Operation Muskie Update

[MUSKY18]

Hi all:

I know alot of you that check this board are aware of the Operation Muskie that we have been planning for almost the last year. I thought I would just give an update, as I know many of you belong to different chapters of MI, and A LOT of chapters came through with nice donations for this.

Just a brief history for those who aren't aware of this outing. Dick Pearson and I started talking about going fishing up on LOTW while I was in Iraq. Well....one thing led to another and it soon became Operation Muskie. We are taking 20 vets from recent deployments to LOTW for 3 1/2 days of Muskie fishing. Frank Walsh donated his entire resort for the outing, and Dick Pearson and Doug Johnson recruited 10 of the top muskie guides in the world. All in all pretty awesome.

We knew this wasn't going to be cheap, so we started some fund raising efforts. I was lucky enough to have a meeting with Irwin Jacobs, told him about the outing, and via the FLW tour, he donated $9,500.00. As I stated earlier, the MI Chapters started donating, Dick and Doug spoke at the Chicago Muskie Show and had a free will donation, and the funds starting coming. When all was said and done, we managed to raise just under $19,000.00. Needless to say that the vets are going to have a trip of a lifetime, as too will the guides, or so I hope. With such a large amount of money, we won't possibly spend it all, so whatever funds we have left will more than likely be donated to a veterans organization.

Well, I just wanted to post an update, and tell everyone who donated a great big THANK YOU! Taking these vets is a great way to say Thank You to them.

The HSOforum is still up and running with a list of donors, vets, guides and information. Please stop in and take a look and post us a comment!

[Rebel9921]

We cant thank our vets enough... and its an excellent thing that this is happening...

[cjac]

Fantastic Bret! Hats off to you as well, very much appreciated!

Can you honestly imagine a number of muskies boated by the ten guides you have lined up? Staggering would be an understatement......

Overall, quite a testament to the type of person the muskie angler, and those that make it a profession, really is.

[Musky_Madness]

Congrats Brett! That is awesome! Hats off to you again for your service, dedication, and true love of people and musky fishing!

[MUSKY18]

I know what you mean Cjac..........some pretty big hitters in the guide department! I am just hoping that everyone has a good time and gets a shot at some fish. There are some vets who have never caught a muskie before and still a few more who have never been to LOTW. I keep telling them that we are going to be fishing on heaven, but they won't get it until they get up there.

Thanks for the words guys. Talk is of making it a yearly thing, because as this war goes on, there are going to be more and more vets that could use it!