014 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Aug 13th, 2014 at 12:00 AM
The Professional Musky Tournament Trail visited renowned Mille Lacs Lake for the third and final qualifier event of 2014 schedule, Musky Hunter Magazine’s Fall Meltdown. The anglers had high hopes of encounters with the huge muskies that swim in these waters, though pre-fishing proved to be an extremely tough bite that carried over into the tournament.
On Saturday warm air temperatures and sunny almost flat calm wind conditions gave the muskies a case of lock jaw. Unbelievably only one musky cooperated and was caught from the 87 boats registered to compete in the event. The musky that was caught measured 34.50″ and was obviously the big fish of the day prize for $500.
Sunday brought beautiful musky fishing weather in any musky fisherman’s eyes with light rain and drizzle almost all day with a light southeast wind. It definitely helped as 5 muskies were caught on Sunday with some real giant ones hitting the net. Two anglers found a successful pattern that worked for them, Ryan Carlisle of Moundsville, Minnesota and Steve Genson of Stone Lake, Wisconsin was the only team to catch two muskies and ended up winning the tournament. Carlisle and Genson discussed their pre fishing tactics for 5 days prior to the event and not seeing a musky. On Saturday, Carlisle and Genson did not have any action so on Sunday they started going and fishing some of their specific waypoint spots that they had saved on their electronics over the years. Having fished this lake many times this turned out to be the huge advantage that they had. Carlisle and Genson fished Vineland Bay, a large weedy bay on the southwest end of the lake for an hour and did not catch or see any musky.
They left and came back at 11:30 and nailed a nice musky of 48.75″. Then they went around and worked the area again and caught another musky at 12:15 that measured 42.25″. The idea that these two fine anglers found was that over the years the muskies on Mille Lacs either like very large bait fished slow or small bait fished really fast. The second tactic turned out to be the successful one as they were burning Showgirl bucktails by Mayhem Tackle as fast as they could be reeled triggered the fish. The two muskies were enough to win first prize that consisted of two beautiful trophies and over $12,000 in prize money.
In second place with the largest musky ever caught in the 16 year history of the Professional Musky Tournament Trail, a behemoth 55.50″ (also big fish of the day for Sunday worth $500) were Joey Rozanski of Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin and Mark Gillich of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Remarkably this was their first time to Mille Lacs and they caught the beautiful musky which was the largest they had ever caught. Ironically the two anglers had outboard motor problems and they could not travel far so they fished around the ease out location.
In third place with a super tanker heavy musky that measured 53″ were Ethan Rogers and Robert Strand of Bemidji, Minnesota. Their musky was caught on a Cowgirl bucktail fished high in the water column over weed beds. In fourth place were Dave Holzmer of Cottage Grove, Minnesota and Josh Wetzstein of Wanamingo, Minnesota with a 36.75″ musky. The two anglers caught their fish trolling depth raider crank baits over mud flats in the main lake over deep water. Wyan Chockbergbourne and Jason Walls of Bainbridge, Ohio finished in fifth place. The two anglers ripped Bulldawg baits on the weed edge in Vineland Bay to entice their 34.5″ fish.
The Professional Musky Tournament Trail Ranger Boats World Championship will be held on Pewaukee Lake West of Milwaukee, Wisconsin September 20 & 21. Stay tuned for the exciting results to see who will be crowned PMTT World Champions and also the Top Gun Team of the year.
Tournament director Tim Widlacki thanked all of the PMTT’s fantastic sponsors especially Musky Hunter Magazine for sponsoring the tournament. Also Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, Eagle River Chamber of Commerce, Morehead Tourism, Keyes Outdoors, Chaos Tackle, Musky Mayhem Tackle, Crash`s Landing, IllinoisCCWclasses.com 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.
To obtain more information on becoming a member of the PMTT, or to view event photo album, please visit them on the Web @ www.promusky.com or call PMTT office @: 815-478-4092