BLC May Newsletter

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May 2026 BLC Newsletter

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

Hello Everyone,

With the Minnesota fishing opener coming this weekend, and boats being removed from a long winter storage, let's remember to check over all the safety equipment that sometimes can be overlooked. First off, fire extinguisher, boat throwable and enough life jackets for everyone on board. We all want to make it to next year's fishing opener. So be smart on the water this opener and all summer long.

As you get out for the opener remember the club is doing the annual lake access clean-up, take a picture of you and your garbage haul next to any Minnesota boat landing sign. Send it to us and you will be entered to win a $50 Mills Fleet Farm gift card. Drawing will take place at the May meeting.

The May meeting is membership drive and lure building night. J3 Tackle will be there helping us build bucktails, there also might be a few blanks of other baits that you can paint.

With it being membership month, I'd like to highlight that we will be giving away a lifetime youth fishing license for any youth that has signed up from January 1 - May 31. We will draw that name at the June meeting. We are also looking for any highschoolers that may be interested in fishing the high school muskie tournament. The tournament is June 19. If you know of anyone interested, please reach out and we will get you more information.

Fair Chase & Tight Lines ,

Levi Stifter

Membership Drive

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

Become a new member or renew your existing membership at our meeting and you will have the chance to draw a card for $5 or $10 off of your membership or draw the lucky card and get your membership or renewal for FREE!

FREE Lifetime Fishing License

As an added bonus for our Membership Drive, we will be giving away one Minnesota LIFETIME FISHING LICENSE to a BLC Youth Member.

REQUIREMENT

To be eligible, the youth member must be part of a BLC Family Membership that is either a new member or RENEWED between January 1st and May 31st. We will draw for this winner at our June monthly meeting. Need not be present to win.

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!

May 12th

Monthly Meeting - Lure Making & Membership Drive

June 6th

Muskie Opener

June 9th

Monthly Meeting - Eric from Little Falls DNR

NEW 2040 Long Range Muskellunge Plan

The Minnesota DNR recently released their Long Range Management Plan for Muskellunge through the year 2040. If you haven't had a chance to check that out, you can access that through their management plan page on the DNR website. Click on the "view the long-range plan" button on that page to view the entire plan.

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.

The BLC Needs YOU!

We’re looking for volunteers, like YOU!

We have two upcoming youth events that we’re looking for volunteers:

Kids Fishing Clinic - Lum Park - May 16th
Brainerd Everything Outdoor Youth Expo - Crow Wing County Fairgrounds - June 6th

Spend a few hours during the day teaching youth about fish and fishing at both of these events, and share with them the passion that you have for the outdoors.

If you’re interested in volunteering a few hours of your time please contact Jadyn at: 218-821-3728

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.