Green Bay Walleyes Part 2 of 2: The Tournament

  4am the alarm goes off, not much sleep because you where up worried about the fish. This is the feeling of an average tournament angler the night before a tournament. This was an experience I have dealt with before, but not as bad as this time around. I have fished small bass tournaments before, but this MWS event was the biggest tournament I have ever fished in. My partner Scott, has dealt with this many times before as he fishes FLW all the time and the entry fee is much steeper than the MWS tournaments. As stated in part 1, the MWS entry is $300 per team or $150 an angler, whereas the FLW entry for a pro angler is $1250 per angler. Price tag is much larger!

  After crawling out of bed and chugging the morning coffee it was time to get focused and ready for the days event. Make sure we have all of our gear set, bait in the boat, and rods rigged and ready to go. Most of this was checked the night before, but you always have to run through things at least twice to make sure because it can make or break you. Everything is check and it was time to head to the launch.

  The tournament start and finish was based Out of Metro Park. Which is right at the mouth of the Fox river at the southern tip of the bay. Teams had to start arriving around 5:30am for a pre inspection of your boat. Always a good rule in a tournament where money is involved. After inspection the boat is launch, trailer is parked, and anglers anxiously await there start. There was a total of 75 boats in the field. They sent out 2 flights of boats. First flight was able to leave the launch in single file line in order of team number, and they had to return to the launch no later than 2:30 pm. Second flight was able to leave at 7 am and return by 3 pm. If you are 1 sec-15mins late than half of your weight was deducted from your weigh in. If you are later than 15 mins. you where disqualified. Pretty steep price to pay if your late, but a rule that is good and makes the stakes even among teams.

  The was a catch and release tournament. Meaning after the fish where caught and weighed they where then released back into the bay. Dead fish counted as a penalty as well. Penalty for dead fish was .10 pound. Not as steep as coming in late but in this tournament when you see the results could have made all the difference. Teams where allowed to keep 6 fish and only weigh in there best 3 fish. This was also a no cull tournament, so once the fish goes in the box and can not come out and be upgraded for a bigger fish. This plays a big role and sometimes makes it a tough decision on what to keep and what to throw back.

 The Start: We where team 70 which meant we where in the second flight of boats to go out and almost at the end of the line. Not a huge deal as we had thought we had the fish figured out for the most part. Well water conditions had changed overnight as a huge thunderstorm blew through over night and the winds kicked up quite fast and out of the North. Winds started at 15mph straight out of the North in the morning and built to 18-20mph by the end of the day. This made for a rough ride to say the least. Waves started at 2-3 feet in the morning, and by the end of the day when it was time to head in they where 3-4 feet tall. Also a very very rough ride, especially when you have a 15 nautical mile run to the fish, but we managed. Right out of the gate we where off racing to our spot getting tossed in the waves as we had to ride in the ditch the whole way there. I also managed to lose my hat during this which has given me the name of Rudolph because my nose has been bright red from sunburn ever since. NOT FUN! Bring an extra hat!

  The Fishing: Because of the change of wind direction and the size of the waves, we had to switch up a little. The previous day was an East- West wind so we where able to make our long trolls staying along our drpth contours. Tournament day was a little different. We had a North-South wind so we where forced to make short trolls along our targeted depths that we knew where holding fish. This in the end created more work setting lines, bringing them in, and resetting them back out. It seems easy but when your running 6 rods and each rod has to be set at different depths to cover the water columns, it can become a little confusing especially in 3-4 foot waves. Our hot spinner blade color the previous day was purple. It seemed that anything with purple on it attracted the walleyes. The three blade color names that we ran where, Boy Girl, Purple Boxer, and a solid purple.

Boy Girl

Purple Boxer is exactly like this minus the yellow dots

 

Small Solid Purple

Out of these three blades it seemed that the little purple came in first, purple boxer second, and boy girl in last for catching fish. The fishing was a lot slower compared to the previous day, and the fish came in a little smaller. Our 6 fish came in as follows: 25 1/2", 24", 23 1/2", 23", 21", 20 1/2". We had a decent bag, but not the bag we where looking for. Of course through out the day we had caught the infamous Green Bay Sheepshead. The biggest surprise came as we where starting to pack up and fight the waves back in. Our biggest fish of the day (25 1/2") came right at the end when I was reeling in my first line. This was huge as before this fish our bag for the day was looking pretty small. Thank god we got him cause our standing would have been bad. We started to pack up around 2pm as we did not know how long it would take getting back in fighting through 3-4 foot waves. We made it back in time and actually a little early, but with the huge penalty of being late I am glad we left when we did.

