Lake Sharpe cut looms

FLW Walleye Tour anglers face top-10 cut Friday

PIERRE, S.D. – Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour anglers prepared for takeoff Friday on a misty morning with patches of fog. But even with visibility somewhat lowered on Lake Sharpe, one thing was clear to all competitors: They will need to put forth their best efforts today to try to make the top-10 cut.

Almost 270 walleye anglers – half professional and half co-anglers – have fished Lake Sharpe on the Missouri River near Pierre, S.D., this week. After two days of official competition, the field has already run the weather gamut, fishing in perfectly sunny conditions on day one, then enduring wind and chilly rains throughout day two. Today’s forecast calls for conditions somewhere in between, with mostly cloudy skies, a high of 58 degrees, and much less wind and precipitation than Thursday.

Regardless of what the weather does, the mission stays the same for anglers competing in this Walleye Tour event, presented by Berkley: catching the heaviest walleyes possible. And for a majority of the field, that mission will end today.

The stakes are high, as pros are fishing for a top award of as much as $100,000, and co-anglers are competing for a top prize of up to $20,000. To stay in the hunt for the big bucks, anglers need to sack enough weight over the first three days of tournament action to survive the top-10 cut and fish the final day Saturday. So after today’s weigh-in, only the best 10 pros and 10 co-anglers will remain.

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.

After the first two days of competition, the power of a single big bite has become apparent. Anglers have reported catching amazing numbers of fish throughout the tournament, but catching walleyes over 20 inches has remained a difficult game.

Kelly Klemm used a 29 1/2-inch kicker, likely weighing almost 8 pounds, to vault to the top of the pro standings Thursday, while runner-up Scott Banks’ 5 1/2-pounder rocketed him 40 places up the leaderboard in a single day. But such quality fish have been scarce, leaving the rest of the field to scratch and claw for positioning.

As Friday’s competition began, the top-10 cut weight in the Pro Division sat at 17 pounds, 1 ounce, while 10th place in the Co-angler Division settled in at 16-11. So pros averaging 9 pounds a day and co-anglers averaging about 8 1/2 stand a good chance of making today’s cut. However, daily averages can quickly take a back seat to a monster catch in this event, so virtually everybody in the 134-boat field still has a shot at fishing in Saturday’s finals.

Logistics

Since South Dakota is a no-cull state, anglers must decide whether to keep a walleye at the time they catch it. The minimum length for a keeper is 15 inches, while two walleyes over 20 inches are allowed. Eight walleyes may be kept on a boat, but only the best five from a pro and co-angler may be weighed in per day at the tournament.

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 2008 FLW Walleye Tour Championship.

Local details

The shoreline between Steamboat Park and the American Legion cabin in Pierre will host Friday’s weigh-in, beginning at 3 p.m. The final takeoff on Saturday will be hosted by Downs Marina at 7 a.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 1730 N. Garfield Road in Pierre beginning at 4 p.m., with booths and activities for the whole family beginning two hours before fish are weighed. The community is invited to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins, which are free and open to the public.

On TV

Coverage of the Lake Sharpe tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing Aug. 24. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast in Canada on WFN (World Fishing Network) and to more than 429 million households in the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a distribution agreement with Matchroom Sport, making it the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. The program airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time in most markets. Check local listings for times in your area.

Friday’s conditions

Sunrise: 6:20 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 43 degrees

Expected high temperature: 58 degrees

Water temperature on the river: 43 degrees

Wind: NNE at 6 mph

Maximum humidity: 99 percent

Day’s outlook: mist and fog this morning, becoming mostly cloudy with ESE winds from 10 to 15 mph