Wisconsin guide Patricia Strutz with a recent muskie catch. Click photo for larger image.

Patricia Strutz is making a name for herself as "A Blond and Her Boat" and will be one of the featured speakers at the Extreme Muskie Expo at Robert Morris University in Moon next weekend.

Just 5-feet-2 and 100 pounds, Strutz row trolls on the many lakes near her northern Wisconsin home, reviving an old-time Midwestern technique that has a niche following. Even before she became a guide four years ago, Strutz, 39, was "Blondie" to the guys in the tackle shop she frequented.

"It kind of stuck and I found that even when people couldn't remember my name, they remembered that," she said. "I'm not too politically correct and I don't take myself too seriously."

Strutz will join some of the biggest names in the fishing industry at the Expo, which was first organized three years ago as a fund raiser by the Three Rivers chapter of Muskies, Inc. when Andy Luchovick was president. Luchovick, a Stowe resident, drowned last year while vacationing with his 7-year-old son Andy, Jr. at Pigeon Lake, Ontario. While the Expo this year will be run by JDS Enterprises, located in a Chicago suburb, half the proceeds will go to the Three Rivers chapter and five percent of the proceeds from admissions will go into a trust fund for Andy, Jr., said JDS's Jim Stella.

Admission is free to children under 12, Boy and Girl Scouts and their troop leaders (half price for parents and siblings), active and retired U.S. Military personnel, and the "bigs and littles" in Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Stella supports the Big Brothers and Big Sisters new Pass It On program, which aims to get children out of doors with adult mentors.

Headlining the three-day event will be TV personalities Jim Saric of Muskie Hunter magazine and Pete Maina of Esox Angler, and Cave Run Lake, Kentucky guides Crash Mullins and Tony Grant. Young guns Chad Cain of Lake Kincaid, Ty Sennett of Chippewa Flowage and Gregg Thomas of Cave Run and Mille Lacs will answer questions as a panel. Other panelists will include Williamsport guide Tom Dietz, Lake St. Clair guide Tony Galucci and Lake Webster guide Mike Hulbert. Steve Worrall of MuskieFirst.com also will speak. More than 70 vendors will have booths, said Stella, a competitor with the Professional Muskie Tournament Trail.

Information sharing has fostered a muskie fishing explosion, said Stella, with anglers eager to learn about a species old timers kept a mystery. Strutz's type of row trolling originated in the northern Midwest where motors are still banned on some Class A muskie lakes.

"There are a few of us who would do it anyway, because we absolutely love the sport, especially in autumn," she said. "It's a great workout and it keeps you warm. You can get into a lot of places with a small rowboat where fish are lure dumb and not pressured, a lot of serene quiet lakes, and a lot of clear, shallow lakes where a motor would spook fish."

In Oneida and Vilas counties, near her home, there are hundreds of lakes, including 25 she most often fishes. She guides from a specially equipped 17-foot fiberglass boat with a full length keel that allows her to stand up. She and her client both row. Though Wisconsin permits an angler to fish with three lines, Strutz usually rigs up two each.

"I'll stick planer boards on the outer lines and flat line the other ones. I do a lot of turns [to trigger a strike] and the planer boards keep the lines from tangling," she said. "I'll work the edge of a drop off and troll through the area with a lot of crank baits. I'll troll shallow running crank baits and top water baits in weedy spots."

Since crosswinds can be a real problem, wind is the most important thing she checks before a trip, she said. In summer, when fish are active, she rows about three miles an hour, and in fall she slows to one-third that speed.

"In November, I'm out there catching fish when everyone else's [casting] lines and reels are icing up," she said. Any boat can be row trolled, she said, but it's easier with boats designed to glide on the water.

Strutz said she isn't a trophy muskie angler -- her biggest catch so far has been 35 inches -- but she catches a good number of fish, averaging 40 legal-size releases a season. And while 90 percent of her clientele is male, she said her mission is to introduce other women to the sport.

The Extreme Muskie Expo runs Friday through Sunday. Adult admission is $8 on Friday, $10 on Saturday and Sunday. There a $15 pass good for all three days. For more, visit www.extrememuskieexpo.com.