Ohio native takes commanding lead in $1.4 million RCL Walleye Championship

Strong winds, rigorous Wisconsin fishing regulations befuddles many anglers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Pro Mark Brumbaugh of Arcanum, Ohio, braved early-morning winds and covered nearly 100 miles of Lake Michigan with his partner and co-angler Gary Morris of Blaine, Minn., to record an eye-popping catch of 30 pounds, 15 ounces and take the overall lead on the first day of the inaugural Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Championship in Green Bay, Wis.

Although many anglers had a difficult time with the gusting winds – approximately 40 to 50 percent of the anglers opted to stay in the relatively safe confines of the Fox River instead of heading out into the middle of the more tumultuous waters of Green Bay – Brumbaugh and Morris stuck to their high-risk, high-reward strategy.

And it clearly paid off.

“This is what I prepared for,” said Brumbaugh, who spent the last nine days pre-fishing in preparation for the most lucrative walleye fishing tournament in history. “I was hoping for a 20- to 25-pound day, but I knew if I found the right bites I could land 30 pounds. I’m happy it worked out, but there’s still a long way to go.”

Morris, who led the Co-Angler Division after day one by virtue of his partnership with Brumbaugh, said he was pleased with the result.

“It feels excellent to be in this position,” he said. “Today, my partner was the man. Hopefully, I’ll be in the top 12 come Friday.”

The top 12 pros and co-anglers – ranked by total recorded fish weight after the first two days of competition – will make the cut and advance to Friday’s round of fishing. The co-angler champion will be crowned Friday evening while the pro field will be sliced down to the top six anglers. The pro champion will be decided after the final round of competition on Saturday.

Although tournament rules governing the unique pro-am format dictate that each angler can only catch a maximum of three fish per day and keep five fish total per boat (pro and co-angler combined), each angler in a pairing is allowed to score the combined weight of both anglers’ catch.

But those weren’t the only rules that had anglers employing differing strategies. Stringent Wisconsin state fishing regulations also made for quite an interesting day for the field as well. According to state rules, anglers are not permitted to cull fish – the practice of removing smaller fish from a livewell and replacing them with bigger fish caught later in the day. As the rules state, once a fish is placed in the livewell, it must count as part of a boat’s five-fish limit. Consequently, many anglers who caught medium-sized fish early in the day decided to throw them back in the hope of landing even bigger fish later on. However, many of those anglers had that strategy backfire as they were unable to replace the fish they had thrown back earlier in the day.

“I’m ready to bend over and you can do the kicking,” said Pro Bill Leonard during the weigh-in to Operation Walleye tournament host Charlie Evans after explaining that he had released a number of quality fish in the hopes of catching larger walleye later on in the day. Unfortunately for the Iowa-native, he failed to record his five-fish limit and finished in 32nd place after Wednesday’s competition.

But he was not alone. A host of anglers said they had thrown back fish with the expectation that they would catch larger fish later in the day. However, when the fishing slowed down by mid-afternoon, many anglers were left short of the five-fish limit.

While some anglers said they were not used to the restrictions, others argued that it increased the overall strategy of the tournament.

“I really like the format,” said Morris. “I think it makes things very interesting.”

The remainder of the top-five pairing also pulled in impressive catches. Pro Patrick Byle of Colgate, Wis., and co-angler Gary Darling of Fort Collins, Colo., were in second place with a 25-pound, 13-ounce catch while pro Mike Gofron of Antioch, Ill., and co-angler Val Labau of Miller, S.D., were in third place with a 24-pound catch. Pro Bucky Mueller of Brookfield, Wis., and co-angler Mike Bushman of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., finished in fourth place with a total weight of 23 poundS, 11 ounces and pro Rod Declark of Kingsford, Mich., and co-angler Alan Frey of Appleton, Wis., finished in fifth place with a combined weight of 22 pounds, 15 ounces.

Pro Mark Keenan of Appleton, Wis., tied Brumbaugh for the largest fish of the day – 8 pounds, 8 ounces – to split the day-one “Big Fish” award. The prize earned each angler $600.

However, the “Big Fish” prize money pales in comparison to the grand prize. First place in the Pro Division will receive the largest first place cash prize in the history of walleye fishing – $150,000 – and the opportunity to collect an additional $250,000 in sponsor bonus prize money from Ranger, Crestliner, Lund (RCL) and Evinrude. The winning co-angler will receive $75,000 and the opportunity to collect an additional $75,000 in sponsor bonus cash. Up to $1.4 million will be awarded during the four-day event.

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