Lake Winnebago holding form in Walleye Tour event

Small weights have been the norm in the past and still are today

OSKOSH, Wis. – Historically a small weight tournament lake, Winnebago has held form through two days of the 2009 Walmart FLW Walleye Tour tournament.

Had a pro pulled 13 pounds each of the first two days he would be in first place. A co-angler would have needed 14 pounds per day. Neither number is as high as what many predicted would be needed to make the top 10. So far the two most consistent pros among the current top 10 are third-place Tom Hoinacki, who weighed 13-3 and 12-15 the first two days, and 10th-place Kevin McQuoid, who weighed 10-7 and 11-10. Everybody else’s weights have swung at greater differentials.

But nobody has seen a greater difference from day one to day two than Tom Brunz of Madison Lake, Minn. He started the tournament with four fish weighing 7 pounds and was in 50th place. On day two he weighed 15 pounds, 8 ounces, the heaviest box of the day, and moved into ninth place. He did it in the face of a brutal wind that left competitors dazed, wind-burned and longing for calmer waters.

“It was a blessing,” Brunz said of his day two box, which took an 8-ounce penalty for having one unreleasable fish. “It wasn’t something I was counting on. I don’t want to call it completely dumb luck, but a lot of it was dumb luck.”

Brunz said his bite has improved every day not in numbers but in size. Thursday he upgraded one fish, from a 15 incher to a 17 incher, but that turned out to be the fish that died. But even had he got full credit for that fish’s weight he would still be in ninth place.



Brunz’ jump from 50th to ninth place is the best of the tournament so far. If he holds onto ninth or moves up today he would make his second career top 10 on the FLW Walleye Tour. In 2006 he finished third at Lake Oahe.

“I’m hoping it works out,” said Brunz, who’s 16th in the Angler of the Year race and is a lock to make the championship. “I’ve been fishing tournaments a long time. You only get so many opportunities.”

Some anglers at this tournament have done better in muddier water while others have done better in clearer water. Brunz falls into the latter camp.

“It probably doesn’t matter, but I’d just as soon see it stay that way,” he said. “The wind the last couple days hasn’t dirtied up the water too much where I’m fishing, but there sure is a lot of grass floating around. That’s made it more difficult.”

Brunz said he expects bigger fish to be brought to the scales today. He bases that belief on the overcast skies today and less wind. The forecast calls for northwest winds at 10-20 mph. Over the first two days of the tournament it’s been mostly from the west-southwest. It also will be cooler today, with a predicted high of 62.

The leader going out today is Jeff Nuechterlein of Fremont, Wis. with 26 pounds, 8 ounces. He moved up from eighth place to first place on day two. The day one leader, Pat Neu of Forestville, Wis., dropped to seventh place. In addition to Brunz, the top 10 got two other new members yesterday; Bill Shimota, who went from 15th to eighth, and Kevin McQuoid, who went from 16th to 10th.

Today’s weigh-in begins at 3 p.m. at Pioneer Point Marina. The field in both pro and co-angler divisions will be cut to 10 finalists, who will fish in Saturday’s final round.

Today’s weather

Temperature at takeoff: 61 degrees.

Sky: Cloudy.

Wind: West at 7 mph.

Barometric pressure: 29.79 and steady.

Forecast: Cloudy this morning with showers developing this afternoon. High temperature of 62 degrees. Wind northwest at 10-20 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent.