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| Coffey County Lake Produces Limits of Walleyes |
How is this for walleye tournament excitement and a tournament director's dream? Every team brings a limit of fish to the weigh-in!
That's exactly what happened at the Great Plains Region of the Gander Mountain Grand National Walleye Cup's (GNWC) first qualifier at Coffey County Lake in Kansas on Sunday, April 4.
Leading the way and capturing the $1000 first place check was the team of J. D. Baker from Hoxie, KS and Greg Meckleberg from Yuma, CO with a four-fish limit weight of 7.28 pounds.
Second place and a check for $500 went to Robert Purcell, Missouri Valleye, IA and Blaine Presley from Wahoo, NE with a four-fish limit weighing 7.24 pounds.
The third place check of $400 went to Ron Erhard from Wellsville, KS and Rob Masterson from Spring Hill, KS with four fish weighing 7.23 pounds.
"Wow!" said Gander Mountain GNWC Tournament Director Dean Higgins. "It was phenomenal. Team after team came to the scales with four-fish limits. What made the weigh-in so incredibly close was the 18-26 inch slot. We had a lot of teams that had to throw back 23 and 24 inch fish, but that's what makes a tournament like this so exciting."
Higgins continued. "This is the first trip for the Gander Mountain GNWC to the Great Plains Region of Kansas and Nebraska. Coffey County Lake showed us just how great a walleye fishery it is. The teams indicated they had a great time and displayed a lot of camaraderie in rooting for other teams at the weigh-in."
The Berkley Trilene Big Fish Award of $400 in Berkley products went to Randall and Randy Orine from Minden, NE for their 1.94 pound walleye taken on a 1/4-ounce jig.
Special awards include the following. The "Yo So Close" award of a Yo Net folding net valued at $80 was awarded to the three teams that placed out of the money. Those teams include Kevin Johnson and Cheryl Counts from Kansas City, KS; Justin Miller and Mark Joy from Wichita, KS; Mark Joslyn from Hoxie, KS and Kevin Jenny from Gretna, NE.
The Gander Mountain "Need More Stuff" drawing of $200 for a Gander Mountain Shopping Spree also went to Miller and Joy.
As mentioned earlier, the fishing was phenomenal with Baker and Meckleberg catching their walleyes on 1/8-ounce pink and chartreuse Whistler Jigs tipped with Berkley Gulp. They sorted through nearly 70 walleyes during the tournament.
Meanwhile, Purcell and Presley pulled silver spinners and bottom bouncers tipped with Berkley Gulp Worms. They trolled their spinners in depths ranging from 10-27 feet and reported that they caught over 150 walleyes in three days of fishing, including Sunday's tournament.
Finally, Erhard and Masterson tried several presentations ranging from jigging with 1/8-ounce and 1/4-ounce jigs, to trolling minnows and nightcrawlers to speed trolling with lead core line and crankbaits. All presentations caught fish.
The next qualifier on the Great Plains circuit will be Glen Elder on Sunday, May 30.
Anglers interested in signing up for a future qualifier or simply wanting more information on the GNWC circuit can call 1-800-890-FISH (3474), or they can email the GNWC at [email protected].
Title Sponsor for the GNWC is Gander Mountain with other major national sponsors including Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Outboards, the Sportsman Channel, Berkley, Aqua Innovations, YoNet Folding Nets by AMFYOYO, VIB"E" Lure Company, TowTector Shield and UpNorth Outdoors.com. |
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| Gander Mountain Grand National Walleye Cup Opens Great Plains Region at Coffey County Lake |
The first qualifier on the Great Plains Region of the Gander Mountain Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC) is set for Sunday, April 4 at Coffey County Lake in Kansas.
Gander Mountain GNWC Executive Director talked with excitement about the opener. "This is our inaugural year for the GNWC in the Great Plains region of Kansas and Nebraska. Anglers are showing enthusiasm for the circuit, and we're excited to bring the experience of competitive tournament angling in a wholesome atmosphere."
Openings still exist for the Coffey County Lake qualifier and Barringer encourages interested anglers to contact him at 1-800-890-FISH (3474), or email the GNWC at [email protected]. The tournament director will have the Gander Mountain GNWC trailer at the main boat ramp area from 6-8 p.m. the evening before the tournament to take late entries and answer questions.
Competing teams are to meet at the main boat ramp at Coffey County Lake Sunday morning for registration and mandatory boat check.
Take-off is at 7 a.m. with the weigh-in commencing at 3 p.m. sharp. "We hope that a lot of people will turn out for the weigh-in. The weigh-ins are exciting and most importantly for the crowd, it's almost like a mini-walleye seminar as the teams describe the presentations that worked best during the tournament."
Barringer shared his excitement about the 2004 season for the eight-region partner circuit. "This is the second year for the GNWC, and we are looking forward to more and more teams joining what we think is the most exciting partner walleye circuit in the country. We are also very excited about the enthusiasm of the sponsors. It's been great to see the way top national fishing companies have cast their support behind Gander Mountain GNWC walleye tournament anglers."
Another important part of the circuit is the GNWC website (www.walleyecup.com), which offers detailed information for both Gander Mountain GNWC members and Internet browsers. The site includes detailed scheduling information on locations and host communities, tournament results and highlights, how-to articles, along with a message board and free classifieds for members. "We've worked very hard to make the GNWC website an important site to visit on the Internet. With a click of the mouse you can see how the action is going in eight different regions across the Midwest," added Barringer.
Title Sponsor for the GNWC is Gander Mountain with other major national sponsors including Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Outboards, the Sportsman Channel, Berkley, Aqua Innovations, YoNet Folding Nets, VIB"E" Lure Company, TowTector Shield and UpNorth Outdoors.com. |
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