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Location: Manitowoc, WI | UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!! I cannot put into words the feeling of making it this far. And I wouldn't have gotten here without the help of my great friends and fishing partners Pat Schuette, Dan Plautz and Danny Plautz.
The Bay de Noc PWT was the ultimate show of teamwork for us. Fishing, to say the least, was poor, with a bite from time to time found along Cedar River, Hayward Bay, Seagull Point, No See-Um Creek, Minneapolis Shoals, and Big Bay. Yes, there were small fish for the taking at LBDN, but we weren't in a position to just catch slots and make it to the next level. So, when we started prefishing Saturday, we set out to all locations straining every inch of water, looking to unlock the secrets. After four days, I was the leader with a whopping three fish. NOT GOOD!!! But Wednesday, with only 3-4 hours of prefishing left, Pat took a fly out to the red buoy, which marks two small reefs about 3 miles South of the Minneapolis Shoal horn. In one pass, he had three big fish. He left and we put all our eggs into one basket, hoping the bite would hold out.
Day One: My partner and I started our first pass, with Steve Poll and Danny Plautz just ahead of us. We were the third boat through the area. I was telling my partner that we should contact fish in this area when the first board went back and under. Big fish for sure!!! I handed him the rod and we got the planer board and snap weight off. As I readied the net, the fish came off. In the meantime, another fish hit the outside board. While we were fighting it, a third rod went. I got hooks into this fish and we worked the other rod. Nice 25" fish onboard and we went to the second rod. A perfect slot at 22". We continued our pass for about 100 yards more and picked up to get back through the fish again. This pass was less eventful until were were well past our marks. Another board went completely under. We fought this fish for about 10 minutes, again getting the board and snap weight off. The it came off. A killer of a feeling. We continued for the rest of the day and went without a fish until 1:30 when we got a 7.5 lber. We came in to the weigh-in with 16.93 lbs for 8th place on day one.
My elation was short-lived, as I found out when we were loading the boat that my father-in-law passed away that morning. To say the day was full of emotion would be an understatement. I got ahold of my wife early in the evening and she said her father would have wanted me to keep fishing. After much discussion, we decided I should stay.
Day Two: To be honest, the last thing on my mind that morning was fishing. My partner and I got to our spot and again, we worked some first pass magic. We had a 7 lber along with a 23" fish right away. Later, we got another 23" fish. I balanced beamed the two, as they were both very close to slots but too close to take a chance. The smaller fish went back in. We later tried to get some slots in LBDN, but went fishless. To my surprise, with just 11.8 lbs, I moved up to 7th place.
Day Three: As I went into day three, I found out that I was 6th for the East Division race for the championship. I figured I needed one good fish to put me in. I went back to my primary spot but after three passes, not a hit. The fish were gone. I started to check out the GPS map, looking for a good place to try. Pat had earlier suggested that if our fish didn't go that he would try either Minnepolis Shoal or Corona Shoal. I decided to try the NE side of Corona, as the finger area there looked promising. We started the pass and I noticed one of the boards didn't look "right". I grabbed the rod and pulled back, feeling the weight of a good fish. My partner did a good job of keeping the pressure on it and the fish was just what I needed. A perfect 5 lber. With some high fives, my partner and I fished the rest of the day with out a hit. At weigh-in, I sweated it out, seeing that a couple of the guys just behind me had good fish. Fortunately, I held on to 7th place in the East and 16th for the event.
The hot ticket for us during this event was spinners, as the slow presentation was essential with the constantly falling water temps. I did manage to catch one good fish on a Dave's Lures Deep Nitro Shiner, but, for us, the spinner bite was our best.
And now it's on to Houghton!!!! I hoping the bite is like last year's bite, as I prefished with Dan Plautz and Dean Miller last year. It should be a great show and I hope to see some WalleyeFirsters at the weigh-in and festivities. |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | Jerry,
Sorry to hear about your Father-in-law, great job at LBDN and good luck at the Championship. |
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Location: Appleton | Good Luck Jerry
Do your dance again! It can not hurt and if it works well you will have the last laugh on Troy! |
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| You think the picture was good wait 'til you see the video - yeow! |
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| Good luck to you jerry in the championship! and hope to meet ya in houghton. |
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Location: Manitowoc, WI | Troy,
Any royalties you make from that video of me on stage will go directly to me. I'll give you 5% for being there...;) |
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Location: Appleton | Jerry
What are we going to get for the video we do at Bay de Noc?? Maybe we can have you teach the other teams your dance and charge for lessons. |
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Location: La Crescent, MN | I just put together the soundtrack for the video Jerry here's a sneak peek
Attachments
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 ruffolo.mp3 (191KB - 215 downloads)
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Location: Midland, MI 48642 | Great job Jerry and good luck at Houghton. Really sorry to hear about your father in law. Sure can understand your mind not being on fishing. But you held it together with good results. Congrats! Skeeter |
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Posts: 1406
| Jerry, Thanks for sharing that, you did an awesome job, I don't think I could have continued after news like that. Please accept my best wishes for you and your family. You have one heck of a wife to let you go on! Wish her the best from our entire family!
Good Luck
Tyee |
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Location: Oklahoma | Congratulations, Jerry! Very happy to see you "in the money"! Good work, although I am sure that it was an emotional trip, I hope that you enjoy your good fortune. I am very sorry to har about your loss, and I hope that your wife and family are doing alright.
Good luck in the Championship! I might see you there!
P.S. Don't tell the fish that I am coming, they might get scared and hide! LOL!! 
Dave Storm |
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Location: Manitowoc, WI | Dave,
If you are coming, let me know. I'll put aside a day or two of prefishing with you. I'm looking for some boat partners and the allowed list is limited to other PWT pro's, PWT amateurs, immediate family, and sponsors. Call me at 920-686-1429 after 3 pm CST or email me if you're interested. |
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Location: Oklahoma | Thanks for the invite Jerry. It seems like just the other day when I was whining about NOT being at the last PWT tournament! I will be confirming my plans Thursday (tomorrow). I definitely excited about the possibility of coming up! Either way, I will be cheering you on to a great finish! I'll let you know..
Dave Storm |
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Location: Manitowoc, WI | Sounds good Dave. I'll put you on my list of prefish partners. See ya soon. |
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| jerry,
Congratulations on making the Championship. All of us a WalleyeFIRST will be pulling for you to take the top spot! |
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Posts: 2567
Location: Manitowoc, WI | If Steve, Zach, or Troy are coming up, please let me know. I could use boat partners for the prefish and the rules for allowed boat partners are very strict. Email me at [email protected] if you are coming. |
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| If I were Troy, I'd think twice before I got in the boat with Jerry after posting that picture and all!  |
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Location: blue mounds,wisc | jerry, i knew that you were going to make the big dance this year. now that you have some time up there i want to wish you the best of luck. keep your eyes open for me , i will be fishing with gary gray agian. lets get together for dinner!! |
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