I just had a great weekend. They come around once in a while, but not as often as they used to it seems. There are plenty of good weekends and most are OK, but the really great ones are a treat. I’m sure everybody has their own definition of a great weekend, but in my world a great weekend needs to have the following criteria: fun, family, and friends. It all started out on Friday evening when two long time friends of mine, ever since elementary school, and their families arrived at our house just in time to enjoy an unbelievably great meal of salmon loaf and all the fixings prepared by my wife, Davonne. Due to long distances, our close-knit group is only able to get together twice a year and we tend to enjoy every minute of it. Fortunately, all the kids get along famously and the wives still put up with our long visits about our high school days, even though they’ve heard them dozens of time. Our guests were able to stay at our house for the weekend so we had a house full.
The following morning we all got up to an amazing breakfast, at least for those of us who were able to wake up in time. We watched some basketball and basically lounged for the rest of the morning and afternoon before moving on with the afternoon activities. The guys went to an annual event held by Bill’s Musky Club from Wausau, WI. There, we were able to meet with a whole bunch of great people. Bill’s Musky Club does a lot more than most fishing clubs. They do plenty of the usual tournaments which can be found on their website, but they also do a great deal of community work with fund raising events to raise scholarship money for students going into college for a fisheries or related degrees. They have also provided funding for musky research in area waters and helped support other musky production projects around the state.
Several of it’s members are area guides and pro staffers of Monster Outdoors. We had great visits with Glenn Moberg, Phil Schweik, Jim and Michelle Korducki (owner of Ducktail Lures), and Mike Hafner who manufactures the Fish Measurer.
I’ve mentioned before that Monster Outdoors carries a unique product line and Mike’s product ranks right up there at the top on the uniqueness scale. Mike manufactures the Monster Fish Measurer. The Monster Fish Measurer is the one and only fully engraved custom-made fish ruler and the only place you can get one of your own is at
www.monsteroutdoors. These tools are absolutely beautiful and constructed from anodized aluminum alloy which gives it superior resistance against corrosion, UV protection, incredible strength and a beautiful finish. This Custom Fish Measurer is available in 3 different sizes. The longest is called the Monster and is 60 inches, the medium model is the Little Monster which is 48 inches, and finally the Mini Monster coming in at 36 inches.www.monsteroutdoors.com for a while to check out our store you might be surprised. Our inventory is growing nearly every day so there is always something new to find. If you’ve had a great weekend, I would enjoy hearing about it as well.
Along with the standard raffle tickets and door prizes, Bill’s Musky Club also hosts an incredible banquet of food and drink. This is combined with drawing of prizes and great visits with everyone around you. There were many highlights of the evening, but one of the best was when Mike unveiled his special Bill’s Musky Club Edition Monster Fish Measurer. It was a thing of beauty and a lucky person walked away with a piece of equipment that will add of touch of pride to his boat and last a lifetime. Thank you, Mike, for your generous contribution! For those who missed out on their opportunity to get the one at the banquet, please go to Monster Outdoors and pick one up. These fish measurers are one of a kind and something that every fisherman would be proud to own.
By the time we got back home, everyone seemed a bit worn out. A movie was put in and kids slowly started dropping off to sleep – it was now 9 PM. We have a strange tradition when we get together and we weren’t going to stop this time. From 9 O’clock until nearly 2 AM, the three old guys played ping-pong. Growing up in rural North Dakota, many a cold winter’s nights were spent in a basement playing pong. We used to be really good, and believe it or not, we still are – in our minds anyway. If nothing else, we are as competitive as ever - I just don’t remember my body hurting so badly the next day.
Sunday morning came too soon and we said our good-byes. We will hopefully all get together this summer sometime and do it all over again except for the Bill’s Musky Club banquet. That was a bonus.
If you haven’t been to