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Member
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| Ted Takasaki says he's doing the same thing as every one else, but he must be doing it better after weighing in a 5 fish bag weighing 31#-3oz. to take an eight and a half pound lead into day 3.
On the co-angler side, 2 women are battling for the top spot.
Flo Swank holds a 3# lead over Kristine Szczech with a day to go.
It was hot, humid,sunny....and I'm going to take a well-deserved shower.
Pictures and more to follow.
Beav |
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Posts: 625
Location: LaCrosse, WI | Ted is an amazing open water angler. Look at his records on Erie and Green Bay. He's had some of the biggest bags ever, (I believe the biggest ever in PWT). Great to see him on top again.
I'm pulling for Ted all the way. It's great to see one of the guys who got you into this doing what you've come to expect from them. |
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Location: upper michigan | Lets not forget that our very own Sunshine is only 5 pounds from makeing the cut. I will be keeping my fingers crossed and hope he has a great day tomorow. |
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| OK guys, I'm back with some more info. Again, bear with me, because this is my first go around.
Well the winds died down, and the anglers were greeted by flat calm conditions today. Quite a switch from yesterdays chop, everyone wondered what the calm seas would do to the fishing.
Only 2 bags over 30# today, one by Ted Takasaki of 31#-3oz that vaulted him into an 8.5 pound lead.
John Schneider and his partner bagged 31# even good for second place.
7 teams boated bags of better than #25, with a few in the 28# and 29# range, so big catches are still possible.
As mentioned earlier, 2 women are leading the co-angler division, but the rest of the top 10 aren't far behind, with one 7 pounder making up the difference, no lead is safe. Here are your leaders after day 2.
PROS
1-Ted Takasaki-64-11
2-John Schneider-56-3
3-Dean J Arnoldussen-55-15
4-Wayne Butz-55-7
5-Jeff Ryan-55-4
6-Ken Schoenecker-53-6
7-John Mathews-50-14
8-Paul Devoss-50-8
9-Ted Merdan-49-2
10-Gordy Powers-48-12
Co-Anglers
1-Flo Swank-61-5
2-Kristine Szczech-58-4
3-Todd Mueller-57-9
4-Randy Reek-57-7
5-James McCarten-56-13
6-Joshua Northagen-55-3
7-Brad Leonard-54-6
8-Chad Wertepny-54-5
9-Jason Shull-49-2
10-Randy Ludwig-48-13
The FLW crew were hustling their butts off today, making multiple ice runs, to keep the water at the weigh-in area the proper temperature. Members of the DNR were there and watched as they tried to keep the water in the troughs the proper temps. With water in the river and in the bay reaching over 80 degrees, and reports of fish coming out of 75 degree water, the job of keeping as many fish alive as possible was tackled on every front. From ice in recirculating livewells, to oxygenating chemicals, my proverbial hat goes off to everybody for trying their hardest under tough conditions that are supposed to be tougher tomorrow.
I'll be adding pics as soon as I get them uploaded. I always took this tourney coverage for granted.....I never will again.
Beav
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Member
Posts: 617
Location: Oshkosh, Wisconsin | If keeping the fish alive was the goal, why not open up the weigh in at earlier? If you still want to have something to show the crowd, require the anglers to stick around and play back a video of their weigh in and have them on stage to talk about it.... |
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Member
Posts: 265
Location: Combined Locks, WI | Ted is on them, but I want to give a shout out to my MWC partner from last year Robert Blosser. He weighed the biggest basket today at 36.56 for only 4 fish. Unfortunatly his fish died and he was given a 2 pound penalty which was still big catch of the day at 34.56. Those are some very nice fish, and I hope he can do it again tomorrow and make the cut.
Robert is pictured above in the Skeeter shirt with the 2nd place co-angler gal.
GO Robert! you are awsome. |
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Posts: 344
Location: Manitowoc WI | I agree.. in any and every no cull tourny you should be able to weigh in at any time.. thats ridiculous that you have to wait around..
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Location: Rhinelander | It isn't just the 'crowd', it's the weigh master, crew, and overall flow of the event and where everyone has to be during the event. Some of the crew are out on the water filming, some are setting up the Wal Mart parking lot, etc.; logistics are not as easy as some of you might like. Try attending an event all day watching what happens behind the scenes, and see how hard the FLW and PWT crews work to make the event all everyone expects. You might want to keep criticisms to yourselves until you've been there.
Thanks for great coverage, Beav! No worries on the glitches, it takes some time! |
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Location: Jackson, Wisconsin 53037 | Steve,
I agree with you that it takes alot to put on the "show" that the PWT and the FLW does, but with the weather conditions that are going on right now, they should be able to weigh in early. I know the PWT makes that option. I'm not trying to compare the tours, so please don't anybody take it that way.
I know of a couple anglers that have had their fish by 11 a.m.., I think that if they could weigh their fish earlier it would save some fish.
I think the FLW is doing it this way for better T.V.. That way the crowds are there when the anglers come in with their big fish. You can't blame them, it makes better T.V..
