2023 State Championship @ Kinkaid Lake

The IMTT concluded its 2023 season this past weekend on Kinkaid Lake. We elected to go back to Kinkaid the first weekend of November for the championship for the second year in a row after such a successful 2022 championship. The anglers fished both Saturday and Sunday in warmer than normal temperatures. Saturday had moderate Southwest winds and some clouds. Sunday the lake was near flat calm all day and hardly a cloud to be seen.

We all know that timing can mean everything in the sport of muskie fishing and that statement held true for our event. Unfortunately, our event fell when turnover had the fish less than cooperative. There was only one measurable fish to hit the net on Saturday, while there were a couple of other fish that threw the hooks. On Sunday, only three more muskies hit the net. The activeness of the fish definitely did not measure up to the 2022 championship.

On Saturday evening we hosted a dinner and raffle at the Elks Lodge in Murphysboro. At the IMTT anglers donated food and money to the Murphysboro Food Pantry. We would like to thank all of our participants for their generous donations and also to the Elks for allowing us to use their venue again this year.

At the conclusion of the tournament, we were able to give out all of our end of 2023 awards as well.

2023 State Championship Results:

1st Place – Rob Hawbaker (40.25″) & Kenn Blair

2nd Place – Phil Gutmann (34″) & Ron Haynes

3rd Place – Ken Steele (34″)

Second and third place were decided on the tiebreaker of time caught and the second place team caught their fish about 5 hours earlier.

Other fish caught:

Chad Gaddy 31.5″

End of 2023 Awards:

Angler of the Year – Phil Gutmann

Runner-Up Angler of the Year – Tanner Boyle

Team of the Year – Robert Unzicker & Tanner Boyle

Big Fish of the Year – Tanner Boyke 43.5″

We award the angler with the Big Fish of the Year with a $250 gift card to Bass Pro.

We will post information for our 2024 dates after we have all of our permits approved. We hope to see more and new faces at the 2024 events. Don’t hesitate to reach out at any time if you have any questions about our events.