This past Saturday was one to remember as Kyle Wickenhauser and myself fished in the first ever George Wahl Memorial Tournament. The tournament had taken place in the metro area consisting of 12 different lakes. This tournament wasn't about the prizes, it was about helping out our local lakes and stocking them with more of or favorite fish: the elusive muskie. With 200 contestants fishing the event it wasn't going to be an easy one, but Wicky and I had confidence.

Before talking about how the day went I would like to mention that this event was a special one of its own. George Wahl is one of the biggest names around when it comes to the word muskie and bucktails. George started the famous Eagle Tail, which is one of the most famous muskie catching lures known to man. George was a real class act and will be greatly missed by many in the fishing world. 

Furthermore, the weather the past week has just been crazy to say the least with winds gusting up to 40mph for two days straight, rain for multiple days, and the temperature dramatically dropping. Wicky and I had thought for a minute that the muskie gods were shining down on us but instead we looked at it as a challenge for us. Wicky and I thought if God brings us to it, he will lead us through it. At 5:30 the alarm had went off and I was out of bed in a flash I was anticipating the day despite the nasty weather we were having. I met Wicky at the access at 6:45, just enough time to get our last minute gear ready and get on the water by 7. Wicky and I had complete confidence that we would turn over a fish on our first spot. You could say we were thinking it was going to be, almost as easy as taking candy from a baby. To our surprise spot one was a big fat goose egg!! One funny thing is that we fished our number one spot that day, 4 times, and we worked it really good with not even seeing a single fish! I guess you could say we had patience and persistence! After fishing multiple spots and not even seeing a fish, muskie depression finally started to settle in. It was around noon when we decided to take a break and eat some lunch and talk about what we needed to do to get on fish. The difficult part was we didn't really know; we had worked several spots really really good and not a single muskie had showed its face. We worked shallow, deep, and everywhere in between. We tried different sizes, colors, various presentations and nothing. We just decided that the fish didn't want to cooperate, after all it is muskie fishing. At this point we were both ready to start pulling our hair out!!

After lunch our game plan was to just keep working our top areas and see what would happen. It was around 2 pm at this point and I looked at Wicky, and said, we have one hour before we have to go in. Wicky looked disappointed, as was I about not boating a fish yet. I took Wicky to the “Honey Hole” where I have boated multiple fish this year and even lost a few. We had fished this spot earlier in the morning with no success but I had confidence there was fish there, but they weren't biting. After fishing the spot for awhile I was beginning to have my doubts. Wicky had decided to take a break and was going through his lures while trying to decide what he should try next. Within a spit second I had a fish hit about ½ way in and yelled I got one!! I saw it boil up to the surface and was even more excited when I noticed a muskie!! Wicky was so puzzled when I yelled I got one; he thought I was completely making it up, considering how the day was going until that point. The fish went immediately under the boat and as Wicky grabbed the net the fish was already out from under the boat. Wicky made a quick scoop up with the net and I think he was just as excited as I was. We got a quick measure on it and she surpassed 45 inches. 

 

That was the only fish that day we boated. I knew it wasn't going to place top 5, but we had a chance at top 10. Both of us were hoping for 2 fish that day, as thats what we thought was needed to really place high. After getting to Thorne Bros for the registration I had noticed a lot of the registration cards were from low 40's fish so I knew we had a chance. After all the announcements and feed was over; it came down to the very end and we walked away with 8th place. We were both extremely happy for taking 8th in the first ever George Wahl Memorial Tournament. This was our first tournament ever but Wicky and I can honestly say its not going to be our last!

For more information regarding the tournament and George Wahl please visit the following link http://www.twincitiesmuskiesinc.org/tourny/gw/