SPRING VALLEY, Ill. – After two days of difficult fishing, the Illinois River finally started to lived up to its reputation as a world-class sauger fishery Friday by giving up 13 five-fish limits to the top 20 pros and co-anglers remaining in the $3.19 million Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour season opener. The leaders of this crucial semifinal round bout, pro Tom Giachetto of Ladd, Ill., and co-angler Carolyn Brandon of Greenville, Ohio, caught a limit weighing 15 pounds using three-way rigs and live bait to top the 10 pros and co-anglers advancing to Saturday’s final round.
Giachetto has produced solid limits the last two days of competition despite high, muddy water that forced him to abandon his original game plan. Anglers who survived the preliminary cuts are fishing for $90,000 in cash and prizes, including a Ranger, Crestliner or Lund boat powered by Evinrude or Yamaha, in the Pro Division and $15,000 cash in the Co-angler Division. The winners are determined by the heaviest two-day weight.
“It was a wonderful day,” said Giachetto, who is fishing his second RCL Tour event. “We had our limit by 9 a.m. and upgraded all day. We probably caught 20 to 25 fish throughout the day.”
Giachetto entered Friday’s semifinal round as the No. 5 seed after landing one sauger weighing 2 pounds, 10 ounces Wednesday with co-angler Jeff Ryan of Lake View, Iowa, and five sauger weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces Thursday with co-angler Roger Strand of Mankato, Minn., for a total of six sauger weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces.
Brandon, who is fishing her fourth RCL Tour season, entered the semifinal round as the No. 5 co-angler after landing three sauger weighing 8 pounds, 2 ounces Wednesday with pro Patrick Byle of Hartford, Wis., and three sauger weighing 7 pounds, 10 ounces Thursday with pro Larry Mote of Burlington, Ind., for a total of six sauger weighing 15 pounds, 12 ounces.
Rounding out the top five final-round qualifiers are pro Aaron McQuoid of Isle Minn., and co-angler Thomas Ebi of Dearborn, Mich. (five sauger, 12 pounds, 15 ounces); pro Rick LaCourse of Port Clinton, Ohio, and co-angler Dave Dugall of Highland, Mich. (five sauger, 12 pounds, 13 ounces); pro Brian Ernat of Seatonville, Ill., and co-angler Troy Nelson of Lombard, Ill. (five sauger, 12 pounds, 11 ounces); and pro Steve Lotz of Lena, Ill., and co-angler Daniel Smola of Wonder Lake, Ill. (five sauger, 12 pounds, 7 ounces).
Takeoff starts at 7 a.m. Saturday at Spring Valley Boat Club in Spring Valley, and the final weigh-in starts at 3 p.m. at the Wal-Mart store located at 1650 38th St. in Peru. Three hundred and forty anglers representing 19 states and Canada are participating in the tournament, which awards $401,750 in cash and prizes to the top 60 anglers in each division. Pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day.
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 on the Mississippi River in Moline, Ill., Sept. 29-Oct. 2 where the world’s top pros will fish for as much as $400,000 cash and co-anglers will chase as much as $150,000 cash. With a total purse of $3.19 million for the season, the RCL Tour is the world’s most lucrative walleye-tournament series.
The RCL 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. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails include the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League for weekend anglers; the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the world’s most lucrative bass-tournament series; the EverStart Series, designed as a pathway to the FLW Tour; the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League for weekend anglers; and the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997.
For more information about the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour, call (270) 252-1000.