Illinois Muskie Tournament Trail nfp

09/08/2026

We are now 2.5 weeks away from our first fall tournament on Lake Evergreen and our second tournament of the fall will happen two weeks later on Lake McMaster.

Check out our website: illmuskie.com for information on tournament rules, registration, payouts, etc. Feel free to message us with any questions.

08/24/2026

We are less than 40 days away from returning to the water for the second half of our 2026 Trail. We will be starting our fall events at Lake Evergreen on September 26th.

06/08/2026

On Saturday, June 6th, the IMTT wrapped up the spring portion of the 2026 Trail, hosting the Mike Sule Memorial Tournament on the Fox Chain of Lakes. Anglers fished the day under clear skies, calm winds, and warm air temperatures for the majority of the day, with a few clouds and a little wind showing up near the end of fishing.

The muskie fishing was tough for the day despite a number of other species being caught during the event. Anglers reported a bunch of northern being caught, but there were walleye, catfish, bass, and even a bowfin caught on the day. At the end of the event, there were only three muskies over the 30-inch minimum recorded, with the largest fish (and tournament winner) hitting the net with just 10 minutes to go in the tournament.

1st Place went to the team of Colton Thomas and Marina Riddle with Marina reeling in a beautiful 47" fish. This fish also won Marina the Big Fish Pot for the event.

2nd & 3rd Place were determined based on a time tie-breaker, with 2nd Place landing their fish about 4 hours before 3rd Place.

2nd Place went to the team of Dave & Zach Hebeda with a 30.5" fish that Dave caught within the first hour of fishing.

3rd Place went to the team of Rick Miscinski and Scott Urquart with Scott landing a 30.5" fish in the middle of the fishing day.

We congratulate our winning teams and want to thank Kurt at Musky Tales for always being a very helpful and gracious host.

The IMTT will be off the water until the end of September. When we return in the fall, we will hold events on Lake Evergreen, Lake McMaster, and conclude the year on Lake Kinkaid. We hope those who were unable to join us this spring can come out and join us this fall.

06/01/2026

On Saturday, May 30th, the IMTT hosted its second event of the 2026 trail with the Jake Wolf Memorial Tournament on Prairie Lake at the Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area. The anglers fished the day with a decent amount of clouds with some breaks with sunshine. The winds were light to moderate from the east-southeast throughout the day.

The muskies did not appear very ambitious with that east wind. Only one team managed to register a fish during the event. First place went to the team of Q Carlson and Mark Rue with Q landing a 35.25" muskie around 11am. Being the only fish, that gave Q and Mark all of the prize money and Q the Big Fish Pot for the event.

Congratulations to Q and Mark.

The IMTT will be back on the water this coming Saturday, June 6th with our Mike Sule Memorial Tournament on the Fox Chain of Lakes. Participants can register the morning of the event at Musky Tales. Please be registered by 5:30 with fishing starting at 6 with talk off by the Musky Tales ramp. We will provide dinner for participants at Musky Tales after the event with a raffle with tickets for sale. If you have any questions, please reach out.

05/08/2026

We have two events that are now less than a month away. Check out our website for further details or shoot us a message if you have any questions.

04/28/2026

***ANNOUCENMENT***

Due to the risk of Heidecke Lake not being open for our May 30th Jake Wolf Memorial event, the IMTT Board has chosen to change the location for this event to Prairie Lake in the Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area. We will hold the tournament from 6am-3pm on Saturday May 30th.

Anyone who is interested in staying at Panther Creek Lodge for the event needs to contact Phil Gutmann to discuss arrangements.

Anyone who has questions about this change, or the new location, please contact us.

04/26/2026

The IMTT kicked off the 2026 season on Saturday, April 25th with our Spring Classic Tournament on Wheel Lake at Banner Marsh. We were happy to s ee several new anglers come out and participate in the event. While being a pretty nice spring day, the post-front conditions with a decent Northeast wind did not make the muskies active.

The muskie action was few and far between with only a few fish seen. There were three fish hooked but two of those did not make it to the net. Only one fish ended up in a net and was the tournament winner. The 39" fish was caught by Steve Krackowiecki around 12:30. Steve and his partner Mike Jacob won the event and collected all of what would have been 1st-3rd prize money. Steve also got to take home the Big Fish pot for the day.

Our next event is schedule for May 30th. We were originally scheduled on Lake Heidecke, but low water conditions have forced us to go ahead change the location for our second event to Prairie Lake. We will be updating our tournament flier and website for that event this week. If anyone has any questions, please contact us.

04/15/2026

We are just 10 days away from the start of the 2026 IMTT season. Come on out and join us for our first event. Check our website for details and message us with any questions.

04/10/2026

The drought conditions in East Central Illinois have delayed the opening of Heidecke Lake.

The IMTT's second event of the year is scheduled on Heidecke on May 30th. With there being a risk of the lake not being open if there is not enough rain/in-flow, the IMTT Directors have secured a backup permit for Prairie Lake for the same date. We will announce a couple of weeks before the event if we are needing to use our backup site if we expect Heidecke to not be open or safe for our event.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Heidecke Lake News:
IDNR will delay the traditional April 1 opening of Heidecke Lake in Grundy County to boaters this year because of unusually low water levels caused by ongoing drought conditions. Bank fishing will be allowed in the interim. Please follow site rules.

IDNR staff will continue to monitor the lake and will reopen it once it reaches safe navigation levels. The department expects levels to return to typical ranges as normal precipitation patterns resume. IDNR is evaluating potential options for adding water to the lake if drought conditions persist.

Located near Morris in Grundy County, Heidecke Lake is a former cooling lake for a power generation plant. IDNR leases the site to provide public outdoor recreational opportunities. For the first time since the utility site was decommissioned in 2007, water levels at Heidecke Lake have dropped too low to allow safe navigation by boats and other watercraft.

Current water levels are about 506 feet, 11 inches above sea level. Ideal water levels for the lake are about 510 feet, with safe navigation for watercraft typically possible at 508 feet or higher.