Professional Musky Tournament Trail Eagle River Mercury Marine Summer Challenge Results
Category: article
Jun 30th, 2020 by Keith Worrall
Modified Jun 30th, 2020 at 10:59 AM
Hahn and Wojtusik Win Mercury Marine Summer Challenge on Eagle River Chain
The Professional Musky Tournament Trail was finally able to start its season with its first qualifier event, the Mercury Marine’s Summer Challenge on the Eagle River Chain in Northern Wisconsin this past weekend June 27 th and 28 th . This annual event hosted by the Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center was certainly a breath of fresh air that everyone needed and the weather turned out spectacular for fishermen with mid eighty-degree temperatures and slight winds. The muskies cooperated also as 28 were caught on Saturday and 9 more on Sunday for a total of 37 muskies caught and released. There were 119 boats registered to compete in the event with some of them coming from as far away as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and St. Petersburg, Florida.
The winning team of Phil Hahn and Dan Wojtusik, locals from Eagle River, Wisconsin were pre fishing and casting Grandma crankbaits and twitched the bait hard on the way back to the boat and caught fish. During the tournament the two anglers committed to that bait and presentation and it paid off as they caught 3 muskies that were 35”, 36” and 43.75” to win first place and $17,000 prize. Wojtusik and Hahn were casting a shallow water weedy area near where trolling tournament participants were working a basin. Hahn and Wojtusik felt that the trollers pushed the muskies into the area that they were fishing.
James Carlson Sr. of West Bend, Wisconsin with Big Fish of the tournament a 45.50 inch Musky
Coming in second place was James Carlson Sr. of West Bend, Wisconsin and his nephew Tim Carlson of St. Petersburg, Florida. The Carlson’s caught muskies that were 44.50” and 45.50” which was also the big fish of the day for Saturday. The two anglers were casting baby depth raiders and shad rap crankbaits near weeds while keeping the boat in 8 to 10-foot depth. In third place were Eric Jorgenson of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin and Jon Pahl of Appleton, Wisconsin. The two anglers caught 43” and 43.75” muskies while casting bucktails over shallow water weeds. Jorgenson and Pahl`s 43.75” musky ended up being the largest musky caught on Sunday. In fourth place was Mark Lijewski of Minocqua, Wisconsin and Jeff Piazza of Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin. The two anglers were casting twitch baits aggressively in shallow water.
Back row left to right 2nd Place Son and Father Team Tim Carlson of St. Petersburg, Florida and James Carlson Sr. of West Bend, Wisconsin, 3rd Place Jon Pahl of Appleton, Wisconsin and Eric Jorgenson of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, Front Row Left to Right 1st Place Phil Hahn and Dan Wojtusik of Eagle River, Wisconsin
Rounding out the top five places was the husband and wife team from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was Rick and Sarah Hoover. The Hoovers used Cross Bone and River slick baits to persuade their 3 muskies of 32.75”, 35” and 39” into biting. The Hoover`s caught their muskies trolling their 4” baits at 4 mph with 50 feet of line out in open water around suspended bait. Tournament Director Tim Widlacki thanked all the PMTT`s fantastic sponsors, especially Mercury Marine for sponsoring the tournament and the entire trail. Also, the Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center for hosting the event and the great hospitality they and the entire town have given us every year. Also, Ranger Boats, Musky Hunter Magazine, Okoboji Tourism, Keyes Outdoors, Motorguide, Chaos Tackle, Treelands Resort, Vitaminerals, Feldstrein Jeweler’s, Morehead Tourism, Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Association and all the associate and contributing sponsors. Please let these fine people 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
Musky Hunter Big Fish for Sunday Eric Jorgenson of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Top Ten Leader Board
Our next event will be the Musky Hunter Magazine`s Late Summer Showdown on the Spirit & Okoboji Chain of Lakes, August 29-30 in Northwest Iowa. Hosted by Vacation Okoboji Tourism, this will be the first time the PMTT has a qualifying tournament on these musky filled water and should be an awesome event. To obtain more information on becoming a member of the PMTT, or to view event photo album, please visit us on the web at www.promusky.com or call the PMTT office at 815-478-4092.