Hello Fellow Muskie Anglers, In case you have not heard yet, the tournament was a tough one. Only 1 fish was caught with an hour to go in the tournament. Although I must say that it could not have been caught by a better candidate. Bob from Montesano caught his very first muskie at 33 x 14 which ended up being the tournament winner. I know Bob's very first Tiger Muskie will be that much special considering the circumstances for which he caught the fish. The raffle was a huge success with even some of the town folks buying some raffle tickets and winning some great prizes. Everybody in Mossyrock including the police are looking forward to our event next year and that in itself speaks wonders for our chapter and how we have impacted the community. Hopefully next year the Tiger Muskie will be a little more cooperative and not as lazy. Bring on Merwin!!!

Now for some bittersweet news. I have accepted a new job back in my home state of Colorado and I am starting August 16th. With this I have to resign as President of Chapter 57. It was an honor to serve as President of our great Chapter and I will treasure all the of friends I have made while being President. I will truly miss all of you as well as the great tiger muskie fishery here in the state of Washington as I believe aside from the freakish numbers in New Mexico, I think Washington has the best Tiger Muskie fishery in the world. Now don't any of you be too sad for me as I will be only a day's drive away from the New Mexico lakes that carry 22 Tiger Muskies per acre so you will probably see plenty of pictures of me with some of those beauties on the website. I will also try to make at least 1 trip every year to participate in one of Chapter 57's events (I am targeting the annual Esoxaganza on Curlew as my event of choice!!). If any of you are ever in Colorado, don't hesitate to drop me an email (buddy.hart at gmail.com). I now leave you in the very capable hands of our board as I know they already have a fill-in candidate in mind who will also run for the permanent President position in December. Thanks for all your support, because without you the Chapter and even the fishery probably would not exist in this state as it does today.

Signing Off As President,

Buddy Hartman

There are some photos from the 2010 Mayfield Lake Open Tournament posted on Washingtonlakes.com.

Their meetings are the 4th Tuesday of every month at the Round Table Pizza in Spokane at 1908 West Francis St. 6:30 PM. If you live on the eastside, stop by to learn more about Tiger Muskies; meetings are free and open to all. Visit their website at www.mountainmuskies.com. You can also contact <Craig> by email.

We've added some more excellent articles to our MuskieU page. Including articles on the importance of good Catch and Release methods, Delayed Mortality due to improper methods and some surprising mortality rates in Catch and Release fishing. We've also got a copy of what is probably the definitive article comparing the damage of vertical as. horizontal holds.