Current affairs
Missouri River’s altered state moves walleyes deeper, but going with flow results in first-place RCL heavyweight
PIERRE, S.D. – A local’s hard-won wisdom and one monstrous bite have powered him into a short-lived stay in first place in the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour’s event on Lake Sharpe. Friday, when everyone starts from scratch with zero, will be a test for the competitors in the top 20 on the Missouri River who will have to adjust to fluctuating current and decide whether to stick it out close to home in the hopes of catching bigger female walleyes or to run long distances for guaranteed numbers but a reduced likelihood of an outsized specimen.
Call his huge kicker fish an aberration, but Pierre’s own Harry Stiles was sitting on three walleyes at 12:30 p.m. with his pattern of jigging shallow water when he slid out deeper and picked up a giant in excess of 6 pounds to propel him into first.
“To me it was a fluke because I had been catching my bigger fish in 2 to 5 feet of water,” Stiles says. “But today my big fish weren’t there. I figured I’d move out to the deeper water to catch my slots. I moved out to 14 feet and – boom! – there she was.”
Stiles says he attributes the diminished shallow water action to increase current pulled through the dam later in the day and continuously changing weather patterns that have a greater effect on shallow fish than those in the depths.
“We had three different fronts move through and the wind blew in three different directions,” says Stiles, who weighed 13 pounds, 1 ounce to complement a 12-pound, 7-ounce limit from day one. “That’s what shut down those shallow fish.”
Now what?
Where do the remaining 20 go from here? Well, there’s a bit of uncertainty for some of the semifinalists and an inkling to go with what got them here for others.
If fifth-place Shannon Kehl of Menoken, N.D., is going to make it to the top 10, he’ll have to hatch a plan to catch the bigger fish after his shallow-water pattern tapered off after an early solid fish on day two. While Kehl popped a crucial 20-incher in the first 30 minutes, his strategy of pitching jigs to shallow water went out the window with slack current released through the dam.
“That was the lowest I’ve seen it,” Kehl says. “There weren’t that many fish to start with or they pulled out.”
Hence Kehl started up his Yamaha and motored 55 miles to the West Bend area to fill out a limit with an 18 1/2-incher, four perfect 17 3/4-inchers and one 16 3/4-incher. In this tournament on Lake Sharpe, just two fish of a six-fish limit are allowed, according to state regulations, to stretch past 18 inches.
Even though Kehl’s five fish from down south did the trick on day two with a limit weighing 9 pounds, 5 ounces to accompany 13 pounds, 8 ounces from day one, tomorrow has him a little worried because of the size of fish down south vs. the possibility of bigger ones closer to the ramp at Downs Marina.
“The bad thing about down there is that it’s going to take 10 and a half to 11 pounds to make the next cut, and I’m not sure it’s doable down south,” Kehl says. “There are better fish up here, but I don’t know about catching them.”
Climbing vs. consistency
For some of the others who made it into the top 20, it was a mixed bag of sorts – some fish, including good ones, came from down south while the northern stretches of the river continued to give up quality fish with a bit of resourcefulness.
Climbing from 28th to 18th place with a consistent 10-pound, 7-ounce limit was Lund pro Mark Martin of Twin Lake, Mich. Jigging off the bluffs around West Bend, a long haul from the launch, Martin left a small crowd to go it alone with no other competitors in sight, grinding out a limit with a rod in one hand and another in a holder.
“I put a big creek chub on a Northland jig and dropped it off the side of the boat,” says Martin, who weighed his second 10-pound plus limit, with 10 pounds, 7 ounces. “Then I’d pitch a chartreuse or chartreuse-and-lime jig with the biggest fathead minnow I could find on Berkley FireLine to 2 or 3 feet of water on the edge of the rocks.”
Any predictions, Mr. Martin? “I can do better tomorrow because I didn’t find this spot till the end, and when the locals come out later in the week, I’ll be all alone down there.”
Though the company could be increasing upstream, Crestliner pro Jeff Koester of Brookville, Ind., caught a quality limit again today in spite of 194 other pro-and-co teams on the river. The fish just didn’t come in the same hand-over-fist fashion they did yesterday, when Koester sifted through more than 85 walleyes and saugers. He did, however, manage an 11-pound, 10-ounce limit for total weight of 22 pounds, 1 ounce.
“I had to work a lot harder today,” Koester says. “We caught a lot of fish over 18 inches today – at one point we had three over 18 in the bottom of the boat. But while Koester had his two over 18, he was sitting on four fish at 1:30 p.m., when he busted a move to Antelope Creek to round out his limit.
“I’m going to stick to my game plan,” Koester says. “If I can get two fish over 18 up here, I’ll go elsewhere to fill out my limit. If I don’t get them, I’m going to go search for a limit.”
A limit is key on fish-filled Sharpe, as is a pound or two. Two pounds was all that separated 20th-place pro Jason Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., from 47th place. On Thursday, a limit of about 11 pounds might be enough to make it into the top 10, but five average fish with a Stiles-style monster would certainly seal the deal.
Tomorrow’s takeoff starts at 7 a.m. at Downs Marina in Pierre.
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