Sunday @ 12:30 on VS. they will be airing the California tourney from Cal Delta. They grow them big out there in Ca.
Archive for the ‘Tournament News’ Category
Bass Fishing on FLW Sunday’s
Saturday, October 24th, 2009FLW Walleye Tour on VS Today
Sunday, September 20th, 2009On the VS Channel this afternoon will be the tournament from Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago. Its airs at 12:30 pm and will run for an hour. Get your fix now, because there will not be another walleye tourney until November 15th, which will be the tournament championship. Of which of course I will miss because it is the deer season opener for rifle season…ugh.
Seriously you should be able to pick up some tips for walleye fishing in an inland lake environment, even though it is a rather large lake. Will post a report after the show, unless I have left for some more perch fishing out on Erie. If thats the case, will tape it, and check it out when I get back.
FLW Walleye Tour on VS: August 13th and 16th
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009I knew there was finally going to be a walleye tourney on television this weekend, so I wanted to check to make sure I had my times right. Really glad I did, because either the first part or the first airing will be tomorrow night (Thursday, 8/13) at 4 pm on VS. For the Monroe Charter cable area, that should be channel 59. That will be the Mississippi event.
It will also be on again on Sunday (8/16) at 2 pm for an hour, again VS covers the events this year. If possible I will watch both days, and if there is anything new, will put up a review. Its a different type of event that what the Big Lakes throw at the anglers, so there should be some helpful hints about fishing rivers that can be adapted to fishing up in Detroit or down on the Maumee.
Church Tackle’s Walleye Boards
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009This time of the year I like pulling weight, lots of weight. What’s that mean in fishing terms? Heavy bottom bouncers and heavy inline weights. It follows my old philosophy when it comes to walleye fishing on the big lakes, go as big as you can, whenever you can.
The problem is this, most boards cannot run true and level while pulling this much weight. While I love the TX-22 I picked up last year because they stay upright while trolling cranks and divers, they tend to ride low in the rear while pulling lead heavier than 1 oz.
Not that 1 oz weights are a bad thing, but lets face it, the dive charts available for the BPS weights I like to run are still unproven for their running depths. Even though this week has been a pie in the face of the global warming alarmists and the temps have been running colder than normal, if you want big fish, you still need to go deep. 25 to 30+ feet of water is where the big gals and boys hang out.
To combat the unproven depth charts, I will put on the 2 oz Bass Pro Keel Weights. They will be the first rods out so I can get an idea of how much line to let out to run near the bottom. Release your line with the rod tip pointed towards the front of the boat, and with the rod follow the line towards the back of the boat until the weight hits bottom. To get an accurate reading on the counter, keep the tip near the water as you do this.
Once the line goes slack, engage the reel and lift your rod to place your inline board on your line. In order to have my boards run true while dragging the heavier weights, I switch from the TX-22’s to Church Tackle Walleye Boards. The reason is that they have a sliding weight on the keel of the board, which helps the board’s run true. Normally with the 2 oz weights I will slide the weight +.5 or in heavier seas, then +1 on the scale provided on the bottom of the board.
If you like to run the heavy 4 oz bottom bouncers of your boards, then slide the weight forward some more, and play with it until your boards run even keel in the water.
I found that Frank’s Great Outdoorshas everything I need for my boards. If you are up on Saginaw Bay stop by in Linwood and pick a couple of pairs up. Au Gres is hopping right now, and it is not a far ride to be fishing 40 fow where the walleyes are.
If you want to shop on the internet, I recently found a Michigan store on Lake Michigan, who also happens to be selling on Ebay. Called Brett’s Place on the Bay, they are located in Benton Harbor. Shipping is usually two days to the Monroe area. They have good prices, with shipping often inlcuded.
2 Pack of Walleye Boards for $54.99, includes shipping
4 pack of Walleye Boards for $104.99, includes shipping
2nd Place Finish @ Jeff’s 1st Annual Eye Tourney
Monday, June 29th, 2009I really wanted to get this done yesterday, but I was cooking the meat for the neighbor’s graduation party yesterday. It ended up taking up most of my time. After getting up at 3:30 on Saturday, and three am yesterday, I am still feeling BEAT UP.
You could not have asked for a better morning to have a tourney than Saturday. We checked in at Jeff’s Bait Shop about 5:15 am and headed to the launch at Sterling St. Park. Once in the water we headed out to 25 foot of water in front of the River Raisin.
