I have some exciting news for all the muskie fishermen in the state. The Upper Great Plains chapter of Muskies Inc. is putting on the 1st ever Iowa Muskie Team Trail. The tournament trail will be open to everyone, muskies inc. members and non-members. It will consist of four 1 day tournaments on 4 different bodies of water throughout the state. The UGP chapter annually has two tournaments in the Iowa Greats Lake region, but we feel there is an opportunity and a demand to utilize different muskie fisheries across the state. The muskie fishing community has grown over the last several years and there are avid anglers throughout Iowa. Here is a unique opportunity to fish for Iowa’s top fish in a fun and competitive way. The trail will begin on May 3rd at Pleasant Creek, the DNR allows 1 boat per 10 acres during fishing tournaments, so the field will be limited to 40 boats on Pleasant Creek, however the remaining 3 tournaments will have a field limit of 50 teams. The second tournament will be held May 31st on Clear Lake. The third tournament is June 21st on 3 Mile Lake and the fourth and final tournament will be held on West and East Okoboji Lake on October 4th. So as you can see we have all 4 corners of the state covered. I have alot more details about registering and the rules for the tournaments but to keep this message limited, I ask that you go to our chapter’s website at http://www.muskieclub.com to view the tournament rules and registration form. Once on the website click on the muskie icon that says Events. Scroll down and you will see the section for the Iowa Muskie Team Trail. Click on the forms to open and view. Please check out the tournament forms and let me know what you think. I hope the muskie community is as excited about this opportunity as our chapter is. Be sure to let you muskie buddies know about this exciting opportunity as well.
Pete Hildreth
UGP chapter president
Our club has been working on this trail over this past winter and it should be a fun chance for muskie fisherman to get out and fish in Iowa’s top musky lakes and compete against each other on a small scale basis. A few of these tournaments are before minnesota and wisconsin seasons open so it gives those people a chance to start the season early without driving real far away. Our lakes have really came on the past few years and are producing some very nice fish.We do have limits on field size so sign up early.
Tracy Crail
UGP member