Phillips' Produce Big Win for Markgraf and Kauranen

The WMT's Phillips Chain tournament produced thirteen legal muskies Saturday, May 31st. The first muskie of the tournament would come at 7:32am and measure 34 3/4 inches caught by Al Severson and Brandon Dunbar. At 8:15am, Phil Markgraf and Randy Kauranen would tally a hefty 46 incher on a bucktail, and later , while using a twitch bait and moving to a different lake on the chain, the duo would register their second of the day with a 37" muskie at 1:04pm to solidify the tournament victory. The largest muskie of the event would be tallied by the team of Troy Hinchley and Eric Omit at 8:38am with a 46 1/4 incher. The team of Chad Briesemeister and John Bittorf would score a 42 1/2 inch muskie at 10:56am that would land the anglers a third place finish. Dan Rahmer and Steve Bogdanovic would get on the board at 2:22pm with a 39 1/2 incher. The final muskie of the event would come with just twenty minutes left at 3:40pm by Ben Bain and Marcus Malyuk and measured at 42 inches.

Other teams to score muskies for the one-day event were: Jason Weik and Jason Baratka 37 inches at 8:30am, Peter Huettl and Dan Virnig 34 1/2 inches 8:50am, Pat Biedel and Josh Strama 35 1/4" 9:14am, Brandle and Luke Ruberg 34 inches at 10:41am, Bill Joers and Lloyd Puhl 35 1/4" at 11:41am, George and Patrick Kingsland 37" at 1:09pm.

The WMT's Phillips Chain "MUSKIE DOUBLE HEADER" (TM) tournament top five finishers were:
1st - Phil Markgraf/Randy Kauranen
2nd - Troy Hinchlet/Eric Omit
3rd - Chad Briesemeister/John Bittorf
4th - Ben Bain/Marcus Malyuk
5th - Dan Rahmer/Steve Bogdanovic

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.

There were six muskie over 34 inches registered during the WMT's Lake Waubesa/Upper Mud Lake tournament on Sunday, May 11th. The first two muskies of the event would be registered by the same team of Paul Parise and Mike Etzel with the first fish coming at 7:01am and measuring 37 1/2 inches and shortly there after their second muskie of 37 inches registered at 7:31am, giving the team the lead that would hold up as the winning score. The largest muskie of the contest would score 41 inches at 8:39am by the team of John Bennett and Brent Kiedrowski. Bob Chitty and Dan Buss would get on the board at 1:00pm when they tallied a 37 1/4 inch muskie. Shortly after, Parrish and Perrin Sanderson would score on a 36 1/2 " muskie at 1:20pm. The final muskie of the day would be captured at 2:35pm by the father and son team of George and Patrick Kingsland that measured 38 inches, giving the duo a third place finish. The waters temps for the tournament started out at 52 degrees and finished at 54 degrees, creating a fishing condition where most of the muskies were captured within a couple a feet of water or less.