Brief History of MUSKIES, INC. by; Jim Smith Muskies, Inc. was founded December 9, 1966 by Gil Hamm, a 62 year old building contractor from St Paul, Minnesota. Gil and thirteen others, Gary Bennyhoff, Richard D. Hammond, Robert Farinacci, Maurice Hurley, Gerald Palmer, James Peterson, Wally Wilbert, Richard Chapman, Rodric Guindon, Charles Huver, Arnold Lindall, Harold Meir, and Eric Rehnwall made up the original members. The first Board of Directors meeting of Muskies, Inc. was held February 28, 1967, at Gil Hamm's office in St. Paul, Mn. Articles of incorporation had been filed and subsequently the I.R.S. granted Muskies, Inc. a non-profit exemption under Section 501(c) (3) of the I.R.S. Code. Later, one of the Board members, Darrell Trumbauer owned a bait shop and a commercial minnow hatchery at Battle Lake, Minnesota. This facility was to become a Muskies, Inc. rearing pond for muskies and a stocking program that over the years exceeded a $1,000,000.00 in value to the Minnesota DNR. The efforts of Muskies, Inc. to raise muskies in these ponds continueduntil 1980 when the ponds were drained primarily due to increasing costs of operation and water quality. Over the years as many as six chapters of Muskies, Inc. have established rearing ponds. Their members have spent considerable efforts to raise muskies for stocking around the states. In 1978 Muskies, Inc. went on a campaign to establish chapters around the area and Lany Ramsell established fourteen new chapters. The Board of Directors took Muskies, Inc. to a new level and became an International Organization. The first Chapter Challunge was held in Minocqua in October of 1977. The Illinois Muskie Hunters challenged all chapters to a tournament Fargo/Moorhead won the "Challunge" In April of 1979 the Muskies, Inc. "Newsletter" took on the new format of a magazine. In 1984 Muskies, Inc. in conjunction with the American Fisheries Society, put on an International Symposium on Muskellunge. World experts on the subject were brought together at one location to develop beneficial relationships and exchange ideas. The Symposium endeavored to emphasize trophy aspects for the species and to accent unique biological characteristics and attendant management problems. The papers presented and the proceedings were published in a hard bound 372 page book entitled "Managing Muskies". This was a major undertaking and there were literally thousands of hours of volunteer time committed to this Symposium. 1984 was a great year and a not so great year. The Symposium was a tribute to Muskies, Inc. but, on November 8th Gil Hamm passed away after a series of heart attacks. The membership of Muskies, inc. has been active with tagging studies, negotiations with Indian spearing issues, youth fishing, involvement in Camp Fish, publishing an excellent magazine for the members, developing research projects, tabulating muskies released by members tournaments among member chapters, etc. 1991 was Muskies, Inc. 25th Anniversary year. The Saturday night Banquet was highlighted by the first ten persons to ever be inducted into the Muskies, Inc. Hall of Fame. Today Muskies, Inc. boasts 45 Chapters In 14 States and a membership exceeding 6,800. Although this historical review of Muskies, Inc. has been sketchy, suffice it to say that Muskies, Inc. has done considerable work in increasing the image of the muskellunge as a trophy sportfish and in particular in its conservation efforts to promote the "catch and release" philosophy among it's membership. Today Muskies, Inc is the premier muskie fishing organization in the world. This organization has become a strong and resourceful partner of state conservation management departments in many of the states where muskies are found. Today there are 35 of the lower 48 states with muskie populations and muskie fisheries management programs being conducted by state DNR's