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Posts: 20212
Location: oswego, il | I am a proud member of chapter 39. Thanks to Slamr and Joe Mellott for talking me into going to a meeting on this site's very chat room many years ago. I am on the board and I have found it very rewarding knowing that I am part of a club that is making a difference in musky fishing and people's lives. I have also made some great friendships through the club and participating in some of our youth events like One Hope United is worth it alone. Those kids can't wait for us to come back and take them fishing again.
In a national organazation it is easy to find something you like and do not like. Your not going to get everyone to agree on everything. For me there is plenty to like and on the chapter level is what it is all about to me. In my opionion, don't let one thing you do not like take away from the other good things that you do like.
Some people just don't have the time, families and careers can make quit busy for alot of people. Even if you cannot make the meetings or be a part of club events you can still contribute to a club's success. Just about every club has a banquet or a fundraiser. For most chapters this is the single biggest event for them to rasie money. Many of us know someone who owns a business or has something they can donate to an area club fundrasing banquet to help that chapter raise money for the good things they do. It does not even have to be fishing related, it could literally be anything. I make this challenge to all the members and future members out there. Try to make that connection. You will be amazed at what can grow from it. |
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| For those that don't like that every penny of the membership goes to International, please don't overlook your local chapter. The chapters are the ones making contributions to your local fishery and they cannot do it without you.
I personally am unhappy about International giving Keye's so much of a very small annual budget. They have historically spent way too much money and time focusing on trying to attract new membership to back fill for high attrition instead of dealing with the issues that cause the attrition. They are like the Sony executives who fought the coming of the iPod/MP3 because they were too heavily invested in the media that they couldn't let go of. This analogy applies to the continued production at higher costs of the paper magazine in an age where the generation they desperately need to attract lives in an on-line world. Replacing that dinosaur of a magazine and website with something different and new (read not just another web site) would be a great step in the right direction. They need to think about what gives the next generation value? How about a smart phone app for the Lunge Log? How about MI solunar tables combined with peak hunting/fishing times smartphone app? How about a monthly email newsletter summarizing all the projects the chapters are making in the region to improve fishing, habitat, etc. When they start thinking like this, blowing up the old, building new and dealing with why people don't rejoin, we will have a fresh and strong MI that we need to galvanize us on common goals for the fishery. |
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Posts: 1
| Member for four years, Chapter 2 |
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Posts: 1184
Location: Iowa Great Lakes | Without International there wouldn't be local chapters.... Proud member and active board member of Chapter 29.... |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | I attend my 1st Capital City Muskies, Inc meeting in January 1985. Featured speaker was Steve Quandt of Tuffy Boats and he talked about Lake of the Woods. How I remember it well.
Like Jeff Hanson says, if not for guys like co-founders Gil Nimm, Steve Budnik, and the Late Bill Wood (the most dedicated muskie angler I knew) we would be lucky to have a few muskies in the Madison Chain. Its chapters like ours that keeps the DNR committed to this fishery. They see how much time and effort we put towards these lakes and they are right there with us. It makes their job easier and we benefit greatly from the improved fishery.
Anglers that refuse to send money to the national? Fine, check out your local chapter web site and attend their fund raiser(s) and spend money. I guarantee that your funds will make the local fishery grow. If you say no to Muskies, Inc and don't support your local chapter, then don't complain when you no more DNR muskie stocking in your lakes, or other habitat improvements. The local club can't do squat without the funding. |
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Posts: 255
Location: MadCity Wisconsin | Ive been a member since 1998. The Lunge Log data base alone is worth $35 a year to me. When I fish a new lake I always check the Lunge Log for dates, times, depths, methods and baits used to catch fish.
Black Band and Waldo, just FYI, the number of magazines issued was cut to 6 per year to save and reallocate money. Mike Keyes stepped up and made an offer to provide national coverage for M.I. Something that was and is sorely needed.
The Chapter 8 Club in Madison, Wis. has spent over $30,000 on stocked Muskie fingerlings and PIT Tags in the past 5 years. Wis. DNR would only provide half that amount in 10 years of stocking our lakes due to budget shortfalls. We were glad to step up and help our local lakes. This is what Muskies Inc. is all about. |
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | I am, just joined very recently |
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| I just looked into the registration page... do I really need a sponsor, or can you skip that part of the application
Geno |
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| It can be skipped I believe. I never had a sponsor when I joined 5 years ago. |
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Posts: 321
| I was a member in the mid-90's, wasn't for me. H |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | As the membership chairman for the Cap City Chapter I can tell you that the sponsor line is used mostly when a membership drive contest is taking place and a reward is given to someone that either is drawn or achieved a goal.
It can be skipped |
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Posts: 1887
Location: syracuse indiana | i am muskies inc..... chapter 49 been so for 8 years now and on the B.O.D. for 6 of them , i have held many positions at once and i do way to much at time for the club , but its all for the fish. i do whatever it takes to to keep these fish being continued tom be stocked and released when caught. all i can say that its in my blood....bill |
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Posts: 147
Location: Chesterton, Indiana | I am a member! |
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Posts: 2361
| Life member, I think for 29 years, but I would have to see if I can still find my membership card to tell how long.
Unfortunately I am not living in a musky hotspot, and driving a couple hours to a meeting is not gonna happen.
I hate to hear some of the people dissing it. MI is the ONLY organization that actively promotes all things musky.
I occassionally hear people attribute support of musky fishing to entities that are actually consumers of musky fishing dollars. At best they have a dual interest, and guess which interest is more motivating? Remember this, and have some perspective before you start going on with some of the more asinine criticisms of what, is in reality, a non profit, total return to the resource, type organization. Truly the only unified voice we have as musky fisherman. And though some fisherman don't seem to get this, Muskies Inc is about the resource, not endorsing records, or becoming a stage for some yahoo to promote his own musky fishing abilities.
I notice some fellows get confused about what goes where in the musky world. Well, if some of your dollars, or time, or both, go to help maintain a healthy Musies Inc., then I would say you have a pretty good idea of what goes where.
edit, commas added...or we could leave the sentences run across the pages.
Edited by firstsixfeet 3/18/2012 8:17 PM
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Posts: 223
Location: Victoria,MN | Great post FSF! |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | Homer - 3/18/2012 4:08 PM
I was a member in the mid-90's, wasn't for me. H
I was then too and quit. Then I joined in the early 2000's and quit. Good thing I'm not one to give up on a good idea... |
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| You can opt for a "no magazine" membership each year for a lower cost.
And then you can go in the member's-only portion of the website and view electronic copies of the magazine. They have April 2005 - January 2012 available right now in the .pdf format. It's not completely up-to-date, but within 1 issue so it's close.
http://www.muskiesinc.org/
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Posts: 611
Location: Michigan | I definitely am a member as I absolutely believe in giving back to the sport I love. It kind of irritates me when I talk to other musky fishermen on local lakes and they know about local chapter of muskies inc, but don't join it. I love musky fishing and want to see the continual growth of the sport and I know my money/time is going towards that. |
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Posts: 32878
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | MI is not the only group that promotes, assists, and maintains Muskie angling opportunities out there, but is certainly the largest and best organized, because of the very strong network of hard charging individual Clubs. I've been a member pretty much since the organization was formed, and have belonged to several clubs. All the Clubs work very hard locally to see to it our muskie angling opportunities grow into the future.
That said, some things the International has done I disagreed with pretty strongly, and I voiced my opinion accordingly. I have some friends who sometimes disagreed more than I, became involved and got elected to the necessary positions so they could make a difference.
It ain't perfect, but it is what the individual MI clubs and the individual members of each one of those clubs makes it.
Some MI members disagree with courses of action the International has taken past and present, and they should be able to say their piece and vote with their membership money if they feel strongly enough. Happens. Treats even quit a couple times.
A few get most of the work done. They... and the rest of the members and the community at large invited to fund raisers... pay for it all, most cases. All courses of action are laudable, and none without issues.
MI is run by people, and there...you have it. Anyone who is a member and disagrees with what's happening needs to get involved and make the changes they are able. Anyone not involved can say 'it ain't for me' and has every right to. Any criticism past that don't wash. |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | Well said Steve...
The opportunities that exist for a person to get involved with muskies across the entire range, are tremendous within the MI organization. Anyone who says that they weren't given the opportunity to work at the foundation of the sport, isn't really trying in today's MI organization. I don't know what it was like 10 years ago, but for the last 5-6 years that I have been involved, there are WAY more opportunities that I had time for.
One thing that I've seen happen in the past few years, is that MI is truly getting back to supporting true "research" within the sport. This is the way it once was, and it will hopefully only continue to get more true over the next decade.
TB |
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| Steve Reinstra - 3/18/2012 3:27 PM
Black Band and Waldo, just FYI, the number of magazines issued was cut to 6 per year to save and reallocate money.
Hi Steve,
Thats good to hear. What's the current percentage of donations that go to the magazine? Dont see that listed on the MI site, is it a 503c?
I've given hundreds to the ccmi stocking raffle over the past 10 years, would be interested in joining MI again if more of the budget goes to improving fisheries. |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | sworrall - 3/18/2012 7:00 PM
MI is run by people, and there...you have it. Anyone who is a member and disagrees with what's happening needs to get involved and make the changes they are able. Anyone not involved can say 'it ain't for me' and has every right to. Any criticism past that don't wash.
Really, it's run by VOLUNTEERS (read people who don't get paid). This assures that only certain things will ever get done, but it also assure that any person reading this can also VOLUNTEER to affect change.
Dick Pearson challenged me to stop whining about the things I didn't like and use my talents to make things better. Some may argue, but I think that worked out pretty well...
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Posts: 157
Location: Carney, Mi (in da UP eh!) | Member since 1985 and my wife has been a member since 1999, will be a member for life |
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Posts: 408
Location: Omaha, Nebraska | I have been with Chapter 53 since 2007.
I will say it is hard for smaller chapters since little to none of the membership dues are returned to the local chapter. As previous posters have said even if you don't support international show up to the local fundraisers and donate generously. As all money should stay with that club. At our annual fundraiser it is approximately 50% members and 50% non-members who attend.
Edited by DEMolishedyou 3/19/2012 11:25 AM
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Posts: 1036
| I'm the membership director for the Milwaukee Chapter. Newly appointed. I was unhappy with my chapter and wanted to help make it better. So, my wife and I went to a business meeting and decided to help as opposed to cancel our membership.
I'm hoping that our chapter can continue to grow and that new people, or new members will share some ideas on how we can become a better club.
Either way, you have choices. You can choose to complain about sponsorship choices or anything else, or you can volunteer and try to make things better.
Here's to hoping that Milwaukee muskie fishermen will consider joining the club and give us their input.
Edited by vegas492 3/19/2012 12:49 PM
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Posts: 20212
Location: oswego, il | Some great posts. The one cool thing is you can volunteer and hone in on one thing you may find most important, even if there are other areas that do not interest or you may disagree with. Most clubs could certainly use the extra help as many board members donate time from their lives on a daily basis and wear many hats within their chapter.
I know it can be frustrating to see so many musky fisherman who are not members. Whether it be working the booth at the musky show or just looking at the pics in the back of a magazine and see people who live around your chapter and don't belong. I think it would be a great idea for every club to have a person aggressively maintain a facebook page and try and reach as many people as you can. Just keep spreading the word. |
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Posts: 408
Location: Omaha, Nebraska | I probably should note I am on the side of assisting the club. I am both the treasurer and webmaster.
Also I help maintain our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/muskiesinc
The main problem our club has experienced is after 1 to 2 years of service to the club the members all seem to become burned out and sadly disappear. |
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Posts: 720
| A member since 04' chapter 39. Guys like ToddM and many many others make my chapter a real voice here in the northeast part of the state. I can't even begin to imagine the state of musky fishing in this country without MI. on any level. Yes its got its share of bugs that will always need to be worked out. But as a whole its done a fine job. |
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Posts: 183
Location: Grand Forks ND | The reason I joined this year was because of the sponsorship of Keyes Outdoors. Me and my buddies had been talking about joining the past couple years, but seeing a commercial every Saturday spurred me into action. I got out the computer and joined while I was watching muskies. |
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Posts: 19
| I was a member and now I am a member of the Muskellunge Club of WI. |
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