The finale of the 2017 Professional Musky Tournament Trail, Ranger Boats World Championship took place on Lake Minnetonka near Minneapolis, Minnesota September 23rd & 24th. The weather was unseasonably hot with record air temperatures that were in the upper 80`s and low 90`s and pushed the water temps back near 80 degrees. The top 35 of the best musky fishing teams in North America qualified to compete in the PMTT Ranger Boats World Championship which is a great accomplishment in itself. The team of Nate Osfer from Minoqua, WI and Matt Raley of Marathon City, WI caught three muskies while casting Esox Assault bucktail by Chaos Tackle that were 46.25, 42.50 and 40 inches. While pre-fishing many areas of the lake, they found the stained water side of the lake seemed to give them the best chance to catch muskies. Osfar & Raley found an area that other anglers were not fishing and fished relatively unpressured muskies. Under mostly sunny skies with light south winds their techniques were to cast the Esox Assault bucktails in black combo patterns across the shallow weeds with a fast retrieve and work them aggressively. These two anglers have proved that they are very good fishermen over the past few years with several wins in different PMTT events and they just put a punctuation on that fact. With this win, the 2017 PMTT Ranger Boats World Champions, Raley & Osfar won a brand new 2018 Ranger 619FS Fisherman, Rangertrail Trailer and powered by a Mercury OptiMax and a 1st place prize package valued at over $50,000.

In second place were Christopher Padrnos of Brainard, MN and Nick Kost of Bemidji, MN with three muskies of 40.75, 40.75 and 40.25 inches that were caught casting black & perch colored Medussa’s in areas that were windblown with baitfish present. The two anglers found their fish while pre-fishing and went back to that area and camped on it in the tournament and it paid off with a 2nd place finish in their first year of fishing the PMTT. In 3rd place with muskies of 33.50 and 42 inches were Bill Taylor of Trevor, WI and Don Asleson of Silver Lake, WI. The two anglers used topwater baits and bucktails retrieved at a fast pace in sandy areas and weed flats. In fourth place with a heavy 46.75 inch musky were Mark Lijewski of Minoqua,WI. and Jeff Piazza of Tomahawk, WI. Their fish was the big fish of the tournament which earned them a check for $500 also. In fifth place with a 40.50 inch musky was Chris Riebe of South Elgin,IL and Matt Snyder of Tower, MN.

The PMTT Top Gun – Team of the Year was also crowned at the awards ceremony, as this prestigious award is given to the top point ranking team from throughout the year. Matt Snyder of Tower, MN and Chris Riebe of South Elgin, IL.caught muskies in every PMTT event this year, which is quite an accomplishment itself. In 2nd place of the Top Gun standings are Mark Lijewski of Minoqua,WI. And Jeff Piazza of Tomahawk, WI. Rounding out the top three are Matt Raley of Minoqua,WI and Nate Osfer of Marathon City, WI.

Tournament director Tim Widlacki thanked all of the PMTT`s great sponsors especially Ranger Boats for sponsoring this tournament and Medina Inn & Conference Center for hosting the event. Also Musky Hunter Magazine, Mercury Marine, Keyes Outdoors, Eagle River Chamber of Commerce, Musky Mayhem Tackle, Chaos Tackle, Muskies Inc. Vitaminerals, Morehead Tourism and all of the associate and contributing sponsors. Please let these fine people know that you appreciate their promotional efforts in support of freshwater’s most challenging fish and those extreme anglers who chase her on the first, best and only truly national Professional Musky Tournament Trail circuit, the PMTT.

We look forward to providing you all the news, updates and releases throughout the off season and look forward to the 2018 PMTT season!