BLC April Newsletter

If your email program cuts off the bottom of the email click "View this email in your browser" up top to see the whole thing.

April 2026 BLC Newsletter

Meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of the month, 7pm @ the Nisswa American Legion

Hello Everyone,

I would like to thank all of you that help make our annual sportsman's banquet a great success. As many of you know this is our only fundraising we do throughout the year. All of the funds we raise help support what we do as a chapter. From purchasing all youth goodies we give away at the banquet, to helping with muskie stocking in Minnesota. We are currently working with the Twin Cities chapter of Muskies Inc. on donating a lump sum of money to help with the short fall in the Minnesota muskie stocking program. These funds will be used to help keep muskies in the ponds over winter, which helps with the survival rate once stocked. We have also had a few different DNR offices from Brainerd and Millie Lace reach out. They are looking at adding a few more pit tag readers into their line up, which we should be able to help purchase.

It's that time of year where the boats are coming out and the ice gear is getting put away. With the snow melting (again), we are doing our annual landing clean-up from now till the monthly meeting in May. Take a picture of you cleaning up any boat landing and send it to me, this will get you entered into a $50 Fleet Farm gift card. This is just a little thing we can do to help make Minnesota a better place to enjoy the outdoors.

Please come out and join us next Tuesday for the much anticipated LURE SWAP. It will be at the Nisswa American Legion, free to attend and free to sell any kind of fishing equipment.

Fair Chase & Tight Lines

Levi Stifter

Meetings are open to the public and FREE to attend! Chance to win various prizes from lures or maybe a rod in our meeting raffles. Come to hear and share fish stories and more. One random door prize drawing for those in attendance. Bring your friends!

April 14th

Monthly Meeting - Lure Swap

May 9th

Minnesota Fishing Opener

May 12th

Monthly Meeting - Lure Making & Membership Drive

June 6th

Muskie Opener

Sportsman's Banquet - THANK YOU!!!

Our 22nd Annual Sportsman's Banquet is a wrap and we can not thank all of you enough!

Our sponsors—we couldn’t do this without them! Please support these businesses in any way that you can.

Our patrons—you’re the reason we put this event on! Thank you for joining us on such a fun night. Your dollars go to help stock fish, keep kids fishing and to put on great events like these.

Our volunteers—they worked tirelessly to secure donations, make sure things came together, set up for the event and throughout the night.

Also a special thank you to Terri Fierstine for once again taking photos during the event. The entire slideshow can be found on the website.

👉 Photos from the banquet

If you're an early planner for next year, keep March 20, 2027 open. We'll be heading back to the Pine Ballroom again for the 23rd Annual Sportsman's Banquet!

Lake Cleanup Challenge

Help us keep our local waters clean and healthy this spring!

Simply head out to any area lake or public access, pick up trash, and snap a photo of your efforts. Send your photo to us via email at brainerdmuskies@gmail.com or through Facebook Messenger.

To help us highlight where the work is being done, please include a lake access sign or recognizable landmark in your photo.

As a small thank-you for your efforts, participants will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card to Mills Fleet Farm.

The winner will be drawn at our May 12th monthly meeting (attendance not required—but we’d love to see you there!).

More importantly, this is about giving back to the waters we all enjoy. Every bag of trash removed makes a difference—for the fish, the habitat, and everyone who uses these lakes.

While this is a spring challenge, stewardship doesn’t stop here. Consider keeping a trash bag in your vehicle and taking a few minutes to clean up whenever you head out for a day on the water—no matter the time of year. Let’s lead by example and show what stewardship looks like.

High School Muskie Tournament

Registration info and rules can be found on the website.

Jeff Young Memorial Muskie Shootout

October 3-4, 2026

Registration is now open and we already have more than 50% of the field filled! It's never too early to start planning for our annual tournament. The Jeff Young Memorial Muskie Shootout will once again be heading back to Agency Bay Lodge on Leech Lake. Agency Bay Lodge has been a great partner for us and they help us put on a great event. He hope you will be able to join us on October 3rd and 4th this year.

2026 Gil Hamm Chapter Challunge

The 2026 Gil Hamm Chapter Challunge will be held on the Eagle River Chain in Eagle River, Wisconsin from August 26th to 28th. The winning chapter each year has the honor of hosting the following year. And the Bemidji Cass Chapter will be the host this year. Chapters can put together as many teams as they would like to fish (up to 6 anglers per team) and this cost is paid for by the chapter. You'll be responsible for lodging and there should be announcements soon on some discounted rates at the host resort. Stay tuned for more details!

2026 BLC Muskie Hunter of the Year (MHOTY)/Outings Schedule

June

13th; Lake Alexander/Shamineau • 7am-3pm
27th; Bemidji Memorial tournament - Coincide with Bemidji tournament and all tournament lakes • 5am-4pm

July

7th; Virtual (any MN lake) - Ladies & kids get double points for muskies caught • 4pm to 10pm
18th; Lake Miltona - potluck at Noon • 7am-10pm

August

1st; Lake Inguadona • 7am-3pm
15th; Virtual (any MN lake) - Sponsorship outing - fish must be caught using a BLC sponsors lure • 7am-10pm

September

1st; Virtual (any MN lake) - Topwater challenge • 4pm-9pm
19th; Leech Lake • 7am-3pm

October

10th; Gull Lake • 9am-3pm
24th; Lake Roosevelt • 9am-3pm

**Schedule subject to change**

** Potluck picnic to follow after most outings**

Bump Boards for Sale

As a board (no pun intended) we made the decision to invest in some new bump boards for the Jeff Young Memorial Muskie Shootout that we hold every fall on Leech Lake. We did this to add both the chapter and shootout logos to the boards. But we also wanted to support an operational bump board company in Muskie Bumper. The original bump boards for the Shootout were from T's Tackle and they have not been in business for a number of years now.

So that means we have a bunch of bump boards that we need to find new homes for! Are you in need of one for yourself or know someone that is? These are all in excellent condition, with the majority still looking essentially brand new. And we are selling these for just $75 each. A similar bump board purchased brand new will cost over $120. So this is a great deal and they will be first come, first served.

We will have a few available at each of our monthly meetings until they are gone. If you would like to reserve one to make sure we have one for you at our next meeting, fill out the below bump board request form.

Bump Board Request Form

Discounts for BLC Members

The BLC has worked hard to grow our list of sponsors. And we have partnered with several of them to bring you discounts through their companies. As a BLC member, you can get discounts through the following BLC sponsors.