V OLUME 1 2 , I SSUE 4 M AY 2 012 Check us out at: 2012 Calendar WWW.LACROSSEMUSKIES.COM May 5-South of Hwy 10 opener 22-Speaker Club Meeting May Speaker Meeting to feature Brief club meeting 6:30 Speaker Eric Larson starts Eric Larsen at 7 pm 26-North of Hwy 10 opener June 1-3 Kleeba Challenge Eric Larsen, owner of of props. He will cover Green Bay in search Hosted by Capital City Rubber Hairy Baits, making your own of, in his words; 2-Minnesota opener will be our guest leaders and trolling “Thee fish!” 21-23 Holcombe Club speaker at our May techniques. Outing at Pine Point. We 22nd meeting. Eric primarily fishes Hope to see you have our regular campsites musky in Vilas and reserved. Leif Chair there! Onieda countys in 26-Regular Club Meeting Eric’s talk will be about "Big fish waters northern Wisconsin. and tactics". He will He writes for Musky July talk about what lakes Hunter magazine, He 24-Regular Club Meeting fishes the WMT and 27– Castle Rock/Petenwell and which lures he Silent Auction uses. His average PMTT tournaments Mazzone chair and other various Full day guided trip sized musky this year with Eric Larsen in was 46 inches. tournaments. Northeast Wisconsin August This will be a hands In addition to owning for two people is 17-18 Lake Winter Outing on demonstration lots his own lure company open for silent auc- Bob Nontelle chair he is a full time guide. tion. The trip is for He guides in Vilas and 28-Regular Club Meeting 2012. Please submit Onieda counties and your bid to Mike W. September Lure Swap and Sale northeastern Wiscon- or bring to the May 8-Highway cleanup Bring your extra lures to sin in the Fox Valley 22 speaker meeting. the May meeting, we will area. 25-Regular Club Meeting Bid closing is 7 pm have in informal swap For the last 5 years he May 22 at the Amer- and sale. This will be a has concentrated on October great chance to clean out ican Legion in La- the Winnebago sys- 23-Regular Club Meeting and/or refill your tackle Crosse. box. tem and the bay of 2012 OFFICERS Holcombe Outing June 21-23 President Mike Weidemann Our first club outing of the Fishing will be limited to N2725 Garbers Rd. season will be at Pine Point the Holcombe Flowage La Crosse, WI 54601 Campground in Holcombe and it’s boat able tribu- (608) 792-7722 on June 21-23. Our regular taries. Fishermen must [email protected] campsites on the point have attend the noon lunch on been reserved. Saturday to be eligible for Vice President Thank You Please contact Leif Tolokken contest prizes. First place Scott Cornish will be a Fig Rig limited 1433 Jackson St. soon if you are planning to edition 7 foot medi- La Crosse, WI 54601 Jim Wiltinger and White- attend. We are having the um/heavy rod. (608) 787-8776 tails Unlimited donated lunch catered by Big Swede’s [email protected] $500 to our club in ex- and must have a solid num- Let’s go fishing! change for assistance at ber of attendees. Secretary a recent banquet. Jim Mazzone Thanks to Jim for this N7023 Bice Ave. opportunity. Thanks to Holmen, WI 54636 those who helped out at Tips from Steve Gensen (608) 526-2317 that banquet. [email protected] Thank you Brad Foss for Steve Genson focused his might be the difference organizing and also the fishing tips on the Shield lakes between enticing the fish to Treasurer guys who helped build of northern WI, MN and Cana- strike or pass by. Any time Leif Tolokken the kiosk at Neshonic. da at our speaker meeting last the lure changes speed or 902 Lakeview Dr. See next page for details. month. Steve had great sea- direction the odds of a hit La Crosse, WI 54603 sonal tips for fishing the type increase. (608) 386-2675 Thank you folks who of structure these lakes fea- Summer, July to late Septem- ture. [email protected] helped pick up our sec- ber, is when fish are most active on the shield. The best tion of highway. Steve is a professional guide (www.fishhunts.com) and fish- technique this time of year is RVP erman from the Hayward area. to hit as many spots as possi- Bob Nontelle He placed 8th overall in the ble. Keep casts close to 1301 Townsend St. Mailing List PMTT last year. shoreline and keep moving. Focus on deep weed edges, La Crosse, WI 54601 Early spring, opener thru July, ten to twenty feet, work fronts (608) 799-4030 We are constantly updating is the time to find Musky up in of bays instead of back edges [email protected] both the hard copy mailing the shallows of bays following that are more productive in list and the email list. If the spawn. Do not be afraid to the spring. Places where fish in very shallow water, look there are a combination of Release Chair you are getting a hard copy for warm spots. Lures should multiple structure types in one John DeGeorge of the newsletter, and mimic bait fish which are typi- area are usually active feed- 44508 Oakview LP would be happy with an cally small this time of year. As ing areas. Large bucktails Rushford, MN 55971 email version, please let us the season progresses fish reign supreme. Work areas with a lot of big water behind (507) 864-7828 know. The email version move out of the bays toward you. [email protected] does not have a cost to the the deeper water. club. This newsletter is Steve stressed the importance Fall fishing, October thru November, can be very pro- of using a figure eight, every Prize Chair also available to view on ductive. Feeding windows are cast, boat side. That motion Jim and Diane Mazzone the club website. smaller and less frequent, so N7023 Bice Ave. sometimes you end up fishing long hours trying to hit the Holmen, WI 54636 window. The key is finding (608) 526-2317 the baitfish. Often Musky follow the schools of cisco Newsletter into the same areas every year. If you have had suc- Kim Smith cessful spots in the past, 1371 County Road SS work those multiple times Onalaska, WI 54650 throughout the day looking for (608) 783-0567 the feeding window. If you catch a fish stay there, Musky [email protected] often travel in packs in the fall. Page 2 Volume 12, Issue 4 Neshonoc Kiosk Complete A year and a half of planning finally came to fruition with the construction of the Lake Neshonoc informational kiosk on Satur- day, April 21. A group of ten chapter members, including Mike Wiedemann, Dean Hart, Jim Oldenberg, Brad Foss, Bill Kele- men, Tim Wells, Bob Nontelle, Nate Wells, Jim Hawkins, and Jim Mazone assisted Jim Wing, from Wing Construction, and Jim’s partner John in the construction. The kiosk stands about eight feet high and has four, 4’ x 4’ Plexiglas covered panels that can be used to display information. Plans are to post a colored map of Lake Neshonoc, information on invasive species and muskie/northern pike identification, pertinent fishing regulations, and photos of lake association projects, such as fish crib build- ing. While construction of the kiosk is complete, a work day will need to be scheduled in the upcoming months to stain the kiosk after the treated wood used in the construction has had a chance to dry. Highway Cleanup/Annual Social/Bar Olympics Report Saturday April 28th was a busy day for many club mem- bers. The day started at 8 am for the spring highway cleanup. Thank you for the good turn out of helpers, in spite of the cold rainy weather. Club members gathered later that night for the annual social which included com- petition for the coveted Chuck Taylor converse high top traveling trophy. The competition was fierce and includ- ed many games, some not requiring any skill at all. At the end of the evening last year’s winner Lynn St. Jacque turned the trophy over to this year’s champion Kim Smith. It was a great opportunity to get to know newer club members better and have fun with old friends. Please consider participating next year! God’s Country Page 3 God’s Country Muskies, Inc. P.O. Box 1461 LaCrosse, WI 54602 May Speaker Meeting Features Eric Larsen Page 4 Volume 12, Issue 4 .