TOUGH CONDITIONS PREVAIL AT WMT’S OPENER

Photo Album ( Not All Photos Available )

The Wisconsin Muskie Tour opened the 2006 season on Lake Monona is Madison on Saturday, May 13th with some of the toughest conditions to ever be thrown at the competitors. High winds, driving rain and cold temperatures tested the skills of the tournaments professionals as the managed to scratch out eight quality muskies for the event.

Typically during early season, muskies on the Madison Chain can be found shallow, deep and places in-between, but for the conditions that the anglers were faced with, the only actively feeding muskies were located in six feet of water or shallower. The first team to connect were Phil Schweik and Pete Hilman at 6:16am when they registered the biggest muskie of the event, a 43 ½ inch beauty. Later, at 8:35am would tally another fish at 43 inches, to secure the victory. “We were using KDC bucktails in the vegetation that was being pounded by heavy wave action” said Phil Schweik at the awards ceremony of the team’s winning pattern.

There would be three teams to register 39 inch muskies during the day: Scott Lewandowski and Darwin Ligman at 7:55am, Kevin Mahlberg and Joel Michel at 11:26am and George and Patrick Kingsland at 11:53 am. Dawson Usack and Don Sandness spotted a very nice muskie early in the morning and stayed with the fish all day. Their persistance paid off at 3:33 pm, with only 27 minutes left in the competition when they tallied a 42 ½ incher and a second place finish. Two other muskies would be registered by Don and Doug Grant at 38 1/2 inches, and Eric Omit and Troy Hinchley with a 38 incher.

The tournament paid down five places:

1st place: Phil Schweik and Pete Hilman, both of Mosinee
2nd place: Dawson Usack, Rhinelander and Don Sandness, Madison
3rd place: Scott Lewandowski, Athens and Darwin Ligman, Stevens Point
4th place: Kevin Mahlberg, Oconomowoc and Joel Michel, Racine
5th place: George Kingsland, Pardeeville and Patrick Kingsland, Endeavor