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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | KELLET & ZUELZKE'S 51 INCH MUSKY TAKES 1ST AND $17,300 !
Immediate Release:
2004 Professional Musky Tournament Trail
MUSKY HUNTER MAGAZINE FALL SHOWDOWN
Championship Qualifier # 4
Lake Minnetonka - Minneapolis, MN
Sat. & Sun. September 25th & 26th, 2004
Bob "the Fin-Addict" Osborne
Public Relations Director, PMTT
Local Excelsior, MN resident Shawn Kellet and partner Troy Zuelzke of nearby Watertown enjoyed a heaping helping of "hometown cooking" this weekend, besting a field of more than 250 top Pro and avid amateur Musky anglers gathered here on the mighty 'Tonka for their last chance to claim a berth in the 2004 PMTT Ranger Boats World Championship taking place next month on Lake Chautauqua, New York when they caught and safely released a fish each day, registering a respectable 42-incher on day one ... then closing the deal in grand style with a massive 51-inch Minnetonka beauty Sunday morning to claim day two's $500 "Big Fish" award, 1st Place Title, Trophy and check ... totaling $17,300!
Shawn, a guide on these waters and Regional Vice President of the local Twin Cities Chapter of Muskies Inc, went on to share, "We were on the north side of Gale Island and were using a one-two punch of an white Eagle Tail buck tail w/nickel blades in the front of the boat followed by a perch pattern Phantom jerk bait in the back. These represent two of the top prey species on this system (crappie & perch) and we were moving a lot of fish when a real "hot girl" chased my bait into a boat-side figure eight for more than three minutes … without ‘kissing the steel’. Troy and I decided to work down to the point and give her a minute before trying again and maybe 50 yards passed when I felt my bait hang on the heavy weeds at the edge of the break. I gave it a pop to free it and the water literally exploded in front of us as this giant left the water in an attempt to shake loose the bait". "He was hollering it’s a 50 … it’s a 50 … it’s a 50... so loud that the judge boat didn’t even have to wait for a radio call …. he heard us from over a ¼ mile away" added his elated partner Troy to the capacity crowd. Kellet then handed over his entire check to his young daughter, saying "I told the good Lord this morning that since I was skipping Church to fish, if he saw fit to bless us with a win I would put every penny into her college fund and that is just what I am going to do".
Greg "Musky Guy" Schultz and Ray Norbe of Escanaba, MI also doubled up with 42 & 41-¾ inch fish they coaxed from the pockets and edges of shallow weed beds as they patiently worked a fairly small area casting nickel bladed buck tails with white & black hair for a 2nd Place finish and $4,200. "We stayed in an area were we had located a big fish earlier while pre-fishing and caught Saturdays fish there", said Guy, sharing that they went back to the same area first thing Sunday and caught number two on the second cast of the morning! "The trick was finding grooves or gouges that had been cut through the shallower stuff by boat traffic and working them thoroughly where they intersected the inside edges". Theirs was one of the few patterns that held up through the week after a strong front moved through the area prior to the tournament, leaving the field to battle high pressure and blue-bird skies both days … great for sun bathing, pleasure boating and picnic lunches … but making for a very difficult bite, as evidenced by the events 27 fish two-day total.
3rd Place and Saturdays $500 "Big Fish Award", totaling $3,020 went to another pair of hometown anglers, when Joe Carlson and partner Paul Neuman narrowly missed the magic 50-inch benchmark, scoring a fat 49-¾ inch bruiser from the outside weed edge of a mid-lake hump near Excelsior Bay casting a black top water prop bait. "We had seen and moved this fish repeatedly throughout the day, but just could not get her to go!" said an excited Joe Carlson, "Then … finally, with less than fifteen minutes to go on day one, we gave her the old famous ‘one last cast’ you hear so much about … and BAM!"
Jason Summers & Tony Demars, also from the Metro area, again claimed Ranger Cup Honors giving them the most such wins in PMTT history with a 47-¼ inch specimen taken on a Bobbie jerk bait that held up for 5th Place and a $1,767 payday, working break lines near sparse weed/sand flats. "We kept the boat in about 24 feet of water and cast over the 12-15 breaks, saw a few nice fish and were fortunate enough to boat this one" said Jason. Bob Hanifl and Don Fiscus narrowly edged this always dangerous duo with a 47-½ inch Musky they registered while trolling DB-16 crank baits for a 4th Place finish and $1,680.
Yet another all-time PMTT record was set when MI Daniel Boone Chapter 52 members, Scott Salchi and Tony "Pork Chop" Smith, both of the Morehead, KY area caught & released a nice 45-½ Musky for 7th Place overall to become the first team ever to register legal fish in every qualifying event of a season also taking the lead in this years Top Gun points race going into next months championship. When asked by Tournament Director Tim Widlacki, Scott credited his partner, the generous sharing of information from fellow competitors, and a healthy dose of luck for his unprecedented success.
Musky Hunter Magazine’s Editor Jim Saric was on hand to address the assembled contestants at Friday evenings mandatory pre-tournament rules meeting and spoke of the phenomenal growth currently being experienced in the Musky community and the bright future ahead while extending an open invitation to help those aspiring to become more involved as writers. Tim Widlacki followed with an announcement that in continuing with their firm commitment to giving back to the resource they had donated $1,500 to the Brainerd Chapter of Muskies Inc. to be used in producing a film for distribution across the country highlighting the successful co-existence of muskellunge in relation to other fishes in the systems in which they are found hoping to dispel many of the unfounded misconceptions surrounding this "Monarch of Freshwater", and an additional $1,000 donation to the local North Metro Chapter of MI, bringing the total to over $4,500 they have returned this year alone. "20 years ago there was no world class Musky fishery here" stated a serious Widlacki, "and if not for the efforts of MI and the MDNR, there would be none now, let alone the 38 states which now boast fishable populations of this wildly exciting game fish."
Special thanks go out to each and every one of the PMTT‘s major, associate and contributing sponsors, including Mercury Marine, Ranger Boats, Musky Hunter Magazine, The Fishing Guide Show w/ Travis Richardson, Heckel's Marine, Crash's Landing Inc., Morehead Kentucky Tourism Commission, Illinois DNR, Eagle River Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Center, Minnesota Musky Market Place, and the Chautauqua County Tourism.
Those desiring more information about and/or becoming a member of the most competitive, exciting and fastest growing professional freshwater tournament circuit in North America are encouraged to contact PMTT Tournament Director, Tim Widlacki @ phone # 1-815-264-3228; via e-mail @ [email protected] or by visiting them on the web @ www.promusky.com
FINAL LEADER BOARD
PLACE NAME LENGTH
1 Shawn Kellet / Troy Zuelke 42 & 51
2 Greg Schultz / Ray Norby 42 & 41.75
3 Joe Carlson / Paul Neumann 49.75
4 Bob Hanifl / Don Fiscus 47.5
5 Jason Summers / Tony Demars 47.25
6 Kolt & Mike Ringer 46.5
7 Scott Salchi / Tony Smith 45.5
8 Dan Memory / John Black 45
9 Bob Blanke / Phil Gutman 44
10 Bob Turgeon / Mark Rosencranz 43.5
FOLLOWING IS THE JPEG FILE AND CAPTION
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