Illinois Muskie Tournament Trail nfp

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.

03/07/2026

We are 50 days away from the start of the 2026 IMTT Season. While it may feel far away, our Banner Marsh event will be here before you know it.

Check out our website for more information or shoot us a message if you have any questions.

12/19/2025

The IMTT Board has set the 2026 schedule. Our website has been updated with the new tournament information, updated forms, and updated PayPal links. If you have any questions, please send us a message.

12/16/2025

Did you know that since 2019, the Illinois Muskie Tournament Trail has awarded $14,750 in scholarships to upper-classmen and graduate students who are studying within a fisheries field?

When the IMTT Board held its annual meeting this past Saturday, we were able to once again award $2,000 in total scholarships. We awarded $1,000 to Olivia Salrin (pictured), a graduate student at Western Illinois University who is studying in the field of Biology and focusing on river ecology studies. Congratulations Olivia!

The IMTT also elected to sponsor two $500 scholarships through the American Fisheries Society - Illinois Chapter. These two scholarships will also contribute to the IMTT's goal of improving our fisheries.

11/03/2025

The IMTT closed out the 2025 season with our State Championship Tournament on Kinkaid Lake this past weekend, November 1st & 2nd. There was not much of any wind to speak of on wither Saturday or Sunday, but Saturday was spent under very cloudy skies with on/off light rain and Sunday went back and forth from clear to cloudy and back to clear. Water temperatures were hovering right around 59% for the two days of the event.

There were a total of 16 muskies recorded (9 on Saturday and 7 on Sunday) that reached the 30" minimum, but 10 of those fish were recorded by just two of the boats we had in attendance. The top teams at the event left the majority of the competition in the dust. At the end of the event, it took more than a few minutes to sort through all of the fish points to calculate our end of the year standings for Angler of the Year and Team of the Year.

Final 2025 IMTT State Championship Results:

1st Place - Phil Gutman & Ron Haynes. Phil boated a 31.5", 33.5", 39" & 39.5". Ron boated a 40".

2nd Place - Mike Jacob & Jim Beaty. Mike boated a 34.75", 37", & 38.5". Jim boated a 34" & 35".

3rd Place - Duane Landmeier & Victor Fox. Duane boated a 35.25" & 35.75". Victor boated a 34.25"

Other registered fish were caught by:
Brian Von Bruechenhein - 38"
Q Carlson - 35.5"
Tanner Boyle - 30"

Ron Haynes took home the Big Fish pot for the event with his 40" fish.

To close out the 2025 season, we also handed out our end of the year awards.

2025 Angler of the Year - Phil Gutman w/ 84.25pts
2025 Angler of the Year Runner-up - Mike Jacob w/ 70.25pts
2025 Team of the Year - Q. Carlson & Brian Von Bruechenhein w/127.5pts
2025 Big Fish of the Year - Mike Jacob - 44" caught on Evergreen Lake. Mike won a $250 Bass Pro Gift Card for this catch.

We would like to extend our gratitude to the Elks Lodge in Murphysboro for allowing us to host our Saturday evening dinner and raffle. We are also grateful to our anglers who donated food items or cash to the Murphsyboro Food Pantry.

We appreciate each and every angler that joined us at any of our events this year. We are looking forward to the 2026 IMTT season. We will share details and dates on next season once they are known.