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Member
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Location: Manitowoc, WI | Well, it's been a week since I got back from Houghton, so I thought I'd bore you all with some of the details from the PWT Championship.
The first day of prefish found me with good friends and fishing partners Lee Georgenson and Pat Schuette. We decided to work the area known as the "Humps", pulling spinners over 18-25 FOW. The first board went back before we got all the lines out and we had a nice 25" fish. We got a couple of other small fish here and decided to move to the windward shore and see if there were any fish shallow. Within 15 minutes, we had 4 fish between 16-20". This was the first good pattern we found.
Day two was spent checking the area known as Huron Bay. Many of the locals felt that the tourney would be won here. After three hours between four boats and no fish, we decided to go back to Portage Lake and work there. This proved to be a good decision, as we found fish again in and above the weeds willing to take spinners and cranks.
Day three was a short day, as we all had seminars to do at the local schools. I landed three nice fish shallow again early and got off the water by 10 am. I was fortunate enough to speak at a place called Vocational Strategies, which trains the mentally and physically challenged how to perform different work duties. It was a very reqarding experience to talk to these special people, as they are very attentive to what is said and there reactions are genuine. Definitely a heartwarming experience.
Day four was the best day of fishing we had during the week. With my boat partner Mario Paoli, we started to search for more shallow weed spots. We hit what I thought was an absolute gold mine, as one particular stretch of water held fish up to 27" in the shallow weeds. In two passes, we had 6 fish between 21 and 27". We left and found more similar spots, as the smallest fish we boated was 19" and most were 23-26" fish. When I reported this to Dan Plautz, he thought I had the winning pattern for the event. Day five was spent bouncing from place to place, verifying the great weed bite from the day before.
Day six, the day before the first day of the tourney, was a big blow day. With Northwest winds at 30-45 mph and gust to 55 mph, I started to worry if my good pattern was going to hold. The answer was no. These winds blew clean cold water in from Lake Superios into the North entry canal into both Portage and Torch Lakes.
First day of tourney-With the air temp at 42 degrees, we raced out of the Houghton area hoping to find the fish from practice. On my first pass, I got a 24" 4.15 fish. I was estatic, as I thought the weather hadn't affected my fish. I didn't have another hit until 1:30, boating a 22" fish then. At the weigh-in, I held first place for about 20 spots. As the others weighed in, I found myself in 12th place after the first day.
Day two of the tourney took me back to the same areas, as I bounced from spot to spot, hoping to find walleye gold. I didn't get my first fish, another 23 1/2" fish until 1 pm. I decided to hit a weed bed at the mouth of the North entry on the way in. I got a nice fish on and got it to within 6-8 ft of the boat. It was a good 26-28" fish. As my observer readied the net, it got off. Talk about heartbreaking!!! I weighed in one fish at just over 3 lbs and found myself in 20th place.
Day three of the tourney was spent checking all the previously fished areas, hoping to find some active fish. I had one fish on early and that was it for the day. I had my first zero of the year in a PWT event. I suppose I could have went and jigged for smaller fish, but I made a decision early that I wanted to do everything possible to try and win the event. I ended up settling for 30th place and I had the experience of a lifetime. I wouldn't change a thing!!!
I would like to thank everyone here at WF, along with my family, friends, and sponsors for their continued great support. I don't know if I'll ever get another chance to fish an event like this, but it definitely won't be because of lack of support and effort. Thanks again!!! | |
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Member
Posts: 1406
| Jerry, As always it's a pleasure to read of your adventures! You're doing an awesome job. Keep your head up and Good Luck Next Year!
Tyee | |
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Posts: 226
Location: Oshkosh,WI | Jerry Congrats to you and all the anglers in Houghton. It was a great finish to an outstanding year for the PWT. I had an absolute ball following these guys around this year. I met a lot of new friends and learned a few more techniques while prefishing with a lot of the top guys in the business. The PWT is truly like another family to most guys considering that most guys have spent about 3 months on the road fishing these tournament. It is a hard battle to live a fishing life and still maintain a family life. I give these guys a lot of credit but more credit is due to the wifes and families of these anglers. Jerry I do have a video of you at the championship and Zach will get it up soon. I believe you are doing back flips out of the boat and a little curtsy at the end. You always aim to please the crowd!!! See ya around Jerry!
Troy | |
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Member
Posts: 88
Location: Oklahoma | I, too, had a great experience at the PWT Championship, Jerry! I had the honor of meeting you along with all of the other great fishermen that fished the event. This was my first PWT Championship to attend, and it was a lot of fun and a very learning experience for me. I am happy that you fished well enough throughout the year to go to Houghton, and I am proud of the hard work and dedication it must take to get there. I thouroughly enjoyed meeting you, and your wife, and am proud to have you on my Pro Staff. You are a great example of how a Professional Angler should be. You went for the GUSTO, and that is the mark of a true champion in my book. Congratulations on a truly great accomplishment.
Best of luck for 2005 and I am sure that I will be seeing more of you in the near future! | |
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Posts: 39
| Good Job Jerry! Good luck next season. | |
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Posts: 714
| Jerry,
Congrats on making it to the Championship. I knew back in the spring when we did the telethon that that was your goal for the season, and you did it. Good job.
A question for you about your fishing. You said that your fish had been coming out of shallow weeds on cranks and spinners during the pre-fish. Do you think when the weather changed that they blew out of there, or could they have just buried themselves a little deeper into the vegetation? I guess what I'm really trying to find out is,...did you try any other presentations in the weeds besides the trolling patern? | |
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Location: Waukesha Wisconsin | GREAT JOB JERRY.
I really enjoy reading your recaps from the events. Hope you continue. | |
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Location: Northern Illinois | Jerry good job, thanks for the info and sharing. Continued success! | |
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Location: Manitowoc, WI | Jack,
I stayed with my top pattern from prefish....pulling spinners. I probably should have tried jigging these fish. I did try a couple of other places where my partners were catching fish jigging but I didn't have any luck. To be honest, if there's one thing I need to work on it would be jigging. Most of the places we fish and the bites we find are usually trolling bites, so my jigging technique isn't what it should be. | |
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PWT Houghton report