PMTT 2023 TOURNAMENT RESULTS

PMTT SPRING SHOOTOUT!

CAVE RUN LAKE, KY

APRIL 30th &  30th,  2023

HOSTED BY MOREHEAD KENTUCKY TOURISM

NASH & DONAR WIN 2023 PMTT / LIEF LABS SPRING SHOOTOUT

The Professional Musky Tournament Trail opened their historic 25th Season with a visit to the “Musky Capital of the South”, Cave Run Lake in Morehead, Ky. This annual event, hosted by the Morehead Tourism Commission typically sees 200 musky anglers descend into the area to kick of the PMTT season each spring. The weather seemed good with partly to mostly cloudy skies and air temps in the 60’s but with the muskies recovering from the spawn and the approaching weather fronts the anglers weren’t sure exactly what the bite would be like. Regardless of the adverse conditions, somebody always seems to figure it out, connects the dots and puts a fish or two on the board.

Kevin Nash of Aurora, IL. and Jarod Donar of Oregon, WI, seasoned PMTT veterans and extremely familiar with these waters and the diverse conditions the spring time conditions can create. “We did what we do. Anyone that knows me over the years, it is not that much of a secret”, stated Nash. The duo likes to be methodical and work their target areas extremely slow by covering their spots thoroughly instead of running and gunning searching for active fish.

“Kevin in the front of the boat throws ten-inch Jake crankbaits to the timber shorelines and twitches them back to the boat. He basically hits the shore and works the bait all the way back to the boat. I was throwing rubber in the back as a follow up,” stated Donar. The team usually concentrates on the darker, warmer waters of the Beaver Creek area in the southern portion of Cave Run Lake. “We know the muskies are there this time of year in the flooded timber. It only makes sense to concentrate our efforts there and get them to eventually hit,” stated Nash.

Nash and Donar’s pattern paid off huge as they boated a tournament record 5 muskies up to 46.25” while they outdistanced the competition in the victory. To give an example of how dominate they were, Nash and Donar would have won the tournament with just their two smallest of the five muskies. With the Recon Boats Bonus Bucks of $1,000 for the winners, TTAP, big fish and Recon Boats Big Fish bonus, put their total prize to $18,000.

2nd Place: Grant Blumreich of Lindstrom, Mn. & Blake Bushman of Forest Lake, Mn. doubled up on Saturday with two muskies up to 37.75”. They were ripping crankbaits down deep to hit the weed tops in 8’-10’ of water. This was solid enough to give them the 2nd place finish and over $4,000.

3rd Place: Darrell Seasor of Morehead, Ky. & Chad Conway of Morehead, Ky adapted to the coming fronts and boat two muskies up to 37” on Sunday. While jigging rubber in deep water of 30’ they connect on the two muskies which landed them in 3rd place and almost $3,000.

4th Place: Gus & Max Mantey of Eagle River, Wi were also jigging and boat one musky each day. Boating two muskies up to 37.50” was enough to get them into 5th place and over $2,000.

5th Place: Pete Blicharz & Chris Blicharz, both from Three Lakes, Wi boated the biggest fish of the tournament at 46.75” while working rubber baits off the shorelines. With the Recon Boats Big Fish $1,000 Bonus Bucks, TTAP bonus and Big Fish of the day, their 5th place finish netted them $4,000

PMTT Tournament Director, Tim Widlacki, acknowledged the Trail’s deep appreciation to our many outstanding Sponsors. For both their continuing support and the important part they have played and are playing now in our growth over the past 25 years as America’s 1st and only truly National Professional Musky Circuit. Leading the way with new, challenging, and innovative formats, featuring many of America’s top musky fishing destinations. Highlighting freshwater’s most elusive and challenging fish and the fast-growing community of extreme adventure anglers who give her chase. Special thanks to our Q-1 Event Sponsor, Lief Labs and our good friends at MOREHEAD TOURISM. Also, the Official Boat & World Musky Championship Title Sponsor, RECON BOATS of IOLA, WI, MERCURY MARINE; MUSKY HUNTER MAGAZINE, MOTORGUIDE and to all of our wonderful Hosts and Site Partners for their support ; Ligwood; Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Association, Treeland Resorts, The Landing, Sunset Bay, The Boathouse and our entire  family of Contributing & Associate Sponsors. Please let them know how much you appreciate what they do whenever you get the chance… show them some Musky Love, returning their support when you can… they are a vital part our growing PMTT Family.

