DEVILS LAKE, N.D. – Before the semifinals in the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour event on Devils Lake, the third installment on the water is seldom open to much advance interpretation on part of the anglers. In customary fashion, the top 20 is going to attempt repeat performances of their qualifying weights in the same areas with the same techniques before adjusting however the day demands.
If anything, the semifinalists will be forced to adjust according to the conditions, most notably the wind and the water temperature.
“I’m keeping an eye on the weather,” says leader Nick Johnson of Elmwood, Wis. “I can’t think it’s going to change much.”
Then again, in the Dakotas the wind is bound to rip at some point, and a location that did it the day before may not produce once again. That’s not to say the competitors aren’t going to try to duplicate what they’ve already done.
“I’ve got the spots and I’ll pop between them,” says ninth-place Crestliner pro Jeff Koester of Brookville, Ind.
In Koester’s corner is the lake layout where he happens to be fishing. With a southeast wind forecast to hum at 20 mph by afternoon, Koester expects to benefit from the protection of banks and trees for shelter when other spots would be unfishable.
Plus, contrary to many places in the walleye world, bobber fishing on Devils produces best in calm, not chop.
And while the day will be determined in part by Mother Nature, the winnowed field is bound to change things for the better when 154 other boats have gone home.
“The water is warming up, and it’s going to be a lot better without all the pressure,” says Crestliner pro Dan Plautz of Muskego, Wis., who made the cut in 10th, with 41 pounds, 14 ounces.
Then again, while Plautz had company in the area on Thursday, sixth-place Crestliner pro Shannon Kehl was all by his lonesome for the first two days, pulling a five-fish limit in the 53-degree water of Creel Bay before leaving the area to give his fish a rest.
“There’s no pressure there,” Kehl says. “There are trees and deep water, and they have no reason to leave.”
The anglers, on the other hand, will find out if they have reason to stay or go as the action, or lack thereof, unfolds. Wind and water temperature above 52 degrees in an otherwise chilled Devils Lake will undoubtedly shape their decisions, even if the pros would be content to repeat their qualifying weights without changing a thing.
Friday’s weigh-in takes place at 3 p.m. Central at Wal-Mart, 10 Highway 2 W., in Devils Lake.
Friday’s conditions:
Sunrise: 5:42 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 50 degrees
Expected high temperature: 70-75 degrees
Water temperature: 49-53 degrees
Wind: southeast at 8 mph
Relative humidity: 62 percent
Day’s outlook: partly cloudy; southeast winds 10-20 mph