The Results:

Place	Name	City , State	Team Number	Total Fish	Total Weight
1	Phil Pahnke Chad Wertepny	Luxemburg, WI Green Bay, WI	73	3	21.16
2	Josh Hietpas Matt Hietpas	Kaukauna, WI Little Chute, WI	4	3	20.96
3	Ronald Goldapske Vickie Goldapske	Van Dyne, WI Van Dyne, WI	28	3	20.62
4	Scott Valleskey John Clumpner	Mamitowoc, WI Little Suamico, WI	71	3	20.56
5	Rick Henriksen Tom Zollar	Green Bay, WI Green Bay, WI	18	3	20.30
6	Matt Miller Jason Miller	Oshkosh, WI Winneconne, WI	47	3	20.20
7	Greg Wierzba Tim Skenandore	Little Suamico, WI Seymour, WI	2	3	19.88
8	Joe Marshall Scott Zupon	Deerbrook, WI Deerbrook, WI	58	3	19.72
9	Nick Wenninger Ben Schmoldt	Hartford, WI Kewaskum, WI	5	3	19.66
10	Doug Larsen Vince Raimondi	Westmont, IL Addison, IL	66	3	19.62
11	Steve Buechler Scott Miller	Seymour, WI Pensaukee, WI	74	3	19.14
12	John Schneider Bill Bobber	Shawano, WI Appleton, WI	39	3	19.08
13	Brian Keller Larry Eaton	Winneconnie, WI Amery, WI	40	3	19.04
14	Norb Wisniewski Jeff Hanson	Maribel, WI Manitowoc, WI	33	3	18.64
15	Jon Janiak Brian Smit	Fond du Lac, WI Brandon, WI	14	3	18.62
16	Chris Spiering Ryan Deeg	Depere, WI Menasha, WI	72	3	18.52
17	David Mydlo Melissa Mydlo	De Pere, WI De Pere, WI	23	3	18.50
18	Matt Kolb Steve Kolb	Plover, WI Depere, WI	62	3	18.50
19	Dave Van Oss Eugene Van Oss	Appleton, WI Elkhart Lake, WI	35	3	18.42
20	Pat Mertens Chris Osgood	Elkhart Lake, WI Oakfield, WI	57	3	18.38
21	Gary Gevaert Eric Balstad	Green Bay, WI Green Bay, WI	1	3	18.22
22	Michael Gengalo Jr. Michael Gengalo Sr.	Wausau, WI Pelican Lake, WI	27	3	18.20
23	Gordan Rabetski Jim Leanna	Neenah, WI Green Bay, WI	17	3	18.18
24	David Lillge Scott Sheppard	Menasha, WI Neenah, WI	24	3	17.94
25	James Keller Travis Dittmann	Neenah, WI Fremont, WI	60	3	17.86
26	James O'Brien Sr. Chris O'Brien	Waukesha, WI Waukesha, WI	54	3	17.82
27	Wayne Gregor Dale Boeck	Rosendale, WI Oshkosh, WI	56	3	17.58
28	Stephen Paulsen John Hynes	Peshtigo, WI Green Bay, WI	3	3	17.52
29	Doug Mc Donough John Vogel	Depere, WI Suamico, WI	49	3	17.30
30	Scott Robak Jason Kehler	Suamico, WI Suamico, WI	30	3	17.12
31	Pete Petta John Van Norman	Tomahawk, WI Tomahawk, WI	7	3	17.04
32	Jerry Zimmerman Adam Feustel	Appleton, WI Kaukauna, WI	51	3	17.02
33	Mark Kuzniewski Kathy Kuzniewski	Spring Grove, IL Spring Grove, IL	64	3	16.58
34	Josh Hafner Matthew Huempfner	`Weston, WI Antigo, WI	63	3	16.22
35	Louie Apitz Scott Hausauer	Menasha, WI Appleton, WI	21	3	15.80
36	Ted Winkelman Shawn Mc Laughlin	Kewaunee, WI Leona, WI	46	3	15.62
37	Dan Roth Eric Carlson	Wind Lake, WI Milwaukee, WI	59	3	15.52
38	Chad Burns James Kissinger	Randolph, WI Markesan, WI	38	3	15.16
39	Hugh Mc Aloon Dustin Mc Aloon	Iola, WI Iola, WI	52	3	14.82
40	Travis Trepanier Shawn Wendt	Plymouth, WI Van Dyne, WI	20	3	14.52
41	Adam Walton Chris Schollmeiier	Edgerton, WI Coon Valley, WI	45	3	14.50
42	Bob Ellenbecker Scott Thimmig	Green Bay, WI Wrightstown, WI	9	3	14.48