UP NEXT – Madison Chain, WI – June 10th & 11th, 2023

Let’s go Musky Hunting…Wahoooooooooo!

Daily Live Streamed Updates during the Event can be viewed using your Facebook APP or watch the posted Live Stream videos from our Facebook Page. 

To obtain more information on becoming a member of the PMTT, or to signup for any PMTT Event, please visit us on the web at www.promusky.com or call the PMTT office at 815-478-4092. 

PMTT MERCURY MARINE SUMMER CHALLENGE!

MADISON  CHAIN, WI

JUNE 10th & 11th, 2023

HOSTED BY LIGWOOD, LLC

PMTT / MERCURY MARINE EVENT SETS RECORD

The Professional Musky Tournament Trail made its second stop during their historic 25th season with the Mercury Marine’s Summer Challenge on the Madison Chain of Lakes, Madison WI. June 10th & 11th. This record-breaking tournament has seen some of the best anglers from twelve different states converge into the town of Madison to compete in this event. With the extended drought hitting the entire Midwest and water temps warmer than usual, the angler were hoping the frontal conditions moving in would help turn the big fish on and did it ever. 

Mark Lijewski from Minocqua, WI and Nate Ruszkiewicz of Pewaukee, WI teamed up for the first time in a PMTT qualifier and lit the Madison Chain up by landing the largest musky ever in a Wisconsin PMTT event by boating a giant 52.75” beast. “It was all kind of crazy because I was just fishing for one musky, one that might help us qualify for the Recon Boats World Championship” stated Lijewski. 

After blanking on day one of the Mercury Marine Summer Challenge, Lijewski & Ruszkiewicz decided to go deep and fish some big fish spots on the second day. “We didn’t think we had a chance at winning this tournament, so we really were just trying to catch one to put us on the board”, stated Ruszkiewicz. With less than two hours left in the tournament, while throwing natural color rubber baits over deep water humps, Lijewski and Ruszkiewicz put three muskies in the net of 44”, 45” and the biggest Wisconsin musky ever recorded during the past 25 years of PMTT tournaments at 52.75”. They not only left town with the first place hardware, they also captured the big fish bonus, the TTAP bonuses and the Recon Boats $1,000 first place bonus to take home over $21,000 in prize money! 

2nd Place: Ethan Rogers of Bemidji, MN and Mike Brister of Bemidji, MN lead the event after the first day by boating three muskies up to 45.25”. They caught all three fish throwing carp colored Dying Dawgs off the weed edges and worked the baits back in very aggressively. The pattern died on day two as they slide into second place and took home $4,400 in cash.

3rd Place: Joey Rozanski of Pewaukee, WI and Mark Gillich of Arbor Vitae, WI were also on the big fish as they boated a 48.75” and a 51.50” muskies on day two of the event throwing natural colored jerk baits over deep rocks and took home over $3,000 in prize money. 

4th Place: Jeromy and Trevor Barber, the father and son team from Eagle River, WI boated two muskies of 45.75” and 46.50” on natural colored rubber baits over deep baitfish and big fish of the day Saturday and a total of $2,700 in prize money.

5th Place: Gus Mantey of Eagle River, WI and Max Mantey, Minneapolis, MN, brothers that doubled up on muskies of 41,75” and 44.75” one each on a black rubber bait deep weed edge and black crank bait on a shallow weed line. 

