Russell reigns supreme in Detroit
Sunny skies greeted the finalists today at the weigh-in for the first event of the 2002 Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Circuit. With hundreds of people in the audience, there was plenty of anticipation among locals to see which pro and co-angler would leave with the first place prize. The faithful Michigan fans were not disappointed as RCL pro Jeff Russell of Grand Haven, Mich. and co-angler Thomas Nordyke of Newport, Mich. made it a clean sweep of first place trophies for the wolverine state.
“I just can’t believe this. It just is not sinking in,” said Russell. “I knew that Danny Plautz had a big bag of fish. I was a real wreck. I’ll tell you what, this is something else. Once I found out he did not have enough weight after I weighed-in I felt good, but then when the last angler weighed-in and it was official that I had won, well I am just really excited.”
Russell’s reward for finishing in first place was a check for $50,000 and a new Ranger, Crestliner or Lund boat rigged with Yamaha motors, Minn Kota trolling motors and Garmin electronics. The total prize package is worth close to $90,000.
Russell stayed in the river for the final day of the tournament.
“I knew some guys were going to make long runs, but I felt confident staying in the river,” said Russell. “I had a limit by 8 a.m. Later in the day, I upgraded my catch with an 11 pound 12 ounce fish. We had one 5-pounder that I though I needed to cull, but I guess it didn’t matter. I fished by the steel mill in 14-22 feet of water all day.”
Russell’s presentation was simple. He stuck with vertical jigging using 3/8-1/2 ounce chartreuse and orange jigs tipped with a 3-inch orange twister tail. Added to the jig and twister was an emerald shiner.
“You had to have the emerald shiner on the back of your jig to get the good bites,” said Russell. “I bet I went through 10-12 dozen of them per day making sure I picked out the best bait. The emerald shiner is what you want to use on this river.”
Finishing in second and taking home a check for $25,000 was 19 year old rookie pro Danny Plautz from Milwaukee, Wis. Plautz took a big gamble and it paid off for him today.
“I was planning on staying in the river and jigging today,” said Plautz. “After fishing for about 20 minutes near the “hot ponds” I just had a gut feeling that it wasn’t going to happen. So I told my co-angler we are going to fish the lake. I guess I made the right decision and finished with a great check in my first pro tournament. My heart feels like it is ready to pound out of my chest.”
Plautz’ Lake Erie success hinged on fishing shallower water than most of the other anglers fishing in the same area.
“There were some other anglers in the area of Erie I was fishing,” said Plautz. “I was trolling Rip Stick plugs about 75 feet behind planer boards. The key to my success was keeping the lure in the upper 10 feet of the water column. You don’t always see these fish on your depth finder, so many anglers fish too deep. Fishing a little shallower in the water column worked well today.”
A lucky puck helps Hertensteiner land third place and a $20,000 check.
“Before I left for this tournament my son gave me a hockey puck for luck,” said Hertensteiner. “He won the puck for being the MVP in his hockey league. I guess the puck did bring me luck. Let me tell you, sitting on a puck in 30 degree temperatures is really cold.”
The standings for the rest of the pro field are fourth place winner Rick Cole of Elwood, Ind., in fifth Todd Riley of Amery, Wis., in sixth Tom Dinneweth of Dearborn Heights, Mich., in seventh Ron Gazvoda of Lakewood, Colo., in eighth Chris Bahl of Sidney, Neb., in ninth Wasyl Mirutenko of Hawthorn Woods, Ill., and in tenth Brian Ney of Baudette, Minn.
Co-angler champion Thomas Nordyke of Newport, Mich. has an immediate use for his first place prize of $15,000.
“I am so excited, I have never won anything like this before. I recently purchased a new Lund boat,” said Nordyke. “This $15,000 will help me rig the boat exactly like I want it. I am also thinking about giving a try at the pro side of these tournaments. I might stick with the co-angler side for a while though. The pros are incredibly good anglers and they are very competitive.”
Second place co-angler Thomas Harrison summed up the feelings of most co-anglers regarding their fishing partners this week.
“My partner today, Danny Plautz, was one of the nicest men I have ever fished with. All of the pros I had the opportunity to fish with were great. I had the opportunity to fish out of a Ranger, Crestliner and a Lund boat this week. I trolled, jigged and even used the hand-lining method. This was a great experience.”
The standings for the rest of the co-angler field are third Ken Poole of Byron, Minn., James Jansen of Roseville, Mich., fifth Denny Eldridge of Stanton, Mich., sixth Dana Delp of Lansing, Mich., seventh John Galaska of Omaha, Neb., eighth Rob Carpenter of Howard, Ohio, ninth George Hanson of Midland, Mich., tenth Ron Schropp of Omaha, Neb.
The next stop on the $2.9 million Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Circuit is May 1-4 on Lake Sharpe in Pierre, S.D.