PIERRE, S.D. – Pro Gerrick McComsey, 29, of Fort Pierre, S.D., landed $90,000 in cash and prizes, including a Ranger boat powered by Evinrude, Saturday at the Wal-Mart RCL Tour stop on Lake Sharpe after catching six walleyes weighing 13 pounds, 1 ounce and enduring a massive hail storm minutes before the final weigh-in. His final-round teammate, co-angler Chad Wiskow of Menasha, Wis., reeled in $15,000 cash.
“This has been a lifelong dream,” said McComsey, who was fishing in just his third RCL Tour event. “We really had to grind it out though.”
McComsey and Wiskow had four fish in the boat, including two over the state’s 18-inch size restriction, late Saturday morning when a 30 mph southeast wind started whipping down the lake, making fishing difficult at best for the rest of the day. The pair targeted a sandbar less than half a mile upriver from the launch site at Downs Marina in Pierre, pitching 1/8-ounce jigs into 6 to 12 feet of water for the majority of the morning.
McComsey qualified for the final round of 10 pros and 10 co-anglers in second place after landing six walleyes weighing 10 pounds, 14 ounces Friday with co-angler Lawrence Hoff of Flasher, N.D. Wiskow advanced as the fourth-place co-angler after landing six walleyes weighing 10 pounds, 13 ounces with pro Joe Whitten of Toledo, Ohio.
“We had the right fish in the boat early,” said Wiskow, 25, who finished 14th at the RCL Tour season opener last month on the Illinois River. “The wind probably actually helped us, because it made it harder for the other guys to catch up if they didn’t already have a few good fish in the boat.”
Pro Darold Swank of Pierre ($25,000) and co-angler Scott Woodward of Littleton, Colo., ($7,500) placed second with six walleyes weighing 11 pounds. Pro Jim Klick of White Bear Lake, Minn., ($20,000) and co-angler Steve Fahey of Fort Pierre ($6,000) placed third with six walleyes weighing 10 pounds, 9 ounces. Pro Shannon Kehl of Menoken, N.D., ($15,000) and co-angler John Fischer of Princeton, Minn., ($5,000) placed fourth with six walleyes weighing 10 pounds, 8 ounces. Pro Richard Nascak of Winona, Minn., ($12,500) and co-angler Bruce Brugger of Casper, Wyo., ($4,000) placed fifth with six walleyes weighing 8 pounds, 12 ounces.
The $432,085 tournament, which is the second stop on the $3.07 million 2003 Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour, began Wednesday with 195 pros and 195 co-anglers representing 22 states and Canada taking off from Downs Marina. The field was cut to the top 20 anglers in each division after Thursday’s weigh-in and trimmed to the top 10 anglers in each division after Friday’s weigh-in. Pros and co-angler were randomly paired each day, and weights were cleared for the semifinal and final rounds. Cash awards were presented through 68th place in both divisions.
Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour anglers compete in four regular-season tournaments in their quest to qualify for the $1.4 million Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Championship Oct. 1-4 at Treasure Island Casino and Resort on the Mississippi River in Red Wing, Minn. The next stop on the RCL Walleye Tour is Lake Erie in Port Clinton, Ohio, May 28-31, followed by an event on Devils Lake in Spirit Lake, N.D., June 18-21.
Named after boat manufacturers Ranger, Crestliner and Lund, the RCL Tour is the world’s most lucrative walleye-tournament series and is administered by FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing.