Well, Winter is here, may as well get used to it, since Muskie season is closed now!
From all in Chapter 46, we hope your muskie season was a big success. Of course with muskie fishing, there are always mixed results. I know some folks had exceptional seasons with great numbers and some nice size fish in the mix. Others had limited results but still had a few nice bites. Like normal, some just plain old struggled. It’s important to look back at every season, good or bad and try to at least have learned something from it. Did you do the same things in the same spots at the same time of year and they just didn’t work out? You may need to break out of your comfort zone. Did you break out of your normal routine? If so, did you maybe learn a few new spots or technique’s that you thought beforehand “just wouldn’t work?” I’ve done this a few times and learned a lot from it. Did you fish with some people you’ve never fished with before? Or new lakes you hadn’t been to before? There are a lot of little things during a season that if reflected upon, can really take what may have been a tough season and put a nice positive spin on it. Remember some of the sunrises or sets, the wildlife seen etc. It’s not all about the muskies, or catching them. I was fortunate enough to have some very memorable events in my boat this summer, but the one that stands out the most to me now was watching a doe with a fawn on the shore. The fawn played like I’ve never seen a deer play, it just jumped and ran and splashed back and forth in the lake and played. I’ll never forget it.
Didn’t catch a muskie that day, didn’t matter. I hope you all had some experiences in the boat this year that will bring a smile to mind for years to come.
Community Involvement – Cleanups, donations and more!
The chapter had its second and final landing cleanup of the year on Saturday September 29th. We cleaned up a bunch of landings again. These were well attended and while not heavily promoted in the community, they still made a difference. We’ll look at getting some pictures and more community awareness going for these next year. Attendance at one of the two cleanups was one of the requirements to qualify for the chapter replica contest for 2012. It’s anticipated this will continue for the 2013 contest.

We got this thank you below from Matt Ward regarding our customized bump boards donated to the Bemidji and Walker DNR offices at the Region 1 Annual Meeting hosted by Chapter 46 at Cattails in the beginning of October. Matt wasn’t at the meeting, the 3 good reasons mentioned in his message were 3 nice muskies – he was out fishing for the day! Thanks to Rory Potter who took the lead on this and also for donating a bunch of time working on this project. In addition, we donated $250 this fall to help the Walker DNR obtain addition Hugh Becker funds to help them complete some research being done on Baby and Mann
Lakes. We’ve had updates about this in previous newsletters.
“Rory,
Thank you and the chapter very much for the very nice measuring board. We greatly appreciate it and it will come in handy next spring with our spawning assessment on Leech. Please put that on your chapter’s radar. I will send out an announcement in February, but volunteers are welcome and it is always good to see and get your hands on muskies before season opens. That will likely be in late-April or early-May depending on the spring we get. I apologize for not being there to accept this measuring board on Saturday, but you will see that my boat had three good reasons from Saturday. My wife wouldn’t buy this as an excuse for missing something important, but hopefully you will.” Thanks again,
Matt Ward Large Lake Specialist, Leech Lake MNDNR Walker Area Fisheries Office 07316 State 371 NW Walker, MN 56484 218-547-1683 (phone) 218-547-1887 (fax)


Chapter Outings – Final Results
Replica Contest Update
To the best of currently available knowledge (the ability to get current fish reports on the website is limited), and with respect to the replica requirements for 2012, Chris Thury is the winner of this year’s chapter replica with a 53.5 incher caught on Lake Bemidji in early September. It also happens to be Chris’s new PB. On top of it, his netman was his great friend and chapter member fromSwedenStephanNielson. Iknowsomeofus worked very hard to beat this fish by the end of the season, but to no avail. Congratulations to Chris on being this season’s big winner!

MN 2013 High School Muskie Tournament Info
Some chapter members are in the initial planning stages of helping out with this fun event again in 2013, including organizing our regional qualifier as well as possibly volunteering at the championship event. The championship will be June 28th at Lake Alexander near Motley, we’ll need to have a regional qualifier before then. As we get further information, we’ll pass it along. More volunteers or donations of time or merchandise are always welcome. If you’re interested in helping in any way, contact Brian Johnson at 218-760-5867 or by email at thrax@paulbunyan.net please.

Gil Hamm 2013
The chapter would like to get at least 1 if not more full teams participating in next summer’s Gil Hamm outing to be held on MN’s own Lake Vermilion September 18-20th. The earlier we can find out about interest, the earlier we can book lodging and get plans made. Please visit the website below to get additional info about the 2013 event. We currently have one cabin reserved that can handle our first full team, if we’re going to have more we’ll have to get a move on towards arranging lodging.
http://gilhamm.com/Gil_Hamm/Home.html
Name Brian Johnson Rory Potter Chris Thury Brent Rud Jeff Nail Randy Henrikson Mike Strickland Denise Strickland
Total Pts 26 13 9 6 4 4 3 3
These really were a great time this year. We talk a lot throughout the day and share info extensively to help each other try and catch some fish, learn a new technique or tactic or even a type of spot that is out of our normal comfort zone. Cool things included Rory’s awesome colored fish on Pike Bay this summer and Brent catching a natural tiger down at Mantrap in October.

