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You Can’t Catch Fish at 50 Miles per Hour

 Jul 27th, 2010 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Jul 27th, 2010 at 12:00 AM

Walleye First
Tournament Series

Most pro anglers started at the knee of a mentor — someone who cared enough to take them fishing.  That happened 30 years ago when Marianne Huskey’s grandpa showed her how to catch Lake Michigan perch.  It’s been non-stop fishing since, and she is now passing along her love of the sport as the NPAA youth program director for the AIM tournament series.

	AIM Bay City, Marianne gets the Lund ready for the day.

She’s also the only female fishing the pro division, and one of a handful of gals ever to have fished as a pro in pro-am walleye circuit history.  As a former coach, she feels that youngsters need to experience fishing.  “It means a lot to the industry, also, that we grow young anglers,” she said, “But for me, I know it’s important just to get kids outdoors.  They’ll carry this with them the rest of their lives.”

The NPAA youth event at Brimley, Michigan earlier this season drew the record number of kids ever to one of their youth events – more than 250 attended.  Marianne said, “You can make a difference by taking time for things you don’t get paid to do.”  She applauded all the pros who help her at every tournament.

She has a plan and a passion to promote and educate people about boating, fishing and camping.  Her son Gunnar, now 17, did not have the luxury of video games, because Marianne and her late husband Tom wanted him outside “in the creek,” as she described it.

She grew up in Charlevoix, Michigan, moving to St. Ignace in the UP with her husband who died in a tragic accident in 2009.  Together they ran a construction and design business as commercial and residential builders.  Marianne closed the doors this spring because her husband told her before he died that he didn’t want anyone else using his name.  Now, at 35, she moved to Shawano, Wisconsin, representing Green Energy Solutions as the state general manager. 

	Ready to launch!

“After Tom died, we had a big project underway.  Pro Mike McMaken, a friend and fellow UP contractor and his wife came to the rescue and helped me complete it,” she said.  “He wanted to expand one of his companies to Wisconsin, and with my construction background, it was a good fit,” she said.  She is now involved with wind and solar power, and excited about solar panels for charging boat batteries that will be introduced in 2011.  She also partners with Mike while on tour.  Green Energy, an alternative energy company, is also one of her major sponsors.

It’s all about the competition and the walleyes.  “Each time I think I know something about walleyes, they teach me something else,” she said.  “I love to compete; it’s in my blood.  After school, I missed the drive of basketball, skiing and running track, and actually found it when I fished my first ice fishing contest.  I know that sounds odd, but after the first walleye hit my jig (while perch fishing) I was hooked.”

Ice fishing was an all-day affair.  “We had a few winters off from construction, and after my son headed to school, I went to the lake,” she said.  The next step was obvious, and open water walleyes started when she purchased her first boat, a Lund 14-foot Alaskan.  It was perfect for Munuscong Bay’s shallows, and not knowing any different, she trolled Smile blades and crawlers in the prop wash and alongside the boat and slayed walleyes. 

Walleye anglers know the next steps.  Bigger water followed.  So did an 18-foot Lund Fisherman two years later.  Then, the Explorer models.  Now she drives a 2010 Explorer.  Marianne has continued to work with the same Lund dealer all these years, Maple Bay Marine (866-buy-lund) in Brutus, Michigan.  The dealer worked with her to secure Lund as a sponsor when she turned pro.

“The Explorer is a great boat for trolling, which is my strong suit anyway,” she said.  She promotes the economically-priced Explorer series, and explains at shows and dealerships that she was a customer (“on that end of the game”) and the Explorer works just as well on bigger water as any other boats.  “Most of all, the price points are right for the general public,” she said.  “It’s the perfect option for lots of families.”

The UP lakes, rivers and bays drew her into every back bay and rock pile.  The St. Mary’s River proved to be her college course in walleyes.  She fished Burt and Mullet lakes and Saginaw Bay, and spent a good chunk of six summers on Dog Lake in Ontario where she learned jigging, fishing the weeds, casting cranks and trolling.  “Nobody taught me about planer boards, I learned on my own, as I did with most tactics,” she said.

