National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame - Hayward, WI
N 46° 00.468 W 091° 28.784
15T E 617700 N 5096037
Located in northwestern Wisconsin in the town of Hayward, sits a 40' tall Muskie that visitors can walk up into in order to reach a observation platform inside the fish's mouth. This monster catch dominates the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.
Waymark Code: WM2KGF
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 11/16/2007
Views: 44
From the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame web
site:
"A public service organization founded in 1960 and incorporated as
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1970 for the purpose of developing an
attraction and a museum to collect, preserve and display the
artifacts of the sport of fresh water angling.
To conduct a public service program for qualifying, compiling,
publishing and updating record fresh water fish catches.
To perform a program of recognition of persons and organizations
for outstanding achievement and accomplishment in the realm of
fresh water fishing.
To library and disseminate information, and act as a clearing
house for dated and contemporary facts concerning the fishing
industry.
...
The Hall project reposes on six city-donated, beautifully
landscaped acres of land strategically located adjacent to the City
of Hayward in northwest Wisconsin in a high traveler traffic
location and vacation destination region.
It attracts more than 100,000 visitors for a nominal gate fee,
each museum season, from April 15th to November 1st; 80% of the
gate is realized in June, July and August, 15% comes in May and
September, 5% in April and October."
About the giant muskie and the rest of the grounds:
A gateway building, a walk-through fish (Muskie) structure, and a
four-building connected complex make up about 25,000 square feet of
floor space for museum visitor traffic and displays. The need for
building expansion is perpetual.
The highlight of the museum complex is a landmark "Shrine to
Anglers" which is a structure one-half city block long and four and
one-half stories tall, of concrete, steel and fiberglass,
hand-sculpted into the likeness of a leaping fish (Muskie). Its
innards are a museum and its gaping open jaw accommodates about 20
persons or more as an observation platform. The landmark is
surrounded by a quarter-acre nature pond.
The adjacent four-building museum complex houses fishing
artifacts housing an inventory of over 5,000 dated lures, hundreds
of antique rods, reels and angling accessories, over 300 antique
rods, reels and angling accessories, over 300 antique and classic
outboard motors, and more than 400 mounts of near 200 different
species of fish.
The museum also houses a video theater, seating 35 people. The
theater shows constant running, all-day movie shorts depicting the
educational and instructional aspects of fishing and related
subjects.