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Muskie Hall of Fame

Muskies Canada Hall of Fame award is the club’s most prestigious award bestowed to individual members who have outstanding dedication in: science, media and club development and promotion. These members receiving this award are nominated and voted in by their peers.

Muskies Canada Hall of Fame was created on the club’s 20th anniversary in 1998. The first five members to be inducted are pictured below from left to right: Dr. Ed Crossman, Hedrik Wachelka, Bruce Park, Paul Gasbarino, and John Power.

Dr. Ed Crossman – Science

Dr. Crossman scientist extraordinaire worked for The Royal Ontario Museum and dedicated his research in fisheries with a special interest in Muskies. He started working with Muskies in 1951 at Nogies Creek. He joined Muskies Canada in its beginning were he encouraged us to support his new clithrum bone research and he was a strong supporter of our catch and release philosophy. He lectured at many of our meetings and was always very enlighten and inspiring with both new and long time members on topics such as: co-existence with muskies and pike, spawning habitat, and the habits of muskies.

Hedrik Wachelka – Club Development

Hedrik has fished for muskies for over 35 years and has been a member of the Ottawa Chapter since it started. He has been the Chairman of the Chapter for many years. He has been involved in initiating many conservation projects in the Ottawa area like spawning survey with radio telemetry. He helped lobby for increased size limits on the Ottawa River and habitat rehabilitation on the Rideau River. Hedrik is a wealth of Muskie knowledge and has submitted numerous articles to the Muskie Canada Journal. This has been a very important and respected part of our journal.

Bruce Park – Club Development

Bruce Park was the founding president of Muskies Canada. In 1978 he started a movement of catch and release, as he felt Muskies were to special and fragile resource to only catch once. He spearheaded the early campaign with the help of Muskies Canada organization to increase minimum size limit from 28” to 36”. In 1980 Bruce initiated an outing between Muskies Canada and the US members of Musky Inc. We would take turns in hosting the event between each country to compete for the challenge cup. This event has fostered a great camaraderie between both organizations and still going after 25 years. He was the first member to receive a lifetime membership with Muskies Canada.

Paul Gasbarino – Club Development

Paul Gasbarino was one of the founding members of Muskies Canada and served as president for the Toronto Chapter for 10 years. He was instrumental in the formation of many of the Muskies Canada Chapters that exist today. After the creation of many chapters, a national executive was formed and he was the first president of national. He then served on national executive for 6 years. Paul attended the first muskie symposium in the US and lectured on catch and release methods. He served on fishery management and muskies management committees for years. He was always available to speak to sport and fishing clubs all over Ontario. He spent a lot of time speaking on where and how to catch muskies along with Muskies Canada philosophy on catch and release. He was present when Ken O’Brian caught the 65lbs muskie and was able to obtain the clithrum bone for Dr. Crossman to study. Paul has been and still is one of the longest dedicated member of Muskies Canada and is a prime example of what we stand for.

John Power - Media

John Power was an avid fisherman and was an outdoor journalist for The Toronto Star for more than 40 years. John joined Muskies Canada in its beginning and supported us with numerous articles in the Star newspaper. This enabled the aims and goals of the organization to be communicated to the public. This also helped in the growth of the membership. John also started a yearly challenge between his colleagues at the Star (Known as the Muskytears) and Muskies Canada. This event was held on John's favourite waters of Georgian Bay at the Moon River. John truly went beyond the norm to promote muskie fishing and Muskies Canada.

The second set of inductees took place in 2003 on the 25th anniversary of Muskies Canada. They are pictured below from left to right: Dr. John Casselman, Burt Myers, Ian Smith, Mark Sauder, and Jim Kelly.