43	Ken Van Oss Elliot Van Oss	Chilton, WI Elkhart Lake, WI	61	3	13.94
44	Chris Bork Mark Brandlin	Manitowoc, WI Larson, WI	44	3	13.72
45	Scott Perz Brian Schiller	Crystal Lake, IL Poplar Grove, IL	70	3	13.68
46	Lee Bain Peter Arbeiter	Green Bay, WI Green Bay, WI	55	3	13.48
47	Brian Kaczmarek Shawn Dougherty	Greenfield, WI Burlington, WI	13	3	13.38
48	RJ Harwood Jr. Jeremy Hurst	Oshkosh, WI Oshkosh, WI	69	3	13.36
49	Robert O'Connell Gary O'Connell	Menasha, WI Neenah, WI	37	3	13.34
50	Russell Ory Marcel Cardinal	Fremont, WI Fremont, WI	48	3	12.02
51	Mike Bonow Dave Knueppel	Milwaukee, WI Fond du Lac, WI	34	3	11.76
52	Scott Jankowski Rick Tadyszak	Germantown, WI Grafton, WI	8	3	11.36
53	Tor Millonzi Alan May	Menomonee Falls, WI Kewaskum, WI	15	3	11.22
54	Eric Paulowski Daniel Hobbs	Green Bay, WI Wisconsin Rapids, WI	19	3	10.96
55	Tom Pocian Stephen Pocian	Kewaskum, WI Hartford, WI	36	3	9.58
56	Tim Pizzi Nicki Pizzi	Menominee, WI Lakewood, WI	16	2	9.38
57	Mike Hildahl Bud LeFever	Oshkosh, WI Menasha, WI	11	2	9.18
58	Thomas Krueger Kyle Krueger	Larsen, WI Larsen, WI	26	3	8.92
59	Paul Mahlik Matt Benzshawel	Green Bay, WI Menasha, WI	6	3	8.10
60	Albert Bohn Steven Bohn	Kewaskum, WI Kewaskum, WI	25	1	7.44
61	Dan McGuire Jake McGuire	Tomahawk, WI Tomahawk, WI	31	2	7.42
62	Paul Gutowski Mike Gutowski	De Pere, WI De Pere, WI	53	2	7.26
63	Jim Moser Frank Herrmann Jr.	Merrill, WI Spring Grove, IL	12	1	5.66
64	Sam May Mike Pagel	Rhinelander, WI Argonne, WI	42	3	5.15
65	John Herrmann Sean Freund	Antigo, WI Fond du Lac, WI	43	3	4.84
66	Mitch Lamal Andy Deer	Green Bay, WI Green Bay, WI	22	1	3.88
67	Matt Witter Travis Krueger	Wausau, WI Weston, WI	32	1	3.84

Largest Single Fish Caught Sunday: 8.2 Lbs. Caught by: Team Number 71 Scott Valleskey from Mamitowoc, WI and John Clumpner from Little Suamico, WI

Total Number of Fish Caught in the Tournament: 189 Total Weight of All Fish Caught: 1009.16 Lbs.

  We ended up placing 45. I initially though we where in the mid 20's, but low and behold there where a lot more boats that weighed in after us. All in all it was a fun tournament and an experience at that. I would defiantly do it again without a doubt, and in fact we might enter all of the tournaments that the MWS has to offer next year. If you have any interest go to http://www.fishtfm.com/ for more info.

Things to remember or change for next time: Defiantly get in some more pre-fishing. The top placers of the tourney where pulling cranks. We talked about doing it but never did during pre-fishing because we where on some nice fish. It would have been nice to have an extra day to give it a try. It is hard to leave a working pattern during a tournament to give another a try when you have money and time on the line. It is all part of the game.

Sorry for the lack of pictures from the day of the tournament. I was so caught up in the fishing tournament I didn't think about getting some good pics. Next time I will be sure to snap some off.