PMTT Tournament Director, Tim Widlacki, acknowledged the Trail’s deep appreciation to our many outstanding sponsors, for both their continuing support and the important part they have played and are playing now in our growth over the past 25 years as America’s 1st and only; truly National Professional Musky Circuit. Leading the way with new, challenging, and innovative formats, featuring many of America’s Top Musky Fishing Destinations. Special thanks to our Q-2 Event Sponsor, MERCURY MARINE and our good friends at Ligwood, LLC for hosting the PMTT in Madison. Also, the Official Boat & World Championship title sponsor RECON BOATS, MUSKY HUNTER MAGAZINE, MOTORGUIDE, LIEF LABS and to all of our wonderful Hosts and Site Partners for their support ; Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Association, Treeland Resorts, The Landing, Sunset Bay, Morehead Tourism, The Boathouse and our entire  family of Contributing & Associate Sponsors Please let them know how much you appreciate what they do whenever you get the chance… show them some Musky Love, returning their support when you can… they are a vital part our growing PMTT Family. 

UP NEXT – Lake Vermilion, MN – August 18th & 19th, 2023

Let’s go Musky Hunting…Wahoooooooooo! 

Daily Live Streamed Updates during the Event can be viewed using your Facebook APP or watch the posted Live Stream videos from our Facebook Page.

To obtain more information on becoming a member of the PMTT, or to signup for any PMTT Event, please visit us on the web at www.promusky.com or call the PMTT office at 815-478-4092. 

PMTT MUSKY HUNTER LATE SUMMER SHOWDOWN!

LAKE VERMILION, MN

AUGUST 18th & 19th, 2023

GORMAN & STOCK WIN 2023 PMTT MUSKY HUNTER MAGAZINE EVENT!

The Professional Musky Tournament Trail made its third stop during their historic 25th season with the Musky Hunter Magazine’s Late Summer Showdown on Lake Vermilion on August 18th & 19th. This awesome tournament seen some of the best musky anglers from twelve different states converge into this northern Minnesota lake to compete in this event. With the fronts moving through the week of the tournament, followed by blue skies, air temps in the low eighties and water in the low seventies, the anglers were expecting big fish but a tougher bite than usual. 

Mike Gorman from Cushing, MN and Jason Stock of Princeton, MN have fished the PMTT for years as a trail team. They out distanced the field of over 150 anglers who signed up to compete at this tournament, as the only team to catch four muskies, with their biggest coming in at 42.50”. “We had done ok pre-fishing but come tournament time the muskies left our spots. We literally targeted spots that we hadn’t fished before to catch three more on day two” stated Stock. 

On day one, Gorman and Stock only boated one small musky and needed to change it up for day two. “We decided to down size our baits from double ten bucktails to single bladed gold eights. Then we targeted flat rock shelves that got wind blown over the last few days”, stated Gorman. Well, their adjustments paid off big time as Gorman and Stock boated three more muskies on day two to seal the win. They not only took home the first-place trophies and prize money, they also won the TTAP bonus and the Recons Boats $1,000 first place bonus to take home over $16,000 in prize money. 

2nd Place: Luke Ronnestrand of Elk River, MN & Grant Loden were in second place after day one with two muskies & took the early lead on day two with their third musky. They were casting natural-colored hard plastics in the weeds as they totaled three muskies up to 46.25” which left them with the second-place finish. 

3rd Place: Scott Anderson of Tomahawk, WI & Cole Hoeppner of Schofield, WI were casting natural colored rubber baits off sunken reefs as they caught the big fish at 50” and first place standing after day one with two muskies with the addition of a 42.5”. But their pattern died off on day two and they slid down for the third-place finish. 

4th Place: Josh Borovsky of Maple Grove, MN. & Troy Zuelzke of Watertown, MN. were casting black bucktails on sand gravel humps and structures, and boated a musky both days of 38.75” and 47.50” for the fourth-place finish. 

