TOURNAMENT TRAIL JOURNAL

This page will chronicle the good, bad and humorous side of the 2001 MWC tournament trail. We will keep try and update it between tournaments as well as a full run down of each tourney from Prefishing through the last day. We may not always have access to a phone jack when we are at the tournaments because we camp most of the time but I will keep it up on my lap top and update when we return from each tourney. We hope this gives you a good feel for what it is like on the MWC trail, and who knows maybe you will see that it is something you want to try.

Feb. 23 (Tod)

The hard part of the year. FISHING SHOWS!!!! This is one of the jobs of being a sponsored tournament fisherman. We have a lot of sponsors to keep happy and we do our best to help out at as many shows that our family lives will allow. We know that to keep our sponsors, we have to be willing to work their booths and any other promotional activities that they have throughout the year.

It may look glamorous to be a tournament fisherman but after you stand in a booth for 5 or more straight days at as many as 6 shows a spring it gets very tiring.  I do enjoy meeting and talking to everyone at the shows and would not miss it for anything. Hearing all the past years stories and the upcoming planned trips get me excited for the upcoming year.

Sponsorships are another Winter/Spring time activity. We have to secure the past years sponsors as well as look for new ones for  the upcoming season.

I seen an answer to a question that we get all the time about sponsorships and what they mean and I would like to share it with you. This is from my good friend and fellow tournament walleye angler "Frogman". He was asked about why we get sponsors and what do we do for our sponsors, and his reply could not have covered it any better.

" Many of us have traditional jobs outside the industry, and there are those that have become fortunate enough to have jobs inside the industry. Many of these jobs inside the industry are related to the promotional, or sales side of the house. In the most basic terms you are a compensated spokesperson for that company, a paid promoter if you will, that fishes Walleye tournaments as a venue for showcasing that product, or company. Many things come together to determine what level you are sponsored at, and just as with walking you only get there by taking that first step. It is a reciprocal relationship, and hopefully a friendship as well. If you don't like the people you work with, or for, it will show in your performance. Companies that are interested in sponsoring tournament anglers are usually bombarded with requests for sponsorship, and you have to show them why you are a better choice than the next angler to apply. So in a nutshell, you need to be better at promoting a companies product than the next guy if you expect to be paid (sponsored) for it. Whether you actually write the order or not you are a salesperson for that company." 

as you can see being a sponsored tournament fisherman doesn't stop at the end of the fishing season, it actually is just getting started and lasts 365 days a year.

MAR. 11 (Tod)

We received our packet back from the MWC and we are team # 44 I think?? (we have seen both #44 and #47 on our papers). Well it is only 1 week away from the first tourney of the year, Spring Valley. I have been checking out the Website at Spring Valley and it sounds like it could be another high water year. If it is, the locals always seem to have the edge. We will try and hold our own this year. I started my boat today and got things running. I also have been filling reels with new line, and getting tackle boxes ready. With the Grand Center boat show this week I have to bust it to get everything ready before we leave on wed. Word has it that some fish are being caught and I am ready to put baits in the water. When I return on the 19th I will update how we did prefishing and during the tourney. HERE WE GO!!!!

MAR. 20

Well we leave tomorrow morning for Spring Valley and from what we heard it will be a little high and muddy. I will try and update on the 26th how everyday went and how we finished as well as some pictures from the week. We are ready to start the season and cannot wait till we feel that weight on the end of our jigging or Trolling rods. 

MAR. 21 (Day 1 Prefishing)

Left for Spring Valley  late because I had to work later than I had figured. The day would not be a good one. Before I reached Chicago I had a flat on my boat trailer (belt had separated). Got to the motel at 4:15 pm and started unloading. Met up with Mike and we discussed what he had done for the day. He said he had caught 5 good fish in one pass up stream so we started thinking that could definitely be a place to start (we'll call it spot A), but we would check it out occasionally throughout the next 2 days knowing full well that in a river system fish will move everyday. Went to bed at 11:00 pm

MAR. 22 (Day 2 Prefishing)

