SPIRIT LAKE, N.D. – Crestliner pro Rick Walter of Casper, Wyo., and his day-two teammate Dave Dugall of Highland, Mich., landed a five-fish limit weighing 26 pounds, 12 ounces Thursday on Devils Lake to make Walter the No. 1 seed heading into the semifinal round with a two-day total of 10 walleyes weighing 51 pounds, 9 ounces.
Weights fall back to zero, however, as Walter and 19 other pros square off Friday for one day of fishing to earn a spot in Saturday’s final round. Only the top 10 pros will advance to the finals for a shot at $90,000 in cash and prizes, including a Ranger, Crestliner or Lund boat powered by Evinrude or Yamaha, so every ounce is critical. Weights will be cleared for the final round as well.
“I feel confident at this point,” said Walter, who entered Thursday’s competition in 10th place after landing five walleyes weighing 24 pounds, 13 ounces Wednesday with his opening-day teammate, Pat Kordus of Lake Mills, Wis. “I have this spot all to myself, the fish seem to be moving in and there is plenty of forage. I’m just going to stick with what I’ve been doing.”
Walter threw crankbaits and soft plastics along a weed bed in 3 to 5 feet of water on days one and two despite clear, calm conditions and warm water that caused many anglers to abandon the shallows Wednesday. Wind gusting close to 30 mph Thursday may have helped cover Walter’s tracks in the shallow water, but the conditions made it difficult to target specific pockets along the weed edge where walleyes were ambushing prey.
Rounding out the top five pros are Joe Whitten of Toledo, Ohio (10 walleyes, 50 pounds, 11 ounces); Jerry Hein of Stillwater, Minn. (10 walleyes, 48 pounds); Gary Maher of Menoken, N.D. (10 walleyes, 47 pounds, 12 ounces); and Chris Dombrowski of Kaukauna, Wis. (10 walleyes, 47 pounds, 3 ounces).
Joseph Conley of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., led the top 20 co-anglers into the semifinal round with a two-day total of 10 walleyes weighing 47 pounds, 4 ounces. He and Whitten caught five walleyes weighing 26 pounds, 4 ounces Wednesday to place fourth. Conley then landed five walleyes weighing 21 pounds Thursday with pro Don Wood of Brooklyn Park, Minn., to make Conley the No. 1 co-angler seed in his quest to win $15,000 cash. Like their pro counterparts, co-anglers start the semifinal and final rounds from zero.
“It was a totally different bite (Thursday),” said Conley, who is fishing his first RCL Tour event. “We were catching fish in the timber using leeches and crawlers, but (Thursday) we switched to crankbaits in order to catch suspended fish in about 15 feet of water.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jon Tennessen of Monticello, Minn. (nine walleyes, 45 pounds); Kurt Turner of Kasson, Minn. (10 walleyes, 44 pounds, 7 ounces); Scott Mann of Red Wing, Minn. (10 walleyes, 43 pounds, 5 ounces); and Daryl Warren of Green Bay, Wis. (10 walleyes, 42 pounds, 6 ounces).
Devils Lake surpassed most pretournament expectations, as 90 of 196 teams weighed in five-walleye limits on day two.
Daily takeoffs for the RCL Tour regular season finale start at 7 a.m. at Spirit Lake Casino and Resort. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins start at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 21 Highway No. 2 W. in Devils Lake. Anglers from 19 states and Canada are competing in the lucrative tournament, which will award $432,085 in cash and prizes to the top 68 anglers in each division.
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. With a total purse of $3.07 million for the season, the RCL Tour is the world’s most lucrative walleye-tournament series.
The tour is administered by FLW Outdoors and named after boat manufacturers Ranger, Crestliner and Lund. FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing, is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood.