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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | is there any momentum, interest or maybe even current activity in Wisconsin for a High-School Musky Fishing Team Cometition??
curious to hear about how it got started in MN., how many schools, events etc... that are happening and how it all got started.
would love to see a Great Northern Conference Team Schedule someday!! |
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Posts: 1061
Location: Medford, WI | The GNC Musky season....oooh man, I can just see it now. I'll gladly coach it for Medford - I'd drop any of the 3 sports I coach now to do that for no pay.
...we'd make sure to give those "T-Birds" and Hodags a good whoopin on their home territory! Wouldn't be a first!!! haha
-Jake
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | Jake ... I emailed our Athletic Director and asked him to check into how this sort of thing might be proposed and get traction. Could you get something started over there too?? The Coaches listing might be as much fun as the competition in this conference. I shared my boat with a couple of the Lakeland kids last night and mentioned the program in MN. I think it would be popular.
Boom - Rhinelander
Minocqua Chain - Lakeland
Eagle River Chain - Northland Pines
Pelican - Antigo
Tomahawk - Mohawksin
Mosinee - Wisconsin River
Medford/Park Falls - Flambeau River
it would be a Hoot!!!
Edited by jonnysled 7/10/2012 12:37 PM
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Posts: 275
| Sled,
Little Falls High School won the Minnesota High School State Muskie Championship last week. We were hoping to have a Sconnie/Sota Border Battle this year. So are you saying wait till next year? Sounds more like the Vikings than the Packers.
Tom |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | i'm just starting to do some research on if/how any of this is even feasible in Wisconsin. i'd love to see it happen and especially if it could grow into a border battle on the St. Croix or St. Louis River between the states.
how many teams? how many kids/team? what sort of format (2-boats/4-anglers per team??) were used in Minnesota??
obviously interested in how the use of boats and potential risk was handled in the sanctioning process affiliating with schools? or was it a separate club program?? |
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| if this flies I am going back to Lakeland |
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Posts: 50
| My son who is going to be a junior at Mosinee would be in big time. I'm sure a couple of his buddies would be game also. |
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Posts: 173
Location: Minnesota | Just wondering what schools were involved in it in Minnesota? |
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Posts: 403
Location: WI | 1st WI chapter of Muskies Inc is in the process of getting this organized here in WI. The plan is to have regional tournies run by various MI chapters, then a state tournament a couple weeks later. A "border battle" is also a very real possibility. There was simply too much work in getting this off the ground to start this year. Hopefully we'll have an announcement by late winter/early spring. |
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Location: Madison, WI | I volunteered to help out as a judge boat at the recent MN HS championship on Lake Bemidji. Great day and in some really blistering heat those highschool students kept after 'em casting. (Except for the winners who went outside the box by trolling suspendos...)
As a board member of Cap City Muskies Inc, it also gave me a chance to observe the event and speak with the organizers. Keith (MuskyFlyGuy) is passionate and it's obvious he cares about getting kids involved in fishing. Rory and Brian from the Bemidji/Cass MI chapter did a great job hosting. Since one of Muskies Inc core precepts is "Youth" it's a natural fit for them to be involved at the grass roots level.
I'd be happy to offer my thoughts and observations on what I saw over here for the effort in Wisconsin overall, and can serve as a contact for the Madison area specifically as well. Feel free to drop me a line.
Michael Winther, [email protected], (608) 844--138two.
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Posts: 313
Location: Bemidji, Lake Vermilion | I don't have the full info of all the qualifying teams, but there were 9 who qualified for the championship via "regionals" that were hosted by the states Muskies Inc chapters. Overall there were quite a few more teams who participated at some level. This was the third year overall and my first helping out with it, while its a work in progress its really great to get the kids involved, there were a number of teams who did it all 3 years. These kids were extremely passionate about their fishing, like Mike said they worked very hard under grueling conditions that most of us wouldn't voluntarily endure. One 45 inch fish was boated, another team had 4 muskies hooked but couldn't get any in the net. Not bad for 8 teams of high school kids on what for most people was a short tournament day with over 90 degree temps, not a cloud in the sky, high humidity and flat calm. All the teams moved or saw at least a few muskies, including some real tanks. There was also an all girl team and a boy/girl combo, those ladies fished hard right along with the boys.
We're going to work on thoughts/strategies to get even more participation next year. We had shirts for all the contestants, each team got a prize bag full of lures, we had a drawing for more lures right at takeoff time in the morning, and gave away a bunch of rods/reels for the top 4 teams. Pike count, but at a lower point system than muskies in order to make sure the competitive juices keep flowing, boating muskies can be tough and its important to keep the kids getting after it and recognizing them for pike really helps.
Good luck all in WI on getting this going for next year, I'm sure some type of "special" border battle trophy can be thought up and produced. Shoot messages to Tom (MuskyFlyGuy), Mike or myself I'm sure we'd all be of help. |
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Posts: 210
| As a 4-H Shooting Sports leader, 12U asst. softball coach and UW staff member, the first thing that I think of is liability, which could get really cloudy considering personal property will probably/most likely be involved.
Please don't get me wrong, I would be all for this, it's just that crossing all t's and dotting all i's could be a prodigious matter under the umbrella of a pre-existing organization. But, the right organization could make this an easy task to pull off.
Get liability covered, announce away, and let the kids sling. |
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Posts: 1168
| You really, really have to be careful with this in regards to the WIAA if it is ever intended to be a school sponsored activity.
There was a case this past spring involving a kid who was a member of a state finalist basketball team who participated in a golf league the year before one time and won a golf bag as a door prize. At first the WIAA retroactively suspended the kid after the basketball season was over and was on the verge of having his basketball team vacate their entire season. By getting that golf bag the WIAA was arguing that he no longer had amateur status. It was appealed and overturned but the vote on that one was very close.
If this is a WIAA sanctioned sport that is sponsored by a specific school you will probably eliminate kids participating in it from fishing in muskie tournaments, weekly leagues, etc. Since fishing is not a WIAA event/activity kids can win as much as they possibly can. The instant it becomes a recognized sport/activity in the eyes of the WIAA you quite possibly could eliminate those kids from engaging in ANY fishing contest where prizes are won...ice derbies, casting contests, tournaments....regardless of the species or time of year.
The same issue popped up many years ago with bowling. High school kids were winning money in weekly leagues and bowling in tournaments winning prizes. The WIAA stepped in and tried to say that their amateur status was gone. Since bowling was not a WIAA sport the WIAA lost their case. With the golfer mentioned above the traction the WIAA had was that golf is a recognized high school sport. They were fortunate that his high school basketball coach carries a ton of influence with the WIAA and can make one heck of a persuasive argument.
If you can do get something like this going, cool...but there could be some major challenges with how amateur status is defined by the WIAA. |
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Posts: 285
Location: Price County WI | We have a couple of High School kids teams that show up for our weekly league in the Phillips area. |
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