Woke up at 5:30 am, went to breakfast and started planning out the strategy for the day. Bought my license and of course some more lures. Mike and I split up for the day with him going back upstream and myself working down stream. It was a uneventful day for me only picking up 4 fish handlining with only 1 good weigh fish. Mike hit spot "A" again and caught 3 more nice fish in one pass, so far it was holding. Some other spots he tried were not so successful for bigger fish. Got off the water at 4:30 ate dinner and went to bed at 10:00 pm ( it's getting earlier)

MAR. 23 (Last Day Prefishing)

Up at 5:30 again for breakfast, then Mike and I started off in different areas. Today I had a friend from Michigan come down and fish with me. We handlined several areas with 2 (we'll call them B & C) of them producing 25 fish with some good fish but not great fish. Mike also pulled some nice fish in a new spot( D). We met back at the motel at 3 pm and got ready for the MWC meeting. It was a long meeting lasting about 1 1/2 hrs. then we ordered in pizza and started working on our game plan. We figured if we could pull 26 pounds or better we could cash a check and that it would take 30+ to win it. We were not sure if we were on good enough fish to win it but it is what we had to work with. We would just have to decide where to go first. Made it to bed at around 9:30 ( still earlier) and set the alarm for 4:30 am.

MAR. 23 (First Day)

Woke up to 30 mph winds and temps in the teens. This would not be a comfortable day on the water. Went to breakfast and all the talk was about the cold weather and what it would do to the fish and the fishermen. We went thru the check in and launched the boat, everyone was having trouble with livewell pumps and motor starting issues from the cold weather. Some boats were even having bigger problems like steering frozen, boat frozen to the trailers, and so on. We had decided handline all day and to hit Mike's spot "D" because it was on the way up to spots A,B,C we pulled in to the spot at 7:20 and pulled 2 fish, 1 which we put in the livewell but it would be the only one from that spot. At 8:30 we moved up to spot "A" and found that the water level had dropped about 1' and the bigger fish were all but gone. We did manage 2 keepers that we put into the front livewell and we hoped we would not have to keep them. At 10:30 we moved down to spot "C" and started pulling fish about every other pass we seemed to upgrade fish so we kept at it and went in to the weigh in with 12.95 lbs. and 39th position. Bed at 10pm

MAR. 23 (Last Day)

Again up at 4:30 and sure enough it was colder and windy again. We followed the same plan as the first day and fished spot "D" but nothing doing. We did not stay long because it was obvious the fish were not there. So up to spot "C" again and for the first 2 hrs. it looked like we might have to try the other spot "B". Then in 1 pass the fish moved in or just went on the feed we landed 5 fish, all decent fish and then as fast as it started it was done. We hit it for another hour or two and it just died out. We then made the decision to move to our final spot "B" and try to upgrade. When we got there after a cold long run, our handline reels were froze solid. We had to chip off the ice with a screwdriver. Once we started fishing it was obvious from the other boats that the bite was dead there also. We then started thinking, did we make the right decision to leave fish to find bigger fish? We did manage to pull 1 upgrade in that spot and came to the scales with 12.75 pounds and a 2 day total of 25.70 lbs. which ended up being good for a 30TH place finish and cashing a check. So as far as our goal for this year, we made the top 35 in the first tournament and are 1/5th of the way to finishing in the money in all of the tourney's. Next tourney is the Championship at RedWing Minn. on the 3-5th of May. See you there.

APRIL 10

Getting ready for some fun fishing and practicing our jigging at the Detroit river. We are heading down to the river for Fri. and Sat. I'll let you know how we do. While we are down there we will be doing a photo shoot and also gearing up our stories for the upcoming year. (The work never ends)

APRIL 29

Well the Championship was cancelled so we have to wait till Oct. for that. Now we are looking forward to the Big Stone tourney. We are not looking forward to the 15 hour drive though. With out the championship we have time to make sure everything is ready and not to forget anything. I will return to the Journal next week.

MAY 15th

We are leaving today for Ortonville MN. a long 15 hr. drive. We should arrive before 6 am MN time and get on the water by 7am. We will be joined by Big Stone resident and friend Dave Orthman. see ya later.