If that's what they want, then they should have had a kill tournament.
Just my two cents worth.
Good work Beav. |
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Posts: 1040
Location: Stevens Point, WI | Just wanted to say great job Beav! I'm going to try and make it over there Friday or Saturday to see how the FLW does things. Not to much sitting around is there Beav. Your constantly on the go at these tournaments, specially media like you. But I hope your having a little fun, I know the heat doesnt help anything but just be glad you won't be out in Mobridge with us next week. It was a 103 there yesterday. I'm so excited to be going there! Can't you just picture the enthusiasim!
But great job Beav! |
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Posts: 145
| It sure is different, but I sure am learning a lot.
Met some old friends, made some new ones.
The guys from the FLW are doing a great job. You can talk all you want about all of the TV stuff, but remember....TV brings more advertisers and advertisers bring, more money. Look where BASS has gone.
Take this scenario, come in early, forget the weigh-in hoopla and cut the prize money out that comes from TV sponsors. Just fish for an entry fee. See how many anglers turn out. There has been a constant building in prize monies over the years, and it's not coming from anyplace like it is from the sponsors pocketbook.
Some died yesterday, but not as many as will get killed this weekend by recreational fishermen to eat.
All the dead fish went to food banks, so they weren't wasted.
I have to get to the launch.
Later,
Beav |
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Location: Jackson, Wisconsin 53037 | Beav,
I agree with you on the T.V. thing. I don't blame them. That's why I said it should have been a kill tourney. |
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Location: Rhinelander | Thanks for the report, Beav. Looks to be good fishing on the Bay today.
If even 50% of the fish live, that's better than zero, I would say; not sure about a kill event permit or what was discussed with WDNR. As I said, it's not just the crowd or TV that's the issue, it's all the logistics. I have seen the eary weigh in's at the PWT, and usually less than 20 come in early even in a no cull, and those spread out throughout the day. That wouldn't work well for the FLW format, especially today. Head out to there today and tomorrow, and see what that crew does; it's amazing how much work is done by a few people at the FLW and PWT events.
That being said, when 20 of the top Pros come in early it really does diminish the weighin atmosphere, there's NO leaderboard there for folks to see. That makes the MC job more difficult in that it must be repeated over and over that the leaders weighed in early, etc. |
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Location: Jackson, Wisconsin 53037 | Jon,
Let it go, unfortunately we are seeing more and more anonymous posters on here. The majority of them are taking shots at someone. Don't justify those slugs by commenting on their posts. I know it's hard not to, especially when you know the individual they are ripping. And you know the facts. |
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| The area that you are talking about was 3 miles wide and 10 miles longs. A few small areas held pods of the fish it would take to win . Until pressured by boat traffic, they were easily caught. For the record your buddies weight on day 2 was not from the same area, unless 1 1/2 miles is the same area? Anglers were stacked in the 19-21' area on day 1. Day 2 many moved out to 24-26'. Your buddy was NOT away from the crowd there were 50 plus boats in the same area, all weaving around so they would'nt run into each other. Plus there were some nets put in over night, which shortened the effective area. Now those are the true facts NOT second hand stuff. If you want I can give you the GPS cord....? |
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Location: Rhinelander | Sorry I missed the 'sniper' guys, was on the road and Zach is fishing the Devil's Lake MWC. We try hard to keep it clean! |
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| The water is warm, dead fish happen. Especially when you catch them early in the day. I worked a C&R tourney on Devils for the PWT back in 2002. What a mess. Water was 75+ degrees. We picked up fish for a week straight. I'd rather go to jail for a week. The smell, and the sight of all those big fish on the shorelines just didnt make me happy. Tourneys like these, you should be able to release live fish, but the dead ones should be cleaned and not docked. Its hard to keep fish alive when the water is so warm. Especially all day long. Just my thoughts. |
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Posts: 3899
| We lost two fish on day one. Neither was the bigger two fish we caught early in the day, so I'd say that the size doesn't really have an effect. I do believe that going from 70 degree water, to 80 degree water, and then back to 75 degree water in the tanks stress these fish. On day two, all our fish were very lively. We stopped putting water in the livewell where the channel bends to come south. That, and we added several bags of ice to the livewell while waiting to load helped I believe. On Friday, the 8 lber we caught at 8:00 AM was very lively.
No fish were intentionally wasted at this tourney. If a fish even looked at the weighmaster funny, it was declared not releaseable, and put in the foof pantry truck. |
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| As for the location mentioned, yes, there were a lot of boats in the deeper water up near Gaenos. Wednesday morning, I counted nearly 110 boats as far as I could see. We were about in the middle, with 50 boats north of us, and 60 south. Some in shallower, some out deeper. Thursday, the pack spread out more, and didn't stay as long. The bite really turned on around 1:00 PM. Friday, there wer more boats out in the deeper water, 25-29'. We were there for about an hour around 11:00 AM, but all we caught was sheeps. Lots of up and down of the nets, so we weren't the only ones out there catching sheeps.
