Musky Success in New Brunswick by Casey Hayward

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Filed Under Fishing

This report comes from Casey Hayward and was submitted as part of our 2012 Contributor Contest.


The MuskiesNB Chapter of Muskies Canada held our annual “exploratory outing” on September 9th, on the St John river at Oromocto. The exploratory is a club outing to an area where we have not been before for an organized fishing derby (catch and release). After 5 years of attending almost every club outing I finally got the winning fish. It was 39.5″ x 17″ and was 1 of 4 caught in the derby. I was trolling a blue fox, tandem inline spinner in about 4′ of water, actually heading for deeper water where I thought my chances would be better. The muskie put up a pretty good struggle but I finally got it boat side (I was alone). When I tried to get it into my huge Frabill muskie net, the front hook on the spinner got caught on the netting. The muskie really began to thrash about and I was sure I was going to loose it as it was not in the net at all. It gave a huge flip and landed right in the net as the lure came free from the net and its mouth. I just sat down to rest a bit as I was shaking like a leaf. A guy who was just launching his boat at an old wharf came over to see what all the splashing was about. He took some pics for me but they were not too good. Well I finally got to the podium and received a $300 Okuma, 8’6″ telescoping musky rod and an Okuma Isis 400 baitcast reel. For an old dude I was pretty excited and I am looking forward to doing it again.

Musky Succes - Casey Hayward

- Casey Hayward

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Camp Samac Fishing Derby

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Filed Under Adventures Canada Events Fishing Freshwater Shore Fishing

A good friend of mine works at Camp Samac and wrote to tell me that they’re having their yearly fishing derby this July. The camp is located on a fantastic stretch of property right in the heart of Oshawa and will be held on July 15, 2012 from 8am to 5pm. Hope to see you there!

There will be prizes for the longest fish, the shortest fish, and my personal favourite the strangest “thing” caught! That’s sure to win some kid the catch and prize of the day! For more information please read this flyer: Camp Samac Fishing Derby 2012 (pdf).

Perchin For MS: Fishing For a Cure

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Filed Under Canada Fishing Freshwater Freshwater Species Ice Fishing News Perch

Perchin For MS is a fishing tournament where not only everyone is a winner, but where your time and money will go to a serious cause. Each team paid a $40 entry fee – half of which goes towards the Multiple Sclerosis Walk in their name, and the other half goes towards the prizes. The first event was held earlier this year on Lake Simcoe and was huge a huge success, and we want to see an even bigger turn out this year! I highly recommend that more people come out next year or donate, there really is no greater higher prize than helping other people in need.

Perchin for MS Fishing Derby was a huge success this year. In its first year, we drew in 78 teams from all over Ontario and the United States and raised $4000.00 for MS Research and Awareness!
Next year we hope to make it bigger and better. We will be promoting bigger and better this year and attending the sports show and using our website.

The tournament was more than just about the fish or the weather however. “I started this event because I wanted to promote education and awareness around MS and I thought what better way to do that than through a fishing derby.” As an avid angler and Conservation Officer who lives with MS daily, Poirier knows firsthand about its limitations, but says that unless you have a friend or relative with it, people seldom have a good understanding of the disease. “The goal of the event was also to raise a bit of money for MS and I am pleased to announce that thanks to some generous monetary donations we raised almost $4,000 that will go directly to the MS Society of Canada,” said Poirier.
Although most anglers who fished the MS Perch Fundraiser were from the GTA, others came from Owen Sound and Niagara in the west to Muskoka and Halliburton in the north and east to Ottawa. There were even some anglers from the US. Many were hard core competitive anglers who look for competitions like this to test their skills. Others were recreational ice anglers who enjoy meeting others in a fun-filled event where proceeds go to a worthwhile cause.

Not only did anglers come out in force to support the fundraiser, but so too did sponsor and individual support. “The prizes supplied by companies and individuals far exceeded my expectations. Our community really showed the true meaning of “Community” with the way they all came together to sponsor this event!” said Poirier.

Perchin for MS

WalleyePalooza Fishing Derby

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Filed Under Entertainment Fishing Freshwater Freshwater Species News Walleye

Our good friend, resident walleye guru, and contributor Tony Andrews (aka WalleyeGuy) is throwing an online walleye fishing derby this year, and he’s calling it WalleyePalooza!

The derby starts on May 14th and run until November 5th, all you have to do is email the stats of your catch into Tony. See the WalleyeGuy Blog for details.