Windy and willing

Illinois River greets Walleye Tour anglers with blustery first day

SPRING VALLEY, Ill. – Walleye fishermen know that windy conditions can stimulate bites, but the blow can make boat handling a real chore. Fortunately, day one of the FLW Walleye Tour’s second Eastern Division event brings the best of both worlds.

Fishing the Illinois River, competitors will see plenty of evidence of today’s 20- to 30-mph winds in the treetops, but unlike the vast openness of a Lake Erie, the river’s mostly narrow confines will block much of the wind and leave current as the main element of consideration.

National Guard pro Mark Courts has a straightforward plan and expects to keep busy doing it. He’ll lead-line Rapalas in firetiger and orange color the entire day. With a river full of smalleyes (small walleyes), bending rods won’t be a problem; bending them with quality fish will be.

“There’s a ton of little fish – 8 to 12 inches – that we’re going to have to sort through,” Courts said. “Unfortunately, everywhere we’re catching those, the good ones are mixed in.”

Big fish, Courts said, can be found, but their likely location will not favor fishing: “There’s not a lot of females (in this area). I think with the recent high water, a lot of those females moved downstream, and they found enough baitfish to stay down there. Once you get down that far, it’s too muddy to catch them.”

That scenario will keep Courts close to the launch site at Spring Valley Boat Club, just east of Illinois Highway 89 on the river’s south bank. He’ll work the channel edges, along with scattered bottom structure such as sand humps and clam beds. Such spots create current breaks and ambush points that walleye use for feeding. The clam beds also attract bait schools, thereby increasing their attraction.

“We’re just going to work the current,” Courts said. “Today, we’re going to get a bunch of wind, and that’s going to change the current, so those fish are going to move constantly throughout the day, and we’re just going to have to stay on them. That’s why I think it’s going to be productive to stay in an area, work it really hard, cover it multiple times and get those big fish out of it.”

Monitoring and adjusting his trolling speed will be the main point of adjustment for Courts. “We’ll be changing speeds back and forth and basically just feeling the crankbaits and letting them tell us what we need to do.”

Chevy pro Jason Przekurat will also lead-line today. Today’s forecast for windy and possibly rainy conditions, along with the thunderstorms forecast for day two, don’t worry him. In fact, he’s optimistic about the fishing action.

“In a river system, the fish aren’t as affected (by rough weather) as they are in a lake, so I don’t think it really matters too much,” Przekurat said. “But just going off of practice, the calmer days were a little tougher than the colder, rainy, windy days.”

Having run about 40 miles during practice, Przekurat is confident that his best opportunities lie close to port. He, too, expects to catch plenty of fish, but filling out a competitive limit will be no easy task. “Seven pounds would be great – 10 would be outstanding. I think if you get five fish of any size, you’ll be doing OK, but not everyone is going to catch fish – there may be some zeros.”

Jigging clam beds and other structure will play a role in many game plans. Ryan Jirik will start off fishing a 1/2-ounce orange Northland ballhead jig with a black-and-silver Lunker City finesse shad tail. He’ll jig to get his limit and then leadcore to upgrade. Because short strikes have been an issue with the longer tail, Jirik rigs a small treble hook on a stinger harness connected to his lead hook. This ensures that the bait bites back from either end.

Scent also helps the jigging game, so some anglers will fish Berkley Gulp plastics.

Logistics

Anglers will take off from Spring Valley Boat Club located at 13862 Illinois Highway 89 in Spring Valley at 7 each morning. Weigh-ins all three days will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m.

On Saturday starting at 1:30 p.m., prior to the final weigh-in, a Family Fishing Clinic will be held where fans can learn from the best the different styles, techniques, and baits for landing that prized walleye.

Pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day and fish for a combined boat weight. Pros compete against other pros, and co-anglers compete against other co-anglers. The full field competes during the two-day opening round for one of 10 final-round slots based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights carry over to day three, with the winners determined by the heaviest three-day weight.

Friday’s conditions

Sunrise 5:51 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 52 degrees

Expected high temperature: 77 degrees

Water temperature: 58-59 degrees

Wind: S at 20-30 mph

Maximum humidity: 65 percent

Day’s outlook: cloudy, windy, rain possible