This is the program that we ran at first when we got started. 4 oz bottom bouncers off the front sides of the boat. Then 2 oz Bass Pro keel weights off the Church Tackle Walleye boards, two boards per side. The key was that the extra weight from the keel weights allowed me to get down near the bottom with some accuracy. I ran those 26 ft down, before attaching the boards. The sliding weights on the bottom of the boards allowed them to ride true in the water while dragging the 2 oz weights. The St. Croix Premier Glass rods handled the drag on the boards like a champ.
We headed almost on a bee line towards Sputnik and we learned two things quickly; copper Ludington watermelon was going to be a hot blade on the crawler harnesses, and the two starboard boards were going to be a problem. I solved that issue by switching out my inside board set up, and replacing it with a long line with a Jet #30 with a harness off the back of the boat, 110 ft of line let out.
That turned out to be the smartest move I made during the day, because all the rods started getting action at some point during the morning. Another good move turned out to be giving some willow blades a try out in a tourney situation. I have never had much faith in them before, mostly due to never pulling a fish on them before Saturday. That changed quickly when I put on a #4 Fishlander Happy Hooker/gold blade rig on one of the port boards. This combination produced our two largest fish for the day, one 4.89 andthe big fish for the tourney, one 5.25 lbs. One came early, while the second one came near the end of the morning for us.
Never had the boat going over 1.6 mph the whole morning, with most of the time running about 1.3 mph. Best blades for the day besides the Happy Hooker, were the copper Ludington blades (both Fishlanders), Silver Streak’s Confusion and Eriedescent and Northland’s Baitfish Image Golden Shiner. The Northland GS blade produced so well because they mirror the color of the main bait this time of the year, the mayflies that were all around us.
We landed 19 walleyes that day, throwing two undersized fish back in. Had several come off at the boat, while catching a dozen plus small perch and at least that many sheephead. One of the sheephead was stripping the Power Pro off the reel fighting like a 10 lb fish, but only weighing in at a lil’ over 5 lbs.
The weather for the tournament was fantastic with the perfect fishing chop on the water, and Jeff’s Bait and Tackle ran a great tourney for their first time out. There were plenty of prizes for the first three spots, just take a look at the pic down below of all the goodies I got for finishing second with 18.69 lbs and winning the big fish prize.
Hats off to Tony Vitale and his partner for winning this first annual event with over 19 lbs at the scale. Tony reads the blog from time to time, and we have emailed back and forth several times, so forgive me not remembering your exact weight. They were also running meat rigs, but were out deeper and running a quite a bit faster while dragging their harnesses.
To be honest I thought I had you guys this year. Last year we both fished the Matthew’s walleye tournament, and they were running spoons then. With the luck I was having with the meat rigs, I knew it was going to be a close weigh in. Congrats on your finish, two nicer guys you will not meet folks.
For those of you who wanted to fish the tourney, but didn’t, this is what you missed. Besides the good food provided by Eric, the owner of Jeff’s B&T, you missed some great conversation after the weigh in was said and done. Guys and gals talking fishing, comparing notes, what was working and what wasn’t. You pick up a lot of good information that way and everyone gave their tactics freely. I will definitely be fishing the “2nd Annual” next year.
Here are all the pics.
The second place prize included cash and goodies from the bait shop, Silver Streak, Domka Outdoors, Bootlegger Tackle and Knutson’s Recreational Sales. Got a nice trophy for the big fish, and a smaller version for 2nd place as well.
The 17 fish that we brought in. Forgot to mention, a couple of teams also caught steelhead out on the lake today, very nice looking healthy fish they were too.
The five fish we weighed in.
Here is a pic of the two biggest fish we caught.
Jeff’s Bait Shop Walleye Tournament
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Just another reminder to get out this weekend and have some fun with other SE Michigan walleye anglers at the tourney being held Saturday by Jeff’s Bait and Tackle over on 1756 N. Dixie Highway.
Here are some of the particulars:
June 27th, Presented by Domka Outdoors
$25 per person
Each boat weighs their five biggest fish
Times are 6 am to 2 pm, you have to be in line for weigh in by TWO PM.
I hope to have some more information after fishing today.
