Quick Bites: FLW Walleye Tour Championship, Day 1
2005 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship
Mississippi River, Moline, Ill.
Opening round, Wednesday
Dream team? … By coincidence, the 2005 Anglers of the Year from the Pro and Co-angler divisions were paired together to fish the opening day of the Walleye Tour Championship. Pro Nick Johnson and co-angler Larry Eaton went out on the river and promptly caught exactly zero keepers between them Wednesday. That stung a little bit, especially for Johnson, who was considered a pretournament favorite this week. “We talked about that,” he said. “This is pretty weird, having two anglers of the year in the same boat and no fish.” Still, the fishing was tough on most anglers, and they both took it in stride. “If I would have had my choice who to fish with today, I still would have picked Nick,” Eaton said. “Things just didn’t work out for us today.”
Winds of change … Limits were scarce to open championship competition. The main reason? As usual, weather played its part. Competitors practiced in balmy, Indian-summer conditions on this part of the Mississippi for most of the prefishing session. That changed dramatically Wednesday, though, when blustery, rainy, autumn conditions greeted the anglers at takeoff. It takes more than just a little wind and rain to discourage walleye pros, however. That came in the form of rising water. It came up a good deal prior to Wednesday, throwing more than a few pros off their bites. “The water came up a little bit,” said pro Jerry Hein, who zeroed. “I just couldn’t get to my little eddies that I needed to.” Pro Kevin Goligowski agreed, even though he managed to place fifth with two good fish. “The river’s on the rise and things are changing,” he said. “I’m a little concerned that my fish are moving, and me and rivers don’t always get along.”
Crossover appeal … Reports came back about anglers catching lots of what the Mississippi River has to offer Wednesday, just not the right offering. Competitors hooked into more than their share of largemouth and smallmouth bass, as well as a sheephead or two. Keeper walleyes seemed to be a little scarce. Still, that might not have bothered co-angler Jimmy Cox, who fished with Goligowski today. Cox is a Wal-Mart FLW Tour – bass, that is – veteran, and he’s fishing his first season on the walleye circuit. “I really enjoy it,” Cox said. “I think I learned something today, and I had a great partner.” For the record, Cox isn’t the only walleye-bass crossover angler. Renowned walleye pro Tommy Skarlis, who placed 24th today, was seen plying the waters with his deep-V Ranger upriver at the La Crosse, Wis., EverStart Series tournament earlier in the season.
Size matters … Pros Carl Grunwaldt and Shannon Kehl each caught only one keeper walleye Wednesday. They managed to stay in contention respectively in 11th and 12th place, however, because theirs were the two biggest fish of the day. Kehl weighed in a big-walleye contender at 5 pounds, 12 ounces, then Grunwaldt topped him and won the award with a 6-1.
Quick numbers
3: Out of 50 boats, number of five-walleye limits caught on a tough opening day at the Mississippi River.
5-10: Weight, in pounds and ounces, of pro Jeff Ryan and co-angler Jeff Jandl‘s decisive leads over their respective divisions.
Sound bites
“Thanks to my kids, I’m known as Pat Neu, the Walleye Guy.”
– Pro Patrick Neu (pronounced “Nye”), on sharing a label with children’s TV star Bill Nye, the Science Guy.
“I caught more fish today than I did in all of prefishing.”
– Pro leader Jeff Ryan, who didn’t seem as bothered as other anglers by the changing weather conditions.