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Hello Everyone,
As the end of the season is getting closer, let's remember to be careful on the water. Everything is hard to do when you're bundled up. We don't want to put ourselves and those who would have to come to our rescue in danger.
As we make our way to the holiday seasons, the Chapter will be doing a food drive at the November meeting, and then in December we will be doing a Food/Toy drive. Now is a time that we can give back to the local communities. For every $10 worth of goods you bring, you will get one entry into a drawing for an MTO gift card raffle.
Earlier this summer the Chapter had applied for a Gil Hamm Legacy Fund Grant, to help with the cost of the Leech Lake Telemetry Study. We were awarded $2,000 and should see the funds before the end of the year.
I would like to congratulate Jay Young for winning our MHOTY event this year. Jay won it with 4 fish, if I was a better president I would know how many points he had. We had 8 fish caught during outing events this summer. We are always open to new ideas on lakes to fish and times of year to fish them, if you have any ideas please reach out.
We also have elections coming up in December, all of the positions on the board are up for the taking, if you're interested in being on the board or learning about the responsibilities of a certain position feel free to contact Jadyn or myself.
With the upcoming rifle season on Saturday, I would like to wish all the deer hunters a safe and successful hunt, and for those of you who do not deer hunt enjoy the lakes all to yourself.
Fair Chase and Tight Lines
Levi Stifter
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November 11th Meeting
Bob Landreville - Guest Speaker
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Leech Lake guide Bob Landreville will be joining us in November as our guest speaker. Bob has been a licensed guide on Leech Lake since 1987 and brings a wealth of knowledge to the table on this fishery.
And LADIES Night!
We’re bringing back ladies night! Join us for an additional raffle, for the ladies ONLY! A special raffle will be available for the ladies in attendance at the meeting, to show our appreciation for the women in our chapter.
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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 *
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The past handful of years, the BLC has collected items for the Lakes Area food shelf and Toys-For-Kids program in the month of December. Food insecurity is an issue at all times of the year and the BLC would like to help support those in need for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
Bring in $10 worth of shelf stable items or cash to be entered in a drawing for a $10 Musky Tackle Online gift card. For every $10 you donate at the November monthly meeting, you’ll get one entry for the drawing.
If you aren’t able to attend the meeting in November or December, consider helping out our community by donating non-perishable items to your local food shelf, or consider donating your time to help those in need.
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
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November 11th
Monthly Meeting - Guest Speaker - Bob Landreville
December 9th
Monthly Meeting - Christmas Party and Chapter Elections
March 21st, 2026
22nd Annual BLC Sportsman's Banquet
| 2026 BLC Board Nominations | It's that time of year where we start thinking about our 2026 BLC board nominations for our 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. | 2025 BLC Muskie Hunter of the Year (MHOTY) | |
Congrats to Jay Young on winning the 2025 BLC Muskie Hunter of the Year honors! Jay had one of the more successful season of outings that we have seen for the BLC, catching a total of 4 muskies during our outing events! Thank you to all that participated in our 2025 outings. We will be doing it again in 2026 and we hope that you'll join us at one or all of them! Please let us know if you have suggestions on where you would like to see us fish next season.
Find our entire outing schedule, results and MHOTY standings on the website.
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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. | BLC Merchandise - Online Store | |
The online merch store is back! If you’ve been waiting for it to come around again, it’s finally here.
Get your wardrobe decked out with new “lucky” gear to wear while out fishing or maybe a Christmas gift idea. Choose from t-shirts, UV protective options, sweatshirts and more. There’s even a TALL section!
Check it out - this online store will only be available until midnight on November 14th. Items can be picked up for FREE at the December monthly meeting, or have them shipped to you.
Follow the link to get yours:
https://muskiesstore.itemorder.com/shop/home/
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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
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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. And since fish need to be turned in within 30 days of your catch, you haven't yet caught that big fish if you turn it in on December 9th! For complete rules on replica eligibility, click on the above release standings link and scroll down on that page. | |
Check out this story about our first-lady, Jess Stifter, on her first muskie. As a preface, this story is being told by her husband, Levi. While I was doing this interview, Levi informed me that Jess has been muskie fishing for about 16 years. Of course, we have to think about how Jess is always the one taking care of their children, whereas Levi gets to do all the fishing. So, 16 years really isn’t all that bad. Read through Jess’s story, as told by Levi, below!
“At the beginning of the year, she told me that if she doesn’t catch her first muskie this year that she is never going to cast for them again. Our wedding anniversary is the last weekend of July, so being the good husband that I am, I took it upon myself to book our anniversary weekend at our favorite resort in northern Minnesota, which is on a muskie lake. My anniversary present to Jess was a weekend of muskie fishing with me. We fished for 3 days, I had caught 1 fish, and she had lost a few. I had been picking the baits, and doing this, that and the other thing when she finally said “Nope, I want to use this bait and we are going to fish that rock point over there, because we haven’t fished it yet.” So, we pulled up to the spot, had been fishing for about 20 minutes and Jess hooks one out on the cast. It was 41.5 inches. After it was released, she sat down and said she wasn’t muskie fishing anymore for the year, but it was right during the major, so I convinced her to get back up we circled back around. About 5 casts later, she hooked into her second fish, 42 inches. So, she went 16 years without catching any, to 2 fish in half an hour.”
Congratulations Jess! Ladies, remember next time you’re out fishing with somebody else, YOU get to pick your bait and YOU get to pick your spot, because that’s where the fish will be!
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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 that you will receive. Image for attention only! | 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.
- Highway 3 Marine
- Musky Tackle Online
- Net Buddy
- Precision Propeller
- Stealth Tackle
- Tutt's Bait & Tackle
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CHAPTER SPONSORS
Please support our great sponsors that support us. We wouldn't be able to do the things that we do without their help!
Special offers from select sponsors for BLC members.
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