Chad Benson and Joe Edlund showed why they are the hottest team on the Minnesota Circuit of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC) as they came home with their second consecutive win at Otter Tail Lake on Sunday, June 1.
With their six-fish limit of 15.33 pounds, the Bemidji duo blew away the competition and captured the first place check of $1200.
Second place and a check for $600 went to the team of Wayne Johnson from Miltona and Tom Johnson from Otter Tail for their six-fish limit weighing 13.65 pounds. They also captured the Abu Garcia Big Fish Award of two 6500 Linecounter reels with their 5.32 pounder.
Meanwhile, Mark Eckerly from Cass Lake and Ray Eckerly from Hastings took home both the third place check for $350 and the Berkley Family Angler Award of $250 in Berkley prizes as the top placing family team with a six-fish limit of 12.99 pounds.
GNWC Executive Director Bernie Barringer commented, "It is unbelievable what Benson and Edlund have done. It's almost unheard of to win two tournaments back-to-back like this. They are certainly to be congratulated for what they have done."
After two qualifiers, Benson and Edlund have two points, with the second place team of Bob Steinhoff from Lake Shore and Kevin Benz from Shakopee sitting at 11 points.
Barringer continued, "Otter Tail Lake has the reputation of being a great walleye fishery, and it didn't disappoint us today."
In a lake filled with structure, the first place team found their fish along a small patch of cabbage in 12-14 feet north of Amor Point and pulled Lindy Rigs and leeches to get their fish.
The second place team also used a Lindy Rig presentation but tipped it with a shiner and fished along steep break-lines, while the Eckerly team fished within view of the weigh-in site. During pre-fishing, they had found active fish on a saddle between two humps, so they anchored in 13 feet of water and cast jigs tipped with shiners up in 10 foot and dragged them back toward their boat.
"The weather really cooperated, and it was a great day on a great lake.
I know that we will definitely put Otter Tail Lake on the calendar for next year," added Barringer.
Next up on the Minnesota Circuit will be the Cass Lake qualifier on Sunday, June 22.
Interested anglers can call 1-800-890-3474, email the GNWC at [email protected] or check out the official GNWC website at walleyecup.com for all of the latest in GNWC information.
Major sponsoring partners for the GNWC include Ranger Boats, Mercury Outboards, Berkley, Abu-Garcia, The Sportsman Channel and UpNorthOutdoors.com.
Those television viewers who do not have The Sportsman Channel and want to watch the GNWC's television series Walleye Wisdom, are encouraged to call their cable company or satellite television provider and ask to have it included in their package.
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