Headwaters Chapter of Muskies Inc.

Challunges

KLEEBA CHALLUNGE

The Kleeba Challunge is a travelling tournament held annually among the Wisconsin chapters of Muskies, Inc. There are currently nine chapters. The tournament was named after a member of Headwaters chapter, Larry Kleeba, who held the position of “Director at Large”. Larry moved to the Conover, Wisconsin area from Illinois. He was well known in the area and had many friends in Muskies, Inc. He has been described as a party kind of guy who loved to fish for muskies and was very good at it. Larry died in a tragic car accident near his home, after which during a Musky Club Alliance meeting, it was decided to name this tournament in his honor.

The tournament is a trophy only tournament whereas Headwaters chapter sponsors all club members fishing for the honor of having the chapter’s name added to the trophy for winning the tournament in any given year.

2012 Larry Kleeba Challunge

The 2012 Larry Kleeba Challunge is hosted by the Capital City Chapter 8 and will be headquartered out of the Gateway Lodge and Resort on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage. The dates of the Challenge will be June 1, 2, and 3. At this point in time, the plan is to hold a meeting of all participants on the evening of June 1st, fish all day Saturday with a break for lunch, fish half a day on Sunday, and hold the awards ceremony at about 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. More details will follow.

Lee Bartolini
President
Capital City Chapter of Muskies, Inc.

Contact Jerry Hollnagel decoys@mwwb.net or (920) 295-4174 if you want more information and/or if you wish to fish this event.

2011 Larry Kleeba Challunge

The 2011 Larry Kleeba Challunge was held on the Holcombe Flowage, June 25th & 26th, hosted by Central Wisconsin Chapter at Big Swede's Resort.

79 members from the Wisconsin's Muskies, Inc. chapters participated in the event.
1st Wisconsin Chapter's Team A (Jason Smith, Jess Hanvold, Chuck Spletter, Courtland Spletter, Ace Sommerfeld & Steve Ohms) won the event with 3 fish: 48", 36" & 34" that totalled 36 points. The 48" was the big fish of the challunge.

Juris Ozols, assistant editor of MUSKIE magazine, attended the event taking photos and conducting interviews for a future article of this event to appear in the magazine.

First Wisconsin Chapter Participants

Kleeba Hosting Chapter

Year WI Chapter

2012 Capital City

2013 First Wisconsin

2014 Titletown

2015 Hayward Lakes

2016 Milwaukee

2017 Between the Lakes

2018 Headwaters
2019 God's Country

2020 Central Wisconsin

2021 Capital City

2011 Larry Kleeba Challunge Participants at the Sunday Group Photo

Headwaters Teams Lake Holcombe

Jerry Hollnagel, Margie Hollnagel, Jay Hollnagel, Joe Koschnik, Glen Matula

Carol Chwala & Lloyd Fisher

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GIL HAMM MEMORIAL CHAPTER CHALLUNGE

The first Muskies, Inc. Chapter Challunge (later named the Chapter Challunge and then in 1985 was again renamed the Gil Hamm Memorial Chapter Challunge) was held on the Minocqua Chain in Wisconsin, September 1977, and hosted by the Chicagoland Muskie Hunters Chapter. The first winner of the famous “Lunge Bucket” went to the Fargo-Moorhead Chapter.

The original Challunge concept was pioneered by one of our past presidents and at the time the president of the Chicagoland Muskie Hunters Chapter…Steve Statland. This chapter event was conceived as an outing where anglers would represent their chapters, get to know other chapter members, and have a friendly muskie fishing competition.

This still happens today. The “Lunge Bucket” was created by Steve as a suitable trophy commemorating the event. This bucket held the sucker that caught the very first muskie at around 10:00 am, opening day of the first Challunge by Steve. He had it brass plated, bolted a leaping brass muskie to the lid and had it appropriately engraved. Each year a new chapter is awarded the “Bucket” and has the date, location, winning team and number of points appropriately engraved.

One more note regarding that first Challunge…Statland, as team captain for the Chicagoland Muskie Hunters, made a wager with Bob Schmidt, who was the team captain with the Fargo-Moorhead Chapter. The stakes were a bottle of good whiskey. At the 1978 Spring Awards Banquet in the Twin Cities, Steve presented Bob with the Lunge Bucket, inside, Steve placed a small bottle of Crown Royal. That same bottle remained in the Lunge Bucket for several years until the Hayward Chapter won their first Challunge, whereupon the Crown Royal mysteriously disappeared.

This tournament is open to all MI members. The winning Chapter of the prior year's tournament sponsors the next tournament and chooses the body of water to fish.

The 2011 Challunge is sponsored by the "Star of the North" Chapter on Lake of the Woods near Morson, Ontario, Canada, August 21 - 27th with tournament fishing days Wednesday through Friday, August 24 - 26th. The tournament headquarters will be at the Red Wing Lodge on Sabaskong Bay. Headwaters chapter will cover the tournament fees, participants are responsible for their lodging-most are staying at Buena Vista Resort.

Visit the Gil Hamm Tournament website: www.gilhamm.com for information, agenda, teams and leaderboard updates (after the Challunge is underway).

Contact Bill Jacobs promusky@live.com or (715) 891-5574 for more information or for assistance in making reservations.

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