PIERRE, S.D. – Competitive walleye fishing’s elite have been pared down to the 20 best in the business, who took off from Spring Creek Marina Friday at 7:30 a.m. to begin final-round Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour Championship action on Lake Oahe. After they return to Pierre this afternoon to reveal the day’s bounty, some of the 10 remaining in the Pro Division will carry decisive leads into the final day of fishing, and one of the 10 Co-angler Division finalists will be crowned the 2006 champion.
After two days of opening-round action that began Wednesday, the full field of 102 championship qualifiers was cut to the 10 best in each division Thursday. Pros, who operate their own tournament boats, were paired with co-anglers Friday for a final day of team, or combined-weight, competition, and all remaining competitors started today’s final round fresh with zero weights. The winning co-angler stands to earn $22,000 today, while pros will carry over their weights to Saturday for a final day of solo angling on Oahe and a chance at a top prize of up to $150,000.
Leading the two-day opening round on the pro side was Scott Allar of Welch, Minn., who landed five-walleye limits both days for a total weight of 28 pounds. Jimmy Cox of Bono, Ark., topped the co-anglers with a two-day weight of 26 pounds, 4 ounces. Again, however, Friday marks a newly leveled playing field for all remaining competitors, and with such a deep pool of skill among the finalists, everyone has an equal shot of a championship win.
Local pro bucks trend, welcomes wind
The vast majority of pros reported making incredibly long runs up the Oahe reservoir over the opening round of competition to find their walleyes, a trek made quite rough and time-consuming by Thursday’s winds. Those winds will be blowing even harder today, and many boaters were planning to take their chances with the waves to again head far north.
At least one pro, however, had a different plan Friday. Local walleye wonder Gerrick McComsey of Fort Pierre is only running as far north as the Cheyenne River, and he’s also not battling the waves to troll crankbaits like much of the field. In fact, he said today’s high winds will handicap the other teams, giving him and his co-angler partner, Darrell Martin of Forest Lake, Minn., a time and pattern advantage.
“For us, (the wind) will be good,” McComsey said. “I can’t wait. It’ll mean less time fishing for the guys who have to make long runs. We probably only have about an hour-and-a-half run roundtrip.”
McComsey and Martin will be castings jigs toward the shallows in and around the Cheyenne. The local pro said he hopes to hold out for two 22-inchers to anchor the remaining slot fish that he’d like to see at just under 20 inches.
“We’re going to anchor up and concentrate on fishing,” McComsey said.
Logistics
Pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day and fish for a combined boat weight. Pros compete against other pros, and co-anglers compete against other co-anglers. The full field competes during the two-day opening round for one of 10 final-round slots based on their two-day accumulated weight.
Weights are cleared for the final round, with the winning pro determined by the heaviest two-day total weight from days three and four. The co-angler winner is determined on day three based on the weight of that day’s catch.
On the Web
For walleye-fishing fans unable to attend the festivities in person, you can catch all the weigh-in action live at FLWOutdoors.com with FLW Live. Show time starts at 4:30 p.m. Central today.
Friday’s conditions
Sunrise: 7:45 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 54 degrees
Expected high temperature: 81 degrees
Water temperature at the ramp: 60 degrees
Wind: SSE at 16 mph
Maximum humidity: 79 percent
Day’s outlook: partly cloudy and windy with SSE winds expected from 20 to 30 mph