Northwoods Chapter Challunge Hosts the Larry Kleeba Challunge!
On June 16, 17 and 18, 2017, our NMI chapter hosted the Larry Kleeba Challunge on area muskie waters. The Kleeba Challunge is a traveling tournament that gives the opportunity for Muskies Inc. chapters throughout the state to gather at different locations for the opportunity of camaraderie and friendly competition.
Despite on and off heavy rainfall, the event was a resounding success by all accounts. There were fifty-three total participants representing 7 of the 10 Muskies Inc. chapters in Wisconsin. Thank to the Musky Shop for hosting the Kleeba registration and happy hour will be on Friday June 16th from 5 to 8 pm at the Musky Shop in Minocqua. Beverages were provided by NMI.
Continuous fishing hours commenced at 6 am on Saturday, June 17 and ended 11 am Sunday, June 18th (except for a two hour break from 4 to 6 pm Saturday for a NMI sponsored food and beverage at Fibbers Resort). Participants were allowed to select one of the following lake groups:
- Group 1: Minocqua chain: Minocqua Lake, Kawaguesaga Lake, Mid Lake, Tomahawk, and Little Lake Tomahawk
- Group 2: Big Arbor Vitae Lake, Little Arbor Vitae Lake
- Group 3: Clear Lake, Madeline Lake, Carroll Lake, Sweeney Lake, Gilmore Lake
- Group 4: Shishebogama Lake, Gunlock Lake, Squirrel Lake
- Group 5: Brandy Lake, Arrowhead Lake, Johnson Lake
- Group 6: Big Saint Germain Lake, Little Saint Germain Lake
Seven muskies between 30.25 and 40-inches were registered on Saturday and one 36-inch muskie was registered on Sunday. With the “home field advantage”, teams from the NMI chapter were able to finish in first and third place. A summary of the results is as follows:
First place: Northwoods chapter team 2 with Brent Kiedrowski catching 30.5 and 36-inch muskies and Bryan Schaeffer catching a 40-inch muskie from Gilmore and Carol lakes.
Second place: Milwaukee chapter team 1 with Craig Eider and Scott Wilkie catching 38.5 and 38.75-inch muskies from Squirrel Lake.
Third place: Northwoods chapter team 3 with Jim Cheshire and Tim Henquinet catching 30.25 and 33.5-inch muskies from Shishebogama Lake.
Fourth place: Headwaters chapter team 2 with Jim Edwards catching a 36-inch muskie for Little Arbor Vitae Lake.
We would like to thank all the Kleeba Challunge participants. We would also like to thank our sponsors for this event including the Musky Shop, Fibbers Bar and Resort, Draeger Design Group, and Ragas Media. I would like to particularly thank Rob and Kaye Manthei at Fibbers as many of the out of town participants personally told me how impressed they were with the shaved prime rib sandwich and potato salad dinner served on Saturday.
We would like to also thank the Town of Minocqua for providing their sports center pavilion free of charge for awards ceremony on Sunday. Due to torrential rains, this saved the day as we all enjoyed pizza and beverages provided by our chapter dry and in comfort.
