Anglers prepare for RCL Walleye Tour season opener

Changing weather could spark sauger bite on Illinois River

SPRING VALLEY, Ill. – First the bad news: Rain, snow and cold conspired for miserable conditions during pre-fishing on the Illinois River, and the bite was slow and stingy. Now the good news: Forecasts are calling for temps in the 70s, and the saugers are beginning to cooperate.

Welcome to the fringe of spring in Spring Valley where the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour begins competition Wednesday with the inaugural event of 2003. Despite the onerous state of affairs for starters, things are shaping up for the 165-boat field on a world-class sauger fishery that could explode at any moment with the turnaround in the weather and the mood of the fish.

“In a river, the only constant is change,” says Evinrude pro Tommy Skarlis of Walker, Minn. “The fishing is not going to get any worse. With the weather, the temperatures and the fact the fish haven’t been feeding, we could actually see a spectacular bite this week on the Illinois River.”

The Illinois is a change of venue from the RCL’s original plans, which called for a tourney the same dates on the Detroit River. But the extreme cold of last winter left feet of ice on lakes St. Clair and Huron, upstream from the Detroit, and the floes are now ripping downriver, a certain safety hazard that prompted the tournament’s relocation.

Desperately seeking saugers

Now, instead of angling for magnum Great Lakes walleyes that often weigh in the double digits, the RCL pros and their co-anglers are desperately seeking saugers, a blotchy cousin of the walleye that thrives in turbid waters and seldom weighs more than 4 pounds. Hence the monster bags once possible in Detroit will be replaced with skinnier specimens – most estimates are that 20 pounds over two days will be darned close to making the top-20 cut. Each day, pro-and-co teammates will weigh six fish, with a minimum size limit of 14 inches.

In keeping with standard RCL operating procedures, there are no boundaries for the circuit’s first visit to Spring Valley, and anglers have about 60 miles of river between the dams at Starved Rock and Peoria, plus the possibility of locking through to pools on either side.

Everywhere they go, combing depths between 4 and 20 feet, competitors will try a mix of techniques, including jigging with live bait and soft plastics; easing upstream with three-way rigs, setups consisting of a heavy jig below a three-way swivel and a crankbait or floating jighead with bait behind it; trolling upstream or downstream with leadcore line and crankbaits; or handlining, a method of involving the use of wire lines (no rods), heavy weights and leaders ahead of floating stick baits.

All are viable options for saugers – which, some competitors say, had better be big if you plan to make hay. “You’re going to have to catch 4-pounders to do the trick,” says Crestliner pro Scott Fairbairn of Hager City, Wis. “There are a few walleyes in there, but they’re few and far between.”

A solitary walleye weighing as much as 7 pounds to spike the punch with five other saugers, however, would make all the difference in the world – perhaps the difference en route to an $80,000 win. Biologists say that of 1,500 fish weighed in any given tournament, perhaps 15 are walleyes.

A river’s renaissance

The Illinois’ sauger fishery is remarkable on many accounts. For one, the river itself was once an inhospitable place for much life of any kind. Then came the Clean Water Act and aggressive stocking by the Illinois Department of Conservation, which has put in more than 3 million fingerling saugers and 34 million fry since 1990.

“I was born and raised near the Illinois River, and growing up, we pretty much fished for bullheads, carp and catfish,” says Bill Guerrini, founder and executive director of the Spring Valley Walleye Club, a major proponent and supporter of the stocking efforts. As such, the club will play host to the weigh-ins for the first two days, which start at 3 p.m.

If all goes well with the weather and, therefore, the sauger bite, the fishery could be further showcased by the RCL Tour and its jig maestros and troll enthusiasts. “The quality is unsurpassed as far as a sauger fishery,” says Skarlis, who has cashed checks in eight of nine previous tournaments here on other circuits. “It is the most awesome sauger fishery anywhere. I’ve caught five before from the Illinois that weighed 20 pounds.”

This time around, 20 pounds a day is possible, but perhaps not probable. How the action unfolds will depend largely on the sustained warming trend that is expected and to what extent it inspires the bite.

“By the time the tournament is done, the fish should be done spawning,” says Lund pro Mike Gofron of Antioch, one to watch in forthcoming days. “But it all depends on Mother Nature.”

Indeed, while nature’s slow hand has tempered the onset of spring not only in Detroit but also in Illinois, a more steady hand in the near future could get the RCL off to a fast, if not furious, start.