Time for change
Hein switches spots, techniques to win RCL Tour event on Devils Lake
Devils Lake, N.D. – Yes, the wind humped Saturday on Devils Lake. No, the violent thunderstorms never hammered the 10 finalists in the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour event here.
Responding to the wind rather than withering in the same spot from the first three days, Lund pro Jerry Hein of Stillwater, Minn., abandoned his area and the technique he used for the first three days to go searching for walleye that would do the trick in the 30-mph gusts. Scoring a 23-pound, 13-ounce limit in areas he had never fished before, Hein outdid previous leader Bruce Hill’s lead of about 5 pounds to win the whole shooting match on Devils Lake.
Hill, on the other hand, managed a mere two fish, for 6 pounds, 5 ounces, to drop to eighth.
For Hein, first place earned him $50,000 cash and a new Lund Pro-V 2025 powered by a Yahama outboard. Hein also received a $1,000 bonus for running Garmin electronics.
“I keep thinking about the Championship and how I died on one spot,” says Hein, who finished sixth in last year’s finals on the Mississippi River in Redwing, Minn. “I had a co-angler who participated and we made decisions together. If I didn’t have him in the boat, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
On Saturday, Hein fished with co-angler Lynn Jurrens of Watertown, S.D., who finished second and cashed a $7,500 check.
Bobbers vs. crankbaits
Unwilling to die on one spot, Hein split from a patch of flooded trees off Graham’s Island to go casting crankbaits, always a top choice on Devils Lake when the wind blows and the excessive action on the bait tends to dampen the bobber bite.
And so Hein broke out the SRS Rapala Shad Raps (which rattle and suspend) in blue and chrome, casting the baits and nailing fish whenever he found patches of grass underwater. Hein figures he hit nine spots after leaving his bobber location.
One important factor, Hein says, was that Jurrens noticed when the wind changed direction, new currents set up that concentrated the walleye.
“We’d keep two bobbers out and watch where they started going,” Hein says. “As soon as the current came, the fish came.”
In a close second, seven ounces out of first, was Lund pro Phil Milliser of Plymouth, Ind., who anchored and fished three slip bobbers with leeches behind the boat, casting one crawfish-colored jointed Rapala Shad Rap. With them, Milliser caught enough to weigh 22 pounds, 14 ounces with co-angler Brad Barth of Plymouth, Minn.
Behind Barth’s catch with Milliser, Barth vaulted to the top of all co-anglers, winning $15,000.
“I learned from Phil to use the boat as a shield,” Barth says. “Instead of having our bobbers in three-foot waves, we had them in one-foot waves behind the boat.”
And while Milliser kept with the bobbers while Hein abandoned them, another top finisher, Crestliner pro Shannon Kehl of Menoken, N.D., spent three hours with the floats, catching one of two walleye that bit, before switching to crankbaits. Kehl, too, started casting Rapala Shad Raps – in particular, No. 5s in crawfish and perch patterns – in Creel Bay.
Catching 20 fish on cranks was made even more eventful since Kehl and his co-angler had lost their net when trying to push off a tree as they were trapped against in the wind.
In the end, Hein pulled off the win, sealing the deal with one little casting component. Hein warped in his Shad Raps as fast as he could reel while Jurrens cranked them at a more moderate pace.
“Lynn [Jurrens] said, `How can you crank that fast?'” says Hein. “I got more walleye than he did.”
Ultimately Hein and Jurrens landed eight, weighing the best five. In a departure from the first two RCL events, where the leader from the semifinals took the tournament on the strength of their leads going
into the last day, Hein closed the gap for his first tournament win.
Tight race for tour toppers
A tight tourney on Devils Lake also tightened up the RCL Tour Angler of the Year race. With a ninth-place finish, Ranger pro Patrick Byle of Hartford, Wis., scaled to the top of the pack, with 531 pounds. One point behind is Crestliner pro Jeff Koester of Brookville, Ind., who finished seventh Saturday with 19 pounds, 9 ounces.
Rounding out the top five are last year’s Angler of the Year, Ranger pro Jason Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., with 497 points and Ranger pro Jeff Taege of Rhinelander, Wis., with the same.
Next up: the fourth and final RCL qualifying event of 2004, June 16-19, on Lake Oahe out of Pierre, S.D.