Ryan owns yet another Mississippi River lead

Lake View, Iowa, native boats 26-5, gains commanding lead at second qualifying event

RED WING, Minn. – Talk about deja vu. The Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour returns to the Mississippi River, and pro Jeff Ryan is the man in the limelight after day one. While this tournament is being held near the Twin Cities and not the Quad Cities, it mattered little to Ryan as he stunned the local favorites with a five-walleye limit weighing 26 pounds, 5 ounces.

While the coincidence is quite startling, Ryan can only hope these similarities won’t last. After catching the biggest limit of the tournament on day one, he failed to catch a keeper walleye for the remainder of the 2005 FLW Walleye Tour Championship. This time around, anglers weighed in 506 walleyes on day one, most of which were solid keeper-sized fish, but several trophies were weighed in as well, pushing the total weight for the field to 1,194 pounds, 9 ounces.

Ryan, a Lake View, Iowa, native, was one of several pros to locate the big females, his largest pushing the 9-pound mark.

“It’s a great feeling, it really is,” Ryan said. “I hadn’t caught anything that size prefishing. But I made a few adjustments from my practice, and that made the difference. We were locating postspawn fish around structure, and we just had to be patient.”

While Ryan wouldn’t go into detail about his exact presentation, he did reveal that he is fishing a live-bait rig very slowly. He also said he was fishing in anywhere from 6 to 18 feet of water.

“We caught five keepers and lost one other one, so I think there will be more fish left in my area for tomorrow. But I don’t know how much pressure the area can handle.”

Defending Walleye League champion Jerowski in second

Winona, Minn., pro Mitchell Jerowski put the rest of the field on notice with his impressive opening-day performance. Jerowski took first place at the 2005 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League Finals on the Mississippi River with a three-day total of 49 pounds, 6 ounces. He backed up that performance Wednesday with five walleyes that weighed 23 pounds, 6 ounces.

Jerowski never actually got to wet a line in his primary spot. When he arrived there early Wednesday morning, somebody else had moved in. In hindsight, it might have been a blessing in disguise. Instead he fished two wing dams in Pool 4.

“We were fishing leeches and crawlers on wing dams,” Jerowski said. “We were anchoring near them and casting Lindy rigs to catch them. Some were right up in the rocks, and some were out above them a little ways.”

Jerowski went on to explain that he is fishing fast water rather than the slack areas many other competitors opted for Wednesday.

“I know there is quite a few of them down there. The thing about wing-dam bites is that they are pretty steady. It’s a marathon; I’d be happy with 15 pounds tomorrow.”

Stolcers boats three pigs

In third place is Round Lake Beach, Ill., native Victor Stolcers, who caught three walleyes that weighed in at 18 pounds, 4 ounces. Anchoring his bag was a 9-pound, 10-ounce kicker that unofficially was the biggest of the day.

“I’m probably just in the right spot,” Stolcers said. “It’s an area that has held big fish for me in the past.”

Stolcers is spending most of his time in Pool 3. He said postspawn fish are relating to a nice little current break in his area. He caught his smallest fish on a crankbait and the two larger ones on a live-bait presentation.

“We only caught three keepers, and we lost one big fish. It’s a big-fish area, but you don’t get that many bites. I plan on starting there tomorrow.”

Vande Mark fourth

Finishing the day in fourth place, Steve Vande Mark boated five walleyes that weighed 17 pounds, 9 ounces. Vande Mark’s total weight would have been greater if not for an 8-ounce dead-fish penalty.

“We boated six and lost two or three at the boat,” Vande Mark said. “All week I’ve been averaging one 5-pounder a day.”

Vande Mark targeted slack-water walleyes in Pool 4. Fishing with a slow, live-bait presentation, the Lindwood, Mich., pro credited patience for his early success.

“You had to first find the fish; then you had to camp over top of them. Fresh minnows also made a big difference.”

Darsow, Renschen tie for fifth

Greg Darsow of Billings, Mont., and John Renschen of Red Wing, Minn., each brought in sacks weighing 16 pounds, 12 ounces, which were good for a fifth-place tie.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros on day one on the Mississippi River:

7th: Chuck Dube of Brooklyn Park, Minn., five walleyes, 16-9

8th: Scott Allar of Welch, Minn., five walleyes, 16-1

9th: Scott Fairbairn of Hager City, Wis., five walleyes, 15-12

9th: Shannon Kehl of Menoken, N.D., five walleyes, 15-12

Szczech sizzles on day one

On the co-angler side, Kristine Szczech partnered with Jeff Ryan and caught five walleyes that weighed 26 pounds, 5 ounces.

“Jeff was amazing; G3 should be very happy to have him on their pro staff,” Szczech said of her day-one partner. “He was very patient. Our fish were spread out throughout the day, but we just stuck around in our spot and hit it hard.”

The Saint Paul, Minn., native said her partner nabbed the biggest fish at about 2:15 p.m.

“They didn’t come as quickly as we would have liked, but we stuck with it and had a lot of fun.”

Second place among the co-anglers went to Gary Engberg. The Mazomanie, Wis., native caught five walleyes weighing 23 pounds, 6 ounces.

“Gary popped the first one, and that really got us going,” said Jerowski, his day-one partner.

Dana Delp of Lansing, Mich., placed third for the co-anglers with three walleyes weighing 18 pounds, 4 ounces.

Highland, Mich., resident Dave Dugall took fourth in the Co-angler Division with 17 pounds, 9 ounces.

Stephen Gaston of Montegut, La., and Jason Treptau of Becker, Minn., tied for the fifth spot among the co-anglers with limits of 16 pounds, 12 ounces.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers on day one on the Mississippi River:

7th: Jeff Burns of Wabasha, Minn., five walleyes, 16-9

8th: Oren Long of Omaha, Neb., five walleyes, 16-1

9th: Christopher Demattio of Wooster, Ohio, five walleyes, 15-12

9th: Scott Woodward of Glendive, Mont., five walleyes, 15-12

Day two of FLW Walleye Tour competition on the Mississippi River begins as the field of 150 boats takes off from Colvill Park in Red Wing at 7 a.m. Central time Thursday for the second day of the opening round.