MAY 16th

We made it at 6:15 am . Wow with gas price's I'm glad I have a diesel, The cost for this tourney has definitely gone up. Went up to Mallard Point where we will be staying and got into our room. Tom and Bobbie Hoye are great host, they let us unpack early and had our room all set. Dave made it up to Mallard at 8:15 am and on the water we went. The first stop was a point where the wind was coming into it and Dave said it was one of his favorites. With in 10 casts Mike brought in a walleye that went over 9.5lbs. Figures we would waste it on a prefishing day, oh well it was a good start to the week. We moved around the lake getting familiar with it again and pulled one more 17" fish before calling it a day, we were dead tired. Went to bed by 8:30 pm

MAY 17th

First day of non tired prefishing, started trolling a few past hotspots with 1 or 2 keeper fish per spot. nothing big but at least they were weigh fish. we ended up with about 8 keepers for the day. Met up with a couple of other teams and the story was the same keepers but no big fish. The wind has died down and it does not look good for the tourney days. WE NEED SOME WIND!!!!.

MAY 18th

Last day of prefishing, got up early and hit it hard caught a lot of fish and some in the 18" range but again no big fish. we set up our plan to get 5 keepers then go to work trying to find a big kicker fish. 

MAY 19th

First tourney day, no wind at all sunshine and about 75 deg. hit our always hotspot and it was dead. We managed 1 15" keeper by 8:30am. Off to plan B a flat that we like to troll. after 2 hours and just 2 17" fish we decided to make a run all the way to the head of the lake. It was a mute point. No one was there and the bite was dead. so we made the decision to go to our 4th spot and finish the day out we got to the spot and about 5 boats were working the area. We trolled for about 1 hour when a board went back and we had our 4th walleye a nice 18" fish. with 45 min. to go we crossed our fingers and kept on our trolling pass at 5 min. to weigh in time we pulled a nice 20" fish that helped us out and kept us in the upper 1/3 of the pack in 46th place with 8.49 lbs. Weatherman is calling for wind tomorrow!!!!

MAY 20th

Woke up to no light wind and sunny skies. We had to hit our hotspot one more time to make sure the fish were not there, and they were not so we left by 8:15 to our second spot. we pulled in and after 2 hrs. had 3 fish that went from 15" to 17" we knew the fish were there we just had to find them. Then the bad hour hit in a span of 45 min. we had and lost at the net or before 3 fish one of which was about 4lbs. what bad luck. we finally got one to the boat and had our 4th fish. Then all hell broke loose a severe front moved in and within 20 min. the wind increased to 30 miles per hour and the rain came about 20 min. after the wind. Right away we were ready to head to our windy spots to pick up that all important 5th fish. The casting spots did not produce for the next hour so we headed to the spot we got our 2 fish at the end of the day the first day and we were confident in the 2 hours we had left, and with the wind blowing that we could pull enough fish and size fish to move up some in the standings. The MWC director came over the radio about when we got to our spot that the tourney was cancelled. We could not believe it. it was not that bad out and there was only 2 hrs. left. Well we decided to head in and we stopped and told some boats that did not have there radios on that it was cancelled. The problem was that a lot of teams did not come in and kept fishing and got the extra 2 hrs. that we missed, and their fish got weighed in. Needless to say we were not happy. The whole day should have been cancelled. We weighed in our 5.92 pounds and ended up in 57th place which has us now in 15th overall for the year about 50 points away from 1st. Well we feel we can catch up some in the next3 tourney's because they are on or Great lakes waters. Till then see you at Bay De NOc.

June 20th

Word had it that the bite was very tough so on the first day of prefishing we started hitting all the main spots that produced in the past. We spent about an hour and a half on each of the spots like Breezy point, Ford river, Minneapolis shoals and Cedar river with nothing happening. We went to the Escanaba river only to pull 4 undersize fish in the last part of the day. It was not looking good for numbers of fish. When we got back we were happy to here that Mike had pulled a few good fish in Big Bay but we also know that it is a 45+ mile run and the wind would have to cooperate for us to hit it.

June 21st

Today we decided to hit Big Bay and figure out the bigger fish because it looked like the Little Bay fish may not go. We found the fish in Big Bay but they were not in the same spot mike had gotten them the day before. That makes us nervous knowing that these fish move continuously in that bay. We were still confidant that we needed to go there because the word was that the little bay was still not producing well.