5th Place: Rounding out the top five was Gregg Thomas of Morehead, KY. And Rick Hoover of Finleyville, PA. with a double. They were casting shallow rocks with bucktails and landed muskies of 35.25” and 41.25”. 

PMTT Tournament Director, Tim Widlacki, acknowledged the Trail’s deep appreciation to our many outstanding sponsors, for both their continuing support and the important part they have played and are playing now in our growth over the past 25 years as America’s 1st and only; truly national professional musky circuit. Leading the way with new, challenging, and innovative formats, featuring many of America’s top musky fishing destinations. Special thanks to our Q-3 Event Sponsor, Musky Hunter Magazine, and our good friends at The Landing for hosting the PMTT on Lake Vermilion. Also, the Official Boat & World Championship title sponsor RECON BOATS, MERCURY MARINE, MOTORGUIDE, LIEF LABS and to all of our wonderful Hosts and Site Partners for their support ; Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Association, Treeland Resorts, The Landing, Sunset Bay, Morehead Tourism, The Boathouse and our entire family of contributing & associate sponsors Please let them know how much you appreciate what they do whenever you get the chance… show them some Musky Love, returning their support when you can… they are a vital part our growing PMTT Family.

UP NEXT – PMTT Recon Boats World Championship – September 22nd -24th, 2023

Let’s go Musky Hunting…Wahoooooooooo! 

Daily Live Streamed Updates during the Event can be viewed using your Facebook APP or watch the posted Live Stream videos from our Facebook Page.

To obtain more information on becoming a member of the PMTT, or to signup for any PMTT Event, please visit us on the web at www.promusky.com or call the PMTT office at 815-478-4092.

PMTT Recon Boats World Championship

Lake Chippewa Flowage, WI

September 22nd, 23rd & 24th, 2023

Presented by the Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Association headquartered at Treeland Resorts

Gus & Max Mantey Win 2023 PMTT Top Gun Team of the Year!

Tait & Ty Sennett Win 2023 PMTT Recon Boats World Championship!

The Professional Musky Tournament Trail brought their amazing 25th season to an exciting conclusion this past weekend. The Top 30 teams, determined by points earned competing in a series of challenging national qualifying events, gathered on Wisconsin’s legendary musky waters of the Chippewa Flowage. These anglers came for what has become the single most prestigious event in all competitive musky angling…. The PMTT/RECON BOATS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!

The PMTT / RBWC is a unique, invitation only contest featuring an exciting 3-day format highlighting the top 30 teams. The first two days is an elimination event, where they must register a legal musky for the opportunity to move on to the third and final day. After that final day, the winning team would be taking home both the RBWC Title and a new 2024 Recon 2085T, with options, a trailer and powered by a 150hp Mercury outboard, with cash bonuses totaling almost $60,000. 

A mix of all-weather from sunny skies, calm, windy, partly cloudy and rain were all seen during this championship tournament. The first morning started a bit slowly as fish were moving and though a few fish were hitting the nets, it wasn’t until late morning that the action picked up. The bite stayed steady as the anglers registered 13 muskies up to 50” Day two and three were much better as steady wind, clouds, rain, and both air and water temps in the sixties, the anglers registered 37 more muskies up to 49.25”

1st Place – 7 muskies up to 49.25” – Ty Sennett of Hayward, WI & Tait Sennett from Princeville, IL, were dialed in throughout the tournament. After day 1, they were in second place with two muskies. On day 2, they doubled up with two more muskies and took a small lead into the final day. Then on day three, they doubled their score with three more muskies on the final day including big fish of 49.25”. “We started out pre-fishing shallow with black bucktails and this pattern held up through the first two days of the tournament,” stated Tait. With the steady rain all day and night the final two days, the Sennett’s noticed the pattern changing going into the final day. “We found out quick on the last day that the muskies weren’t shallow any more. So, we moved out to deep water and while still throwing the black bucktails, we popped 3 more muskies just off the structure”, stated Ty. Those final three muskies pushed them over the finish line and earned them the 2023 PMTT/RECON BOATS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Title, the new 2024 Recon 2085T, trailer & 150hp Mercury Marine Outboard, and cash totaling almost $60,000.

