Reach the deep
Leader Grunwaldt plans same strategy in RCL Tour on Erie when all others play catch-up
PORT CLINTON, Ohio – Ranger pro Carl Grunwaldt of Green Bay, Wis., is out in front with a cushion of almost 6 pounds headed into the finals of the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour event on Lake Erie. And so the other nine chasing the leader know that now is the time to make their move not only in the standings but also with their locations.
“I’m going to move,” says 2003 RCL Angler of the Year Jason Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., trailing Grunwaldt in third place with 25 pounds, 4 ounces – down by 8 pounds, 4 ounce.
On the other hand, Grunwaldt is aiming for the status quo – a bag over 30 pounds, in the same place off Kelleys Island, not changing one iota.
“Same old, same old,” Grunwaldt says. “Same program. I’m going to the same area I went on day one.”
That’s when Grunwaldt qualified for the top-20 cut in a one-day shootout when the next day was canceled due to high winds. For starters, Grunwaldt weighed 30 pounds, 13 ounces. On Friday he boosted his catch, tallying 33 pounds, 8 ounces, to rise above all others remaining.
The closest is second-place Dennis Jeffrey of Garrison, N.D.
Catching Grunwaldt, and the big weight necessary to do it, isn’t going to be easy given the leader’s trolling proficiency in a known big-fish area and in wind and a steady rain.
The finals will no doubt be a discomfiting day given the wet and waves. All of the competitors have at least a half-hour run to Kelleys Island and the deep water around it, where the best schools of walleyes are currently located.
Another factor Grunwaldt and his nine closest associates are up against is tentative fish that are barely biting spinner rigs and sometimes barely budging planer boards. Even when they do and bury the board, sinking it like a bobber, they are often coming off.
That’s a problem that faced the leader after the qualifying round; Lund pro Mark Christianson of Walker, Minn., said Friday he lost fish that tweaked the planing device and one big one that took it underwater.
For Grunwaldt’s part, he managed seven fish Friday, two more than the five-fish limit, 20 to 35 feet down over 40 feet of water. Which is rather uncharacteristic on Erie, when the most active walleyes often cruise in the top 10 feet hunting baitfish. Now they seem to be lounging in the depths, where it’s taking Grunwaldt’s precision trolling to outdistance the rest of the field.
On Saturday it will be with the same thing, in the same place, as he goes to the well one more time.
The top 10 return to Catawba State Park at 3 p.m. Eastern and the weigh-in begins thereafter at Wal-Mart, 4070 E. Arbor Road.
Saturday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:28 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 64 degrees
Expected high temperature: upper 60s
Water temperature: 49-51 degrees
Wind: southwest at 14 mph
Relative humidity: 83 percent
Day’s outlook: occasional showers and thunderstorms; southwest winds 10-15 mph this morning, becoming northwest in the afternoon