June 22nd

I decided to stay in little bay with mike and try to find some fish just incase the wind did not allow us to go to Big bay while our other partners headed off to Big Bay to make sure the fish were still there. Mike and I both pulled limits in little bay but we felt that we could only pull about 8 to 10 lbs. per day, little did we know that would have been enough to cash a check. Our partners came back and said that it seemed like the fish were still there so we planned on going over for the first day.

June 23rd

First day was flat calm a great day for running to big Bay. We made it to our spot by 8 am and low and behold our muddy water that we had been getting our fish in was crystal clear. We quickly went into search mode and found a scattered school out in 19' of water but we could not seem to pull a fish. We were watching some boats around us pulling fish in a number of ways but we could not figure it out till about 1 hr. before we had to be in. We kept trying different presentations till we got one about 5+ pounds. With at least a fish in the livewell we felt a little better but still we thought we were out of the running. When we got back to the weigh-in we were surprised that we were in 36th place with that one fish. So we decided that it would be better to try and get to Big Bay again and squeak out 2 fish.

June 24th

Today it was not flat water to start it was about a 2 foot chop at the take off. We headed to big bay again with hopes that the wind had muddied up the water where we had fish going prefishing, but it was not to be. We doubled back to where the fish were the first day but it was slow pickings we seen maybe 4 fish caught in the span of 3 hr.s and we knew we had to go back to little bay to try a salvage a couple small fish just to get some descent points out of this tourney. We had a long ride back in 3 to 5' waves and we went to the ford river on the way in and pulled 1 small fish and after a rough day we conceded with a 63rd place finish and told ourselves we have to make up for it at Green Bay. See you there.

July 11th

 Arrived to bad news, the fishing was very slow. We opted to spread out over the outer bay the first day of prefishing. all of us came in with no fish. It was a very hard frustrating day. Talk about some of us working the lower bay quickly came up for the next day's adventure. We decided that one of the boats would have to hit the Menominee River and one would still try and hit the outer bay looking for the bigger fish. The last boat would hit the lower bay.

July 12th

Another day of zero fish was starring us in the face until the last 2 boats of the 4 we started with came in. One had pulled 2 fish in the River and 1 boat had pulled 4 down a the lower reefs, the only problem was that the fish were small by Green Bay standards. We all agreed that we still had to find the bigger fish somewhere.

July 13th

Last day of prefishing, I headed over to Larsons reef and the other boats headed down to the lower reefs. We managed one 5lb fish on Larsons and also seen 2 fish caught. The others did not fair so well so we made the decision to hit Larsons and try and get the bigger fish on the first day.

July 14th

First day was a nice day with small waves. We headed out to Larsons and worked it all day for one 6lb. fish. The other teams we were working with had one fish also and the other had 4 and 2 nice  ones. when we came in to weigh we heard that the lower reefs was where the bite was. Sometimes you just miss the spots in prefishing! We had a lot of catching up to do now on the second day.

July 15th

We decided that the only chance we had to make a run at it was to go for the big ones, but we did have a spot at the lower end that may pay off. We ran the 24 miles down to a hump where we sometimes can pull a few fish off of, and with the bite close to this spot we thought maybe it would pay to go down to it. We ran down and fish the hump for 1.5 hrs. only to pull 1 2.5lb fish. So we ran all the way back out to Larsons, it was an easy run because the waves were small and we did not lose much time. We made it out there with about 4 hrs. to fish and immediately pulled a 6lb fish. then it slowed up and we struggled trying to find the method that would work. all of the sudden the wind kicked up and got us thinking that we had to leave ourselves more time to get in. Then the fish turned on some. We had one on and lost it then we got another 5lb. fish to help out. but then the time was running out and we had to contend with 6ft waves so we headed in with only 3 fish. We made it just in time and we seen many boats that would not make it in on time. We finished 54th and are still chasing the team of the year but this will make it hard to do unless we fish 2 more tourney's. Next stop Lake Erie.

Aug. 8th

Lake Erie, the home of the big fish and the first day would not disappoint. Mike pulled about 30 lbs. with his top 4 fish and he had one 10+lbs. I only had one fish but it also was in the 8 lb range so we felt confident the fish would be going with 2 more days to pattern them. The second day brought Erie like winds and waves in access of 5 to 6 footers. 

