Hedquist hangs on
Lakeville, Minn., angler narrowly wins 2009 FLW Walleye League Finals
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – Every year FLW Outdoors struggles with selecting a venue for the Walmart FLW Walleye League Finals. Oftentimes the event is held on the Mississippi River, but complaints are heard that the tournament favors river rats. Other years Green Bay and Bays de Noc are chosen, but the Wisconsin fishermen, who are adept at open-water trolling, typically have the upper hand. This season the FLW Outdoors staff opened some eyes when they chose Lake Wissota in western Wisconsin as the venue.
At just over 6,000 acres, Wissota is a relatively small lake by tournament standards. But it was an incredibly neutral body of water. In addition, the Chippewa River impoundment proved diverse as anglers could fish to their strengths. The Michigan and Wisconsin trollers could pull crawler harnesses with planer boards, the Minnesota fishermen could rig with live bait over structure, and the river rats could use their beloved leadcore line.
Kirt Hedquist lives in the Twin Cities suburb of Lakeville and considers his home water the Mississippi River near Red Wing, Minn. And like many of his fellow river rats, he is fond of leadcore. With a spread of crankbaits digging into the lake’s bottom, Hedquist was able to cover a lot of Wissota’s unknown water.
“We used a bunch of different shad-style crankbaits, from Shad Raps to Flicker Shads to Salmos,” he said. “The best colors were burnt-orange (which resembled crayfish) and holographic-blue. I used 160 feet of leadcore with Fireline leaders. We would use speed to vary our depths.”
Hedquist’s best area was located on the south end of the lake, just north of the island near the Little Wissota bridge.
On day one, he caught five walleyes weighing 3 pounds, 4 ounces and was tied for 43rd place. He added another five walleyes weighing 9 pounds, 10 ounces to his total Friday, then he capped off his win Saturday with four more walleyes weighing 3 pounds, 10 ounces. His big kicker on day two weighed over 7 pounds and was nearly 27 inches in length.
“This is just an incredible feeling,” Hedquist said after winning. “I basically stuck to the same program that I’ve been doing the last two days, and we had an awesome start. We had three fish in the box during the first hour, but then it slowed way down. We caught our 18-inch kicker around 10 a.m., but we struggled the rest of the day to get that last fish.”
At one point, Hedquist and his co-angler partner, Troy Zupke, abandoned the trolling pattern and presented live bait over a hump. He could see the fish on his electronics, but they weren’t very interested in biting.
“They were glued to the bottom. We caught a couple 16(-incher)s and a few under 12, but they all had to go back.”
For this particular event, walleyes 14 to 18 inches in length had to be immediately released, and only two walleyes over 18 inches could be kept. The minimum length limit was 12 inches and upgrading was not permitted. Thanks in part to this rule, Hedquist worriedly walked up to the scale with only four fish.
“That was my goal from the beginning, to get a limit, and to not have one today made me very nervous. What an emotional rollercoaster. At one point I didn’t think I was going to make it (to the tournament). My wife had something come up at work at the last minute, and I didn’t think I could get away. I told her I would stay home if I had to, but it all worked out. Our neighbor watched the two boys, right here, Mitch and Mack. So, here we are; I can’t believe it.
“When I started prefishing, I thought maybe I had a chance because I was getting a limit every day. But I never got an over in practice. When we caught the toad yesterday, I knew we had a good chance.”
This was Hedquist’s first appearance in the Walleye League Finals and his first top-10 finish overall. In fact, this was only Hedquist’s second check of his FLW career – the first coming at Leech Lake a few months ago. That one was worth $256; this one was worth $53,000 in the form of a fully rigged Ranger 621 with either a Yamaha or Evinrude engine.
“I haven’t thought about the boat yet. I didn’t want to go there until the tournament was over. I still don’t know what I’m going to do with it.”
Jones limits, falls just short
Because Wissota is such an unknown tournament fishery, Julian Jones put in some extra practice time. 
For the past month, he’s been making the two-hour drive from his home in Andover, Minn., to Chippewa Falls on the weekends.
The extra work definitely paid off as Jones earned $2,500 and finished second overall with 15 pounds, 14 ounces, only 10 ounces behind the winner.
