BLC December Newsletter

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December 2025 BLC Newsletter

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

New Location

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all were able to get on the water or in the woods with the warm fall we had. Now that the cold weather has set in, let's remember that no ice is safe ice. No fish is worth going swimming over especially when there's ice on the lakes.

With Christmas at the end of the month we are doing a food/toy drive at our December meeting. If you bring $10 worth of food or a new unwrapped toy you will be entered into a drawing for an MTO gift card. The food and toys will all stay in the Lakes Area. Last month the food drive produced 50lbs of food and $110 in cash donations that we delivered it to the Aitkin Food Shelf.

This month we hold our annual board elections, if you would like to be on the board please reach out to either myself or Jadyn. We are always looking for new board members to bring new thoughts and ideas to the chapter.

With the new year right around the corner begins a new round of fundraising. Many of you have probably received or will be receiving the MI yearly calendar. If you are able to send a donation that would be greatly appreciated. We have also started the planning process for our Annual Sportsman's Banquet. If you are interested in helping plan this event please let me know, we are always looking for help.

If you have fishing/outdoor pic from this summer please email them to me. We would love to show off the things our members have been up to. We will use them in slide show movies for the banquet and muskie show. My email is Levistifter1@gmail.com. We are also looking for ideas for speakers or new things to do for our monthly meetings, if you have ideas or things you would like to see us do send me an email.

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Fair Chase and Tight Lines.

Levi Stifter

December 9th Meeting -

Christmas Party & Chapter Elections - 7:00 p.m.

Food donation suggestions:

Canned veggies
Rice
Dried beans
Coffee/tea
Spices (salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc.)
Baking items (flour, sugar, powdered sugar, etc.)
Cooking oil
Boxed milk
Quick and easy meals (chow mein, canned soup, hamburger helper, manwich, etc.)
Dish soap

Even if you aren’t able to join us for our annual Christmas Party, please consider making a donation to a local charity and give back to YOUR community.

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!

* 2nd Tuesday of the Month - Nisswa American Legion - 7 pm *

December 9th

Monthly Meeting - Christmas Party and Chapter Elections

January 13th

Monthly Meeting - Guest Speaker - TBD

March 21st, 2026

22nd Annual BLC Sportsman's Banquet

2026 BLC Board Elections

It's that time of year for our 2026 BLC board nominations and chapter elections that take place at the December monthly meeting. If you would like to be considered for a spot on the 2026 board, reach out to any board member or hit reply on this email to let us know. If you have any questions, we'll be happy to get those answered for you as well. If you are a BLC member, you meet all the requirements. It's always great to have new voices on the board to help bring new and fresh ideas to the things that we do.

BLC 22nd Annual Sportsman's Banquet

March 21, 2026

We have secured a date for our 22nd Annual Sportsman's Banquet for March 21, 2026. We will be heading back to Cragun's and the Pine Ballroom. This is the same room we were at this past year and received a lot of great feedback on this space.Clear your calendar to join us on March 21st. Look for more details and tickets to go up for sale sometime after the first of the year.

Photo Request

We're looking for pictures! If you have fish pictures from the 2025 season, we would love to see them. Muskies are great, but it can be any species. And bonus points for pictures of kids with fish! We are starting to collect these now for our slideshow that we have playing at the banquet in March.

Please send photos that you would like to have included to Levi at levistifter1@gmail.com

2025 Release Standings

Current Release Standings

If you would like to participate in our 2025 release contest or be eligible for a free replica, please make sure to check out the above link and scroll down for requirements. Also remember that it can pay to participate in our release contest. All fish registered the previous month will go into a monthly drawing at our monthly meetings for a $25 Musky Tackle Online gift card. Must be present to win!

Replica Eligibility Reminder

Just a quick reminder that if you have caught a big fish this year that you would like to have considered for replica eligibility, be sure that you get that information to us no later than our December monthly meeting on December 9th. For complete rules on replica eligibility, click on the above release standings link and scroll down on that page.

BLC 50” Club and First Muskie Club

Catch a 50”+ muskie during the 2025 Muskie season, or catch your FIRST muskie and automatically get in for an annual, commemorative shirt!

Here’s how it works:

You must be a current member in good standing as of the time the fish was caught
Submit a release form, minimum, to the BLC

Send us your photos - we’d love to be able to post these to social media, use in the newsletter, submit to MUSKIE magazine, use at the end of the year, and more! These photos can be of any fish caught throughout the season, not just the biggest fish - all Muskies matter!

Release forms can be filled out online through the Muskies Inc Lunge Log or through the BLC site. Pictures can be sent to our release chairman Nathan Stifter at nathanstifter60@gmail.com throughout the season.

NOT the actual shirt. For attention only.

NOT the actual shirt that you will receive. Image for attention only!

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 $70 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, just respond to this email to let us know.

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.