Schoepp's Crystal Lake Fisheree

03/27/2026

Schoepp's Cottonwood Resort

03/27/2026

That's a wrap on our 2026 Fisheree!
This week we had the pleasure of distributing the checks for 2 incredible non-profit organizations, 6:8 and The Good Neighbor Clinic.

None of this could happen year after year without our incredible committee members (Nick and Anna Lange, Dan Padley, Sallie Rabe, Scott and Peggy Frey, Tammy Kirch, Chris and Kim Garber) along with many more volunteers who help the day of the event.
Save the date for next year..... 1/30/27

02/05/2026

I guess when it's my time to go, I would be happy to go doing the thing that I love most!

Ernest Brian Ruegsegger, “Butch,” age 59, was taken home to God doing what he loved on January 29th, 2026. He was born to Ernest and Pam (Wolff) Ruegsegger on September 4th, 1966. He was a loving son, brother, cousin, nephew, friend, and outdoorsman. His passion for the outdoors started at a you...

02/04/2026

I would like to start out by sending our deepest sympathies to the family, including mom - Pam, of 59 year old Ernest Ruegsegger Jr of DeForest who was recovered from Fish Lake Saturday while we were preparing to hand out awards. It sounds like Ernest was a frequent visitor of Fish/Mudd Lake. Sadly, Pam just lost a daughter a few weeks ago as well. That poor family has so much to deal with right now. Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you to John from 6:8 for leading us all in a moment of silence and prayer, I hope that the family felt the warm HUG we were wrapping around all of them.

Schoepp's Crystal Lake Fisheree 2026 Recap

Year #5 is in the books! We were all so thankful for the beautiful weather we were given on Saturday, it makes everything else so much better. Especially given the deep freeze we all faced in the weeks building up to Saturday's event.

I have to begin by thanking our amazing committee, Nick and Anna Lange, Sallie Rabe, Chris and Kim Garber, Scott and Peggy Frey and Dan Padley. An incredible amount of work goes into this event year after year and each year we evaluate what went well and what we can improve on and I have to say this year was the smoothest one yet! Our biggest change this year was to the weigh-in area where you were able to see live updates on the tv screen outside. This was super cool! We were also able to feed the registration information directly to the weigh-in crew which also was new for us this year.

Next I want to thank the numerous volunteers who help us get set up on Friday, help things run smoothly on Saturday and those that help with clean up on Sunday. What a blessing it is to work with all of you. Some come from 6:8 and others from the Good Neighbor Clinic, but we are also thankful to our local Schoepp's Cottonwood Resort family/friends who are always so willing to jump in and help as well. A shout out to Tim and Lori Marshall for the donation of the hot chocolate bar that was out in the food/raffle tent. It was a BIG hit! Another shout out to Wally Barger for setting up the outside sound system, and helping with announcements throughout the day. Thanks also to our DJ/Karaoke leader Tim Hintz for entertaining us for the afternoon.

I also want to thank our LARGE number of generous donors who donate year after year to make our raffle tent a place of awe! No matter how small or big, every donation is appreciated and put to good use. Please see the picture below listing all of our donors. We are always open to adding new donors as well! *A shout out to Frey Construction for sponsoring the beautiful trophies made by Jeff Sigrist!

Lastly I want to thank all of YOU, our participants, whether you registered to fish and/or you purchased 50/50 and/or raffle tickets. YOU made this event the huge success it was again this year. Honestly, we were down over 100 registrants this year, but our numbers came out pretty much right on track to match last year's event! We will be presenting checks to each of the 2 organizations at a later date and will share those pictures and numbers at that time! MUCH LOVE TO ALL OF YOU!

*See separate video post of our mystery raffle prize winner posted earlier

Mark your calendars for 1/30/2027 when we will do it all again!

Congratulations to all of our winners.....
(see picture listing winners and photo sheet of winners with trophies - our apologies to the 2 that we missed, we will do a better job next year of catching those photos)

Our Registration Door Prize winner of a new auger - Cody Puntney

1st registered Bass - Greg Flanagan - $50 cash

1st registered Northern Pike - Brian Noltner - $50 cash

1st place Bass - Colton Aulenbacher - Trophy and $75 cash

2nd place Bass - Gage Neumaier - Trophy and $50 cash

3rd place Bass - Kyle Lewis - Trophy and $25 cash

1st place Northern Pike - Adam Roland - Trophy and $75 cash

2nd place Northern Pike - Colton Uselman - Trophy and $50 cash

3rd place Northern Pike - Drew Schulenburg - Trophy and $25 cash

1st place Panfish (Top 5 total fish) - Jack Brickl - Trophy and $75 cash

2nd place Panfish (Top 5 total fish) - Danny Rodenschmidt - Trophy and $50 cash

3rd place Panfish (Top 5 total fish) - Dean Brandt - Trophy and $25 cash

S**t Fish - Joey Rabe - Super Cool Trophy

*New this year - Striped Bass (by total weight) - Daniel Brown - Trophy
- Honorable mention - 2nd place - Jack Brickl tied with Josh Schell

02/04/2026

I am working on getting the recap for the event out shortly, but it would not allow me to add this video in with all of the pictures. Here is Carmen opening the Mystery Box. We love doing this one every year and watching the winner open it!

02/01/2026

Update 10:53am - if you need to pick up your raffle prizes, we will be available to get them to you after noon today. Also, very important info..... the deceased gentleman actually had his shanty and 4 wheeler all go through the ice as well, he was NOT in an area we had previously put out warnings for, so just another reminder to be aware of your surroundings and make sure someone knows where you will be!

Happy Sunday!
We open at noon today with me,(Tammy)
Yesterday was an incredible day, we are so very thankful for the amazing support from everyone in the community. I will get a recap and pictures and an update out soon. 

 I struggled for a minute to start my post with "Happy" Sunday, ended up, coming back and doing it anyway. As wonderful as yesterday was it was also a tough moment with the realization that the missing fisherman was actually not just missing but deceased. The irony is not lost on me, but as we all gathered for a moment of silence and a prayer led by John from 6:8 right around 215pm and as I read the news that is pictured here they list that as the same time that they pulled the body from the water yesterday. It honestly brought me chills. 
I'm so thankful to have an amazing life and be surrounded by so many amazing people, I'm thankful for every given day that I get to wake up and do this all over again. Love to all and a whole lot of prayers and positive energy to the deceased fisherman's family.

01/31/2026

Friendly reminder, you have 30 minutes to get in line for weigh-in and raffle close out! Also sounds like Barta Rd is being closed get on hwy 60 and Schoepp’s Rd to get here.

01/31/2026

Chainsaw is sold out!! Thank you!!!

01/31/2026

10:50 am notes/updates

Registration ends at 11am
Be in line to weigh in by 2pm
Raffle sales end at 2:30pm
Fishing winner award presentations will be around 3pm
Raffle winners and 50/50 will be announced around 3:15/3:30
DJ Tim starts in the bar 2:30-6pm
Last call in bar at 8pm

6:8 is serving food in the raffle tent. We also have a lovely hot cocoa bar set up there thanks to Tim and Lori Marshall.

We do have people out on Crystal lake selling drinks and there may be another food round coming out there. We are working on that. We are just doing a shift change right now.  We did decide not to send anybody out on Fish Lake today with everything going on there and all of the extra people out there right now. We apologize for that.

We have fish making there way in for weigh in. With live updates on the tv outside the camper.

01/31/2026

First registered Northern has also been claimed!