Opening round continues under cool, breezy conditions

Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour anglers fine-tune their patterns

DEVILS LAKE, N.D. – After a near-perfect opening day, the full field of 150 pros and 150 co-anglers took to the open waters of Devils Lake Thursday under more familiar circumstances. And in the Great Plains region of North Dakota, familiar means windy.

Even by Devils Lake’s standards, Wednesday’s catch was better than most anticipated. Despite an onslaught of angling pressure stemming from the recent Professional Walleye Trail event, 134 of the 150 pros brought a five-fish limit to the scale. In fact, a solid catch of five walleyes for 15 pounds would only put an angler in 70th place.

Yesterday’s calm breeze made for easy boat control, which aided the generous fishing. With cooler temperatures and generally blustery weather in the forecast, look for many pros to alter their strategy. Typically when the wind is at its worst, the bobber bite falters while crankbaits shine.

But several bobber fishermen said yesterday that their pattern would actually improve with a little more wind.

“We caught the big ones when the wind was blowing in on us,” fourth-place pro Shannon Kehl said Wednesday. “When the wind blows, it pushes them up in certain areas. I hope for a little more wind.”

All eyes will be on pro leader Pete Harsh today. Once again, Harsh has started fast out of the gate, but it remains to be seen whether he can put consistent stringers together. On day two at Devils Lake last year, Harsh threw back many 19- and 20-inch fish, hoping the 5-pounders would eventually come. They never did, and Harsh had to scramble at the last minute to come up with 5-12.

The Sauk Centre, Minn., pro estimates his weight would have been about 13 pounds had he kept some of his earlier fish. Those extra 7 pounds would have placed Harsh squarely in the top 10 and earned him an additional day of fishing. Yesterday, Harsh vowed not to fall into the same trap as last year.

“I do have other areas; I’m not going to weigh in 6 pounds again,” Harsh said.

Thursday’s conditions

Sunrise: 5:36 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 51 degrees

Expected high temperature: 64 degrees

Water temperature: 60-66 degrees

Wind: ENE at 17 mph

Maximum humidity: 60 percent

Day’s outlook: partly cloudy

The day-two weigh-in will begin at 3 p.m. Central time at Grahams Island State Park, located at 152 N. Duncan Road in Devils Lake.