Region 1 Annual Meeting
Chapter 46 hosted the Region 1 Annual Meeting at Cattails on Saturday October 6th. We began the meeting with our presentation of the custom bumpboards mentioned earlier to DNR representative Mike Habrat of the Bemidji office. The other attendees of the meeting thought they were super cool, thanks to Rory Potter who got these done and for volunteering his time and effort to build them a product that will last for years to come. Key topics included how each chapter is approaching attempts to increase membership, the Keyes Outdoors partnership, and community outreach about the good things our chapters do. Maintaining a “good guy” attitude and just talking to people at boat landings, gas stations etc has led to multiple new members for our chapter, lets keep that up! Feelings about the Keyes Outdoors partnership were mixed, at a national level we contributed a few ideas for them to think about that may provide better results. We’ll have to wait until the Spring Board Meeting to see what they do. We took some folks out fishing after the meeting, but unfortunately no fish were caught that day. The Brainerd Chapter stepped up and will be hosting next year’s meeting.

Chapter Meetings/Winter Calendar
January 17 – Speaker meeting featuring Andy Carlson, Brainerd Area DNR biologist who is conducting a large and complex study on Elk Lake. There will be some eye opening data presented, this will be fun. 7pm start for Andy’s presentation with a brief business discussion at 6:30. Cattails upstairs in the “Muskie Room.”
February 21st – 6:30 start for business discussion, 7pm start for speaker Mike Habrat. Mike will give the chapter a presentation on the results of the DNR’s winter creel survey from last winter on Cass Lake, along with updating the chapter on some interesting data being collected via PIT tags from Cass Lake. He’ll also give the chapter an update on a potential increase to the minimum size limit for muskies currently being worked through the DNR. Cattails upstairs in the “Muskie Room.”
March 21st – 6:30 start for business discussion, 7pm start for Speaker. We should have a representative
from Reeds there to discuss new equipment/lures/electronics. Cattails upstairs in the “Muskie Room.”
April 27th (Saturday) – Chapter Lure Auction, 6:30pm start upstairs in the Muskie Room at Cattails. This is our featured fundraiser of the year, those who’ve attended the last few know how exciting they can be! There will be a few changes this year to allow EVERYONE a chance at some super premium new and used baits!! You’ve got to be here!
May 16th – possible speaker meeting, business meeting for sure. More details in future newsletters.
May 31st – Awesome night before opener party at Kevin Cochran’s place! Always a winner (this is tentative still as of press time)!

New Chapter Website
Some of you may notice the website on the header of the newsletter has changed – because our chapter’s website has relocated! This became necessary as the national organization was changing all its sites and servers etc. Thanks to Rob Yuretich who moved the site and is hosting it via his business www.goaskrob.com. If you or someone you know has need of a website, web related services or graphic design help please give Rob a call, he does quality work. His donation of these services to the chapter are greatly appreciated and we’d like to help him out with some paying business if we can!

Chapter Officers
The officer’s lineup will remain the same for 2013 as they were for 2012. No one presented any other nominations so the existing officers all agreed to stay on board. There has been one additional person added to the chapters list of hard workers, Ethan Rogers has been named Tournament Co- Chair and Fundraising Specialist. Ethan did a ton of work last year for the club and has a bunch of really great ideas for this year also. As we attempt to grow our tournament and fundraising, we’re able to donate more to worthwhile causes as well as do some of our own projects that we’ve never been able to do because the chapter lacked the funds.

Upcoming Banquets and Other Events
Brainerd Chapter Muskies Inc Sportsmans Banquet Saturday March 2nd, begins at 5pm at the Brainerd National Guard Armory, dinner begins at 6:30pm. Tickets are $40 with an Early Bird chance to get them for only $30 if purchased before February 1st. For more info please call 218-821-3669 or email jyoung@brainerd.net or visit their website at www.brainerdmuskies.com. Very well done banquet, quite a few chapter members attend this one every year! There will be over $40,000 in prizes!
North Metro Chapter of Muskies Inc. Banquet Saturday February 23rd, begins at 4:30pm with dinner at 6:30pm (all you can eat fish fry dinner). Cost is $30 for early birds by February 9th, $40 after that. This is a real cool bunch of folks, they’ll have over $10000 in prizes. For more info see their website at www.northmetromuskies.com.
Lake Superior Chapter of Muskies Inc. Banquet Saturday March 9th, begins at 5pm with dinner at 6pm. Cost is $20 before March 1st, $25 at the door (reservations are required). There will be a variety of cash and prize drawings. These are a great bunch of people who do a LOT for muskies in MN and it would be great if we could show some support for their club. For more info please call Terry DeMenge at 218-391-2699 or Keith Okeson at 218- 273-6389 or visit their website at www.lakesuperiormuskies.com.
We’re still asking any and all chapter members who receive the newsletter via snail mail to contact us and provide an email address. The executive leadership of Muskies Inc has also asked us to have everyone we can update their email via the organization website also. Every email we can send vs snail mail helps the chapter and you get more frequent updates and the most current chapter information via email also. Please email thrax@paulbunyan.net or call 218-760-5867 to get us an email address.
Chapter Contact Info Rory Potter – 2183682688 roryjudy@paulbunyan.net
Kevin Cochran - 5074569023
kevin_cochran@hotmail.com

Brian Johnson – 2187605867
thrax@paulbunyan.net

Chris Thury – 6125909785
cthury@midco.net

You can also get chapter info on outings, the tournament and contacts on our website at
www.BemidjiCassMuskies.org
Brian Johnson, Chapter 46 Secretary