2nd Place – 46.75” / 38.50” / 38.50” / 32” – Brian Houdek & Dan McCullough both from Lindstrom, MN were also in the weeds but throwing shallow with Beaver baits. “We found the weeds and were moving muskies, stated Houdek. “We caught them all as we would pause the bait close to the boat on the retrieve, stated McCullough. The four muskies were good enough to take home the 2nd place hardware. 

3rd Place – 42”, 41.25”. 37.75” 34.25” – Clayton Spiess & Nick Amorose both from Eagle River, WI. worked a variety of baits over several different areas. The key to their success was to find the darkest water they could find and keep running and gunning from spot to spot. They registered four muskies up to 42” to seal the third-place finish.

4th Place – 45”, 42.50”, 40.50” – Duane Landmeier from Hinckley, IL. & Mark Rue from Glenview, IL, were working windblown and current areas with black bucktails. They put three muskies in the nets and took home a fourth-place finish. 

5th Place – 41.50”, 36”, 34.25”, 32.50” – Mark Lijewski of Minocqua, WI. & Nate Ruszkiewicz from Lisbon, WI.  were also working the shallow weeds with bucktails and a mix of other baits in natural colors. They targeted windblown areas and baitfish to connect on four muskies.  

PMTT TOP GUN Team of the Year Award – By far, the most prestigious honor in all competitive musky angling and something that every Touring Pro strives to earn. Skill, dedication, passion… and more, those earning “TOP GUN” Honors are indeed a cut above and our 2023 Winners are certainly no exception.

2023 PMTT TOP GUN - Team of the Year Award

1st Place - 613 pts. – Gus Mantey & Max Mantey    

2nd Place – 603 pts – Ty Sennett & Tait Sennett 

3rd Place – 472 pts – Duane Landmeier & Mark Rue

PMTT Tournament Director, Tim Widlacki, acknowledged the Trail’s deep appreciation to our many outstanding sponsors for both their continuing support and the important part they have played and are playing now in our growth over the past 25 years as America’s 1st and only, truly national, Professional Musky Circuit. Leading the way with new, challenging, and innovative formats on some of the country’s top musky fishing destinations; Highlighting freshwater’s most elusive and challenging fish and the fast-growing community of extreme adventure anglers who give her chase. Special thanks to World Championship event sponsor Recon Boats and to the Host Site Sponsors, Lake Chippewa Flowage Resort Association and Treeland Resorts. And to all of the trail sponsors, without whose help this memorable year would not have been possible: RECON BOATS, MERCURY MARINE, MUSKY HUNTER; LAKE CHIPPEWA FLOWAGE RESORT ASSOCIATION, MOTORGUIDE; LIEF LABS; MOREHEAD TOURISM; LIGWOOD, LLC. THE LANDING; THE BOAT HOUSE and our entire family of Contributing & Associate Sponsors. Please let them all know how much you appreciate what they do whenever you get the chance by returning their support when you can… they are a vital part of our growing PMTT Family 

Let’s go Musky Hunting…Wahoooooooooo! 

Daily Live Streamed Updates during the Event can be viewed using your Facebook APP or watch the posted Live Stream videos from our Facebook Page.

Sign up coming soon for the 2023 PMTT Trail and come check us out this winter at your local Musky Sport Show and follow us on our Social Media. For information or to view event photo album, please visit us on the web at www.promusky.com or call the PMTT office at 815-478-4092. Again, thank you everyone for following us through this rough year with the pandemic and all else in the world this year. We all here at the PMTT wish you good health and look forward to hitting the water again in 2023.