The second leg of the 2015 Professional Musky Tournament Trail (PMTT), “Mercury Marine’s Summer Challenge” took place on June 27th & 28th at the Eagle River Chain of Lakes, WI. An annual event hosted by the Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce, had a full field of 125 teams competing in this musky filled chain of lakes

The anglers were welcomed calm wind, sunny and warm weather conditions on Saturday and most of the day on Sunday when it turned partly cloudy and breezy. Two local Eagle River area anglers Tim Miller of Sugar Camp, WI. and Brian Krelle of Eagle River, WI. ended up winning the tournament by a narrow margin of 5 points, with three muskies up to 42.50″. Miller and Krelle used bulldawg lures in dark colors and twitched these baits very hard in and around thick patches of weeds in four feet of water or less to entice their fish into biting. Their hard work paid off when they received two large 1st place trophies and a check for $20,000. 

In second place was Nate Osfer of Marathon City, WI. and Matt Raley of Minocqua, WI. These two anglers won last years PMTT Eagle River event so they were no stranger to success on the Eagle River Chain. Osfer and Raley used Medussa Baits in shallow weeds to contact their muskies and caught three up to 41.50″ and won $5,000 for 2nd. In third place with 3 muskies to 37.5″ were Dewey and Jonathon Stewart of Pawnee, IL. The father and son used Rizzo Whiz spinners on weed edges and in the thickest weeds while keeping their boat in seven feet of water. In fourth place with two muskies up to 42″ was Joel Ertle of Minneapolis, MN. and Ben Michlig of Manitowish Waters, WI. These two anglers caught their muskies in current areas with bucktails while avoiding boat traffic.  Rounding out the top five in fifth place was Ross Korpela and John Adkins of Carlton, MN. These two anglers caught muskies of 39″ and 33.50″ on Bulldawgs. 

The big fish of the Mercury Marine event measured 44″ was caught by the team of Darren Ballke of Fredonia, MN. and Todd Reineking of Saukville, WI. That musky netted the two anglers a big fish award check of $500.

Tournament director Tim Widlacki thanked all of the PMTT’s fantastic sponsors especially Mercury Marine for their continued support and the Eagle River Area Chambers of Commerce for hosting this annual event. Also Ranger Boats, Musky Hunter Magazine, Morehead Tourism, Keyes Outdoors, Chaos Tackle, Musky Mayhem Tackle, Crash`s Landing 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.

If you would like to join us in fishing our next event at Vermilion Lake, Minnesota in August, there are still a few openings. 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