Wisconsin Muskie Tour
REDEMPTION FOR THE KREJCI’S ON PIKE/ROUND LAKE CHAIN
The Wisconsin Muskie Tour’s (WMT) Northern Region opened up at the Pike/Round Lake Chain on Saturday, June 9. After severe cold front passed through on Friday, the clear, sunny skies and the calm conditions would make for a weekend of tough fishing, producing eleven muskies for the event.
The first muskie of the one-day qualifying tournament would be measured at 7:22 AM by the team of Al and Brad Wirt when they scored a 34 1⁄2-incher. At 7:32 AM, Ron and Ryan Meyer would add to the fishing action with a 38 1⁄4- inch muskie. The team of Neil Barnett and Bill Hill would tally a 37-inch muskie at 7:42 AM. Carl and Mario Graceffa would register the largest muskie of the contest at 10:43 AM, 44 1⁄4 inches. By 11:37 AM, Ken and Keith Krejci scored their second fish of the day, a 37-incher at 9:45AM; they would be the only team to double up, giving them a first-place finish. Grabbing third place, with a 42-inch muskie at 11:24 AM, was the team of Mark Lijewski and Clay Schroeder.
Ken and Keith Krejci are not unfamiliar with fishing tournaments on the Pike/Round Lake Chain. In 2004, the WMT hosted the Invitational Championship on the chain with the Krejci’s leading on the final day of the competition, only to lose the lead and the championship with 14 minutes left in the tourney. “Throughout the day, the fact that we had lost the championship on this chain, with only minutes remaining in the event, was in the back of our minds,” said Ken Krejci. “When we doubled this year, we were both thinking that maybe, this time, it will pay off. Winning this time helps make up for the disappointment in 2004.” Ken explained his winning pattern: ”We didn’t do any prefishing. During the tournament, we traveled over a hole in the weed flats that was about 20 feet across. When we started fishing the area, we noticed a pod of baitfish, small perch I think they were, and we probably made eight casts there with a Bull Dawg and caught our two legals and a sub-legal.” Ken concluded, “This was different than what we did in 2004. Our fish back then came on the weed flats and we were using Suick’s.”
Other teams to tally muskies were:
Jeff Langlois & Kent Stadler 35 1⁄4” at 9:15am, George & Patrick Kingsland 34 1⁄4” at 9:45am, Bob Davis & Paul VanGemert 38 3⁄4” at 1:44pm, Jim Olson & James Holloway 35” at 3:05pm.
The Pike/Round Lake Chain tournament top five winners:
1st place” The Pike/Round tournament paid down five places (sponsors: Heckel’s Marina, Brickner’s Chrysler Center, and Pro-Motor Sports
2nd place: Carl & Mario Graceffa
3rd place: Mark Lijewski & Clay Schroeder
4th place: Ron & Ryan Meyer
5th place: Neil Barnett & Bill Hill
GEORGE AND PATRICK KINGSLAND WIN SQUIRREL LAKE TOURNEY
On Sunday, June 10, Squirrel Lake hosted the second of four one-day WMT qualifying tournaments for the Northern Region. Conditions would prove to make the fishing difficult, as it was the third day after the major cold front, with clear skies and dead-calm winds. The competitors managed to scratch out nine muskies for the day on a very tough bite as compared to the previous year’s favorable conditions and 23 muskies.
Brad Jorgensen and Rob Rodziczak would capture the first legal muskie of the day at 7:17 AM, a hefty trophy that measured 44 1⁄4 inches. George and Patrick Kingsland would tally the next muskie at 7:34 AM that scored 38 1⁄4 inches. At 11:14 AM, Brad and Al Wirt measured a 36 3⁄4-inch muskie. The first double of the contest came at 12:19 PM when Kraig Kolka and Andy Mann scored on a 35 1⁄2-incher to add to their previous catch of 38 3⁄4 inches at 8:41 AM. In a span of just nine minutes, two more muskies would be measured for the contest with Jeff Piazza and Ivan Stross tallying a 371⁄2-incher at 1:06 PM, and at 1:15 PM, Neil Barnett and Bill Hill would score on a 35-inch muskie. The second team to score two muskies for the contest would be the Kingsland’s at 1:30 PM, with one that measured at 39 1⁄4 inches. At 2:42 PM, Bob and Scott Miesbauer caught the last muskie of the day, measuring 44 1⁄4 inches.
George and Patrick Kingsland would have a fantastic year in 2007, finishing in second place in the WMT’s Lapp Trophy standings for the team of the year. “Much of our success this year and last year, comes directly from fishing the WMT, watching and listening to the other anglers, trying new techniques that have made us more complete anglers.” George Kingsland humbly explained. “We knew where the hot spots were the year before on Squirrel, and we spotted a lot of baitfish and big fish on our graph the Friday before the tourney. We started out on the rock point that was so productive in 2006, but didn’t get anything going and this time there was no fish on the fish-finder. After an hour, we moved to a 19-foot deep slot, and within 15 minutes we caught our first muskie for the day. We were having trouble with our trolling motor all day, making it hard to stay on the deep weed edges, so we concentrated on mid-lake humps, setting up our drifts with our gas motor.” George continued “Later in the day, we went back to that rock point and caught our second, with both coming on a Bull Dawg.
The Squirrel Lake top five winners:
1st place: George & Patrick Kingsland (sponsors: Kingsland Construction, Heckel’s Marina, G.Loomis, Smokey’s Muskie Shop, and Frabill)
2nd place: Andy Mann & Kraig Kolka
3rd place: Brad Jorgensen & Rob Rodziczak
4th place: Bob & Scott Miesbauer
5th place: Al & Brad Wirt
Sponsor partners for the Wisconsin Muskie Tour are Heckel’s Marina, G Loomis, Smokey’s Musky Shop, Fittante Taxidermy, Rollie & Helen’s Musky Shop, Frabill, Tommy Docks, Mike’s Musky Shores, and Badger Sportsman magazine. For more information about the Wisconsin Muskie Tour, log onto www.wmtseries.com or call (715) 369-1394. The 2008 season schedule will be available soon!