SPRING VALLEY, Ill. – Pro Tom Giachetto of Ladd, Ill., landed $90,000 in cash and prizes, including a Lund boat powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard, Saturday after a difficult week of fishing on the Illinois River in the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour season opener.
Giachetto caught five sauger weighing 11 pounds, 12 ounces while fishing with co-angler Dave Dugall of Highland, Mich., on the final day of the four-day tournament to claim victory with a two-day total of 10 sauger weighing 26 pounds, 12 ounces.
“It seemed like you had to go through a number of fish to get a few quality bites,” said Giachetto, who was fishing in only his second RCL Tour event. “When the bite slowed down and we only caught 14 fish, compared to the 20 to 25 we caught Friday, I didn’t think I had enough to win. I was hoping for a top five finish.”
Giachetto advanced to the semifinal round of 20 anglers with a two-day, opening-round total of six sauger weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces. He then moved into the final round of 10 anglers as the No. 1 seed after catching five sauger weighing 15 pounds Friday with co-angler Carolyn Brandon of Greenville, Ohio.
After abandoning a game plan that produced a solitary keeper on opening day, Giachetto caught solid limits the last three days of competition trolling three-way rigs upstream at a snail’s pace. The rigs employed 5/8-ounce jigs and floating jigs tipped with minnows and twister tails. The majority of his fish were caught in 13 feet of water.
Rounding out the top five pros are Mark Courts of Harris, Minn. (10 sauger, 26 pounds, 8 ounces, $25,000); Rick LaCourse of Port Clinton, Ohio (10 sauger, 25 pounds, 2 ounces, $20,000); Aaron McQuoid (10 sauger, 23 pounds, 25 ounces, $15,000) and Gerrick McComsey of Fort Pierre, S.D. (10 sauger, 22 pounds, 14 ounces, $12,500).
Co-angler Tom Ebi of Dearborn, Mich., who fished with pro Todd Riley of Amery, Wis., Saturday, reeled in victory and $15,000 with a two-day total of 10 sauger weighing 12 pounds, 6 ounces. He qualified for the semifinal round with a two-day total of five sauger weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces then advanced to the final round as the a No. 2 seed after catching five sauger weighing 12 pounds, 15 ounces Friday with McQuoid.
“I am totally surprised by this,” said Ebi, who was fishing his fifth RCL Tour event. “I thought I might end up third, fourth or fifth, but not win. This has been a great week.”
Like Giachetto, Ebi and his partner were trolling upstream using three-way rigs in 13 feet of water.
“We worked very specific targets,” Ebi said. “The fish were located on the downstream side of eddies, so we just circled back and forth through the hot spots until we got a bite.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Troy Nelson of Lombard, Ill. (10 sauger, 25 pounds, $7,500); Dugall (10 sauger, 24 pounds, 9 ounces, $6,000); Tony Jaworski of Chicago (10 sauger, 24 pounds, 9 ounces, $5,000) and Glen Prochnow of Hartford, Wis. (10 sauger, 24 pounds, $4,000). The tie between Dugall and Jaworski was broken by opening-round standings.
Three hundred and forty anglers representing 19 states and Canada participated in the tournament, which ranks as the state’s most lucrative walleye tournament to date with $401,750 in cash and prizes awarded to the top 60 anglers in each division.
In RCL Tour competition, pros and co-anglers fish for a combined boat weight and are randomly paired each day. Anglers will compete in four regular-season tournaments in the hope of earning a return trip to Illinois to fish the $1.4 million Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Championship on the Mississippi River in Moline Sept. 29-Oct. 2 for a shot at as much as $400,000 cash in the Pro Division and as much as $150,000 cash in the co-angler division.
The second stop on the RCL Walleye Tour is the Lake Erie tournament presented by Yamaha in Port Clinton, Ohio., April 28-May 1. RCL Tour anglers will visit Devils Lake in Spirit Lake, N.D., May 26-29 and Lake Oahe in Pierre, S.D., June 16-19.
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, browse this Web site or call (270) 252-1000.