I think the best bite Friday was early, and then the fish went high with the sun. The biggest fish I caught all week was 15' back with a #2 split shot. The second biggest was 30 back. Everytime I tried to fish the botoom after 10:00 AM, it was hard to keep a crawler on the harness, due to the perchies.
It was nice to see Wayne caught them jigging, too. In fact some of his biggest fish came on a jig. Can't wait to hear the details from Chad. What an awesome finish! |
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| Don't want to start anything because I don't have a problem with most tournaments but how many fish were caught and how many died. Thanks |
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Posts: 265
Location: Lincolnshire, IL | Let's take a worst case scenario....150 boats x 6 fish per day x 3 days then add 10 boats x 6 fish for a total worst case scenario of 2,760 walleyes, if they all died and everyone limited. I am not a fisheries biologist nor am I going to attempt to play one....but for a system as big as Green Bay(WI waters) that gets very little catch and keep pressure....I can't imagine that the DNR would even blink at those losses...just my humble non scientific opinion. In fact, if I remember correctly and someone can verify, I believe the bag limit on Green Bay is going to be raised to 5 per angler in 2007.?. |
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Member
Posts: 145
| I'm checking.
I know only 2 died on Saturday out of 46.
70 died out of 663 on Thursday, that's what? Under 10%
87 out of 629 day 1...13%? |
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Member
Posts: 265
Location: Lincolnshire, IL | Now that I think about it...when the dead fish go to the food pantry...do they get a warning label attached to them? Somebody check on that as well...  |
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| Well said, Wade. You've rasied my curiosity, The bay is going to be raised to 5 walleyes per day in 2007? this is the first I've heard about it... would like to hear some more info on the subject. |
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Location: Appleton wi | Beaver if your numbers are accurate i would say considering the hot conditions thats good live release numbers and i expected it to be much higher % for dead fish. Thanks for the great reports at the gb tourny!
Ritch Shelley
Edited by eye Lunker 7/17/2006 4:49 PM
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Location: Lincolnshire, IL | Jayman, I hope I am not starting a rumor regarding the bag increase...I can't remember where or from whom I heard it...so I will try to get in contact with the DNR to confirm or deny. |
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Posts: 1656
| Thanks, Wade. |
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Posts: 145
| Thanks. Yeah, I actually counted the tally myself. They hand out a sheet to press observers that shows the total number of fish, then you have to go through and count how many dead and how many alive because they post that info with each anglers catch because of point reduction for dead fish.
The last tally I had was that the FLW spent more than $1000 on ice for the 4 days.
Add in how much ice was purchased by anglers along with oxygenating chemicals, and it adds up to a big effort to keep those fish alive.
As far as the edibility, the WDNR was there handing out consumption advisory brochures to everybody who wanted one.
Beav |
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Location: Freedom, WI | I fished a tournament last weekend during the heat as well, keeping the fish alive was a matter of water temperature. At the beginning of the day we put a 20lb. bag of ice in the livewell and filled her up. This made the water in the well around 70 degrees or maybe even cooler. Throughout the tournament we also ran the areator on and off along with some Walleye Saver Powder. I think that there would've been a much better release rate if everyone cared for their fish in this manner. It doesn't take long to throw ice in the well and fill her up. We also threw additional ice from the cooler into the well during the day to keep the temp low. What do you guys think about this? By the way it was a Winnebago tournament and the surface temp at weight in was around 80 degrees! |
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| bagowalleyeguy - 7/19/2006 5:46 PM
I fished a tournament last weekend during the heat as well, keeping the fish alive was a matter of water temperature. At the beginning of the day we put a 20lb. bag of ice in the livewell and filled her up. This made the water in the well around 70 degrees or maybe even cooler. Throughout the tournament we also ran the areator on and off along with some Walleye Saver Powder. I think that there would've been a much better release rate if everyone cared for their fish in this manner. It doesn't take long to throw ice in the well and fill her up. We also threw additional ice from the cooler into the well during the day to keep the temp low. What do you guys think about this? By the way it was a Winnebago tournament and the surface temp at weight in was around 80 degrees!
You nailed it...saving fish can be done in the heat of summer if everyone was as vigilant as you are. I did the same (minus the added chemicals...forgot them in the truck...my bad) and my fish were kick'n on the scales.
BUT, then again, I only had one large girl and some smaller fish in the well each day....I think it would be harder with 5 or 6 8+ pound fish in the livewell like some competitors had.
Maybe the answer is to have the warmer water temp events on bodies of water that will not have the anglers limiting out with trophy sized fish, but rather smaller fish instead....there's plenty of lakes/rivers like that. Keep the trophy sized waters for the earlier spring events when the waters are cooler.
Does that make sense?
Juls
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Posts: 78
| Juls,
You hit the nail on the head, water that hold big fish need to be fished early or late in the year. Green Bay has a great spring bite as well and I think it would help preserve the fishery. |
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