Sarley: One of the hardest working fishing clubs in the Midwest

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The Fox River Valley Chapter of Muskies Inc. is one of the fastest growing and hardest working fishing clubs in the Midwest. President Rich Gallagher presides over an exceptional group of board members who give the proverbial 110 percent to make the club what it is.

Members enjoy monthly meetings with great speakers and the club has a number of outings and social events. They raise money to stock muskies into local waterways and they also work to promote children’s fishing.

The Fox River Valley Chapter has two big tournaments each year. The title of each is “Challunge on the Chain.” By the way, that is not a typographical error nor even a rank misspelling on my part, “Challunge” is a play on words combining “challenge” and “muskellunge.”

I hate to say this, but I think that someone from this group has stepped under too many ladders, crossed paths with too many black cats or broken too many mirrors. It is almost a guarantee that when this group hosts one of its big tournaments, the weather is going to be horrid for fishing.

The group has moved the dates of their tournaments from the beginnings of October and April to the ends of those months and all weeks in between and it hasn’t made a difference – Mother Nature frowns on them.

Here you have some of the most dedicated musky anglers in Northern Illinois who are fishing on the State’s most productive muskie waterway and the catch rates almost always fail to reflect the talent and effort expended by the participants. This year’s event featured intensely strong winds making casting and boat control a true problem.

To show how badly the weather affected the tournament, Nick Cammarata had his best week ever on the Chain prior to the tourney. He boated 39 muskies in three days. Sure, some were small but his total included a pair of 48-inch beasts, one caught by his wife, Kathy.

The spring “Challunge was held on Saturday, April 26. Eighty boats were manned by two-man teams of muskie maniacs setting out from the Thirsty Turtle. In all, thirteen fish were weighed in by twelve teams. The team of Crystal Lake’s Dave Schober and his partner, Mike Witowski won the even with a two fish haul. Their skis were 41.5 and 38.5-inches long. They caught both fish on Petite.

Mark Krause and John Gobbo took second with another Petite fish. Channel Lake yielded the majority of the fish followed by Petite, Spring and Bluff.

The other finishers were: 3rd – Tim Wallies & Matt Stevens; 4th – Mark Alfrejd of Oakwood Hills and Mike Haber from Cary; 5th - Lake Villa’s Martin Fudulov and Matt Zastrow of Island lake; 6th – Ron Weidner of Spring Grove and Dan Borak; 7th – John Ryan and Dave Lundgren; 8th – David Hill Sr. of Crystal Lake and David Hill Jr. from Elgin; 9th – Crystal Lake’s Mike Gleason and Rob Denkewalter; 10th – Nick and Kathy Cammarata from Cary; 11th – Gordy Linde and Rick Miscinski; 12th – Mark Lamont and Chris Van Allmen.     

Congratulations to all of the participants for an excellent showing under such difficult conditions.

• • •

The Lake County Forest Preserve’s Fox River Preserve & Marina near Barrington will be offering free boat safety checks on Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18, from 9 to 3 at its 169-slip marina and boat launch. The boat safety checks will be conducted by the Coast Guard-recognized Chain of Lakes Power Squadron.

Boat checks are recommended annually and can answer user questions regarding equipment requirements, proper usage, boating regulations and local water conditions and to promote education.

The 517-acre Fox River Preserve & Marina is located on Roberts Road just west of Route 59 near Barrington. For information about the free boat safety checks, slip rentals or launch fees, call the Preserve at 847-381-0669.

• Northwest News Group outdoors columnist Steve Sarley’s radio show, “The Outdoors Experience,” airs live from 8 to 9 a.m. Saturday’s on AM-560. Sarley also runs a Web site for outdoors enthusiasts, OExperience.com. He can be reached by e-mail at        sarfishing@yahoo.com.