By Steve Weisman

What a weekend the team of Shane Akin from Okoboji and Matt Ahrenholtz from Carroll had with a record-breaking win at the Spirit Lake/Okoboji Chain Professional Musky Tournament Trail (PMTT) Musky Hunter Late Summer Showdown. Akin and Ahrenholtz boated 11 legal fish (over 30 inches) over the two days to shatter the previous all-time PMTT tournament record of 10 muskies. Even more amazing, they caught 9 legal muskies on Day 1, shattering the single day all-time previous record of 7 muskies. They totaled 432 points for the two day tournament. The second place team ended with a distant 274 points.

The muskies put on quite a show for the PMTT teams with 57 legal muskies caught on Saturday and another 26 on Sunday. Almost all of the fish were taken on Big Spirit Lake.

With the win, the team of Akin and Ahrenholtz, who are fishing the entire 2020 PMTT series of qualifiers, moves into the lead for the PMTT Top Gun Team of the Year.

According to Akin, it was a great win, and as in any tournament, pre-fishing paid big dividends. “I pre-fished Big Spirit about three weeks ago and found this spot. It had the best weeds and the most baitfish. I found active fish and caught three legal muskies, but then I figured I’d just leave it alone and hope they would be there when the tournament came. I really felt I had something special with that spot.”

Akin added, “Matt and I split up during pre-fishing with Matt spending his time on East and West Okoboji. I switched to the Okobojis, too, in the last week, and we had some fish going there. I just felt those fish would still be there, and that would be our best spot. ”

The winning area was about the size of a football field on the east side of Big Spirit. Akin and Ahrenholtz cast 8-inch jerkbaits in 7-10’ of water. According to Akin, “Our best color had orange on the belly. We’d cast, make three jerks and pause. Most of the fish hit the jerkbait just as it dropped to the weeds, and all of our bites were way out at the end of the cast.”

Day 1

Day I was the real record breaker as Akin and Ahrenholtz caught nine legal fish: 30 inches, 30.5 inches, 32.5 inches, 32.75 inches, 33 inches, 33.75 inches, 34 inches, 39.75 inches and 42.5 inches. This gave them a total of 371 points after Day 1, almost doubling the second place team. According to Akin, point values are determined by the following. The smallest legal musky measured must be 30 inches with a 30-inch muskie awarded 14 points. For every 1/4-inch after that, and additional point is awarded. The second place team recorded 186 points the first day, leaving them 185 points behind the leaders.

Day 1 started off with a bang as Akin and Ahrenholtz caught their first three muskies within the first 40 minutes. “We actually had a 10^th legal musky in the net, but it broke through the net and got away. On Saturday, our largest muskies came in the last hour of the tournament.”

The first day brought incredible results with 57 fish measured with 55 coming from Big Spirit.

Day II

With 371 points after Day I, Akin and Ahrenholtz were definitely in the driver’s seat. On Sunday, the fish were still active, but with 26 legal muskies boated, it was definitely a tougher bite than Day 1. The action was good early for the leaders with four muskies caught in the first hour and a half. “We caught two legals, a 30.5 incher and a 33.5 incher along with a couple of others just short of 30 inches. So, the bite was good right away, and then that was it for us.”

Still, with a lead like that, there really never was any pressure on Sunday, and no teams were able to make a run at them.

Akin adds, “Matt and I are obviously excited with the win. Plus, it means that we have qualified for the PMTT Championship at Cave Run Lake in Kentucky on October 23-25. Before that, though, we have the final qualifier at Chippewa Flowage in Wisconsin on September 26-27.