Jeff’s Bait Shop Walleye Tourney
Monday, June 15th, 2009Jeff’s Bait and Tackle on North Dix will be having their 1st Annual Walleye Tournament on the 27th of June. Tournament times are 6am to 2 pm, and you must be in the weigh-in line by 2.
Cost is $25 dollars per person, and it will be based on the 5 biggest fish per boat. Prizes so far include cash, lure packages and entry fees paid for next year’s even. Hamburgers and hot dogs provided during the weigh-in.
For more information call Eric (734) 289.4901
Review of Port Clinton FLW Tourney
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009I went through my notes, checked them twice and must say, not really crazy on how Versus films the action on the water. Really no big secrets revealed through the filming, and not much said that would help the everyday angler improve their skills. That said, there was a bunch of tackle spotted that could help you find the right equipment if you are equipping your boat for walleye.
First off, this was totally a trolling tourney for the anglers who made the top ten. Unlike Green Bay where some of the top anglers may do some jigging, these guys were running the big water with boards, linecounters and covering space. Its funny to hear people say Lake Erie is BIG water, but when you consider many of the tourneys take place on inland lakes, Erie is about as big as it gets.
Here are some quick hits, and other points of interest that were actually mentioned, or shown throughout the show that could help folks boat more walleye:
As mentioned already, this was a trolling tourney where inline boards and linecounter reels are important tools in catching walleye. Church and Off-Shore boards were predominately used by all the anglers. All the anglers were using Daiwa Sealine SG 27 LCA reels with one notable exception, the Berkley pro was using Ambassadeur LC reels which falls under the Pure Fishing umbrella. Did not see anyone using the Shimano Tekota reels, which actually surprised me a little bit.
This was an April tourney, and one of the hot spots was on the northwest and northeast corners of Kelley’s Island.
Some of the anglers were tipping their cranks with crawlers on the belly hooks.
Being early in the year, some of the guys firmly believe in running at least one bait high in the water column where some of the fish are feeding. At least one 7 lb fish was caught only five foot below the surface.
To help split the costs, many of the teams room up while on the road. When someone doesn’t make the cut, they help out the other anglers in anyway possible. It might being tying rigs or boat maintenance.
Lots of trolling rods being used, from Daiwa’s to Shimano Talora rods. I noticed that Ted Takasaki who finished second was running the same rods that I use, St. Croix Premier Glass trolling rods. These are medium strength with a moderate action, which I really like for running boards. Plenty of backbone with a soft tip.
Saw a lot of the boats using RAM rod holders.
If you were out early this spring at all, you already know how important it was to find some clean/clear water to fish in. Several mentioned this, with one angler saying it meant being able to see the prop on the main motor when it was in the down position.
There was a mix of baits being used, both minnow shaped cranks and crawler harnesses. The key for the cranks was to run them about 1.5 mph or less. A fast presentation just was not going to call in these fish on a regular basis. Guys who were running the meat rigs were going even slower.
I know it was early in the season, but I have yet to see any of the pro’s running spoons which seems to be a very productive bait down here on Erie.
And the last helpful hint, specially when the water is mirky or clouded. The person who is really in the fish calls out the amount of feet left on the linecounter reel so the netman is prepared to get the fish in the net at the right time. Leaves very little to chance that way.
Hope it helps, good luck using these tips the next time out.
FLW Walleye on VS today at 12:30pm
Sunday, May 24th, 2009If you want to get your FLW walleye fix, today is the time to do it. Locally Versus is aired on channel 59 on your Charter provider. It will be in August if you want to see another walleye tourney on TV, the 9th to be exact, so watch today for the Port Clinton tournament. I will be writing a review after looking for any tips that might have been spilled during the show.
Cranking Reef Runners Key to FLW Top Finishes
Monday, April 20th, 2009After picking through articles and FLW reports from this weekends tournament at Port Clinton, going slow and trolling cranks seemed to have been the key to taking the top places at the kick-off event for the tournament season.
1.1 to 1.4 miles per hour, and trolling big angled cranks like Reef Runners were the key for the guys who took home the money. 15 to 20 foot of water were the depths that produced the best for the pro anglers last weekend.
Lure presentation changed with the conditions. Bright colors when it was nice and sunny, and darker colors when the day became overcast. Not sure when that was though as my face is still red from the sun. Another key was to do some slow S-turns while trolling to help the cranks slow down, suspend and then speed up as the turn straightened out.