On Saturday, April 27, between the hours of 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. 45 teams launched to cloudy skies, 54° air temperature, 16 mph WSW winds gusting to 28 mph and 51° water temperature to compete in the Muskies Inc. Heartland Chapter 10 “24th Annual Stan Harrison Memorial Spring Tune-Up” muskie tournament. The event is a fundraiser on Clear Lake sponsored by Harrison Ford.
The proceeds from this event go to promote local youth fishing programs such as Scout Fishing Days, Kids Fish Camps, Kids Fishing Tournaments, Family Ice Fishing Days, Youth Muskie Fishing Events and assist with local Iowa Fisheries Department projects regarding research, fisheries, maintenance and development.
The fundraiser Check-In was held on Friday, April 26, from 6-9 p.m. at the Community Center, Ventura, where participants from Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota were able to review event rules, a listing of event sponsors/donors and mingle with other entrants rekindling old friendships and making new ones.
During that time, random entrants received door prizes in the form of gift certificates, gift cards and merchandise and all entrants were able to view the numerous, raffle donations in the form of fishing equipment, general merchandise, clothing and guided trips, all generously donated by the network of local, area and regional donors and Muskies Inc., Heartland Chapter 10.
There were a total of 23 muskies boated with 16 of them meeting the 30 inch minimum length requirement to be considered for awards. The fundraiser results were as follows:
•1st Place: Grant Lodden/Kyle Peterson, 5 fish, 39”, 37”, 37”, 37”, 31”, 51
pts
•2nd Place: Jason Hillman/Douglas Hillman, 2 fish, 48”, 44”, 40 pts
•3rd Place: Randy Nielsen/Logan Wilcke, 1 fish, 42”, 16 pts
•4th Place: Connor Sorensen/Duane Reineke, 1 fish, 40”, 14 pts
•5th Place: Tyler Fredin/Kyle Fredin, 1 fish, 39”, 13 pts
•6th Place: Matt Bell/Mikayla Bell, 1 fish, 38”, 12 pts
•7th Place: Bart Asche/Pete Hildreth, 1 fish, 36”, 10 pts
•8th Place: Ben Koeppen/Mike Rouse, 1 fish, 35”, 9 pts
•9th Place: John Newman/Matt Olson, 1 fish, 34”, 8 pts
•10th Place: Josh Clausen/Michael Clausen, 1 fish, 34”, 8 pts
•11th Place: John Harazin/William Jance, 1 fish, 31”, 5 pts
•Longest Muskie: Douglas Hillman, 48”
•Shortest Muskie: Matt Bell, 26”
•Longest Non-Muskie: Connor Sorensen, walleye, 24”
Other Fish of Note:
•Tyler Fredin, muskie, 29”
•Ryan Becker, muskie, 28”, 28”, 28”
•Ryan Wilcke, muskie, 28”
•Adam Tidemanson, muskie, 26”
•Elias Flores, walleye, 21”
“Our Heartland Chapter would like to express our most sincere appreciation to Harrison Ford of Clear Lake as our main sponsor for this
year’s event, said Michael Wentworth. “We hope that this relationship of generosity and support will continue with future ‘Spring Tune-Up’ fundraising events!”
“We also wish to convey our gratitude to the City of Ventura, for their warm and friendly cooperation in welcoming our fundraiser to the Community Center which we hope will be for many more years to come! Finally, we wish to thank all the local and area businesses and individuals for their generous donations to our annual fundraiser.”
