MALYUK AND BAIN DOUBLE-UP TO WIN LAC VIEUX DESERT

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On Saturday May 27th, the Wisconsin Muskie Tour hosted the first of five qualifying tournaments on Lac Vieux Desert. Close to normal weather conditions for the season, couple with a full field of well prepaired tournament anglers added up to plenty of excitement and fishing opportunities. Five legal muskies (40 inches) would be measured during the tournament, along with plenty of action from sub-legal fish and for the first time in the six years the WMT has visited Lac Vieux Desert, a team won by doubling up.

Even though the conditions seemed perfect for scoring on fish early in the day, the first muskie wouldn't be measured until 9:08am by Marcus Malyuk and Ben Bain with a 42 1/4 inch beauty. By 9:49am, the duo would score on their second fish with a 40 3/4 incher that would be eventually be the tournament winner, earning the team more than $10,000.00 for the day of fishing.

Word got around the water that Malyuk and Bain had doubled-up and everyone knew that they were, in essence, competing for second place. The team of Tom Meulemans and Chris Boylan made their charge for second place when they tallied a 40 3/4 incher at 12:59pm. However, Chad Schlei and Brian Mathwig had plans of their own when they measured a 41 1/2 inch muskie at 1:15pm on a bucktail. The final muskie of the day and the biggest fish of the tournament would go to Josh and Garrett Olivotti, when they registered a 45 inch dandy at 1:49pm.

The tournament paid down five places:

1st place: Marcus Malyuk, Marshfield and Ben Bain, Wisconsin Rapids
2nd place: Josh Olivotti, Phelps and Garrett Olivotti, Rockford IL
3rd place: Chad Schlei and Brian Mathwig, both of New Berlin
4th place: Tom Meulemans and Chris Boylan, both of Greenleaf
5th place: Todd Ederer, DePere and Ken Ederer, Kaukauna (by drawing)

A big thanks to Hillside Resort and Rob Anderson for six years of terrific accomodations and being a very gracious host. We'll see you next year!