Thank you to everyone who participated in the 1st Annual Reel Steel Challenge! This was our first attempt at a 1 day steelhead only event at The Lodge at Leathem Smith in beautiful Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin!
3rd place – Winging It (27.84 lbs)
2nd place – You Betcha (30.66 lbs)
1st place – Knot Today (33.44 lbs)
Big fish winner – Knot Today (12.56 lbs)
If you are interested in participating next year – here are the details:
Get your buddies together to have a fun day out on Lake Michigan reeling in some steelhead. No angler limits, no minimum boat size, and 100% payout. BIG FISH POT!! Bring $20 cash to Captains meeting Friday night. Heaviest 1 fish wins; tie breaker rule applies. If all teams enter, winner gets $1200 cash!!
- $4000 1st place
- $3000 2nd place
- $2000 3rd place
(100% payout based on 60 boat cap)
Door Prizes!
Food & Beer Specials
Room specials @ The Lodge!
Event details:
1) Steelhead only tournament weighing your 3 biggest of the day.
2) 5:00am Horn start just outside of pier heads east of the shipping canal. All boats must stay west of the red and green buoys until horn sounds.
3) Entry fee of $150/team. No angler limit. 9 line limit. Fill out entry form link in above post and click submit or print and send check as described. You have not secured a spot until I receive your check.
4) 60 boat limit
5) 100% payout as follows (based on full tournament) [if not full, we will pay 44%, 33%, 22%]
- $4000 1st place
- $3000 2nd place
- $2000 3rd place
6) The following Sunday for backup weather day.
7) Friday night team captain meeting at The Lodge at Leathem Smith in ballroom. Ballroom bar will be open with draft beer specials. 1 team member must attend, but we would love to meet all of you!
8 No fishing grounds limit; however, 27 miles out is Michigan water. You must stay in Wisconsin waters. All boats must be west of the Hwy 42/57 bridge at 2:00pm sharp. Any late boats will be disqualified.
9) All Wisconsin DNR rules apply including proper licensing with Great Lakes trout/salmon stamp.
10) All teams must weigh fish in immediately upon return with cubed or block ice only in coolers. No live wells, no water. Certified scale will be near Tiki Bar at The Lodge.
11) A colored flag will be given to each participating team upon successful boat inspection. Boat inspections are 3:45am-5:00am at both Madelyn Marina and Sawyer Park. Have coolers and live wells open and ready for the tournament crew.
12) Disqualification for any reason will result in forfeiture of entry fees.
13) Failure to abide by any rules will result in disqualification.
14) Any gunnel to gunnel interactions between teams will result in disqualification with exception to emergency help.
15) The tournament host team will not be held liable for any safety, damage, theft, accidents, or any other cause for loss and is implied as agreement at acquiring a paid spot in tournament.
16) Your best 3 steelhead will be weighed to the .00 of a pound. In the event of a tie, the length of the longest fish will be the tie breaker.
17) Each participant will receive a raffle ticket for prizes after weigh in at The Tiki Bar at The Lodge.
18) Please have your entry form submitted (found in link in above post) and payment postmarked by May 10, 2021
Checks can be made to Reel Steel Challenge and sent to:
Reel Steel Challenge
529 Steven St
Green Bay, WI 54303
19) Chris is letting us use the boat launch at Madelyn Marina. However, it is small with limited parking. You may launch here but may want to consider launching at Sawyer Park (South Neenah Ave).
20) Teams launching at Sawyer Park will be given till 3:00pm to get back to The Lodge for weigh ins. No stopping permitted between boat landing and weigh in. If you choose, you may weigh fish first before landing your boat. But docking space will be limited.
21) I will keep an updated post as the spots fill. Tournament will be posted as FULL when I receive the 60th payment. I will keep a list in order of fill ins if teams back out. You may request your check back until May 10.
22) This is a NO CULL, NO RELEASE tournament. All fish caught (salmon, lake trout, brown trout, steelhead) must be kept and counted toward your daily bag. When you have reached your daily bag limit, you must stop fishing and return to weigh your catch. This is a DNR rule as well as a tournament rule. Only exception: illegally hooked/caught fish may not be registered.
23) For this tournament, legitimately caught fish are hooked forward of the curve of the gill plate. Any significant skin/tissue damage will result in disqualification of that particular fish.
24) Each boat shall clearly and without obstruction display their flag while fishing. Coinciding with that, all boats fishing this tournament shall stay at least 500’ away from any other tournament boat.
