Over five hundred sixty anglers caught and released eighty one 40-inch or bigger muskies during the 42nd Frank Schneider, Jr. Memorial Muskie Tournament in the Bemidji-Walker-Cass Lake-Longville area on September 11-13.

Participants enjoyed three days of fishing, feeds on Friday and Saturday evenings at three locations and an awards program with feed on Sunday.

Scott Bringle placed first with three muskies – 45", 43" and 45.5" from Cass Lake. Darrien Rubner took top honors for the juniors in the tournament with a 44.5" muskie.

All of the top anglers received a plaque, a Fenwick rod / Abu Garcia reel as well as a bait box with lures. The top winners also received trips to Red Wing Lodge on Lake of the Woods, Spirit of the North on Leech Lake, Sah-Kah-Tay Resort on Cass Lake, Break on the Lake Resort on Cass Lake, Vermilion Dam Lodge on Lake Vermilion, Sunset Cove Resort on Cass Lake and Pine Beach Resort on Lake Garfield.

Dwight LaBrosse entered the biggest muskie, a 53-incher from Lake Bemidji and will receive a replica from Lax Reproductions.

The Grand Prize, a Skeeter 1790T with Yamaha 75 hp 4-stroke, was won by Jim Dau. Jim’s 47.5" muskie caught on Sunday morning put him the drawing for Grand Prize. Every person who entered a muskie in the tournament was in the drawing.

Bill Sherck, “The Man About The Woods” from TV’s Minnesota Bound was the host of Sunday’s events which started with a feed at Moondance Fairgrounds, just outside of Walker.

During the awards program, $3,000 was presented to the MN DNR to be used for the muskie fishery and a $5,000 from the Hugh Becker Foundation was presented to the Leech Lake Watershed Foundation for their project to protect muskie spawning habitat in Woman Lake. Rick Lax presented Brent Murawski who caught the biggest fish at last year’s tournament, a 55-incher, the replica he won.

The Frank Schneider Tournament, now in its 42nd year, is Muskies Inc.’s oldest fishing contest. The first tournament was held the second year of the organization’s existence. In the 1990s it was renamed to honor Frank Schneider Jr., long-time Muskies Inc. member who worked with the Minnesota legislature and other outdoor organizations to improve fishing and hunting opportunities in the state.