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Welcome To
Brainerd Lakes Chapter of Muskies Inc |
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Youth
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Fisheries
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Research
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** New Monthly Meeting location **
We are BACK at the Nisswa American Legion as of April 2025!
Monthly meetings are held at the Nisswa American Legion at 7:00 p.m., the second Tuesday of each month
July 8th Monthly Meeting - Noah Binsfeld
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Noah Binsfeld of Get The Net Guide Service will be joining us in July to talk about river muskies. If you're a river rat or you're looking to give rivers a try, Noah is a wealth of information from the Mississippi River to many of the smaller rivers and streams with muskie populations.
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7pm - Nisswa American Legion
Open to the public and FREE to attend
Open to the public and FREE to attend
Nisswa American Legion, 25807 Main St, Nisswa, MN
2025 Calendar of Events
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January
14 - Monthly Meeting - Guest Speaker - Jeremy Smith February 11 - Monthly Meeting - Guest Speaker - Luke Ronnestrand March 7 to 9 - Minnesota Muskie Expo - State Fairgrounds 11 - Monthly Meeting - Lake Breakdown/2025 Outing Schedule 22 - 21st Annual BLC Sportsman's Banquet April 8 - Monthly Meeting - Lure Swap May 10 - Minnesota Fishing Opener 13 - Monthly Meeting - Membership Drive and Guest Speaker - Tom Dietz June 7 - Minnesota Muskie Opener 7 - Brainerd Lakes Youth Expo Everything Outdoors 10 - Monthly Meeting - Lure Making 20 - High School Tournament July 8 - Monthly Meeting - Guest Speaker - Noah Binsfeld August 12 - Monthly Meeting - Youth Night 27 to 29 - Gil Hamm Chapter Challunge - Lake of the Woods September 9 - Monthly Meeting - Leech Lake/Speaker - TBD October 4 to 5 - Jeff Young Memorial Muskie Shootout Tournament 14 - Monthly Meeting - TBD November 11 - Monthly Meeting - Guest Speaker - Bob Landreville December 9 - Monthly Meeting - Holiday Party/Chapter Elections March 2026 21 - 22nd Annual Sportsman's Banquet ANNUAL OUTING SCHEDULE - CLICK HERE |
PURPOSE STATEMENT We exist to further the purposes of Muskies, Inc. which are to:
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BLC Latest News
We will post here links, new info or Chapter news to keep you up to date
We will post here links, new info or Chapter news to keep you up to date
Youth Night - August 12th
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Join us for our annual Youth Day!
Tuesday, August 12th Nisswa Community Center, Nisswa, MN (25628 Main St, Nisswa, MN 56468) 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Kids ages 4-15 Cost: FREE MORE DETAILS HERE |
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PIT Tag Readers
The majority of muskies stocked in Minnesota have been receiving PIT Tags when they are stocked. So if you are fishing stocked waters and you invest in a low cost PIT Tag reader, you can help the DNR out on many of our state's fisheries. There are many styles of readers that can be found on Amazon ranging in price from $20 to $40. One main thing you need to look for is to make sure it reads ISO 11784/11785 tags. As long as it mentions this in the description, it will be able to detect and read pit tags in our stocked muskies. Pit tags are placed under the skin near the dorsal fin.
Best practices:
Keep the scanner with your hookout kit. A ziplock bag will help it stay dry and you can scan right through the bag. (IMPORTANT: Most of the lower cost readers are NOT waterproof.) After you unhook the fish, turn the scanner on. Leaving the fish in the net, grab the tail and lift the dorsal fin out of the water. Waive the scanner around the dorsal fin. If there is a tag it should read it promptly. Go around the dorsal a few times to make sure. If you get a fish with a tag, report it to the DNR website.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/tagged_fish_reporting/index.html
A couple tips:
The scanners that say "view history" or similar will generally allow you to scroll through any tags you have scanned. There are more basic ones out there that make it difficult to scroll back to that number. If you have one of those, take a photo of the number while it is still on the screen.
They need to be able to read ISO 11784/11785 and set to HEX mode so it gives you a 15 digit number. Many of the readers come set to DEC mode. Scroll to settings and change it to HEX mode. It's simple to do.
Submit the date to the DNR:
The Minnesota DNR makes it incredibly easy to submit this info to them with an online form. Follow the directions there to give them the details of the fish along with the tag number.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/tagged_fish_reporting/index.html
What info will you receive back?
One of the best parts of this is the DNR will get back to you and report the history of that fish. Year/size stocked and if it had been reported as being caught before.
Best practices:
Keep the scanner with your hookout kit. A ziplock bag will help it stay dry and you can scan right through the bag. (IMPORTANT: Most of the lower cost readers are NOT waterproof.) After you unhook the fish, turn the scanner on. Leaving the fish in the net, grab the tail and lift the dorsal fin out of the water. Waive the scanner around the dorsal fin. If there is a tag it should read it promptly. Go around the dorsal a few times to make sure. If you get a fish with a tag, report it to the DNR website.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/tagged_fish_reporting/index.html
A couple tips:
The scanners that say "view history" or similar will generally allow you to scroll through any tags you have scanned. There are more basic ones out there that make it difficult to scroll back to that number. If you have one of those, take a photo of the number while it is still on the screen.
They need to be able to read ISO 11784/11785 and set to HEX mode so it gives you a 15 digit number. Many of the readers come set to DEC mode. Scroll to settings and change it to HEX mode. It's simple to do.
Submit the date to the DNR:
The Minnesota DNR makes it incredibly easy to submit this info to them with an online form. Follow the directions there to give them the details of the fish along with the tag number.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/tagged_fish_reporting/index.html
What info will you receive back?
One of the best parts of this is the DNR will get back to you and report the history of that fish. Year/size stocked and if it had been reported as being caught before.
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If you fish the lakes of Douglas County, this is a great opportunity to help collect valuable data for the DNR and a chance to win a few prizes along the way! All information you need to know is on the below flyer.
Pit Tag Readers You will need a Pit Tag Reader to participate. We shared some information about these low cost devices in one of our newsletters last year. They can be used anywhere where muskies are stocked with pit tags (most of the state) to collect data that you can share with your local DNR office. As noted in the below flyer, there is a link in the Fish Donkey app to find one. You can also check on Amazon. Search "ISO 11784/11785 reader" to find one that will work. They are not all waterproof, so we recommend keeping them in a zip loc bag to keep them dry. |
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BLC Members Cleaning Up Accesses
We encourage everyone to visit a public access and do a little clean up. As anglers and users of the accesses, it is our responsibility to help make sure our accesses debris free. See trash.. pick it up. A few BLC members have been out doing just that. Thank you and keep up the good work! |
2025 Access Cleanup Photos
Previous Years Cleanup Efforts
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BLC commits a financial contribution to the Radiothon To End Child Abuse in the Tri-County area. A great cause that the Chapter is proud to donate to every year.
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