2022 State Championship @ Kinkaid Lake
The IMTT season came to a close this past weekend with the 2022 State Championship held on Kinkaid Lake. While the anglers faced some challenging weather on Saturday, with very strong sustained south winds and even higher gusts, the fishing at the event was simply outstanding on both Saturday and Sunday.
We had 21 total anglers fishing the event. There were 14 fish landed on Saturday, and then another 10 fish landed on Sunday, with the Big Fish of the tournament being caught on Sunday. While 24 fish caught is itself impressive, the most impressive aspect of the event was that every boat landed at least one scoring muskie. That is simply amazing. There are a many names to include on the additional fish caught list after going through the placers.
1st Place went to the team of Bob Taylor (33.75”) and Garry Handlin Sr. (32.5”, 37.5”, 39.75”) with a total of 39.5 points. Bob & Garry are repeat State Champions after winning the 2021 State Championship at Mill Creek.
2nd Place went to the team of Rob Hawbaker (33.25”, 32.75”, 34.25”, 36.5”) and Kenn Blair with a total of 33.75 points
3rd Place wend to the team of Chad Gaddy (32.35”) and Byron Gaddy (33.5”, 37.5”) with a total of 25.25 points
Additional fish:
Mike Jacob: 40.5”
Jim Beaty: 35.75”, 40”
Q. Carlson: 34”, 36.75”
Duane Landmeier: 32.5”, 36”
Tanner Boyle: 36”
Mark Rue: 35.5”
Jay Calcaterra: 32.5”
Robert Unzicker: 32”
Phil Gutmann: 30.5”, 31”
Mike Jacob’s 40.5” fish won the Big Fish for the tournament.
With the State Championship being the final event of the year, we also gave out all of our end of the year awards. This included 2022 Team of the Year, 2022 Angler of the Year Runner-up, 2022 Angler of the Year, and the 2022 IMTT Big Fish of the Year. There was a lot of movement on all of the points based awards with all the fish caught at the event.
2022 Team of the Year: Rob Hawbaker & Kenn Blair with 108 points
2022 Angler of the Year Runner-up: Q. Carlson with 58.25 points
2022 Angler of the Year: Rob Hawbaker with 63.25 points
2022 Big Fish of the Year: Q. Carlson with a 43” fish caught during the Fall Classic tournament on Prairie Lake
There was one other spectacular part to this year’s State Championship. We were able to reconnect with former IMTT President Howard Chambliss before he plans to move out of state after the beginning of the year. The IMTT presented Howard with a personalized St. Croix rod as a thank you for all of his time leading the organization. It was great to see and talk with Howard again. We wish him the best of luck in all of his future adventures.
We greatly appreciate all of those that fished with us at the Championship this year, and all of the anglers who joined us for at least one event in 2022. Please come back and join us in 2023 and talk to your friends and fellow club members and invite them to join us for at least one event next year.
We will be hosting our 2022 board meeting approximately the second weekend of December. Anyone that would be interested in joining us at that meeting, please send a message to Robert Unzicker.
