July Newsletter Message

Central Ohio Chapter Muskies Inc. – July President’s Message
It is prime time muskie fishing season, and the club has a couple of great events lined up for this coming week. But before I get into those details, I will do a quick re-cap of the busy month of June that was full of chapter events:

Our June 11th meeting at the boat ramp resulted in reports of fish hitting the nets of Martin Hoover, John Wright, Pat Frase and Kevin Short. And it was a good warm-up for the June 14th Nite Bite Outing as Martin Hoover kept it going landing the winning fish.

A busy week at Alum for the chapter gave way to a good showing at Lake St. Clair the weekend of June 22-23 for the Ray Demers Can-Am Tournament. LSC did not disappoint giving most boats plenty of numbers to work with and many good sized fish. Elmer Heyob picked up the Ray Demers Cup sticking a huge 54.25” fish, and chapter members Jerry and Chris Stayer also landed twin 51.5’s to place in the top 5. Chris landed two legals with a 48.25” also and won the chapter challenge event. It was a fantastic weekend with a phenomenal showing (101 participants) and a very successful food drive for the Belle River Food bank. Mark and Margaret Pauling put such a great effort into this event on behalf of the chapter, and there are so many other people who help that if I try to mention each I will surely forget someone. So - Great job to all!

I was very fortunate this year to be able to take some time off and do some father/son fishing with Luke ahead of the Can-Am. It was a very relaxing week and `quality time` in its simplest form. At almost 14, he’s doing some of the boat driving, setting his own baits, and he’s pretty good on the net. When Luke had to head back to Ohio for a Boy Scout event, I got a chance to invite Mark Pauling out for an afternoon and we had one of those hours on the water you don’t easily forget. Mark put a 52.75” and a 52” in the net back to back. Needless to say, we’ll see you up there again next year!

This week is our July 9th Meeting also at Alum Creek Marina Ramp at 6 PM, where we will discuss what the fish are doing at Alum, go over last minute details for the Youth Event, and then hit the water for an evening on the lake as a chapter. If you are looking for a ride with someone Tuesday, please get with me or Cliff before the meeting as you might get left on shore if you come ask for some help after everyone pulls out.

Thursday July 11th is our Annual Youth Event at the Whetstone Park of Roses. There is no sign-up for this, but we just need as many volunteers as we can get. Show up on Thursday with a hand towel and a pair of pliers about 4 PM, and we’ll put you right to work rigging up the rods and reels for the kids and then helping them fish. If the catfish cooperate, this is usually a fast paced and exciting evening that you will not soon forget. As always, there will be a chapter member debrief of the event at the Pig Iron Grill (5295 N. High Street) at the conclusion of clean-up.

See you on the water. . . .

Rob