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| Aydelotte, Harms Win IOWA at Clear Lake, IA |
Changing their tactics from the Clear Lake Classic, the team of Scott Aydelotte from Garner and Tim Harms from Owatonna put together a five-walleye weight of 20.65 pounds to take the $2180 first place check at the FCIS "Anglers Choice" Insurance Clear Lake Tournament on Sunday, May 27. In addition, Aydelotte and Harms pocketed the $1000 winner's bonus check from FCIS "Anglers Choice" Insurance.
Meanwhile, Frank Wood from Mason City and Lance Thoe from Ventura captured second place and a check for $1310 with a five-fish limit weight of 18.93 pounds. They also took the "Berkley Artificial Challenge" of $100 by trolling with Gulp! Worms.
Third place and a check for $960 went to the team of Cory Batterson from Pleasant Hill and Scott Sundet from Urbandale with a five-fish weight of 17.33 pounds.
"What a day!" said Dean Higgins, I.O.W.A. Executive Director. "We got the right weather, and the fish were on a tear."
Several other special awards were also awarded at the tournament.
The Berkley Big Fish Award of two IM7 Graphite Berkley Tactix rods and two Mitchell Avocet Gold Series reels went to the team of Aydelotte and Harms with their 7.76-pound walleye. They also won the Smooth Moves Seat Mounts Award of two $75 certificates towards a Smooth Move Seat.
The Net Your Cash Award of $100 from StowMaster Nets for the highest placing team using a StowMaster net went to Batterson and Sundet.
The team of Bruce and Terry Sparks from Des Moines won the $100 gift certificate for taking the Cabela's Family Team award for the highest placing family team. They placed sixth with a 5-fish weight of 13.79 pounds.
The Need Mack's Lure Award of two $100 Mack's Lure certificates went to the team of Creighton Whitehill and Kim Grube from Mason City.
The top teams all learned something very important from the Clear Lake Classic the weekend before. Don't pull cranks! Instead, trolling spinners and crawlers proved to be the key in triggering big fish. Aydelotte and Harms worked chartreuse spinners and nightcrawlers, trolling from Fisherman's Reef to Dodges Point in 11 feet of water. Aydelotte said, "We didn't do very good last weekend, so we switched today and had a 25 and 28-inch walleye in the box by 9:30 this morning." When their bite died, they went to their second game plan.
"On day like today, we felt we could go into the little lake and catch that 20 incher," added Aydelotte. Sure enough with less than an hour till weigh-in, they popped a 20 - incher.
Although Wood and Thoe trolled spinners, instead of using bouncers, they went with splitshot and trolled at 1-1.2 mph. Thoe said the first 15 minutes was unbelievable. "We had a 23 and 21 incher in the boat before the last boat took off. It wasn't until Friday and Saturday that we switched from the crankbaits and went with spinners and crawlers." Their best color was gold and orange in the morning and blue and silver in the afternoon.
The third place team had a tougher time getting going. Batterson said, "We had caught bigger fish at Gilmore's during pre-fishing, but by 9:00 we didn't have a fish."
Then they moved to Fisherman's Reef in 11 feet of water. "Things went crazy," said Batterson. "At one time, we had all four rods go, but I miscounted and thought we had one more fish in the livewell than we really did. We threw back an 18 incher!" It took them over two hours before they could get a fish they wanted to keep.
Higgins was all smiles as he recounted the day. "Some teams reported catching up to 100 fish today. We've had some pretty rough weather, so these teams deserved a break."
With three tournaments now in the books, the I.O.W.A. teams begin making plans for the fourth tournament, the Motor Inn Spirit Lake Qualifier set for Sunday, September 16. "The Motor Inn Auto Group of Estherville, Spirit Lake, Spencer, LeMars, Algona and Webster City is providing a $500 bonus for the winners at Spirit Lake."
Higgins also added that the day before the tournament, on Saturday, September 15, the I.O.W.A. circuit will sponsor a "Saturday Fun Tournament."
"We will have a 100 percent payback, plus all of the usual awards and trophies. It should be a blast!"
Higgins noted, too, that the time off until the September qualifier "gives teams a well-deserved break because we have been going pretty solid since April. Spirit Lake is always a great place to hold a tournament. An abundance of baitfish has been great for the fishery."
All of the latest news on the I.O.W.A. circuit can be found at the I.O.W.A. website (www.walleyepromotions.com).
Anglers interested in learning more about the I.O.W.A circuit can call (515) 571-1085 or they can email the I.O.W.A. staff at [email protected].
Corporate sponsors for the 2007 I.O.W.A Team Walleye Tournament Trail include Lund, Mercury Outboards, ShoreLand'r Trailers, Algona Marine and Sport, MinnKota, Humminbird, Berkley, Cabela's, Mack's Lure, Smooth Move Seat Mounts, StowMaster, Hooters and FCIS "Anglers Choice" Insurance of Forest City. |
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