Record Musky Caught and Father & Son Team Win PMTT – Musky Hunter Fall Meltdown
Category: News Release
Aug 11th, 2015 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Aug 11th, 2015 at 12:00 AM
When you hear the lake named Vermilion near Tower, Minnesota the first thing that comes to mind is big muskies. That is exactly what the anglers of the Professional Musky Tournament
Trail ran into this past weekend as 225 of the best musky fishermen in the world hit the water under partly cloudy skies with air and water temps both in the low 70’s for the Musky Hunter Magazine’s Fall Meltdown held on Lake Vermilion August 7th & 8th. Big fish were in an overabundance as a truly goliath, world class size musky was caught that measured at 57.50″ by the team of Kory Kosek of Stewart, MN and Chris Chase of Farmington, MN. That musky was the largest ever recorded during a PMTT tournament in 17 years. To put in perspective just how good the fishing was for large muskies during this tournament, that record size fish came in 18th place as there were 79 muskies registered in the two day event.
The first place winners of this final qualifying event of the PMTT this year are the father and son team of Bob and Andrew Judnick of Virginia, MN. These two anglers caught 5 large muskies up to 50.75″ and had a great fish story behind it to take the win. The last fish on day 2 came in on Andrews’s bait and hit on the first turn of the figure eight. The four foot long fish was hooked and Bob quickly tried to net the musky. While trying to net the musky, the lure that was in its mouth got caught on the outside of the net and would not go in the net. Andrew knelt down and tried to grab the tail of the fish and get it in the net. Andrew slipped and fell into the water. Then Andrew held onto the boat with one hand and put his other arm around the fish trying to get it in the net. Bob dipped the net, grabbed the muskies head and together they flipped the musky into the net. This gave the two anglers the win, two beautiful 1st place trophies and over $16,000 in cash! The Judnicks were casting Double Cowgirl bucktails by Musky Mayhem Tackle and reeled them as fast as they could in two to four feet of water on windblown rocky points to catch muskies of 43.75, 46.25, 48, 48.25 and 50.75 inches.
In second place were Brian Fitzpatrick of Eagan, MN. and Jason Long of Appleton, WI. who used a variety of baits while covering as much water as possible. Fitzpatrick and Long’s muskies sizes were 35.25, 35.50, 36.50, 36, 39.75 and 45.25 inches. In third place with muskies that were 39.75, 40.75, 44.50 and 45 inches were Mike Lee and Ryan McMahon of the Twin Cities, MN. area. Their muskies were coaxed into biting Showgirl bucktails that were casted towards rocks and wind blown points.
In fourth place was Anthony Wiesner of Tower, Mn. and Andrew Hutter of Twin Cities, MN. These two anglers used Apache triple bladed bucktails casting in the rocks to boat muskies of 41.25, 38.50, 39.75, 42.50 and 42.50 inches long. Rounding out the top five was Connor Cusack and Matt Snyder of Tower, MN. With muskies that were 44.50, 45 and 46 inches in length. These two anglers used surface baits and bucktails in black color patterns to catch their muskies. Their fish were found by retrieving baits near rocky windblown shorelines also.
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, Bay View Lodge, Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce, Morehead Tourism, Keyes Outdoors, Chaos Tackle, Musky Mayhem Tackle 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.
Our final event, Ranger Boats World Championship will be held on Lake Wissota near Chippewa Falls, WI. on September 26th & 27th. We hope that you will continue to follow the results of this exciting musky season. 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.