Those lessons pushed her to join and fish the Northern Lakes Walleye Club and Straits Area Sportsman’s Club tournaments.  “Anytime I could find a tournament within 50 miles, I fished it,” she said.  In 2008, she pre-fished a couple PWT tournaments and met many pro anglers.  “Mark Martin was the most influential and most encouraging,” she said.  When she described her plans to fish the Michigan Walleye Tour in 2009, a number of pros advised her to jump to the pro level instead.  “They told me I’d learn much more and do it faster on the pro level – Boy, were they right,” she laughed.  “The adrenaline pump in me really came back, and I live for each morning take-off.”

	Onstage at a 2010 AIM Tournament

 Admitting the learning curve jumped up almost vertically, Marianne said, “I’m really glad I chose to do AIM.  Catch-Record-Release is about the fisheries, and it’s important to keep them healthy.  I’m a lifetime member of AIM.”  Now in her second season on tour, Marianne listed the lessons she has learned so far.

1.    When I thought I was fishing shallow, it wasn’t even close.  Go Shallow! 

2.    No matter what happens on the water, pros must stay on their game.

3.    Fish your fish.

4.    Fish where the fish live.

5.    You can’t catch fish at 50 mph.

6.    Take care of your body.  Drink plenty of fluids on the water.

7.    Slow down!  For somebody who’s always in warp speed full of high-energy (like me) this isn’t easy.

8.    Even though my strongest tactic is trolling for suspended fish, I had to branch out and become proficient at the other techniques.

9.    Teaching is second-nature to me, a former coach, but I still need to explain the details to my amateur partners in the boat.  Most are afraid to ask questions, and to make them better anglers, I will show them everything. 

10.    Tweak presentations to trigger fish.  These may be different for every situation.  Make them bite!

11.    This is going to be a long-term commitment for me.  In the middle of my second season, I know that walleye competition is for me.  I have learned how strong I am, both mentally and physically, as a person.

12.    Keep smiling.  I zeroed one day, and still climbed on stage to face the crowd.  Pros in every sport have lived those days.  I know there will be better days. 

13.    My advice to any walleye angler wanting to learn — fish as an amateur or co-angler on a pro-am circuit.

14.    Stick with a plan.

Marianne has made progress on her 5-year plan.  “Fishing got me through
the dark season last year when my husband died,” she said, “I expect this sport to take me places I’ve never dreamed.”  Her website is up; she’s working with sponsors; will start her seminar-speaking schedule in January; and is filming with TV shows like Michigan Out of Doors and Midwest Outdoors.  She’s also working for a company she loves.

Her major tournament goal is to make each cut and cash some checks.  “I also want to eventually produce my own TV show.  I feel I’m exciting on TV.  I think TV should include ‘show and tell,’ but with enthusiasm.  Many shows are boring,” she said.

One of the regular questions she faces is about fishing as a gal.  Her answer since day one has been, “There’s no difference.  I’ve never had an issue and am not treated any differently.   This is not the ‘good ole boys club.’  We’re all the same.”  Marianne has worked in the construction business for 15 years – in a man’s world – and whatever happens on tour she considers normal, “I feel every woman should work for six months in a typical man’s job, and then they’d get it.”

Marianne’s sponsors: Green Energy Solutions, Lund boats, Mercury outboards, Maple Bay Marine, Navionics, JT Custom Tackle, Mack’s Lure, Optima batteries, Bert’s Custom Tackle, Team Outcast Muskey lures, Off Shore Tackle, and Elk River Custom Rods.

She’s also busy in the community.  She founded the St. Ignace soccer association, served on the city’s recreation and events committees, founded the Straits area water sports weekend, chaired the Mackinac Walk for Warmth, is a member of several sportsmen’s clubs, active in the Make a Wish foundation and directs NPAA youth events at all AIM tournaments.  She also has been a certified scuba diver since age 14 and attends all of her son’s football games. He’s a high school senior and plays middle linebacker.

    Website:  mariannehuskey.com

    Email:  [email protected]

    Cell:  906-430-1450