His limit on day three consisted of five cookie-cutter 13-inchers. Had he managed one over, he would be hoisting the trophy. Although he performed like a veteran, this was Jones’ first season as a boater after participating last season as a co-angler. In fact, he has only been fishing for walleyes for eight years.
“Today was a grind,” said Jones. “We pulled floaters on short snells. On two of our rods we had fatheads, and we had a crawler and a leech on the other two.”
Jones fished a hump in the Chippewa River that rose to 16 feet of water. He said the key to his success was determination and patience. During those extra days of practice, he tried everything from slip-bobbers to jigs to leadcore trolling. But what worked the best was fishing methodically with live bait.
At 2:40 p.m., Jones turned the key to start his engine and begin the trek back to the Chippewa Rod and Gun Club. He got nothing and knew the battery was dead. After jumping it and driving like a madman, he made it back to check-in with three minutes to spare.
“Kirt is a super guy. If I could choose anybody to win it besides myself, I would want it to be him. He’s a hard-working, ethical fisherman. I’m tickled to death that we brought the title back to Minnesota.”
Minke goes “over”board
Despite catching the heaviest stringer of the day, boater Dusty Minke only moved up one place from fourth to third. His three walleyes weighed 5 pounds, 1 ounce, giving him a three-day total of 15 pounds, 6 ounces. Two of those three walleyes surpassed the 18-inch slot requirement.
“Not having a limit killed me, but that was the game plan,” said the two-time Walleye League winner. “I went for big fish because I thought that was the only way you could win.”
To an extent, Minke was right. While he caught the most overs (five out of a possible six) of any competitor, none could compare to Hedquist’s 7-pounder. His two overs today didn’t come until late in the afternoon.
“We didn’t have an over in the box until 1:30, but we stuck with the program. When I got to one of my spots, I saw two locals sitting on it, and they already had two overs. When I saw that, my heart just about dropped.”
Minke stayed in the area and managed to grind out his first over. The Lindstrom, Minn., resident was just about to move areas when the second over bit.
“I told my co-angler one more cast. And of course I always make one more cast after that. My partner’s rod was already rigged up and put away when I got the bite. It was an 18 3/4.”
To catch those fish, he employed a unique strategy.
“I sat up all day on the front trolling motor just like a bass head and cast a Northland Mimic Minnow.”
In addition to retrieving the small swimbait, Minke occasionally stopped and pitched Weed Weasels to grass off of shoreline breaks in 3 to 6 feet of water. He had two prime quarter-mile stretches of bank – one on the northwest side of the lake in the Chippewa River and one on the northeast side. On Saturday, the Weed Weasel and the Mimic Minnow each caught an over.
“That minnow was the key for the big fish. It was completely a reaction strike. I just discovered the pattern while watching baitfish jump.”
For his third-place finish, Minke earned $1,750.
Neuhaus, DeVoss round out top five
Bernie Neuhaus of Glencoe, Minn., caught three walleyes on the final day that weighed 2 pounds, 15 ounces, slipping from third to fourth. He finished the event with 13-9 and earned $1,000.
Neuhaus caught his fish by trolling No. 4 and No. 5 Shad Raps in 21 to 25 feet of water over the tops of stumps.
“You could see the fish holding tight to the bottom on the graph. I would dig my crankbaits into the bottom, because if you ran them a foot or two up, you wouldn’t get a bite.”
Coming in fifth place was Bagley, Wis., angler Paul DeVoss. Throughout the week, DeVoss was returning to the Rod and Gun Club early with six fish in the box. But on day three, his bite slowed. He still caught a limit, but they weighed only 3 pounds, 4 ounces. He finished with 12 pounds, 10 ounces and earned $750.
“The first two days we were done at 11 and 10 in the morning,” DeVoss said. “Today we really had to work for our fish with that wind change.”
DeVoss’ pattern consisted of dragging live bait with bottom bouncers.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 boater finalists at the FLW Walleye League Finals on Lake Wissota:
6th: Zack Kovar of Ottumwa, Iowa., three-day total of 12-7, $600
7th: David Leach of Linwood, Mich., 12-2, $500
8th: Jonathan Rohde of Kildeer, Ill., 10-4, $450
9th: Michael David of Necedah, Wis., 9-7, $400
10th: Jim Klein of Spring Valley, Ill., 8-15, $350