Far and away?
Light current on Missouri River prompts long runs south; competitors staying near launch hope Corps generates power, releases water to cue bite
PIERRE, S.D. – With flat calm and slack current expected on the upper reaches of the Missouri River, most of the top 20 remaining in the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour event on Lake Sharpe are off and running, factoring the kindly conditions and stingy upstream flow into their decisions to race well downstream.
“I’m heading south 50 miles because they’ve shut the current off,” says Evinrude pro Tommy Skarlis of Walker, Minn., who made the cut in sixth place yesterday with a six-fish limit weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces, the sixth largest limit Wednesday out of 195 boats competing. “I haven’t been able to catch big fish up here. Today, a guy just has to be a little better than mediocre to make the top 10.”
And so Skarlis is gunning for slightly more than 10 pounds, a widely held figure among today’s competitors to get into tomorrow’s final round of competition.
Because the Oahe Dam, near Pierre, generates power for the area, the current produced early in the day is slight compared with later, when the demand for electricity increases. Word going around right now, too, is that the current governed by the Army Corps of Engineers will remain light throughout the day.
“I’ve got a spot up here that’s good in low current,” says Ranger pro John Campbell of Marco Island, Fla. “If I don’t get them up here, I’m going to go downstream to a spot I like no matter the current. I’m going to come back late in the day when they start running current.”
Still another angler banking on the productivity of the downstream bluffs after a 50-mile run is Lund pro Mark Martin of Twin Lake, Mich., who also is factoring in lack of company from other tournament boats today and, hopefully, from locals in upstream stretches on the weekend.
“I won’t have to worry about the fluctuating current, and if I make it to Saturday, I won’t have to worry about the local traffic,” Martin says. “I’ve never seen anyone fish the spot I’m in.”
Despite the field’s propensity to run south – among them are fifth-place Yamaha pro Shannon Kehl of Menoken, N.D., and 11th-place Lund pro Jim Klick of White Bear Lake, Minn. – others will stay put in the northern reaches of the reservoir, where they’ve burned less than half a tank of gas over the first couple of days of the tournament. Expect leader Harry Stiles of Pierre and Crestliner pro Jeff Koester of Brookville, Ind., who qualified in eighth with 22 pounds, 1 ounce, to remain within a few miles of the launch at Downs Marina.
All the while, they’ll hope for current. “When they let the water out yesterday, we caught fish,” Koester says. “When they weren’t letting water out, it was brutal.”
Whether the bite unfolds with brutality up north or benevolence down south remains to be seen. The top 10 finalists will be determined with the 3 p.m. weigh-in at Wal-Mart, 1600 N. Harrison Ave., in Pierre.
Friday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:28 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 45 degrees
Expected high temperature: 65 degrees
Water temperature: 43-53 degrees
Wind: calm
Relative humidity: 93 percent
Day’s outlook: mostly cloudy; light south winds increasing by late morning to 10-15 mph
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