John has been one of the most successful musky fishermen on the Flowage during the past 25 years. Since he landed his first legal musky in 1974, Dettloff has boated well over 800 muskies.

John Dettloff has long been a field tester for the LeLure Tackle company, as well as having contributed his topwater expertise to companies such as the Pfeiffer Tackle Company, Slammer topwater lures, and B.S., Willy lures. John has also been on the St. Croix pro staff and has tested rods for the Fig Rig rod company and Lamiglass.

A prolific writer on both musky lore and tactics, John has written features for Outdoor Life, Wisconsin Outdoor Journal, Muskie , and Trail Blazer magazines.

In 1995, Dettloff’s first book, Surface Bait Subtleties, was released. After it sold out, Dettloff released an updated and more comprehensive version of that book in 2004 entitled Topwater Tactics & Tales. In 2004, Dettloff also released his acclaimed book Three Record Muskies in His Day, The Life & Times of Louie Spray, a second edition to his 2002 edition of the same book, which quickly sold out. John has written chapters for the following other books: Muskie Country, the second edition of A Compendium of Muskie Angling History, and The Greatest Muskie Stories Ever Told.

John Dettloff has also been featured on numerous outdoor television shows in recent years. Wisconsin Outdoors, TV-13 Outdoors with Dave Carlson, Discover Wisconsin, Tony Dean Outdoors, Kent Hrbek Outdoors, ESPN’s Suzuki’s Great Outdoors with Larry Csonka, and CBS Sunday Morning are some of the shows in which John has been a guest.

John regularly does musky seminars each year, having spoken at the Milwaukee Sentinel Sport Show, the Minnesota Musky Expo in Blaine, and a number of Muskies, Inc. chapters across the country. Dettloff has also been serving as the president of the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame for the past several years.