Aug. 9th

The second day brought Erie like winds and waves in access of 5 to 6 footers. We agreed that we would have to find fish closer than the ones we found 28 miles out on day one. We managed  fish in the 4lb range throughout the day only about 8 miles off the launch area. the were not the big ones but they would do if we had a blow day. 

Aug. 10th

The last day of prefishing we decided to split up and one fish the close fish and the other 2 boats hit the big fish again. I hit the close fish and found them to be right in the same spot but no big fish. the other 2 boats got on the fish again and also had some big 29" fish in their bag as well. now all we hoped for was the weather to run.

Aug. 11th

The weather was nice to us this morning and we headed out the 29 miles to the previous spot that was paying off with big fish. In the first 20 min. we had 2 fish with one going about 5 lbs. so we thought it would just be a numbers game. The problem was the numbers did not come for us nor the size. we managed 4 fish for about 16.5 lbs. and our partners had a good day next to us and pulled 31.5 lbs. why we could not pull the big ones I'll never know but that is the way it goes sometimes. We were in 12th place and our partners were in 1st so we knew we were in the right area. 

 Aug. 12th

The last day of the tourney threatened bad weather in the afternoon so we were not sure how long we could fish. We made it out to the spot and started catching fish pretty quickly but as was the day before they were small. Later in the morning it started rain lightly and we pulled a nice 8lb fish then we pulled another 7lb fish then as fast as it started it died we had 2 small ones and 2 nice ones and we knew we needed 2 more bigger fish. We moved over a mile or two and picked up a nice 4+ lb fish but could not pick up any more. we cam in with 21.5 lbs and just made the top 10. The points we got has gotten us in the championship but we are out of the running for team of the year. We are sitting 9th overall which is not a bad year but we wanted to be in the hunt for team of the year.

Well this is our last tourney before the Championship and I will write about our trip there in Oct. till next year see you on the water.

Thanks

Oct 13th

The first day of prefishing. We were in for a bad storm so we waited it out and made it on the water around Noon. It only took 2 hrs. and 2 spots to have over 25 lbs. of fish  to the net.  We could only hope it would be that easy on tourney day.

Oct 14th

What a turnaround. We fished all day for 1 small fish. I guess we could say we deleted bad water. Not much to talk about.

Oct 15th

A little better, we had some minor motor problems but caught fish throughout the day. Not anything big but we knew we could pull five if we needed them.

Oct 16th

Hit our #1 spot from the first day, nothing happening Oh NO!! we went to the second spot and the fish were still there but not as big. Went to another new spot and seen 2 caught and had 1 good one ourselves. Marked it as our number one spot.

Oct 17th

Pro-Am day, Our Amateur did not show up so it was another prefish day for us. did not pull one keeper fish. Getting nervous now!!

Oct 18th

Day one, shot up to spot #1 and after 3 hours only had one 3lb fish in the livewell seen 2 others caught. We knew we needed to have 5 so off we went to spot number 2. caught over 20 fish in the next 3 hours throwing back small fish and keeping anything over 18". Went into weigh-in and ended up in 17th place with 10.82 lbs.

Oct 19th

Day 2, same strategy. Went to spot 1, less boats, fish were hot!!! we had 2 tourney boats watching us and we caught 5 fish in 1.5 hrs. and had 28.88 lbs. We were done at 9:30 due to the no cull rule so we took a ride downstream and hopefully people would see us in many places and wonder where we were. It worked, rumors were flying on where we were. We were now in 2nd place.

Oct 20th

Final day, we were a little nervous but not to bad. We just hoped that our fish were back. As usual we had 10 boats where there was 2 the day before. The fish were pressured out. We moved a few times around the area and only pulled 2 fish one we let go that was 18" (which turned out to hurt us bad) and one was a nice 6.7 lb'er we held there as long as we dared then we headed back down to our second small fish spot. As soon as we arrived we knew it was going to be tougher. We caught and released a 15"er and then put a 17" in the well. with 1 hour left we decided to keep the next 3 fish  that ended up being 16.5", 17.5" and 15.5". Oh would we have liked that 18" we threw back earlier. at the scales we weighed in at 14.17 lbs. and missed the leaders by .10 lb. for a good second place finish.

It was a good year and we are looking forward to next year See ya Then. In March