Shipman and Kleczewski Snatch the Win at Butternut

The WMT's Butternut Lake tournament on Sunday, June 1 would score nine legal muskies for the one-day event. The first muskie of the day would be tallied at 6:30am by Jeremy and Geno Bolton and measure 38 1/2 inches. At 6:48am, the father and son team of Frank and Bill Kasowicz would land a 39 inch muskie that would eventually give the team a third place finish. The first team to double up for the tourney would be Jason Weik and Jason Baratka at 2:38pm when they scored a 36 1/2 incher to add to their first muskie of 38 1/2 inches that the duo registered at 6:50am. At 3:02pm, the husband and wife team of Lance and Cindy Hemauer would measure a 37 3/4 inch muskie that would finish the team in fifth place. The final muskie of the event would come at 3:12pm and measure 38 1/2 inches by the team of Garett Shipman and John Kleczewski, but it would be their second muskie of the day with the first coming at 10:08am and scoring 39 /34 inches giving the two a 3.25 point advantage and the victory.

Other teams to score muskies for the one-day event were: Paul Thruman and Dan Nelson 36 1/2" at 6:35am, and Jeff Piazza and Jeff Ziemba 34 3/4" at 7:09am.

The WMT's Butternut Lake "MUSKIE DOUBLE HEADER" (TM) tournament top five finishers were:
1st - John Kleczewski/Garett Shipman
2nd - Jason Weik/Jason Baratka
3rd - Frank & Bill Kasowicz
4th - Geno & Jeremy Bolton
5th - Lance & Cindy Hemauer

The next tournament for the WMT is a "MAJOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP"(TM) on the Three Lakes Chain June 7th & 8th. The "BADGERLAND OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP"(TM) on the Three Lakes Chain is open to the public and is limited to 150 teams. With a full field of 150 teams, the first place pay-out would be $20,000.00. The Three Lakes tournament is a Heckel's Cup(TM) event that will pay a bonus of $5,000.00 to the qualifying Heckel's boat owner who wins the tourney. In addition to the prize money and the Heckel's Cup(TM) bonus, anglers will be hoping to land the nearly $18,000.00 pool for the first muskie over 50 inches.

The "BADGERLAND OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP"(TM) on the Three Lakes Chain is open to the public and there is still some open spot. It is still possible to sign up for the tournament by logging on to the WMT's web site for the entry form and mailing it to the WMT. You can also sign up for the Three Lakes tournament the Friday before the event between 5:00pm and 7:30pm at the Pine Isle Restaurant just off of HWY X.

All of the WMT's one-day tournaments and "MAJOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS"(TM) are open to the public to fish. You can fish one tournament or as many as you like.