RED WING, Minn. – A thick band of severe thunderstorms rolled through southeastern Minnesota late Monday afternoon. The storm was forceful enough to scare even the hardiest of walleye anglers off the water. Once the front passed, clear skies and temperatures in the low 70s ensued. Usually in the days after a storm the bite is at its worst. But truth be told, the fishing wasn’t all that good to begin with.
Each of the next four tournament days look relatively stable. With any luck, the good weather will revive a stagnant, yet capable fishery. Last weekend two major tournaments took hold of the Mississippi River. The Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League brought 90 tournament boats to Pools 3, 4 and 5 on Saturday.
On Sunday, a local Lake Pepin tournament added roughly another 80 boats. Simply put, the Old Muddy has been getting hammered lately by skilled walleye fishermen. Still, the river is capable of producing hefty limits. For proof, see Mike Jungwirth’s winning weight of 32 pounds in the Walleye League event.
Alma, Wis., pro Jarrad Fluekiger says today’s blue-bird skies will likely help a fishery in transition.
“The water is going to continue to warm up and help put the feed bag on,” he said. “I’ve been getting fish everyday, just not a lot of big fish.”
Fluekiger is one of the best wing-dam fishermen on tour. He lives near Pool 5, yet has no plans to make the long run south to his familiar honeyholes. He plans to start day one by handlining in Pool 4.
“There’s just too much flow on the wing dams right now. But the water is dropping and the flow is changing everyday.”
The goal Fluekiger said is to get five fish everyday and then hope for a big bite or two.
“You just want to get 12 or 13 pounds a day and stay in it. But I think you’ll still see a few weights in the 20s today.”
Logistics
A full field of 150 pros and 150 co-anglers will take on the Mississippi River for their share of a $509,300 purse, including as much as $100,000 for the winning pro and $18,000 for the winning co-angler.
Bay Point Marina in Red Wing will host daily takeoffs each morning at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Central time. Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 295 Tyler Road S. in Red Wing beginning at 4 p.m. The community is invited to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins, which are free and open to the public.
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 three-day opening round for one of 10 final-round slots based on their three-day accumulated weight. Weights carry over to day four, with the winner determined by the heaviest four-day weight.
Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points, with 150 points awarded to the winner, 149 to second, 148 for third, and so on. These points determine angler standings. The top 50 pros and 50 co-anglers based on year-end points standings will advance to the 2007 FLW Walleye Tour Championship.
On the Web
For those who can’t catch the weigh-in action in person, FLWOutdoors.com offers FLW Live, an online application that brings fans real-time weigh-in results, streaming video and audio.
Wednesday’s conditions
Sunrise: 5:59 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 48 degrees
Expected high temperature: 70 degrees
Water temperature: 60-64 degrees
Wind: ENE at 11 mph
Maximum humidity: 42 percent
Day’s outlook: sunny